Parent
From: email@hidden (Women-in-Hockey Digest)
To: email@hidden
Subject: Women-in-Hockey Digest V1 #428
Reply-To: women-in-hockey
Sender: email@hidden
Errors-To: email@hidden
Precedence: bulk
Women-in-Hockey Digest Friday, May 14 1999 Volume 01 : Number 428
In this issue:
Selecting a Coach
FW: Westland Women's Hockey League
=======================================================================
Unsubscribe:
Help:
or
=======================================================================
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 10:19:31 +0200
From: "Smart, Cheryl MAJ"
Subject: Selecting a Coach
Pam,
This email will go WAY beyond what you are looking for, as I laid out an
entire selection process from beginning to end. But parts of it should help
answer your questions and the rest of it may be of use in the future. If
you do your preparation as a search committee ahead of time and come to some
agreement on what you want from a coach, you can even defuse some of the
politics that will inevitably leak into the process. People tend to think
selecting a coach is a "gut" thing. Knowledgeable, well-intentioned people
get together and talk to candidates and figure out who is the best
qualified. In fact, selecting a coach is a scientific process.
There are three steps to finding a coach (or players, but that's for another
time):
QUALIFY
QUANTIFY
CHOOSE
1. QUALIFY - This is a global statement agreed upon by all the committee
members that includes Who, What, Why, When. Some examples:
"The [who]coach of the women's 19 and under Tier I team [what]will
develop individual and team hockey skills [why]in order to produce a winning
team [when]over the next season."
"The [who]coach of the women's 19 and under Tier I team [what]plans
and implements a practice and game schedule that showcases player's hockey
skills [when]over the next 2 seasons [why]in order to maximize opportunities
for selection to college teams."
These are just examples to get you thinking. If you can't do this as a
committee, do it as an individual. Prioritize what you want a coach to do
and test your ideas out in phrases such as:
"I would LIKE to win the league championship this year, but
individual development of character skills like 'team player' and
'leadership' is MORE important."
OR
"I would LIKE our best players to have the best opportunity at a
scholarship by getting scouts to the games and being given the opportunity
to showcase their individual skills, but producing a XX win/loss record is
MORE important."
You can have more than one WHAT in a qualifying statement (e.g., "improve
team record and create a fun practice atmosphere"), but should only have one
WHY statement (e.g., "in order to make the players into lifelong supporters
of women's hockey").
2. QUANTIFY - This is the How. What is the measure of success? Some
examples (not necessarily realistic, just to get you thinking):
a. Produce XXX win/loss record
b. Arrange tryout for every college bound player
c. Attract college scouts to games
d. Improve on last year's record by XXX
e. Improve individual player skills regardless of starting skill level
f. Arrange 1-2 clinics during the year to introduce players to new
skills/ideas
g. Players agree at season's end that they were challenged but had fun
h. Improve all player's physical fitness by season end
In a well conducted search, the committee members would agree on these
measures. In fact, they should be developed (or at least agreed to) by
whomever has the controlling interest in the team. At the most junior
levels this could be 50% parents, 25% league and 25% player. At the middle
levels it might be 40% player, 25% league and 15% parents. At the senior
levels 50% league and 50% player. Beyond that, it will be the sponsoring
body (college, business, owner, league, whatever). I'd be willing to bet
that the Air Force Academy measures coaching success a little differently
than, say, Colorado College. And the parents of a Squirt House team in a
league that is just forming will measure success differently than the
parents of a squirt Travel team in a league that has been around long enough
to see some alumni play in the NHL. That's not to say that any of these
team "controllers" are any less concerned about winning, or about character
development in their players. Just that they might develop different
pictures of what success would look like.
3. CHOOSE - Finally! You've figured out what you want, what it looks like;
now you figure out who can get your team there.
Total Volunteer - In a small or fledgling organization, the choice may be
made for you. It might be whomever volunteers to coach. There's certainly
nothing wrong with that! Make sure she agrees with the Qualifying statement
(non-negotiable), then ask her to review your measures of success and ask
her whether she thinks she can accomplish them. These might have to change
some, since you can't totally dictate to a volunteer. Ask her to commit to
milestone reports throughout the season so you can adjust or see whether you
can help in any way.
Competitive Volunteer or Professional Selection - Here is my recommendation
for the best way to select:
a. Gather known information - credentials, coaching experience, etc.
b. Candidates submit "blind" packets. E.g., coaching philosophy, sample
practice at beginning of year and end of year, theoretical schedule of
practices throughout the year, answers to handling a series of situations,
support expected from committee, parents, players. Individual committee
members rank order packets. Discuss rank ordering as a committee, see if
you can come to some consensus. Decide whether to eliminate anyone just
based upon blind submission.
c. Conduct interviews.
d. Watch the candidates in action.
e. Try for consensus, vote if necessary.
