Is this shady or normal for hockey parents?

[Yukon Joe]

Sorry please explain Club hockey to me? Is this the same as Academy hockey?

So @Slats432 and I go back and forth because he's a "club" hockey coach and I'm a "club" hockey parent, both in Edmonton (I hope our banter is all friendly!).

So this terminology might only be to Edmonton/Alberta. "Club" hockey is the elite AA/AAA hockey, where you have to try out and you might not make it. It' still a non-profit club that has existed for decades. "Federation" hockey is the hockey where everyone plays, it's just a matter of what tier you're assigned to. It's also non-profit.

"Academy" hockey is where you go to a school which is also your hockey team (see CSSHL). It's outside of Hockey Canada's control, but they do place a lot of kids in the WHL draft. It's very expensive ($30k plus per year), and I believe is for-profit.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

This is really interesting. This thread has talked a lot about nutty parents, but not a lot about questionable organizations. I guess it’s important to note that questionable organizations are basically run by nutty parents (volunteers). We’ve been with our current organization for 2 years and it feels like we’ve already seen a lot.

I really like the idea of paying a bit more for proper coaching. Right now there’s a big difference in our organization between rep coaching and everything else. Spending a year with “coach dad” can often feel like losing a year of development. I also feel like there are a lot of dudes coaching just to guarantee that A) their son always makes a team despite being a borderline player and B) they can stack certain teams so their kid will have a fun year.

My daughter’s org has paid coaches and it makes a huge difference.

Some of the dad coaches mean well but don’t really know the game well.

In Squirt I taught my daughter how to use a snapshot and it took months for her to learn the proper techniques… and an assistant dad coach on her team yelled at her for not using “sweep shots”.

I tried to let it go but then he told her how to handle a 2-1 completely wrong a couple weeks later and I had to ask him to stop offering my daughter bad advice.

I appreciate volunteer dads, but if you don’t know wtf you are talking about, it can really hurt kids development.

 

[Minnesota Knudsens]

My daughter’s org has paid coaches and it makes a huge difference.

Some of the dad coaches mean well but don’t really know the game well.

In Squirt I taught my daughter how to use a snapshot and it took months for her to learn the proper techniques… and an assistant dad coach on her team yelled at her for not using “sweep shots”.

I tried to let it go but then he told her how to handle a 2-1 completely wrong a couple weeks later and I had to ask him to stop offering my daughter bad advice.

I appreciate volunteer dads, but if you don’t know wtf you are talking about, it can really hurt kids development.

Yeah there’s 2 sides to it. Sometimes you need people to step up just to have teams/organizations in the first place, but then if they don’t know what they’re doing…

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Yeah there’s 2 sides to it. Sometimes you need people to step up just to have teams/organizations in the first place, but then if they don’t know what they’re doing…

Before my daughter had paid coaches, the main coaches were always decent to pretty good.

It was the assistant coaches, some who couldn’t even skate, teaching the kids improperly.

And ya it’s a catch 22 because they are stepping up to help and while I coached when I was younger, I want nothing to do with it anymore because of crazy parents.

So I didn’t want to come off as one of the annoying and crazy dads like I used to despise when I see them teaching bad technique or saying dumb shit.

99% of the time I just held my tongue and told my daughter to just pretend like she was listening to them, but to ignore those dads “advice”.