Professional Development

The Skating Instructional Stream clinic provides coaches the tools and skills required to teach skating in a progressive manner, from skills to tactics, to players of all ages. Coaches will gain insight into the need to consider skill development plans and how to use effective drills and teaching techniques for skill improvement.

The Skills Instructional Stream clinic provides coaches the tools and skills required to teach puck related skills to players of all ages in a progressive manner, which means you’ll learn how to teach by building from skills to individual tactics. Coaches will gain insight into the need to consider skill development plans and how to use effective drills and teaching techniques for skill improvement.

Level 1 starts with focusing on individual puck control skills only with levels 2 and 3 adding puck skills that involve one or more players and begin to contribute to tactics.

In this clinic series, coaches learn how to teach defensemen specific skills in a progressive manner. The ability to contribute offensively and defensively is the foundation for all defensemen. A defenseman’s overall ability is directly related to their performance in skating, puck control, shooting, and checking. This fundamental connection between a defenseman's overall ability and their individual skills means coaches need to create development plans for their defensemen and dedicate adequate time to the instruction of defense specific skills in practices.

The Checking Instructional Stream clinic provides coaches the tools and skills required to teach the complete checking skill set in a progressive manner, from skills to tactics, to players of all ages. Coaches will gain insight into the need to consider skill development plans and how to use effective drills and teaching techniques for checking skill improvement.

The Checking Level 1 clinic is embedded in the Coach 2 and Development 1 clinics so coaches having taken those clinics are considered trained in Checking Level 1.

Checking Level 1

• Introduction
• Developing a Skill Base
• The Phases of Checking
• Roles & Responsibilities

The Goaltending Instructional Stream clinics are designed to teach coaches how to teach goaltenders. And we stress this very important point - they are for all coaches, not just goalie coaches. The topics covered in these clinics form a valuable information base for head and assistant coaches. And given the vast majority of minor hockey teams do not have a goalie coach it becomes critical that at least one coach on a team has taken some training and understands the position and the required skills. Topics for the goaltending clinics are as follows:

The Shooting & Scoring Instructional Stream clinics are designed to teach coaches how to teach shooting and scoring skills to their players. This clinic series looks at all types of shots and shooting scenarios for all positions - forwards and defensemen. In addition the clinic covers the various scoring situations that players need to understand and identify within the game. Topics for the clinics are as follows:

The use of games in practice is an effective teaching tool. Small area games, in various forms, provide players game like situations in which they can apply skills, tactics and strategies they are learning. Games not only provide players opportunities to refine and put their skills into practice but they also can be used to teach skills and tactics. Topics for the Small Area Games clinic is as follows: