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Coaches

Summer Reading for Coaches

By Ontario Minor Hockey Association, 07/13/17, 2:15PM EDT

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Catch up on some valuable resources

The summer is the perfect time of the year to wind down and refresh following a busy hockey season. It gives players, coaches and parents a chance to decompress and take hockey off of their minds for a bit before getting ready to do it all over again.

It also serves as a great stage to spend on reflection of all the positives from the past season. Celebrate what your team did and work on coming up with a plan to motivate and continue the improvement that the players have made. Nobody knows the roster better than the coach. Bringing in new teaching methods will add to the leadership lessons you already provide.

Take some time to relax in the summer and pick up a book from some of the best in the business. Get into the mindset of some of the greatest minds in sports and see what techniques they used to get their teams to perform as a cohesive unit at the highest levels.

Here are some coaching books to catch up on in the summer:

Leave No Doubt: A Credo for Chasing Your Dreams: The author, Mike Babcock, knows a thing or two about bringing talented rosters together and getting them focused on a gameplan in a short amount of time. One of the most successful coaches in hockey history, Babcock has worked with rosters both young and old and got his players to buy into his philosophies. He details his time behind the bench overcoming pressure and doubt.

Knowing the Score: What Sports Can Teach Us About Philosophy (And What Philosophy Can Teach Us About Sports): Getting into the mindset of players and how they work as a team is critical in finding success as a unit. How a player believes they will perform and the pressure of big moments are all discussed in this book. The debate of being born with talent or working to create it is also brought up.

Peak: How to Master Almost Anything: Getting the best out of their players is something every coach strives to do. Digging deep into the mindset of a player to change their thinking about performance can unlock potential for skill development even they didn’t know they had.

Attitude: Develop a Winning Mindset on and off the Court: Building a culture for your locker room is easy to do in theory but tougher to execute. Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright reveals some of his leadership secrets that have made his team a powerhouse despite limited enrollment to the school. Creating a set of values and roles for your team applies not only to sports but to many other settings as well.

There are also plenty of resources available online for those who feel more comfortable reading from a screen.

Hockey Canada Network App: The Hockey Canada Network offers coaches, players and parents in every community across Canada access to the best information for developing hockey players. It provides on-demand access to thousands of articles and videos.

OMHA YouTube Page: Our channel has plenty of video resources for those who prefer to learn with visual tools. There are ideas for practices, drills and other player development tools.

Breakaway Podcast: The minor hockey podcast connects you with some of the best and brightest minds in the game today. Host Dan Pollard sits down with the leaders of hockey to discuss everything from scoring more goals to how to grow the game.

Coach Resource Page: This page features plenty of practice, evaluation, checklist, skill development and information resources for coaches to use during their time behind the bench. Keep checking back here for new articles and ideas to apply to your coaching repertoire.

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