Does it do more good or harm for a child (1st year squirt) to play above his skill level. The child is on a 20 man roster B squirt team with 90% of those kids being c level players. They have given up over 100 goals in 9 games. and scored 4 as soon as they touch the puck (if they do) It is taken away by the oposing team They are very discouraged. The association says in the long run it will make them better. I feel It is going to discourge them from playing in the long run Please give me your opinion

A few questions:

Why are they playing a B level if they are C level?

Who is classifying them as C or B level players?

Is the coach capable of coaching at this level?

I can see moving up C level kids if they are on the edge of being B level and you need a team, but in my opinion the coach is not doing something right if they are giving up OVER 10 GOALS a game. In my opinion you need to teach a style of play based on the skill set of your players. Obviously your team is not loaded with highly skilled offensive players, probably alot of ME players(which is worse when you are not highly skilled). I would start as a coach to get these kids to understand the importance of TEAM play and playing position. Making sure that your Defense plays more defensively, less pinching at the blue lines and also making sure that your kids understand the importance of getting after the puck with speed and aggressiveness(you would be amazed at what a difference this makes). Your D stays back when the play is coming out and protects their zone, your Forwards attack the puck which creates more turnovers and more opportunities for scoring chances for your team and less for their team.

You see where I am we have A and B level players, No C level, so if you are not A level you are lumped with all the B level kids.

There is no excuse for averaging over 10 goals against in a B level league, they should be coming up against teams that are pretty equal skill wise. So all I can come up with is that the coach does not have these kids skating hard and playing as a team like they should.

I may be wrong, maybe you can give us more info.

Just my opinin!

First thank you for the response.Let me go into more detail Red Wing has two squirt teams A and B. We started the season with 3 teams A, B,and C. 10 kids per team. After tryouts 2 kids that made the C team quit. So our board voted and decided to combine both the B and C teams BUT remain playing at the B level.2/3rds of the kids that originally made the B team. are first year players just out of mites. I have older boys in the association and could tell imediatly that we could not play in District 8 at the B level. I was told by the association President and the coach of the B team That I didn't know what I was talking about. Now as for this coach He does not work on positioning He feels Practice is to work on skills.The kids get in games and do not have a clue as to where to be and why All five players follow the puck and do not spead out Like I said We have given up OVER 100 goals and only scored 4 in the last 9 games. It is very frustrating being told that this will benefit the boys down the road. The fact is the Red Wing hockey association failed miserably in it,s desicion to play at the B level

quote:

Now as for this coach He does not work on positioning He feels Practice is to work on skills.The kids get in games and do not have a clue as to where to be and why All five players follow the puck and do not spead out Like I said We have given up OVER 100 goals and only scored 4 in the last 9 games.

To me it is rather crazy that at the squirt level the kids are still bunching up and not playing position. I coach the Mite level and my kids play pretty good position and it is something that we work on in practice. Does this mean we do not work on skills? Absolutely not, we work on skills as well as break outs Offensive and Defensive Zone play(where they should be in certain situations). How does this coach expect the kids to be able to do a basic breakout without playing position? The answer is YOU DONT.

Now I want to say I can't speak for your organization and how they want the kids to learn, but in my opinion if you are not teaching position at the MITE level that is not good in my opinion, if you are NOT teaching this at the SQUIRT LEVEL that is down right a disservice to your kids. You can almost gaurantee that these kids will not get the chance to play A level hockey in the future unless a coach looks at a skilled player and feels he can teach him the positioning part of the game. The problem is that "A" level on the PeeWee's and up is very competitive and coaches don't have the time to teach these kids the basics they already should know, so your kid will likely lose out this year and next if he gets the same coach, and will be destined for a "B" level hockey until he/she gets hooked up with a coach who teaches all the aspects of hockey.

I would ask around and see how the other parents feel about this, then maybe this coach will get an evaluation of there coaching style, if the organization still thinks this is the way they want it done, well then you may have to spend some time at home learning and explaining positioning. There is alot of info on the internet if you do not know, or just ask questions on this site and I am sure you will get alot of the answers to help your kid stay out of the bunch and maybe the other kids will follow.

Just MY OPINION!

Hi,
Im coaching a U9/U10 team in Sweden. My approach is NOT to teach the kids positioning by telling them were to be at different times. Im focusing on letting the kids find ways to solve problems on the ice by communicating and seeing what needs to be done. No fixed position on the ice at all.
Ofcourse this means that you must allow the kids to fail at the things they try. But by allowing them fail even at games builds confidence in the player and he will continue to try until he gets it right. The most important thing to remember at this level is that no kid is failing on purpose and if you yell everytime he fails he will just stop trying. My players know that i wont be angry when they try to to something creative on the ice. Even if they fail and we let up a goal. I want players, not chess pieces.

Regarding the problem you have with a team that is not up to level atm I would suggest that you try to build there confindenece, allow them to be creative, to hold on to the puck and every time try to do something constructive even if the loose it 80% of the times. Allow them to deke within you own goalcrease. Do what it takes to build confindence to do something on the ice.

Before i took my current team i coached i U12/U13 team for 2 years. They had the same problem and got beaten everytime they stood on the ice. This had been going on for years so when i started to coach them, the only thought they had was to defend and get the puck out of the zone. We worked almost exclusivly on confidence and keeping the puck when we got it and at the end of the season we won our first game.

Thats just my thoughts from sweden.
Regards.

It's a bit difficult to critique a situation if you can't see it for yourself and I tend to give most coaches the benefit of the doubt. I will say that this situation seems to be more a result of skill level deficiency and a mismatch between teams, as opposed to any particular methodology of coaching. I'll teach very basic positioning for young players but I won't waste valuable sheets of ice to do it. 99% of this work can and should be done off-ice. Of course, you better have adequate drills and activities to support skill development on the ice. You need to be effective at evaluating player competency and designing skill level appropriate drills and SAG's. That's how kids get better.
As far as kids playing up....I don't generally care for it. It should be used only in extreme situations if an athlete is dominating at a level and needs a higher challenge, rather than using it in a "wholesale" method.