Between the ears

[SECoach]

It is very difficult for a parent to accurately contribute to the dosage in proper amounts.

Doesn't sound like a very good parent. I don't think the freshman math teacher, that has 150 kids throughout the day, knows more about the dosage requirements of a kid than a parent does - anymore than an insurance agent that sees a kid for 5 or 6 hours a week. I'm not an advocate for helicopter parenting, but I think as a country we're already doing a pretty good job of putting our kids on the bus and expecting them to be turned into college ready high school graduates, and dropping our kids off at the rink or the field and expecting them to be turned into college ready athletes. I get that you're a coach, and have probably had a bad experience or two with parents that have no idea what they're doing, but a general statement to that effect is unfair. Let parents parent.

Perfectly to my point.....let the parents, parent. Coaches coach, teachers teach, all while each support the other in their efforts.....ahhhh finally paradise.

[JSR]

Still completely fascinated at the concept that all coaches should be considered the all knowing lords of the rink. Many coaches kindly volunteer their time, and it is appreciated, but likewise, for many the extent of their training is one or two USHA coaching classes per year. I don’t mean that as a knock, I’m sure they know the game well, and the basics of how to coach/teach it, but most are also not learning style specialists, and/or are not trained in sports psychology methods, etc.

I can understand that a parent who contradicts what the coach has said is doing his child, and the team, no favors; he’s undermining the coach, and being disrespectful. He’s also setting a poor example for his child, and likely putting him in a tough position; do I do what Dad says, or what Coach says.

However, what exactly is the problem if a parent helps a child who is having trouble either understanding or implementing what his coach has requested? A coach sees my kid MAYBE 6-10 hours a week MAX, during which time his attention is divided among 15 – 18 kids.

I’ve seen my kid for hours every day for 15 years. I know his strengths and weaknesses; both mental and physical. I know his learning style and his goals and aspirations. I happen to have studied and applied many sports psychology concepts in the past. So sorry, you can bet that if I see my son struggling, I will do everything I can to help him understand, and deliver, exactly what his coach is asking for. So why would a coach not appreciate the extra help; ego maybe?

By your logic, if my son brings some math assignment home that he does not quite get, my wife (who was a math minor in college and known’s our son’s learning style) should not dare to help him; he should fail the homework assignment, and perhaps the next test, until he has an opportunity to ask the teacher (who was unsuccessful getting the concept across to him the first time).

I guess I’ll just continue to be one of those over-the-top hockey dads that coaches hate.

And my wife will continue to be one of those parents that teachers like (even though many teachers are learning experts, they still do appreciate the extra help).

I believe the issue here is dosage. A good coach or teacher will understand that there are limits to how much any player or student can effectively take in at any given time. You can't make corn grow faster by just giving more and more fertilizer and water. There are limits to what good it can do, and will actually cause damage if the dosage is too high.

It is very difficult for a parent to accurately contribute to the dosage in proper amounts. I'm not saying it can't be done, but much sampling must be done to determine if an overdose is approaching. My opinion is parents should use extreme caution in administering an unregulated dose. This applies to hockey or schoolwork. My guess is that a student needing help in math or another subject, generally asks their parent for help when they feel they need and want it. Maybe the same should be applied to sports. When they ask for help, feel free to give it. Just don't take it as a request to constantly dump more and more medication down their throats.

JSR...... provide the needed and requested information, and be patient while it does it's job.

SECoach, you do understand that I am the coach and this is not my son I am asking help for. It's one of my players.... I had to restate this to another poster above as well.....

[JSR]

Just a little update, I can't believe how much difference doing a few things from the suggestions have done for this kdi in such little time. So we sort of did an "immersion" type of thing. He's been playing NHL11k or something like that everyday after we suggested it, he's been watcing more NHL hockey on TV but we also sent him three youtube videos to watch, very basic DZone coverage and Wing Breakout things, tehre were five videos in total, his mom said he watched each three times and then after that we went over game film of one of his games with him to show him what he was doing versus what he thought he was doing (again after watching the youtube videos), his first game after doing this homework was like night and day difference. Now he still has some things to learn and still needs to get a little quicker doing them but I think if he keeps doing what we did outside of practice and then just continues to get more experience in game situations that the speed of doing the right things will come, but liek I said it's already a huge improvement in two weeks which I never would have thought. He says the youtube videos were the biggest help because they broke things down really simply and showed him what the most important things were and he said it really helped unclutter alot of stuff for him........ So thanks for teh suggestions they seem to be working!

[O-townClown]

Nice to hear a success story.

Thanks for sharing.

[pineline]

http://www.getsportiq.com/2013/10/readi ... trainable/