Give the candidates fair notice that you will expect them to come prepared.
Send them stats, background and bios on the team members, videos of games
or practices. Expect the prospective coach to have some knowledge of the
team's performance.
Tell the prospect what to expect (without going into specific questions)
before they get there. Some examples:
1. We expect you to have studied the team and be able to discuss their
performance
2. We will present you with a series of situations and ask how you would
handle them
3. Be prepared to discuss your coaching philosophy
4. Bring your credentials with you
5. We will ask you to run a practice session
This gives the candidates an opportunity to show you their very best. It
also gives committee members an opportunity to judge a candidate's level of
interest in the position, as well as his/her ability to organize and
prepare; critical coaching skills. Develop a series of questions beforehand
that gives candidates the opportunity to display their expertise in three
critcal areas:
Knowledge of particular skills necessary
Skating
Individual hockey skills
Team play
Physical fitness
Ability to translate that knowledge into action
Verbal skills
Analysis
Demonstration techniques
Practice progression (both within a single practice, and over the course
of the season)
Leadership
Motivating individuals
Influencing group dynamics
Interaction with critical nonplayers (parents, referees, other coaches,
rink officials)
Organizational ability
Some examples:
Come up with a series of vignettes. Ask them what they would do in each
situation (include game, practice, skill, player motivation and "parent"
vignettes). These can be especially helpful if you have a candidate who has
no background coaching a women's team. Asking general questions like "what
do you think about women playing hockey?" really doesn't get at the "HOW"
the candidate will motivate them as individuals and as a team.
Ask them what, at the end of the year, they think success would look like.
What is their coaching philosophy?
What are your credentials (years and level coaching, stats, USA/Canada Youth
hockey qualifications, etc.)
All coaches will be relatively stronger in some areas than others. Your
task, based upon development of QUANTIFY & QUALIFY will be to decide what a
coach's strengths must be and where you would be willing to accept some
weakness (and how much). Then target your questions accordingly. For
instance, if you have decided that future opportunities are important, then
one of a coach's strengths should be his/her network contacts.
Once you have an agreed upon list of questions, assign specific questions to
each committe member. Each committee member gets a cut-sheet for each
candidate that outlines the three critical areas (skills knowledge,
translation ability, leadership). This can be real simple, with three
titles, or real in-depth with specific points that should be answered under
each subject. Each committee member takes notes during the interview, then
ranks the candidates in each area. At the conclusion, you rank order all
the candidates, adding in blind submission ranking if you did that. If you
are lucky, you come out with a clear selection, or an easy vote. Otherwise,
the discussions begin.
I could go on but I've probably gone on enough, as it is. There is a lot
you can do developing interview materials, cut-sheets, ranking systems, etc.
to take the politics out of the process. The key, regardless of whether
you're choosing a volunteer mini-mite coach or a pro adult league coach, is
to prepare beforehand. People, with the best of intentions, just think that
everyone will "know" who is the best qualified candidate. The fact is, if
you haven't discussed it, you probably don't even agree on what you want for
the team, let alone what you want from a coach! That's when you open the
door for politics, power struggles, hurt feelings, and unthought-through
compromises that might not give you the best coach.
To summarize: Selecting a coach is a scientific process. You should agree,
in the most specific terms possible, on what you want for your team
(QUALIFY), how a coach would get them there (QUANTIFY), then develop the
materials you need to select the best candidate (CHOOSE).
If you've read this far, thanks for bearing with me!
C.L.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 12:15:55 -0400
From: "Angela Koos (NTT)"
Subject: FW: Westland Women's Hockey League
The Westland Arena is doing a women's hockey league (also loking to do three
girls' league-12 & under, 15 & under, and 19 & under).
Here is the vital information:
>10 game guarantee
>all games either Friday or Saturday
>games will prbably start June 19th
>can enter as a team, or as individual
>cost is $100 per player or $1250 per team
>Need $300 for a team entry by June 1st
>Need 4 teams to make it work-so sign up today
>All players will need their USA Hockey IMRs
They won't do it it they don't get 4 teams. For more information, please
call Matt or Arlene at (734) 729-4560.
Do this ASAP if you are interested! ! ! ! ! !
______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to email@hidden
Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/
------------------------------
End of Women-in-Hockey Digest V1 #428
*************************************