Issues & Advice

Coaches make decisions to play or not play players for multiple reasons. The best thing you can do is: “Don’t take it personally.” You think you’re a tough hockey player? We’re talking tough enough to handle some adversity during your hockey career. Tough enough to turn a negative into a positive. Tough enough to keep […]

The more of these players that we get that become lifelong hockey players, that’s really a big goal to see more and more players who love the sport and want to be around it for a lifetime. Last month, USA Hockey announced three youth hockey organizations that earned designation as USA Hockey Model Associations. One […]

I think that’s really big for women’s hockey to get that recognition from the men’s side of things. I think that will definitely start turning some heads, and hopefully we’ll see more women involved on the men’s side. Don’t mind Maddie—she’s just enjoying the moment. Whether it’s during off-ice training or shutting down Canada in […]

No one, especially kids, want to hear what they did wrong after a loss. Most kids already recognize their own mistakes and have heard from their coach about them. If you only went by news headlines, you may conclude youth sports are filled with “crazy” parents who only care about getting their child a Division […]

Coaches need to give players room to figure things out and sometimes that can be frustrating for both students and teachers. One of the most common questions from burgeoning coaches at the USA Hockey coaching education clinics are tied to player behavior and how to approach it. “We have coaches who work with players, especially […]

Inadequate nutritional intake and disordered eating habits aren’t always obvious. They can occur in adolescents and young adults of any weight, shape or size. Are you in energy balance? And what does that term actually mean? If you are an athlete, or a coach or parent of an athlete, then the importance of energy balance […]

Instead of focusing on the mistakes made, make it a goal to find and share a handful of specific positives to boost kids’ confidence and self-esteem. In anticipation of the new season, players are encouraged to set goals for themselves – learn or improve on specific skills, be a good teammate, take on a leadership […]

Lomonaco’s confidence on the ice has skyrocketed. He was never a big hockey fan until his son picked up the sport and dad wanted to have a fun bonding experience. Tom Lomonaco didn’t care if he’d only been playing hockey for five months, he wanted to improve as quickly as possible. So when he saw […]