Development Report - 2018-2019

Development Report

This was the first year for the newly implemented development program. As with most new programs, there are always some kinks to work out at the beginning. This program was no exception.

During the first half of the season there was a lot of time focused on team systems (ie. Breakouts, defensive zone coverage, etc.) rather than developing the individual skills of each player. The problem that we noticed is that a lot of kids lacked the necessary skills (ie. Skating passing, etc) to perform these team systems properly. Another issue was the long waiting period for each team between there development sessions. The key to getting better at anything is repetition. When you are only getting out once per month it is difficult to build off of what you did at your last session and most times you effectively end up back at square one.

In an effort to correct these problems for the second half, we decided to switch the structure of our development sessions to strictly skill development drills. We would typically spend the first half of the practice with a skate and one or two full ice drills and then switch to 3 stations with each development coordinator running one station. This allowed for more one-on-one time for each kid and provided the ability to focus on small aspects/skills carried out during the game. We also made a change to how we scheduled the development sessions. Rather than just taking one team out we would try to take two teams out at a time, which are similar in skill level (ie. Peewee A & AAA). By doing this we found that the kids off of both teams often pushed themselves more which resulted in them getting more out of the sessions. It also gave us the opportunity to see teams every two weeks, which made it easier to build off of the last session. From our standpoint we found that there was a noticeable improvement during the second half of the season with the skill level of the players.

We think that it was a big step in the right direction for the organization with the implementation of the new development program this year. The three of us remain extremely dedicated to educating ourselves and coming up with new ways in which we can improve the development program and the success of the organization as a whole. We are hopeful that we will have the opportunity to build off of this year and have an even more successful year next year.

 

Chris Osmond

Cody Roland

Gerard Laffin