June 2020 Link to coaches training 1 slides: https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.leagueathletics.com/Images/Club/18525/PYH Coaches Training 1.pdf

August 2020 Link to coaches training 2 slides: https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.leagueathletics.com/Images/Club/18525/Aug PYH Coaches Training 2.pdf

Hello and Welcome to all Coaches,

Before anything else we would like to take a moment to thank you all for your acceptance of this role and for your commitment throughout the year to your team, parents and to the development of youth hockey. We all know hockey is the greatest and most difficult sport in the world.

Coaching hockey is complex and challenging but truly rewarding experience.

Congratulations, from now on you will always be known as 'Coach' to someone!  

As many of you are experienced coaches you will already know that there are a number of administrative activities involved in insuring you have a safe, fun and enjoyable season. This page has been created to provide an ongoing reference for these activities and a place to come if you have questions about your responsibilities or to send your assistant coaches to learn more. 

The list below is intended to provide a starting and reference point for PYH Coaches looking for information and will be continuously updated as needed. If you have any questions please do feel free to contact any of the board members or Ryan MacDonald the Coaching Director by email at r_macdona@yahoo.com or by cell at 339-832-0135.

Coaching Philosophy 

First we should share that PYH subscribes to the USA Hockey ADM Model. This approach, designed by hockey players for hockey players uses a combination of small area games across multiple stations. This strategy then allows us to provide a rich and fun learning environment while effectively using our available ice time. 

USA Hockey provides us with training and background materials as well as a years worth of practice plans for use with all ages of players. Please take advantage of these plans to ensure that our players are developing a variety of skills including skating, puck handling and hockey acumen in addition to having a great time throughout the season. 

More information about the ADM plan can be found on the USA Hockey website at 

http://www.usahockey.com/page/show/1592529-american-development-model

Certifications

USA Hockey requires that all of our coaches receive the proper level of certifications in order to participate in coaching activities. USA Hockey provides us with many resources, all can be found under the coaching section in their website http://www.usahockey.com/coaches 

This list below shows the certifications that are required for PYH coaches. 

Coaching Level - You must be current in your coaching level in each year that you coach. USA hockey allows you to start at any time as long as you progress through the levels each year throughout your coaching career. 

Check to see your certifications or assistant coaches http://www.usahockey.com/page/show/893024-cep-list

Coaching Education Program Policy and Clinics http://www.usahockey.com/coachingclinics

(Note: Coaching level courses and age modules must be completed by December 31st or those coaches will not be allowed on the bench after that date) 

Age Specific Modules http://www.usahockey.com/page/show/892966-age-specific-modules

Safe Sport http://www.usahockey.com/page/show/908023-usa-hockey-safesport-program

CORI Form - All head and assistant coaches as well as team managers must go through the CORI background check before gaining access to players or their contact information. CORI Checks are good for 2 years. Please contact Ryan MacDonald (r_macdona@yahoo.com) for more information, (you can also click the link) process to request a CORI.

We understand that this represents a large commitment for our coaches and appreciate your investment in time however we do know that these certifications translate directly into positive experiences for our players and parents and are completely committed to ensuring that everyone is up to date on their trainings.

Note: We will update this page shortly on the reimbursement policy and process for signing up and taking these trainings. 

IMR Numbers

Anyone who is on the ice either at practice, games or other times as part of a PYH or USA Hockey activity is required to by a USA Hockey member and have what they call an IMR number. Among other benefits being a member provides PYH with insurance coverage for players and coaches and helps us cover liabilities should there be a problem. PYH does reimburse our coaches for this investment, please email a copy of your receipt and we will credit your account. 

IMPORTANT: Do not allow any coaches, players, parents or siblings on the ice without being registered with PYH or having an IMR number. 

http://www.usahockeyregistration.com/login_input.action

Assistant Coaches

With luck you are already starting to look at your team rosters or have heard from some parents interested in assisting with you this season. We welcome all interested parents who wish to be a part of their players development but do leave selection of up to 3 assistant coaches up to the head coach and also after review from Level director or board. These assistants must comply with all of the certifications listed above as well as any other policy for PYH hockey. We also ask that you identify your coaches by the first week of September as this allows us to organize and submit official rosters. 

