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Friday, October 30, 1998
Stars' coaches find time to help high school
teams
By Bill Nichols
The Dallas Morning News
(KRT)
DALLAS - With Stanley Cup champion Detroit coming on Saturday,
Stars' Coach Ken Hitchcock is toiling late Monday at the Dr Pepper
StarCenter, frantically marking X's and O's on a board while assistants
Doug Jarvis and Rick Wilson lace their skates and grab their whistles.
Hitchcock has worked himself into a frenzy, talking about the
importance of breakouts and discipline. Sheets of paper fly off
the easel with each new scheme he diagrams. Beads of sweat form
on his forehead as he drives home a point to the spellbound group.
But the Red Wings can rest easy.
The Dallas coaching staff is instructing coaches and players
from the Southwestern Bell Metroplex High School Hockey League
during an intense two-hour private session.
Talk about giving back to the game.
Hitchcock, Jarvis and Wilson spent the earlier part of the
day putting their team through a 75-minute workout, looking at
film and compiling strategies for Friday's game with Anaheim and
Saturday's game with Detroit.
Their team is 5-1-1, and picked by many to win the Stanley
Cup.
But pass up a chance to give pointers on coaching to eager
people carrying clipboards and notebooks? No way.
Before Jarvis and Wilson put one player from each of the area's
25 varsity and junior varsity teams through drills, Hitchcock
talks to the coaches about his background as a coach, some of
the things he learned along the way, some of the mistakes he made,
and how to organize a practice. Then he answers questions, and
when there's a pause, he encourages them to ask more.
"We're busy," Hitchcock says afterward, referring
to this week's preparations. "But when you put the skates
on, we're no different than any of these guys. We just get paid
for it. If someone would volunteer to help me learn about computers,
or someone can volunteer to help me learn about doing my income
tax, what's the difference? This is my expertise. If I can help
somebody become a better coach, that's a pretty small thing to
do."
X X X
Monday's session shows how far hockey has come in Dallas. With
the Stars a major player in the NHL, junior leagues have sprouted
all over the area, and the Southwestern Bell high school league
has grown dramatically.
About 40 coaches are on hand at this session. Three years ago,
when Hitchcock held his first clinic, he says he could count the
number in his audience on his hands. This time, coaches squeeze
into seats, some sitting on the railings overlooking the ice.
"He's pretty much the coach of the league right now and
Dallas has got the team to beat," says Richardson Coach Blaine
Aucoin, "so anything at all that comes out of his mouth you
have to take as being the gospel. I was surprised by how open
he was about his practices."
Nobody asks for autographs. Nobody asks if Mike Modano pouts
after tough losses. Nobody asks if Brett Hull tapes his own stick,
or what captain Derian Hatcher says in the dressing room.
These are serious faces, looking for data they can use. They
sit attentively as Hitchcock passes out sheets detailing the planning
and execution of practice, with diagrams of specific drills designed
to improve a workout's flow, as well as improve technique.
"When I did a coaching clinic three years ago, all they
wanted to talk about was the star players," Hitchcock says.
"Now they want to talk about systems. They want to talk about
the psychological part of coaching, bench management. That's how
you know it's caught on as a game because these people are serious
about their craft."
Hitchcock sees himself in the coaches. Back when he had "a
real job" while living outside of Edmonton, Hitchcock negotiated
a deal with his boss in which he worked two 12-hour shifts in
return for an extra hour break each day to watch the University
of Alberta team practice.
Obviously, he paid attention. His Canadian AAA Midget team,
Sherwood Park, posted a 575-69 record in his 10 seasons.
But one thing Hitchcock noticed when he sat in the stands watching
Alberta practice was that he was organizing his practices wrong.
So he stresses to the Southwestern Bell group the importance of
keeping practices flowing smoothly by not letting any drill run
more than 10 minutes, making sure the assistant coaches know each
stage of the workout before they get on the ice, and keeping the
workouts fun by using competition drills such as one-on-one races.
"If you start your practice with a hard skate, and you
have 20 minutes of hard skating down and back, then practice is
over because your players have lost their legs," Hitchcock
tells the coaches. "They get their legs by doing the drills."
More than a few coaches glance at colleagues with looks that
say they have made that mistake.
X X X
Hitchcock tells the coaches to focus on a theme, "and
sell that theme before you start practice." He says to pay
attention to the details of passing, shooting and finishing checks,
and to chart the flow of workouts. He also stresses that each
player should be treated equally, regardless of skill. Any drill
that lasts too long will be ineffective, he says. And he draws
some surprised looks when he tells his audience that it's better
not to say anything after a loss because the players aren't listening.
Instead, wait until the next practice.
"I took a lot of notes," says W.T. White Coach Jimmy
Newby, whose team includes players from all DISD schools. "I'll
go home and write down other things I picked up.
"I got a lot out of the way he designed his plays. He
has a unique perception of the game, and the knowledge he provides
is invaluable to us. I was really impressed with how he relates
to the junior level. He said right off the bat, 'I made a lot
of mistakes.' "
The Stars remain committed to generating interest in the sport,
evidenced by Monday's event and their open practices, says Lance
Lankford, director of the Southwestern Bell Metroplex High School
Hockey League.
"What he (Hitchcock) says has a tremendous effect,"
says Lankford, director of legal affairs and business development
for the Stars. "Now these coaches can go back and implement
it, and it will improve the league."
As Hitchcock says, "It's not a fad any more. It's part
of the landscape of the community, and you're going to see it
grow."
(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.
Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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