The Truth About Hockey Continued (VIII) – Coaching In Minor Hockey

Posted by Jim on January 17, 2018
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, understanding hockey.

Coaches Don’t Grow On Trees ….. Or Do They?

To Help You Better Understand The Beast You’re Dealing With

First let me just say that for the most part; God bless the people who volunteer their time and get into coaching. Without them there would be no teams and no hockey leagues. However, as I wrote before, I’m not a huge fan of the level of the proficiency of coaching at the minor hockey level.  Most often, the coaching is being performed by people just stating to coach and who are pretty much dimly aware of all the knowledge, skill sets and experience required.  Too many people think that if you can skate a bit, draw out some drills on a board and blow a whistle; then you’re qualified to coach.  For now, let’s just say that I find this to be very unfortunate because this is when the young kids have an extraordinary capacity to learn.

Other than guidance from parents, the most important factor that will affect the development and success of a hockey player is the coach. In the GTHL, parents and kids tend to get hung up on the organization or the jersey when it’s the coach that’s the most important factor.  In the OMA, team options and therefore coaching choices are limited and the OMA never makes your life easy to make a team and therefore a coaching change. In the GTHL, parents have it far better. At the triple A level there are 12 teams to choose from and many more choices at the double and single A levels. My advise is to do lot of due diligence to find the best coach possible.

Where Do Minor Hockey Coaches Come From?

In my experience there are 3 basic ways people get into coaching.

At the earliest house league levels it’s usually just some dad whose son is starting in hockey, who played a bit of hockey in his youth and who has to drive to the arena anyway.

At the next level, the coaching entering the system usually comes from a parent that watches his son’s or daughter’s game and says to himself; “I can do a better job that idiot behind the bench”. From there they fall into 2 general categories; Those that take the job seriously, want to do a good job, quickly find out it’s more difficult than they thought, and then educate themselves so they can do a good job ….. and then there’s the  egomaniac (you can generally spot this one because that’s usually the guy that commands the audience of parents in the lobby and regales them with  examples of his brilliance and knowledge).

Paid Minor Hockey Coaches

A fairly recent development is the paid coach. As I wrote in one of my previous blogs, this all started sometime in the early 2000’s when three very wealthy gentlemen by the names of; Harvey Shapiro, Peter Friedman and Stuart Hyman, (who had children that were just starting out in hockey in the GTHL)  purchased the triple A North York Junior Canadiens organization. They were the ones that started to bring in paid professional coaches to the local minor hockey scene.

This coincided with a time when there was a proliferation of hockey schools opening up. Most of these hockey schools were started by players who didn’t quite make it to the “big time” and therefore didn’t make the big bucks. Having spent many years dedicated to hockey and with many having sacrificed their education in pursuit of a hockey career; starting a hockey school seemed natural. The problem is that running a successful hockey school is damn tough so getting a paid GTHL coaching gig was perfect for them. They were able to make extra money with the added benefit for them that here’s a source of students for their hockey school; maybe with a little added coercion of extra ice time for those that attend regularly at their school.

 

Coaches Don’t Grow On Trees ….. Or Do They?

In the next blog I’ll provide an outline of all of the skill sets and knowledge needed to be a good coach; but really it’ll be a great guide for parents to help them assess a coach.

There’s a lot more to come.

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

 

 

The Truth About Hockey Continued (VII) – 2 Most Important Keys To Success – Part 2

Posted by Jim on January 8, 2018
Posted in: Hockey, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, understanding hockey.

The Two Most Important Keys To Success – Part 2


Two Things You Have Some Ability To Control – Individual Skills & Attitude

In Part 1, I wrote about the importance of individual hockey skills as a key to a player’s success. Now about the  need for the correct attitude and state of mind.

Now I’m a pretty old guy and it appears that over the last couple of generations, things have changed. When I was a young lad in school, there was a system of respect and discipline in place. We had a healthy respect for our teachers and fear of getting in trouble. Our parents supported this and if we got in trouble at school; we hoped that our parents wouldn’t find out.

