Announcements from the TYH Blog:

Mandatory Parent Meeting: TYH Concussion Policy

To all parents with children in TYH Travel Mites thru Bantam levels:

There will be a mandatory parent meeting on Jan 27^th in meeting room 3 & 4 (back by rink 2) for all parents with a child on a TYH traveling team (Travel Mites thru Bantam levels) to discuss TYH’s new concussion policy.  At least one parent MUST attend! There will be a sign in sheet at each meeting.

The meeting will last about 30 minutes and explain the new TYH policy regarding concussions and their warning signs. There will also be a short presentation on the dangers of concussions.

Meetings will be by age level, starting with the Travel Mites and Squirts first at 6:30, then Pee Wees at 7:15 and ending with the Bantams at 8:00.

This is just for parents with children on a traveling team.  If you have multiple children in the organization, please attend your oldest child’s meeting.  If you have a Squirt and a Bantam like I do, please attend the Bantam meeting.

Schedule:
Travel Mites & Squirts 6:30
Pee Wee 7:15
Bantams 8:00

Thank you,

Mike McCaffrey
Tornado Youth Hockey
Coaching Director

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UPDATED: Tryout Results Are In!

Travel Mites: Connor Hefti, Hudson Webber, Carson Bantle, CJ Lass, Adrian Voigt, Cody Dirks, Ryan Gargaro, Brennan Mason, Sacia Cromheecke, Brynna Banuelos, Haley Henson.
Coaches : Chris Dirks, Rusty Bantle

Squirt: “A” Team: Christen Dehning, Charlie La Plount, Mikan Miljkovic, Jacob Dirks, Kyla Bantle, Dane Larson, Ben Havlicek, Parker Tepp, Morgan Gargaro, Cameron Kertis, Nick Quillin, Breadon Monroe, Goalie: Ben King
Coaches: Paul Tepp, Jason Dirks

Squirt “B”(White): Nick Post, Ian Deyo, Max Biesterveld, Hunter Hefti, Grant Lambert, Justin Anno, Connor Duncan, Ashley McCaffrey, Darius Namazi, Nicole Morgan, Nick Haas, Josh Sly, Dylan Verhota, Goalie: Jackson Webber
Coach: Matt Biesterveld

Squirt “C”(Purple): Brandon Schmidt, Evan Bryan, Sam Jansen, Jack Oslund, Noah Kosin, Tristin Sponsler, Ryan Wink, Ethan Schaller, Aaron Schmidt, Maria McHugh, Sid Shapiro  Goalie: Allison Christenson
Coach: TBD

Pee Wee A: Sam Lass, Sam Dabrowski, Matt Altreuter, Sam Murphy, Brenden Gargaro, Rutger Deyo, Sam Yinn, Cameron Oberweiser, Ethan Turk, Dakota Marcon, Griffin Treanor, Goalies: Nick Havlicek, Jessica Hawkinson
Coach: Steve Jensen

Pee Wee B: Matt Kosin, Addison Storm, Will Post, Sean O’ Hern, Alex Hawley, TJ Henson, Jacob Shapiro, Jamal Wagner, Kelsey Seiler, Danny King, Seth Wittwer, Will Kenny, Austin Glynn, Isaac Brown, Steven Mckinzie, Santana Hanson, Goalies: Jacob Morgan, Zac Smith
Coach: Nic Stuhr, Joe King

Bantam A: Braxton Anderson, Jason Havlicek, Theresa Knutson, Anthony Schliep, John Gargaro, Brady Baneulos, Luke Tepp, Shane Kenny, Bennett Hutson, Damion Roers, Nick Daily, Bryce Bingham, Goalie: Gunnar Markgren
Coach: Mike Gargaro

Bantam B: Zach Aasen, Jake Mchenry, Jonah Rieber, Alec Lass, Austin Lubinski, Lawrence Jones, Reece Lund, Alex Taylor, Jeff Bernaman, Tyler McCaffrey, Ian Cromheecke, Cody Hougom, Goalie: Joseph Witz
Coach: Tim Taylor

Mike McCaffrey
Tornado Youth Hockey
Coaching Director

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Improving Performance Through Mental Preparation

What is Mental Preparation?
To be mentally prepared means preparing ahead of time to be your best. This increases your self-confidence and keeps you focused during the game because you will have thought in advance about what you want to do in any situation. This in turn will improve your performance.

