Cubanpuckstopper wrote:Yet another post that discusses the development of hockey players in the United States.
There have been a few of these since the WJC a few weeks ago.
http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/ ... -monaghan/Within the article linked above is a Canadian article that discusses style of play, and development ideas that differ or are similar between the two countries.
Nice read, although maybe a little more enthusiastic about the quality of USA Hockey coaching all the way down to the grassroots than my observations tell me is appropriate. It still feels a little to me like you've been right, Cuban, in your assessment that all the efforts to develop coaching are misplaced, in that not enough time is spent with guys coaching the littlest kids (i.e. the ones where development needs the most nurturing).
And as for goalie coaches, it's still hit & miss. I know Joe Exter has become increasingly well known and that there is more effort being made at the national level to increase the coaches' sensitivities toward goalies but it's still not wide-spread enough. And, judging by the demand of other coaches in my Association for my
little bit of knowledge, the problem ISN'T that coaches are generally uninterested in the topic.
For two years, I would email the guy in our Section who was responsible for putting the coaching clinics together, offering my services (such as they are) to present a segment on goalies at a Level 3 clinic in my area. I even offered to travel within the section to do it at other sites. I finally was asked to do it at one clinic and given a 40 min window. The student coaches were very engaged and asked so many questions that I went over an hour. The next year? I again offered my services and didn't even get a response, and as far as I know, nobody else did it, either. I didn;t even try during this past training season. If I wasn't a very good presenter, fine, get somebody in there.
As you can tell, I'm a little bitter about USAHockey's ability to add value to American youth hockey at the grassroots level or in Tier II or III associations.