Official USA Hockey Team Rosters

Every Fall we put together the official rosters for that season. These including the players name, parents contact and official USA Hockey Paperwork like IMR number and birth date. The creation of these official rosters require considerable effort, including your selection and notification of assistant coaches prior to or around the first week of September. After the rosters are set, then each coach will receive an official copy to be used in Tournaments and State playoffs. 

Website and Communication

Something important to cover off the top on communication.

PYH will not tolerate the use of profanity or other unacceptable behavior either written or spoken either on the website, in other communications, with or from parents and especially at any time from our coaches or players when engaged in activities associated with the program. Incidents of this nature are subject to Board review and other penalties as determined necessary.

Each player, their parents, other coaches and teams, officials and spectators should treat each other with respect at all times when representing PYH in any way. 

Website: Starting with this season PYH has implemented a new website that has much more functionality than previously available to coaches. This new site allows coaches to:

• Print game rosters
• Update schedules and statistics
• Update team pages with news and photo's as your season progresses 
• Send team emails from your coaches account instead of your personal account

As this is our first season please bare with us as we continue to roll out this functionality along with the training for these functions. We do however encourage you to explore these functions along with the other elements of the application as it will hopefully make your coaching a little easier and communications more fun for the team. 

Parents: Each coach will have their own style when it comes to communication with parents. While we leave this up to your discretion , we would like to encourage you to have open and honest communications with everyone involved in your team throughout the year. A few ideas that may help new coaches in their communication include:

• Have a parents meeting early, share your own philosophy (hint it should be the ADM) 
• Establish a standard communication time and content. Let them know when it is acceptable to call or contact you and the best way to reach you. Remember you are a volunteer so you do not have to be available 24x7
• Let them know about expectations for missing practice or games and what to do if that happens. 
• Give parents as much information about the roster, playing time, strategy or other activities as possible as this transparency will go a long way to helping everyone understand any particular situation as it comes up in the game. For example, if you plan to 'sit' players, establish the criteria for this early on so everyone understands why it happens and how long it will be in effect. (note this is not a desirable practice for PYH coaches especially at the B and B2 level) 

Ice Time and Equipment

PYH provides a standard weekly practice schedule. Coaches are expected to either attend these practices or have sufficient coverage as needed. In addition there are bi-weekly skills sessions for each age group that we request coaches to attend whenever possible. These skills sessions are important to your player development, providing specific skills such as skating, puck handling and shooting and allow you extra time during practices to work on some position play or other activities specific to your team. Please encourage your players and coaches to attend whenever possible.

For both skills and especially your practice hours, please do come prepared with a written practice plan, water and a positive approach as having these things get you off to a great start with any practice hour. 

As all PYH practices are at Hobomock rink, PYH has a 'job box' containing, pucks, pennies and cones as well as a few other items in each of the 2 rinks. These bright orange boxes can be accessed through a key, something we can provide to each head coach as needed. Please do however make sure that you lock these boxes at the end of your practice as our valuable equipment will walk away otherwise. 

For a listing of the practice ice hours please see the practice schedule page located at http://leagueathletics.com/Page.asp?n=103452&org=pembrokehockey

Coaches Meetings

Each year typically the second or third week of September there is a PYH coaches meeting held to cover many of the items found here as well as ice time, rules for each of the leagues, suspensions and other administrative topics as needed for coaches and assistants. Please watch for notification about this meeting as it is scheduled.  Please make every effort to attend these meetings or send a representative to ask any questions you may have. 

We hope this page contains enough information to get you started in your coaching career with Pembroke Youth Hockey and also want to thank you again for your time, energy and commitment to the development of quality hockey players as well as respectable and well rounded children. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Ryan MacDonald Coaching Director (r_macdona@yahoo.com) or any other PYH board member and we will be happy to assist you.