Is your coach doing you justice?

Is your Coach doing you justice, or letting you down?

It has become a more and more frequent occurrence in recent times. I am having the same discussions with parents venting their frustration about the level of coaching, the skills of the coach being passed on or indeed what amount of quality time they can dedicate.

Your on a quest to get the best from your child, ensuring they are enjoying their sport, and importantly being given fair opportunities to show their talent. Is this happening?

We at Gocrea8 pride ourselves on great advice as well as caoching, and offer sensible, impartial advice that will hopefully best suit your child, and your need..

I think it is important to understand some of the areas below and experiences we come across.

1, A number of coaches within the EH Single System, (More so at Development Centre and Academy Centre) and Clubs just ‘fall into’ the coaching, or perhaps see it as an extra way of doing some coaching to supplement an income or to say they ‘coach’.

I would say sadly and controversially some coaches have a hidden agenda with the coaching involvement. Contact time with players allowing them to scope out what club they are involved in, or that they might be interested in coming for a ‘taster day’ at a particular school!!

I might say however, there are some excellent coaches starting their coaching careers, brilliant parents offering unpaid excellent support and amazing players offering their knowledge and experiences. So this isn’t by any stretch a reflection on all!!

2, Me and my staff are often correcting poor technique that has become ‘habitual’ by the player.

These would include simple and incorrect receiving positions, for example I hear some teaching staff say: “get really low to receive the ball”…. Just because you have paid for all of your stick really doesn’t mean you need to use it all to receive the ball..!!

Or some coaches discouraging the use of the right hand index finger down the back of the stick, because it might get broken.. Sorry!! Hockey has some inherent risks, I would argue that teach players how to tackle correctly and you protect players. (Prevention, not cure).

3, Does your coach, through school, club or pathway offer you the time you deserve? Probably not, and this isn’t their fault. We know, and experience suggests that the ‘team’ principle take a priority in the coaching focus. Fine, and very important of course.

Your son or daughter finds themselves in a great position, coach has asked them to stay in the D, and attack the far post for a deflection, but when the ball comes, they are unable to perform the skill, as the coach hasn’t spent the focused time on the correct execution and timing.

This is where we come in and help. Dedicated to bringing in the best coaches, for the right reasons, and the right experiences to develop your children.

Whilst we all, as parents think the sun shines out of your Children’s backsides we can always look to help and offer more. My 2 year old will hit the potty 2/3 times, but uncontrollably laughs at me when no.3 soaks the carpet. So even if your child is playing junior International hockey we can still make those final tweaks, or subtle changes to help.

The above thoughts are just my own opinions, but ones built on lots of experience over a frighteningly long period of playing and coaching.

Thanks

Matt