In this new modern age generation of education and parenting it seems that it’s all about; protecting kids from the cruel outside world, giving your children everything, and maintaining their self-esteem no matter what. In order to achieve this we’ve moved to a world where; every child passes from one grade to the next regardless (testing and exams can be way too stressful) and every child gets a trophy and the score doesn’t matter.

Well, in my opinion that’s just not the way the real world works. I can pretty much guarantee you it won’t work that way in your hockey career if you choose to progress to a higher level. As I wrote in Part 1, even the dumbest coach figures out which players are making a positive contribution to winning during the play of the game and deploys his player assets accordingly because a coach not only wants to win; he absolutey needs to win.

Parents – You Have A Lot To Do With This

A True Story

Once upon a time there was a young hockey player who showed much promise. He played at the elite level and regularly attended a quality hockey school to continue to improve his skills. He was average in stature but displayed considerable skill that showed in his performance and contribution on the ice. When the time came he was a high draft pick to Major Junior A and was expected to be a high draft pick to the NHL. In the course of time however, his stock as a player dropped.

Now all you had to do is stand beside this player’s father (the main force in this family) during a game and listen to his ongoing commentary. This was the constant prattle; “the coach is an idiot”, “he should be getting more ice time”, “his line-mates don’t know how to give or take a pass”, “he should be playing centre because he’s a natural centre”; and on and on.

Now it doesn’t take much to realize that the father was saying the same things to his hockey playing son. Also, it doesn’t take much to realize the effect this would have on the attitude of the son and the effect it would have on his play.

Ultimately; although he was drafted to the NHL, he dropped far down in the draft and in the end, he never played a single game in the NHL.

 

If You’re Not Getting The Ice Time You Think You Deserve

Make The Coach Look Like A Fool

Life just isn’t perfect. The coaches are not perfect. The referees are not perfect. The ice surface is not perfect. Your hockey playing son is not perfect. You have to learn how to deal with this reality. What you need to do if you’re not getting the ice time you think you deserve is to turn the emotion into energy devoted to your performance. (Now I’m not saying become a puck hog. I am saying do all the right things; make the best possible decisions and make a maximum contribution. There is no other good choice.) Make the coach look like a fool. Make the coach realize that you deserve more ice time. Make everyone on the stands watching be aware of your effort, talent and contribution. Make the coach realize how much you are able to contribute to the team’s success.

 

The Puck Has No Memory

State Of Mind

Now this is a big, important and somewhat complicated topic and I’ll be writing a lot more about this in the future, but I thought I would touch on it a bit now.

The puck has no memory. It’s just a dumb piece of rubber. It doesn’t know what you’ve done before and doesn’t care.

The problem is that human beings have memories and they also have fears.

As much I admit it is difficult to do, an athlete in competition (in this case a hockey player) needs to have the following state of mind; regardless of how good or how bad your last shift, you need to try to make your next shift the best of your life.

The Two Most Important Keys To Success

 

In the next blog I’ll talk about coaching in minor hockey to better help you understand the beast you’re dealing with.

There’s a lot more to come

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

The Truth About Hockey Continued (VI) – 2 Most Important Keys To Success – Part 1

Posted by Jim on December 29, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, understanding hockey. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

The Two Most Important Keys To Success


Two Things You Have Some Ability To Control 

Time to give you (what I think) is very useful and important information. This is more for the parents with children who aspire to a more advanced level of hockey.  Later I’ll get back to more of understanding this “beast” you’re dealing with.

As you will find out soon enough, I’m not a huge fan of the level of proficiency of coaching at the minor hockey level. This is a big subject and I will deal with it in more detail in future blogs. For now, let’s just say that I find it quite tragic that at the very formative years of our young hockey players’ lives; the coaching is being performed by people who for the most part are dimly aware of all the knowledge and skill sets required (let alone the experience) to take full advantage of the extraordinary learning capacity of these young kids.

