Being A Good Hockey Teammate

A long-time friend and very active member suggested I address something here at CoachChic.com.

What brought us to discussing this was the flurry of trades that took place before, during and after a recent NHL Draft.  More specifically, some not-so-nice things came to light in the media, once a guy had been traded.  Interestingly, we never seemed to hear those negatives before the given trade.  Once a guy was shipped out of town, however, it seems all his behavioral issues were fair game.

Some of what we heard had to do with his off-ice activities, and some of them intimated that he wasn’t as good a teammate as he could have been.

My friend and I talked on Facebook about that stuff, until he finally asked me to address it here, at which time I told him that I’d just recently watched a video done by our good friend, Shaun Goodsell.  And, while this doesn’t deal with late-night carousing issues, it offers the best advice I’ve ever heard when it comes to being a good guy or gal in the lockerroom.

I don’t know about you but, that stuff really meant something to me.

I don’t think I’ve ever coached a team — youth to college — whereby players didn’t at least somewhat pay more attention to teammates they knew well, and less to those they didn’t know so well.  That, at least to me, is human nature.  So, I can’t necessarily fault kids for doing what comes comfortably to them.  Of course, what Shaun had to say is an awesome way to look at that, and I’d highly recommend that every coach (and parent) make their young player aware of that viewpoint.  Just imagine what a lockerroom would be like if every player took that approach.

Then, just to give you a hint of something I eventually began working on — and maybe suggest something other coaches might try…  I started digging through Google to find ideas for “bonding”, or “ice breaking”.  A lot of companies are now doing this, even calling in specialists who will run all sorts of games that tend to get folks laughing and working together.  A lot of what we’ll find in that regard involves purely mental tasks.  But, what I’m looking for are games involving small groups, these intended to get participants depending upon one another, and cheering for each other.  After all, that’s what we look for during a hockey game.

Anyway, I hope this gets everyone thinking — about how hockey players can be good teammates.