Head Coach Brad Tippett - A Coach's Perspective

       Panthers’ owner Pete Zubersky and I met for a coffee in July 2016 — two old hockey guys who discovered we knew a lot of the same people. We shared some laughs and war stories.  The conversation came around to coaching philosophy.  Three hours later we left the meeting thinking we had known each other for three decades.  It was that shared philosophy about teaching and development that intrigued me.  Here was an owner who thought that developing local players was more important than profits.  I finally met someone who defined success in more ways than the win/loss column and the bottom line.  Fifteen months later, I'm sharing with readers some of my reasons I became the Panthers’ Head Coach. 
     
Coaching presents a different set of challenges every day.  For me, teaching the game is my driver.  I've played for and worked with a few great coaches, many good ones and some who had deservedly short careers. What separates the great coaches from the others is their ability to teach and communicate with their players. What makes things difficult is what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow and what works for one group of players may not work for another. There seems to be no perfect coach or no perfect teacher.  The successful coaches can adapt and re-invent themselves. They have the humility to learn from yesterday's mistakes and turn them into tomorrow's successes.  And they do this each and every day.
     
Coaching twenty-two 16-20 year old Junior hockey players can be akin to herding a group of youngsters about 30 minutes into their Halloween haul. The 16-year-old rookie is at a completely different place in life than the 20-year-old veteran. They have completely different interests. Last week we had one player excited because he had purchased a boat, and another upset because he didn't pass his driver's license. What they do share is a love for the game of hockey.  As the coach, you must mould this diverse group on a seven-month journey of improvement, individually and collectively. Simple right?
     
As a coach, I feel it is very important to gain some insight into how these young adults think. What excites them, what challenges them, what motivates them, what shuts them down, what are their deepest fears?  The answer is - there are 22 different correct answers.  I was attending as well as presenting at a hockey clinic in Regina in 2010.  There were a number of Junior coaches, a couple of NHL and WHL scouts and several SaskHockey people. The keynote speaker was someone I had never previously heard of and as it turned out, the presenter had no connection with hockey. She was a teacher of teachers – and she had a profound effect on my approach to coaching today's players.
     
I have mentioned above that coaches must be adaptable. That doesn't mean they have to change their principles or philosophy or approach to the game. To be effective, they may have to change their delivery and communi-
cation methods. We have to adapt to what best works for today's player.
     
Chase (20) and Barrett (18) are my two sons. I had the pleasure and they perhaps had the misfortune to have their dad as their coach. Watching them grow up and helping them with school work helped me understand that they learn in a completely different way than I did.  Algebra and English are the same but somehow they could do homework with the TV blaring and constant interruptions by text messages.  It just about drove me crazy, but they could do it.  Today's kids learn differently and so therefore all players learn differently and have their own learning styles.
     
Today's hockey players are far more skilled than previous generations.  The players and teams that are really successful are the ones that “think the game” better than their opponent. They under- stand how and when to use tactics and systems to their advantage.
     
Practice is where the coach/teacher can have the most impact. Coaches teach in practice.  Players write the exam in the game.

My Alphabet Soup Theory     
Campbell Soup makes many kinds of soups. Vegetable soup is the least popular of all the staple soups. How many times did your mother tell you “Eat your soup –it’s good for you”? Did you listen?
Alphabet soup is the best selling soup of the novelty soups. What makes it so popular - after-all it is just vegetable soup with some alphabet noodles?  Campbell Soup discovered they could sell more soup by making it fun for kids to eat. As coaches, we must learn that disguising vegetables or hockey fundamentals in a fun activity or drill is a much more effective method of teaching.  Players are learning without thinking about it.

The 4 P's
Good coaches design effective practices with Preparation, Participation, Pace, Patience in mind.  This is the area in which I changed my approach to communicate with “millennials”. 
     
As already discussed, todays' players think and learn differently. They have a shorter attention span.  You have 45 seconds to get a concept across or their mind is onto the next thing.  Just give them a structure and let them figure out how it works best.  Players actually learn how to do it right by doing it wrong. This is where the Patience part of the 4P's is severely tested.  As a coach from a different generation (or three), I have to fight the urge to step in and fix it right away – because that is how I was taught. When that urge does come along, I force myself to replay the last tidbit the keynote speaker provided in her presentation.....you just bought your son a new video game — did he read the instructions?  No — he just worked away and figured it out.
     
With the Panthers, we are truly blessed with a group of highly intelligent young men.  They challenge us to teach more because they want and can do more.  Motivation is easy as they all share the goal to get better.  They help each other out.  There isn’t a more special feeling as a coach than when they make something work in a game that we taught and worked on in practice.
     
I found this poem many years ago. I keep it handy for those not so good days.  In my mind, the meaning is much bigger than coaching.  It’s life. Most importantly, it always reminds me what a great honour and responsibility it is to be called  —  COACH.

WHAT IS A COACH?
A Coach is a politician, a judge, a public speaker, a teacher, a trainer, a financier, a labourer, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a chaplain.  It also helps if he is an astrologer or at least understands numerology.

He must be an optimist and yet at times appear a pessimist, seem humble and yet be very proud, strong, but at times weak, confident and yet not over-confident, enthusiastic but not too enthusiastic.

He must have the hide of an elephant, the fierceness of a lion, the pep of a young pup, the guts of an ox, the stamina of an antelope, the wisdom of an owl, the cunning of a fox, and the heart of a kitten.  It will also be to his benefit to develop the acting ability of a poker player with a pat hand.

He must be willing to give freely of his time, his money, his energy, his youth, his family life, his health and sometimes even life itself.  In return, he must expect little financial reward, little comfort on earth, little privacy, little praise but plenty of criticism.

However, a good coach is respected in his community, is a leader in his school, is loved by his team, and makes lasting friendships wherever he goes.

He has the satisfaction of seeing players develop and improve in ability.  He learns the thrill of victory and how to accept defeat with grace.  His associations with athletes help keep him young in mind and spirit; and he too must grow and improve in ability with his team.

In his heart he knows that, in spite of the inconveniences, the criticism, and the demands on his time, he loves his profession for he is...THE COACH.
                                                         ....by Walter Gillett