Hyland Hills Hockey Association

I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who participated in the 8U survey.  We had well over 100 responses and I cannot address all the comments; but I will hit out on the topics that most people had a comment about.

Before I get to the responses, I wanted to put out a little cautionary word on surveys. In general, we have no way to determine the mindset of the person who made the comment.  The comment is made in plain text with no name attached.  So we have no idea if someone has a bone to pick or not or if they are trying to put in on thick.  But if the same general theme appears then we can know that there is possibly an issue to consider.  So the answers below are all based on general "themes" on what the survey holds and they will not focus on any single survey response.


Overall the most responses were in regards to the 8U Directors Clinics that we had this year.  For the most part the feedback was overwhelming positive; but there were some negative responses.  Below are some of the positive responses...

"Doug  and Dave have been remarkable... difference in the 8U Development"
"Director's clinics have been a great success"
"Directors clinic in the D Pool is very good...Smail is the best by far"
"Director clinics are great and I would like for them to continue...Doug is great"
"Director clinics for all the pools"

…and then some of the negative...

"Director's clinics seem to not be well organized"
"Director’s clinics not age appropriate, seem like they are for PeeWees or older"

The general theme regarding the Director's clinics was very favorable.  Most of the responses that mentioned the clinics mentioned them in a positive light.  One over riding theme was that people really liked what Doug Smail has been doing this year and we hope that we can continue to use Doug in the future.


The next most prevalent theme was in regards to finances.  As with everything that costs a lot of money, people have opinions on the topic.  Some of the most common responses were...

"Reduce costs"
"Financials are the most important"
"Cost of HHHA compared to other associations"
"up front fee estimations for all the levels"

I can honestly say that the Board of Directors really takes this topic seriously.  If our fee structure is not in line with the other Associations in the region, we are going to lose our players.  So we spend many hours trying to do what is best to reduce fees for everyone. All I can say is that we are very actively working to reduce fees each year and I hope that we can be successful in this for next year.

With the ADM structure coming next year, the 8U will be losing 1 month of ice and the C/D players will only get a maximum of 3 touches per week instead of the 3-4.  So just in the nature of this new format, fees should be reduced.  I am also going to make it a point to map out next years schedule at a high level so I can give our treasurer the exact number of touches each level will be getting so hopefully we can get an estimation our this summer so the parents will know how much each level will cost.


Ah... the ADM.  Overall the split on for and against was almost 50-50.  There were good arguments for both sides of the matter but the comments came out about 56% against and 44% for it.


Another theme that came across in the survey was that people would really like to see the 8U coaches focus on skill development and not only on winning.  In January, I had a C - D pool coaches meeting to discuss this very topic.  Making sure that skill development was the priority should be the number 1 goal for ANY 8U coach; but I know that ego and pride sometimes get in the way of that.  I can only stress that it really does not matter if you win or lose, just that your players are happy, that they learn something and they play hockey next year.  Here are some of the responses....

"Learn the fundamentals of the game"
"Little more work on fundamentals"
"work with players more on basic skills...not positions"
"Skill development NOT winning games"
"teach the fundamentals"
"skating fundaments first"

I would like to leave this topic with a thank you to one of our coaches who gets it.  Our A Orange team, coached by Jeremy Ashiem, was one of the better A pool teams that we had this year.  So good, that at Christmas time, Jeremy move his top 4 players up to the B pool.  In January I watched his team play and they got beat pretty good.  Obviously it was because he had moved his best players on.  I later ran into Jeremy and told him I was sorry for moving his players up and he responded that he really did not care and if I brought him new players who could not skate, he would do his best to teach them how to play hockey, regardless of winning or losing.  Now that is a coach who gets it.  Thanks Jeremy.

Jeremy is not the only coach because I know all of the B coaches are along the same frame of mind; but what Jeremy said to me went above and beyond.


Lastly, there were some very good suggestions in the survey.  Here are some of the ideas that people had...

"Provide clinics/meetings for parents on youth hockey"
"8U specific coaches and/or membership meetings"
"Introductory class to see what hockey is all about, then sign up for a season"
"Discounts for multiple players"
"Overall Hockey philosophy to guide coaches"

All very good ideas and something that we can work towards.  We always have an 8U meeting at the start of the year to discuss the program and to answer any questions and I always hold an 8U Parents meeting at the end of the season so I can get thoughts on what went wrong or right throughout the season; but I should hold others during the season as well.  I have in the past; but this year I just never got around to doing them.  So I apologize for that.

The introductory class to see what hockey is all about is a great idea, and I will work on that and I am hoping that our new hockey director can help on the overall philosophy.

As always, if you have a question, drop me a line.
Thanks
Rob Cuscaden
Hyland Hills Hockey Association
8U Director