I’ve found; however, there’s one thing even the dumbest coach figures out pretty quickly. They soon figure out which players are a net contributor or a net liability to the team’s success during the play of the game. It’s kind of like a balance sheet; a player either contributes to success or you’re scared as heck when they’re on the ice. Since every coach is judged by his success (basically winning games), guess which players the coach prefers to have on the ice?

Two Things You Have Some Ability To Control – Individual Skills & Attitude

 

Individual Skills

There is no such thing as the perfect hockey player …. never has been …. never will be.  If you could conceive of all of the “attributes” the perfect hockey player would have; that would just never happen and that player will never exist. That’s actually one of the beautiful things that makes life interesting.

What every hockey player brings to a team is his own unique individual package of “attributes”. Some attributes you have absolutely no or little control over. If you’re five foot nine or  six-foot three,  bow-legged or knock-kneed, (how do I put this delicately) dumb or smart; these “attributes” are for the most part simply put; built into your DNA …. period!

So Let’s See What You Can Control

You can give your child the opportunity to learn, improve and hone their individual skills.

A hockey player straps a boot with a blade attached and moves over a surface of frozen water. It’s called skating and you had better be proficient at skating to have any success. Unlike the “good old days” hockey today is not just north/south and up & down your wing. The quick starts & stops, change of direction and transition at incredible speeds are vital to success in today’s game. Additionally, you need to be able do this while handling a puck.  While all this is going on, the opposition is fully willing and prepared to take your head off with a body check if you’re not paying attention or sufficiently skilled.

Individual hockey skills can be taught. The Russians showed us that fact, and although it took some time for that to sink in here in the West, it finally did sink in and we now have qualified people who can teach these skills. I was fortunate enough to spend 14 years working with a hockey school run by a somewhat “quirky genius” that was trained in the so-called “Russian” method of hockey skating and skills development. I personally watched how it worked; and it worked well in deed. This school has legitimately graduated more players to the NHL including a good number of 1st round draft picks. The school still operates today. I was also fortunate to work with a couple of dedicated and conscientious guys that have gone on to run their own hockey schools. So I know this works and I know it’s available; your challenge will be (if you’re so inclined) to identify and find a good school. Hockey schools and their evolutionary history here in the West is a topic on its own and I’ll deal with in some detail another time and hopefully provide you some guidance.

One thing that’s a real shame is the lack of good “shinny” hockey opportunities available for young players. Shinny hockey provides an unstructured fun time for young players to just fool around skating with a stick and a puck with other players trying to take the puck from them. Most ice time today is made up of highly structured practices and hockey school sessions. While these are necessary and valuable for development, unstructured shinny time is a valuable and necessary component to practice spontaneous creativity.

An Important Thing To Know About Hockey Skills

As much as hockey is a team sport, ultimately success comes down to winning one-on-one battles. At the higher levels of hockey, the players in that stratosphere can all do enough of the “big” skills elements or they just wouldn’t be there. Ultimately it will come down to a player’s sum total of “smaller more nuanced” elements of individual skills that will lead to winning more of those one-on-one battles; and if you’ve ever played the game, you realize that you really don’t have to be that much better to beat your opponent more often than not.

In Part 2, I’ll talk about “attitude”. You can possess a ton of skill, but your progression to a higher level will be more limited and more difficult without the right attitude. And parents; pay attention, you will have a big impact!

There’s a lot more to come.

The Two Most Important Keys To Success

Two Things You Have Some Ability To Control 

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

God Bless Johnny Bower

Posted by Jim on December 27, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament.

Remembering Johnny Bower

For the first couple of years Mister Johnny Bower attended and played in our golf tournament. He graciously took every request for pictures and for autographs. He stayed all the way through our dinner and presentations; shaking hands and chatting with everyone. He was a beautiful gentleman.

(Click on any picture below to view as a slideshow)

God Bless Johnny Bower

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

 

 

The Truth About Hockey Continued ( V ) – Cui Bono? – Part 3

Posted by Jim on December 19, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, understanding hockey.

