A Not So Skater Helper

Aaaaah, the memories… When I was a very young coach, I was just starving for any kind of information that would advance me in that profession. And so I enlisted in just about any clinic or course that helped me in that way. (Actually, would you believe I climbed US hockey’s coaching ladder twice? Yup, I achieved Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Coach certification under the original AHA organization — even taking the Advanced level program twice; and then I climbed the entire current-day USA Hockey ladder, from Level 1 to Level 5 Master Coach.

Among my fondest memories, however, was taking one of my very first coaching related courses under the guidance of a Dr. Earl Hoerner. The course took place weeknights at Braintree Hospital in Braintree, MA, and it was attended by quite a few area coaches from various sports, many of them being a lot more experienced than I. In fact, since this was during the late-1970’s, it was a while before I realized we were among the earliest amateur coaches to get a taste of something like Dr Hoerner’ scientific approach.

Anyway, the following gadget — or those akin to this gadget — is what got me thinking about The Good Doctor…

Okay, this story in reference to Dr Earl… You see, as famous as he was in the hockey world, he was a real “regular guy”, and super-accommodating. As an example, not long after we got to know each other, he’d go out of his way to visit my summer hockey schools. And I can remember the following occurring one morning when he joined a few of my staff and me in a lockerroom before camp began. (Okay, I’m grinning now as I recall this conversation…) Ya, Dr Hoerner had noticed a younger member of my staff taping one ankle before putting on his skates. And the doctor started to needle that staff member about relying on the tape instead of aiming to rebuild the muscles in his once injured ankle. Oh, Dr Hoerner could lecture you pretty good in matters like that, without hurting your feelings or anything, or actually while causing everyone to laugh a bit. Aaaaaaah… God bless him.

Now, about the above pictured gadget… I taught “learn-to” clinics throughout Southern New England over at least 4 decades, and I never saw the need to use one. Oh, I recall once when a parent gave his young son a tall pylon as they readied to join me on the ice. But I tried to use a little of Dr Hoerner’s tact, and promised the dad that his boy wouldn’t need that pylon at all.

As an aside, a very nice Canada-based lady messaged me her feelings on such a gadget about an hour ago, suggesting that in using them, “We really focus on independance (sic) and the kids are so proud of themselves.” My answer… “Isn’t a child getting up on his or her own a big part of being independent?”

Now, try visualizing something along with me… I mean, tell me whether you believe there’s a difference between a young player — in all his or her beginner gear — rising up from a lockerrom floor or rising up from the ice. (Ya, talk about “dryland training”.) Well, if you’re with me on this, you’ll appreciating my clinic kids always needing to be totally dressed and ready for me in their lockerroom a good 15-minutes prior to our going on the ice. And, given that time, we practiced getting up and going down, to eventually having fun races to get up quickly, and then contests to see who could do the best falls. And, before we’d leave those first lockerroom sessions, I’d have the kids marching with knees high and eventually jogging in place.

Can you just imagine what we accomplished in that extra 15-ish minutes per week? As for taking to the ice, I wanted as little discipline as possible (beyond the usual safety measures), which meant that the kids initially entered the ice and moved around on their own for a good 2- or 3-minutes. When my trusty whistle brought the kids in around me, I asked for volunteers to show the rest of us how they could get up and down. We ultimately went through the other little tricks we’d already tried in the dressingroom, with each of those tricks separated by “free time”. Ya, little ones can often grow more in those few minutes.

In what I jokingly referred to a “the Zen of skating” — or my way of becoming one with the ice, I had the kids roll around the ice to see who could get the most snow all over them. “After all,” I’d tell them, “the best hockey players had the messiest uniforms!”

Then, if you want to call it “Zen Two”, I’d have the kids take running starts and then see who could slide the furthest on their bellies or backs. As much as anything, however, I knew the kids had to really thrust in their running starts in order to slide very far.

Want to know more? Just go to my “21-Must-Do Beginner Skating Drills” post and video to see the above and other really great drill ideas!

Lastly, however, I hope no rink manager or owner or gadget inventor is getting ticked at me because of all the above. If I owned a rink, I’d have plenty of such gadgets available for patrons — during public skating sessions, or for those instructors who aren’t into my way of teaching. If kids feel safe and enjoy themselves at the rink, they’re sure to return. And, it’s that enjoying their experiences and wanting to return that creates lasting customers and even some great skaters.

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Earl F. Hoerner

Earl F. Hoerner, 84, a retired physician who specialized in sports medicine, died June 10 at Edgewood Retirement Community in North Andover of a heart attack.

Born in Harrisburg, Penn., Dr. Hoerner graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1944. He served in the Army during World War II. He received his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in 1949 and a master’s in public health from the University of Pittsburgh in 1952.

Dr. Hoerner was a physician for amateur and professional hockey teams, including the New York Rangers, and founded the Livingston Hockey Association and the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association in New Jersey in the 1960s and ’70s. Dr. Hoerner published several books about athletic equipment and safety in youth sports.

After moving to Massachusetts in 1977, Dr. Hoerner was director of ambulatory care and sports medicine at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital for three years while teaching at Tufts University. He spent two years as a rehabilitation physician in Saudi Arabia, then was director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Hoerner leaves his sister, Frances Seymour of Radcliff, Ky.; three sons, Thomas of Andover, Kenneth of Livingston, N.J., and Jeffery of Manchester, N.H.; five grandsons; and three granddaughters. His wife, Rhea Joy (Smith), died in 1989. Services are private.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

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