Finally, I call it a career(?) - Part 1 of an small, ex post series about my coaching philosophy and experiences
A Time to Say Good Bye
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven
Turn, Turn, Turn - Pete Seeger
Now, this really came hard to me, but I finally had to resign as the Devils' head coach by the end of the (2021-22) season (read the team’s as well as the Styrian hockey federation’s posts [in π¦πΉ German]). Partly due to a lack of (time) resources and foremost due my further declining physical strength. Realizing I’d never be able to skate again, the decision was clear. Life’s not always easy with FSHD… It was about time to step back and the end of the 2021-22 season was the right time to purpose.
A Successful Career?
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin (Page/Plant)
As always, it depends. If you consider winning lots of trophies and championships the only criterion to denote a career successful, it probably wasn’t. If it takes decades of doing a job to consider it a career anyway, most probably 7 years of coaching just don’t count at all. If, on the other hand, spending most of your time and energy for years, pursuing your own and your team’s goals, successfully supporting and developing individual players and the team as a whole, means to carve out a successful career, it probably was.
Not only did we reach the DEBL semifinals in the last two consecutive seasons, winning the Bronze Medal last season, but moreover a team that had been lurking around on the last or penultimate league positions for years, finally became a serious contender for the semifinals, probably even the championships. Several players made it to the Austrian senior national team during these years and three Slovenian national team players decided to leave their home teams for good and join the Devils, despite the considerable effort It took to travel back and forth from Maribor to Graz for practices and games. In the end we had about three times the amount players in our roster, compared to three years ago. So the team definitely became more successful and (thus) more attractive within the last years.
Besides that, acting as the teams sports manager, I did my best to professionalize sports as well as the organization of the club. I partly will dig a little deeper into this some time later.
Does this answer the the above question? Probably not, so let’s look at it from a management viewpoint. IMHO, if eight or more management decisions out of ten are correct, you did well. Seen this way, I was considerably successful, but finally - it’s not up to me to form an opinion, it’s up to you to decide…
A Brief Look Back
I know not how she found me
For in darkness I was walking
And destruction lay around me
From a fight I could not win
Lady in Black - Uriah Heep (Ken Hensley)
How she found meβ¦ Who found whom? Actually I found them, when looking for a future (women’s) team for my daughter who back then had just decided to abandon rock climbing in favor of playing hockey in the Graz 99ers U8 (boy’s) team. We then attended the ‘Girl’s Hockey Day’ organized by the DEC Devils team and stayed in brief contact. Some years later my daughter started to occasionally attend the Devil’s training sessions, steadily becoming part of the team, finally, at the age of 12 having her first game appearance. And at about the same time I started helping out as the Devil’s rookie coach. The rest is history…
But basically this post should not be about old stories, but rather about my development as a coach, my approaches and the experience I gained during these years. First of all, which assets did I bring along? Not too many, but some of them quite valuable. I had some experience as a player, albeit not a good one. I had attended the basic coaching course offered by the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation. I knew quite a lot about training methods and control from my times as a long distance runner. And finally I had some coaching experience from 3 years of coaching a mixed Volleyball team during the late 90’s.
So, how to start? Usually, before starting a new task, I try to prepare myself as perfectly as possible. Gathering, analyzing and organizing accurate information is a crucial basis of any successful work, no matter which domain. But here I had to jump right into the business, overnight - in the truest sense of the word - without a single day of preparation. Having a second coach with a little more (hockey) coaching experience on my side at least lowered the burden a little. Nonetheless, taking over the team was a decision between the sense of responsibility (“someone has to do the job”) and the risk of total failure. On might ask: What’s he talking about? Well, apparently the team’s head coach had left for good, overnight, inbetween two games, on short chat noticeβ¦ And Bernie and I were the assistant coaches…
Next morning: first thing I realized when entering the locker room was that I probably was pretty nervous, but the players were utterly upset. They felt abandoned, frustrated by the fact that their then head coach had resigned overnight via text message, right before next day’s game. Simply telling them we would take over and coach the game eased the situation. And assuring them we would lead practices and coach all games for the rest of the season at a team meeting right after the game finally reassured the players not to give up.
Had we asked anyone if we should do it? Had we turned to the team management? No, there simply was no time to do so. Bernie and I met at the rink and while having a cup of coffee briefly decided to a) coach the game b) coach the team for the season pending and c) tried to find the right words to tell the players, set up a game plan and get ready for the game. All else would be feasible only after the game. At times decisions need to be taken immediately - and these are correct decisions, no matter the outcome!
More on this in the second part of this series - stay tuned…
Finally, find a few pictures of me coaching in the galleries section.