Cui Bono? – Part 3

The most I ever paid for an annual registration for one of my sons in hockey was $750 for the triple A Marboros Midget team. Now this was back in the late 1990’s and we as parents also had to work at charity bingos or casino nights so that the Marlie organization would provide more funds for the team  operations. I think the total budget for the team for the entire season was just north of 30K.  Today the registration for some triple A teams is reported to be in excess of $8000 in some cases  (and the total yearly cost for triple A has been reported to be from 10K to 15K per child).

How And When Did Things Get Out Of Hand?

In the good old days, one of the “defacto” owners of a triple A GTHL team was a man by the name of Bob Law. Bob Law was the “defacto” owner of the triple A North York Junior Canadiens organization. When Mr. Law passed away, his family decided to “sell off” (sometime in the early 2000’s) the Jr. Canadiens organization to three very wealthy gentlemen by the names of; Harvey Shapiro, Peter Friedman and Stuart Hyman, who had children just starting out in hockey.

Shapiro, Friedman and Hyman wanted to build an elite organization and rumour has it that they felt there was “a lot being left on the table”; in other words, there was more money that was willing to be paid by hockey parents. These guys initiated the era of paid professional coaches and a lot more. Rumour also has it that the team budget for their sons’ novice team (at that time the boys were 9 years old), was in excess of 200K. This group went on to reconstruct an industrial building into a 2 pad ice rink facility. I suspect these wonderful people have other related business operations integrated into their overall “hockey empire” and have realized the potential monies to be had.

And so, the cost of minor hockey has escalated dramatically and you can thank these wonderful people. Subsequently, the other “defacto” owners realized that they were monies being left on the table and raised their registration costs accordingly.

Can You Really Make Money Running A Minor Hockey Organization?

Stuart Hyman broke away from his partners in the Junior Canadiens organization and struck out on his own to develop his own hockey empire. I could go on about the extent of the hockey empire that Hyman built however lets just cut to the chase and say that it was reported that he gained control of more than 90 GTHL teams. It has also been reported that to finance this control he immediately doubled registration fees for all teams.

According to a Toronto Star news article in 2008, Al Morris, chairman of Hockey Canada, said the GTHL asked the country’s governing hockey body to audit Hyman’s books because the league doesn’t have the authority on its own to probe the financial records of its clubs. “(Hyman) doesn’t want an audit,” Morris said in an interview, adding that Hyman and his lawyer have imposed numerous delays on the process. “I think (he) has decided to withdraw (from the GTHL) as the lesser of two evils.” Subsequently , the GTHL demanded Hyman divest his interests in several of the clubs. Hyman agreed to shed 36 teams if he were allowed to continue with the remainder.

Why would an already multi-millionaire try to control that many hockey teams if it wasn’t for the money?

You Need To Understand The Beast You’re Dealing With

I’ve droned on a bit about this subject, but you really need what you’re dealing with when you get you children involved with minor hockey and how it came to be. There’s a lot more to this subject, but for now just remember that at every level in this area and probably in North America everyone is out to make a buck.

There’s a lot more you need to know to understand this “beast” you’re dealing with, however, I’m going to move on and give you some really valuable information. I’ll deal with more of understanding this “beast” in future blogs.

In the next blog I’ll tell you what I believe are the two most important things you have some control over that will help to ensure you and your children have the best experience possible in your hockey careers.

There’s a lot more to come.

You Need To Understand The Beast You’re Dealing With

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

 

The Truth About Hockey Continued ( IV ) – Cui Bono? – Part 2

Posted by Jim on December 11, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament. Tagged: .

Cui Bono? – Part 2

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time a new residential development sprang up on the outskirts of Toronto. It was a well planned new community and provision was made for parks and other amenities for the use of the young families that would soon move to this new community. Since hockey is somehow embedded in the very DNA of Canada, a hockey arena was built in one of the parks. Naturally a minor hockey league was organized for the area children; and again, since hockey is part of Canadian DNA the league was well supported and big success in the community. Obviously, since any minor hockey league needs management and coordination to be successful;  a group of wonderful volunteers in the community got togther to provide the necessary structure and organization.