Just as you exercise your body to be in shape to play the game, you must exercise your mind to be in shape to play the game. If your body is ready but your mind is not, you will probably not get the results you want.

Mental preparation for a game should start long before the puck drops. It means thinking about how you will position yourself, challenge your opponents and maneuver the puck. By the time the game begins, you should already have visualized your performance. Both players and coaches need to have a personal mental game plan, which means a personal strategy on how they intend to perform during the game.

As you go up in levels, you will encounter more and more talented athletes. While team skills are equal and player skills are comparable, the difference between success and failure will be found in the mental game.

Read More…

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7 Strategies to Help Your Athlete Be More Confident

In this helpful article for youth sports parents, Dr. Patrick J. Cohn, a leading youth sports psychology expert, discusses 7 steps parents can take to help their child perform with more confidence.

View the Article

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Good Attitude Is Key to Hockey Success

No one masters hockey. There is too much to learn and every game presents a new combination of challenges and opportunities. A positive attitude is essential to becoming a better player.

Attitude is a combination of physical and mental approaches. A positive attitude is demonstrated in many ways such as:

▪ Giving maximum physical effort on the ice

▪ Staying positive no matter what is happening in the game

▪ Being open to new ideas

▪ Seeking ways to improve your game

▪ Being constructive when problems come up

▪ Focusing on team play and cooperation

▪ Listening

▪ Setting and working toward personal goals

Having a good attitude can give a player an edge over someone else who is quicker or faster but lacks a good attitude. When playing against a good opponent, players often encounter constant frustrations trying to pass, stick handle, shoot or block shots. Having a good attitude in the face of frustration is critical to improving skills and having fun.

Special thanks to Sports Esteem for the content of this article.

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10 Reasons for Equal Playing Time

On most youth teams, there are players who are physically two or three years ahead of their teammates in size, speed or strength. These players often form a core of talent that coaches can use to their advantage to win games. Especially in youth travel and select teams, the temptation for many coaches is to use this talent more during a game to go for the win. While this method is appropriate at the highest level of athletic competition, it seldom has any place in youth sports. Here are ten reasons why equal playing time is a better strategy:

1. Avoids contention between coaches and parents. Parents will not objectively judge their own child’s abilities. No coach should expect objectivity from parents.
2. Avoids contention among parents. The resentments that can build between coaches and parents can often build among parents for the same reasons. More than a few youth teams have had successful seasons poisoned by hard feelings arising out of a coach’s game decisions.
3. Avoids contention among players. If players feel that coaches have favorites, they may stop trying their hardest.
4. Minimizes player fatigue. In tough physical games, coaches will lack skilled players if the top players are exhausted and lesser players have had limited game experience.
5. Maximizes player development. Without access to playing time and special situations, players cannot learn.
6. Simplifies coaching decisions. Coaches won’t have to guess which players are most likely to play well in a given situation.
7. Recognizes equal investments. Players and parents often make equal contributions away from the game in time and dollars and thus expect equal access to game situations.
8. Improves team chemistry. When players feel everyone is treated fairly, they are more likely to focus on working together. When players feel they can succeed by making someone else look bad or themselves look better, they are learning the wrong lessons about team play.
9. Wins mean more to everyone. When everyone contributes to a win, there are no lingering resentments that will interfere with the celebration.
10. Better reflects coaching abilities. Winning games with kids who are physically more mature is more a success of drafting than coaching. Winning games by developing all the kids on a team is a better test of a coach’s abilities.

At some point, youth sports become more about the team than about the players and spectators start including more than just team family members. As kids reach adulthood, an increased focus on team performance separates recreational players from the truly motivated ones. These players then feed the needs of competitive high school, college and professional programs. Until then, youth sports are more about developing motivation and talent than judging them. Parents facilitate their child’s participation to help make their child better in life and to provide a chance at sports participation past puberty.

Equal playing time is hard for coaches to implement. It forces them to put more effort into practices and player preparation. It also tests their priorities. If a coach’s priority is to win above developing players then parents should look elsewhere to give their child the best chances of playing later on. Equal playing time should be one of a coach’s core beliefs and not easily discarded in the last minutes of a championship game.

When a child reaches the advanced levels of athletic play, parents will stop being able to demand equal playing time. However, isn’t reaching these levels one of the goals and a key reason why parents should demand it while they can?

Special thanks to Sports Esteem for the contents of this article.

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What Makes a Good Coach?

An interesting article on kidshealth.org about what makes a good coach from the kids’ point of view.  Take a look…

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