We all know How-To’s, instructions for achieving whatever goals. Now, this post really is a How NOT To. I repeat: Don’t try this at home…
Former Hockey Experience
Once upon a time, in my youth, I played minor hockey, I was a rather bad player, that was it. Not quite the optimum qualification for coaching a team.
So why?
As loosely stated before, I never had any plan or ambitions to become a hockey coach, aside from assisting my daughter in her hockey career. And probably to play a little (recreational) hockey myself (again). But one thing I quickly realized: Without a lot of helping hands from hockey parents youth hockey (especially for the very young) was simply not feasible. At least this included taxi drives to and from rinks all over the province (and sooner or later even the whole of Austria and the surrounding countries). Some of the more involved parents were helping coaches with the kids during tounaments, organizing buffets and having an eye on the kids while off-ice.
But becoming a coach? Quite a different story. Indeed there was a trait in my personality that had evolved during my Volleyball and Long-Distance Running years: Either do things properly or not at all. And the older I grew the more this motto took over my (professional) mindset. E.g. building a tube amplifier was simply not enough - it ought to be among the best of it’s kind… It was probably a sort of a late effect from the inspiration Bobby Orr gave me as a youth hockey player.
The “Papa Coach”
Be it as it is, at some point I decided to attend the basic coaches’ education, offered by the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation (รEHV), still aiming at no more but supporting my kid. A short random coffee chat with Alpo Suhonen (then รEHV Sports Manager) in which he emphasized on his opinion about the important role of parent coaches in player development was probably crucial for the decision.
So there I was. Surrounded by few recreational players and a bunch of former professional players. That being terrible enough, after some time I realized something went wrong with my body. Of course I was not in best shape but to stumble and fall during skating with no obvious reason but just because your leg muscles suddenly lost all tonicity was at least puzzling. Anyway, I passed (everyone did) though for advancing to the next level of trainer education I would need to pass an additional exam, due to my rather mediocre performance in the skating exam. Disapointed by this result and also by unexpectedly not really acquiring a lot of (new) coaching knowledge I decided to just let it be, at least for now. A bad decision in hindsight…
So, not much had changed, I slipped into sort of a team manager role with the Graz 99ers’ U11 and later U12 teams, supporting my daughter in her hockey ambitions and playing some beer league hockey…
Turns and Crossroads
With the years my muscular problems worsened and in the end it turned out that things would never be the same as before, actively playing hockey became impossible - finally no more hockey, this time for real, as it seemd.
In the meantime my daughter, besides playing with the boys for the Graz 99ers’ youth teams also made it to the DEC Devils Graz, Graz’ team in the Austrian Federal Womens’ League (DEBL). We were in loose contact with the team already for some time and in spring 2016, at the age oof 12, she finally played her first game in major hockey. The 2016-17 season already saw regular apearances wearing the Devils’ jersey.
Already before that I had voluteered as an occasional rookie coach for the Devils, something that now turned into regular training sessions for beginners. Besides that I jumped in to coach the Frohnleiten Icehawks, a team I had played with for some years, when their coach was unable to do so due to surgery he underwent.
The 2017-18 season finally was the game changer. The Devils got a new head coach who decided to abandon the rookie training and to include all players and coaches into common practice sessions. And he partly removed me from coaching the rookies, as he wanted me to join him and assistant coach Bernie Strohmeier on the bench during games.
But things did not work out as expected and after only two games the headcoach withdrew. Unfortunately right between one game on a Saturday afternoon and the next one the following Sunday morning (indeed - during the night!). So there we (Bernie and I) stood at the rink on a Sunday morning and had to manage matters. We decided to act as a coaching team for the ongoing season and the team supported the decision. From our hockey backgrounds it was pretty clear that Bernie, being a skilled, active player having already some coaching experience, would probably lead this team, though he always insisted on teamwork and joint decisions. That way I learned an awful lot about hockey and coaching during these months.
Suddenly Headcoach
After the 2017-18 season Bernie decided to withdraw from his coaching duties due to time constraints and the the Devils decided to advance me to the headcoach position. And all of a sudden hockey finally became a vital part of my life. Still following the all or nothing paradigm I started out reading a bunch of books on hockey and coaching. And I quickly realized that besides coaching and my day job as a university teacher there was no time left for anything else.
The 2018-19 season was my rookie season as headcoach and the team did really well. It was not before the last regular season game that we missed a playoff spot - the Devils’ best regular season for quite some years. Honestly, this was partly based on a goup of highly talented and well trained youth players from the Graz 99ers’ and our cooperation team EHV Vienna Sabres.
Still, something was different that year. The team spirit was excellent, no bullying in the locker room, no scapegoating after a loss. Quite a difference to the years before. And it was almost heartbreaking to see the the tears after losing the decisive game in overtime, but also how the girls tried to comfort each other. After all they were finally bonded together as a team.
The team decided to keep me as their headcoach which put quite a lot of stress on me as I was pretty aware that not the first but usually the subsequent seasons are the toughest.
And the Devils made no exception from that rule. We went into the 2019-2020 season with high ambitions and - as everybody thought - top prepared. Especially as the pre-season games were all but one won, everybody was expecting results similar to those from the last season. But already the first regular season game came as a shock as we lost to Linz, a team that hadn’t succeded against the Devils for years. It was just the beginnning of a loosing streak that finally saw us lurking around the penultimate position in the regular season standings.
I was pretty thoughtful. And realized that coaching can be a burden. A huge burden.
Some Final Thoughts
I keep asking myself continously, if I’m doing things right. In my opinion, to be highly self-reflective is a basic requirement for success. In any profession. As is to collect feedback from players. To only trust your self-perception is a major mistake.
So, am I the right person to this? Good question. I have pretty limited hockey experience, almost no formal coaching education. On the other hand I have a lot of professional experience in teaching and leading teams. I was quite successful in coaching a Volleyball team in the late 1990’s. I have some experience in planning seasons and trainings as I had to do so for myself during my Long-Distance Running years.
I guess I’m particularly good in watching and analyzing all sorts of matters, not just in sports, something that also helped me a lot in my professional life. Probably it’s the engineer in me.
And I keep learning. I’m watching and analyzing other coaches whenever possible. For the last years the psychologic aspect of coaching was of particular interest for me. Perfomance diagnostics is what I would like to learn about next. Moreover I still try to continue my coaching education, if only on the theoretical side, as I can hardly skate anymore. Unfortunately there’s no support from the Austrian Hockey Federation for such cases :-(
So - should I really act as a hockey coach? Others (and time) will tell. I’m curious.