How Did Community Based Organizations Morph Into Organizations With A Group Of “Owners”?

In the early days these wonderful volunteers along with participating families met on an annual basis to review the season, look at the finances, plan for the next season, and to select and appoint those volunteers that would manage the league for the next year. Over time the same proven and effective dedicated volunteers were acclaimed to their organizational positions. The league was doing well and these volunteers took pride in the fruits of their efforts.  And, over more time, there were no more annual meetings, there was no change in the administration and the volunteers became “de facto” owners of the hockey league.

There’s Money To Be Made!

In the course of time the new “de facto” owners found there was money to be made in the running of the hockey league. There are monies collected from registration of participants. There are monies raised from fund raising efforts in bingos, yearbooks and banquets. The league needs equipment such as team helmets, hockey pants, team sweaters & socks, track suits, team jackets, trophies and team pictures; and what the hell, we can just form a company to be a middle man to supply these needs …. and just guess who forms this company.

The Following Is Taken From The Rules Of The GTHL

Provision of Club Policies

“Each Club shall prepare in writing a set of Club Policies in whatever format it deems appropriate. The Club Policies shall describe the Club’s rules, policies and procedures with respect to the topics listed in Schedule ‘B’ to these Rules. The Club Policies must be made available to each player (which for this purpose, where the player is under 18 years of age, shall include at least one of the player’s parents or legal guardians), prior to or at the time he signs a Registration Certificate. The player (including the parent or legal guardian to whom it has been provided), must be afforded an opportunity to review the Club Policies before a Registration Certificate is signed”.

Disclosure Relating to Fees

“Each Club or Affiliated Group shall provide a player (which for this purpose, where the player is under 18 years of age, shall include at least one of the player’s parents or legal guardians) prior to or at the time he signs a Registration Certificate, with a statement in writing disclosing the full amount to be paid to the Club or the Affiliated Group as fees for the Season and setting forth the goods, equipment and services that will be provided to the player for the fee. If a final fee amount cannot be provided, any element that is subject to adjustment, and the reason for that, should be clearly identified and described.”

Disclosure of Payments to be made to Club or Team Officials

“(i) any Club Officials or Related Parties are to be paid any amounts, beyond reimbursement of reasonable expenses. Such disclosure is to be made in the Club’s Policies as described in Rule 5.7 and Schedule B.”

Mandatory Disclosure of Involvement of Club and Team Officials

“Where a Club or Team does, or intends to, purchase goods or services from [sic] who is a Related Party to the Club or Team, that fact is to be disclosed to each player (which for this purpose, where the player is under 18 years of age, shall include at least one of the player’s parents or his legal guardian) prior to or at the time he signs the Registration Certificate or as soon thereafter as it is decided that such purchase will be made.”

Disclosure?

In all my days with my boys playing in the GTHL or coaching in the GTHL, I was never offered any disclosure regarding organization rules, finances, or non-arms-length transactions. I was never invited to an annual meeting to review financials or vote on a new executive. In speaking with a number of parents whose children are presently in the GTHL, they tell me that their experience is no different from mine of years ago. They tell me that all they are asked to do is to sign a card and to write a cheque.

Nice to have all kinds of rules published on your website. Does anyone ever actually go to the GTHL website and read the rule book and handbook?  Is there any oversight to ensure that league rules are being followed?

Next I’ll extend this topic to where we are today and how we got there.

There’s so much more to come.

Cui Bono?

And

With Everyone Busy Lining Their Pockets, Who Has Time To Think About Striving For Excellence?

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

 

 

 

The Truth About Hockey Continued ( III ) – “Cui Bono”? – Part 1

Posted by Jim on December 5, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament.

Cui Bono? – Part 1

(Latin Meaning “For Who’s Benefit”)

Actually, most people or “players” benefit and the opportunity is there for all to gain benefit.

Hockey (as well as many other organized sports) can provide many wonderful experiences and great life long lessons. Aside from keeping kids occupied and away from video games or hanging around the plaza, they are engaged in a physical activity that affords the opportunity to learn responsibility, discipline, work ethic, team work and much more.

The More Important Question Is….

Who’s Making Money?

The answer is everyone (and I mean everyone) and the parents are the ones who are paying all of the freight.

The Store that sells the skates and equipment is making money. The guy that sharpens the skates is making money. The hockey schools are making money. Everyone is making money.

Now there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with this. Presumably, the store that sells the skates and equipment provides knowledgeable staff along with good prices and service; the guys that sharpens the skates does a great job at a reasonable price; the hockey school has well run and disciplined teaching sessions at a reasonable price and you see your child improve.  The beauty of this is that if any time you do not receive the quality, utility or value desired; you can take your business elsewhere and you can do that immediately.

Who Else Is Making Money?

A relatively new development is paid coaches at the minor levels of hockey. In the good old days coaches were all volunteers. I’ll cover this at another time because the there were a lot of changes at the time that this developed and it requires a lot more discussion.

The GTHL is making money. The GTHL runs the largest minor hockey league in the world with over 9,000 players made up over 500 teams at the A, AA, and AAA levels. To their credit, they provide audited yearly financial statements, however the statements are not exactly detailed and I don’t know how many people actually ever look at them.

The individual organizations that are member clubs of the GTHL are making money. Interestingly, there is a GTHL Rule that the member clubs have to file financial statements to the league every year, however it seems they are most interested in financial viability of the member clubs for the upcoming season. Also, I find it very interesting that the League rules have quite a bit about governance requirements regarding financial procedures and disclosure of the individual team finances within the League’s member clubs.

Both the GTHL and the member clubs of the GTHL are supposed to be non-profit organizations.

This Is Important

One thing you need to understand that once you sign with a member club of a hockey organization you are signing a league card binding you to that club for the entirety of that hockey season.  And by the way, you do not get to test drive a team. Unlike with the sporting goods store, the hockey school or the skate sharpener; you’re stuck. You cannot just go pick up and play with another team in mid-season if you’re unhappy.  It’s not impossible to get a release and play with another team, but no one is going to make it at all easy for you and your options are limited.

In the next part I’ll continue with the theme of “Cui Bono” and talk about the interesting transformation of what started as local community based hockey organizations.

There’s a lot more to come.

Cui Bono?

And

With Everyone Busy Lining Their Pockets, Who Has Time To Think About Striving For Excellence?

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

 

The Truth About Hockey Continued ( II )

Posted by Jim on December 1, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament.

Some Ground Rules

And Remember

This Is Meant To Provide Understanding

I feel I need to set some “ground rules” and context for posts to come as I can anticipate some ruffled feathers.

First of all keep in mind that I said from the beginning that I  believe involvement in the playing of hockey at an organized level can be one of the best experiences of your life on so many levels.  I found however the reality is that more often than not one’s experiences as they move through their hockey life contain both the best and worst imaginable. This is almost certain to be the case if the child shows skill and desire and moves up in the ranks of hockey.

My experiences come from my involvement and time spent coaching in the MTHL ( The Metro Toronto Hockey League ) later to become the GTHL ( The Greater Toronto Hockey League ) as the league expanded and integrated adjoining municipalities and cities. I have a pretty good knowledge of hockey as it exists outside the GTHL in what is generally known as OMHA centers. While my coaching days ended some time ago, I worked as a skills instructor with (what I think is ) the top hockey school in the area for close to fifteen years. Interacting with the kids and their parents have kept me in touch.

While my experience is pretty much centered in the Ontario, Canada hockey scene, I have a strong inclination that my many conclusions hold true wherever hockey is played. Additionally, my inclination is that many of my findings hold true across a variety of other sports.

Although, most of my conclusions are based on the landscape of a few years ago; they hold true today. There have been some changes since those days and I’m aware of them and will deal with those changes in specific future blogs. ( By the way, most of the changes since the “good old days” are not at all positive.)

If you get involved in hockey, you will meet a great many new people. Most will be quite ordinary and pretty decent; although you will also meet a few really exceptional people as well as some real jerks. It would be easy to say that this experience can bring out the best as well as the worst in people. Quite frankly; in my experience, the evidence is that it is more heavily weighted to bring out some of the worst in people’s behavior.

The whole purpose of this exercise is to educate and have an informed “Cannon Fodder”and put an end to the present self-perpetuating system. As I said before, by the time most people have been around long enough to have some of it figured out; it’s too late.  Knowledge is the key. Understand the foundation, the nature and the reality of the system.  I’m certain that this will drive an improved framework, a better product and therefor a better and rewarding experience for everyone.

Next we get into some meat by beginning to answer the question: “cui bono“?

Much more to come.

Some Ground Rules

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.

 

 

 

 

Remembering Mike

Posted by Jim on November 25, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament.

Remembering Mike

The Dichotomy of Death

“There’s a dichotomy of death in that sometimes it walks slowly to the front door of your life and gives you plenty of time to get your affairs in order.

There has been a good life ……. you’ve time to say goodbye to the people you love …. you’ve had time to offer a prayer  ….. It just walks slowly and gently to your front door.

Then, sometimes, it just kicks in the front door unexpectedly with no notice and you don’t even have time to say a prayer.

The word closure is used by people that have never suffered the loss of a child ….. because when you lose a child there is no closure.”

Remembering Mike

The Truth About Hockey Continued ( I )

Posted by Jim on November 22, 2017
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament.

Who Are The “Cannon Fodder”

And

Why Do They Do It?

 

The Who

The who are simply the dedicated parents and their children. The parents outfit the kids with equipment. They write the cheques for registration. They drive them to the arena for practices, games and tournaments. They support the team and the all of the team’s and organization’s fundraising. The parents soon find that the days activities are determined by the hockey schedule for the team and the routine habit is to check that schedule and make arrangements as necessary to meet it. It’s amazing how resourceful they become.

Some of the parents volunteer to coach, be assistant coaches, trainers, and team managers. Without them nothing would ever happen. It just wouldn’t exist.

But as you’ll discover, the most important thing that the parents do is keep going and writing the cheques.

The Why

Because They Act Like Normal Parents

Every normal parent simply wants what’s best for their children. Every step and accomplishment from the first steps learning to walk, learning to talk and onward and upward from there is a source of pride and pure joy.

For some reason the joy and pride from a child’s participation in sports occupies an elevated space in this hierarchy. In the early days there are no great expectations. When starting to skate and play hockey it’s an accomplishment to just stand and take a few strides while keeping the shiny sharp part of the skates in contact with the ice. In these early days they just learn by osmosis; the trial and error, the falling, the first few steps,  and so on, just like learning to walk. And you know what? They actually improve and get better and produce more joy for their parents.

Just go to any house league game of say about six year old players. Watch a kid actually skate with the puck, magically beat a couple opposition players and maintain control and then score a goal. If you were to be looking at the parents in the stands as this took place you would spot the child’s parents right away. They’re the ones whose upper bodies tensed up in anticipation along with some trepidation as their heads raised with chin thrust forward for a better look. This action almost pulls their rear ends off the bleacher seats. Then when the goal is scored the expressions of joy are palpable. The other parents congratulate them  (in these early days everyone is supportive; it’s a wonderful kinship).

It’s like a powerful opiate. They don’t know when the next high is going to happen but they’re addicted and they can’t wait for the next one.

These are the early days. The hopes are high while the expectations for the most part at this point are very modest. Enjoy it while you can for it’s more than likely to change.

Stay tuned, there’s a lot more to come.

 

Why – Because They Act Like Normal Parents