On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs wants to talk about how coaches, players and parents navigate the reality of multi-sport athletes, in-season. It’s one thing to say we want our athletes to have a diverse skill set, and to say we encourage players to play multiple sports - but it’s an entirely different thing to manage that as a coach, parent and player.
TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW!
We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites!
(upbeat music) What's up fam, another episode short shifts. Jeffrey Gay-Hula Vecchio here. Tof has no idea what I'm gonna ask him whatsoever ever actually, but especially on short shifts episodes. Tof, your question today, if you so choose to answer this is one that we talked about with our guests. I don't know if this is coming out in the same week or a different week, but wanna talk about multi-sport athletes. This is something we talked about a lot in the podcast lately. We talked about a little bit with John Francisco, if you will, Francisco. That's a fun name to say, name that movie, and we're besties. (laughing) We dove into this just a tiny bit with John, but I think it's a really important thing, especially because on this podcast, and every single high-level pro athlete that we have on talks about the benefits of playing multiple sports, at least as long as you can, whatever that means. If that's 14, 15, 16 through high school, to help you be a better hockey player in the long term and I think a more well-rounded person. When you're the coach or you're the organization, I hear a lot of coaches and a lot of organizations be like, oh yeah, we like when kids play other sports. As soon as they miss a practice for a different sport, that tune changes real quick. I've personally seen it for many years. Thoughts on ways to get ahead of this as we're starting seasons here soon, and kids are gonna be playing multiple sports at the beginning of the year with whatever sport is ending and hockey is starting, there's gonna be overlap. Same thing in the spring. What advice do you have for organizations creating rules for this and coaches and maybe some advice to parents as well? - That's a good question, so we're not talking about why multiple sports. - No, not why, we're talking more about how do you navigate the reality of-- - Insies. - Sports today. - Right, insies, not like everything's cooked, rainbows and butterflies, and yeah, we want everybody to play multiple sports. There's gonna be conflicts. How do you handle them? How do you get ahead of those in the beginning of the year so that people know what to expect and not have the, well, my son's been to every practice and Johnny missed 10 out of the last 50. Why is he on the power play? - Right, so I think consistency and I think communication are both probably the most important things. So like I'm not gonna sit here and tell an organization that they have to have a multiple sports, where if a kid has soccer, there's no consequences for them. Now, granted, I do think that kids should be playing multiple sports, so that's a, but like you just have to be consistent. Like have a rule, like have a rule. What's your rule as a coach? What's your rule as an organization? Is it if you miss a practice, you miss a period? Is it, hey, if you play multiple sports, just let us know within two days beforehand and go ahead. Like we'll manage practice without you type of thing. Is it, you know, whatever, it's just gotta be consistent for everybody. I think that's the biggest thing. I don't think there's one rule that's better than any other because no situation is the same as every other, but I think it's just really important to be consistent with that message, because the worst thing that you could do is have one rule for one kid and then have another rule for another kid and then another rule for another kid. And then everybody finds out about these rules and they're like, wait, but he didn't have to sit a period for missing for another sport, but I do, like that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So whatever it is, your standard is, make that your standard and be consistent with it. Now should that, and that standard is gonna change over level from like tier three to tier two to tier one, that standard is gonna change from, you know, eight U to 10 U to 12 U to 14 U to 18 U or 16 U to 18 U. You know, it is what it is, but like, yeah, just be consistent with it. Everybody knows that we're big believers in multiple sports, but just as an organization, as a coach, be consistent with every kid in your follow through with it. I think that's the first thing I would say. - I love that. And I'd be definitely saying at tryouts with the parent meetings or when everybody makes a team or whatever it is, like, we're okay with that. And you know, obviously it depends on the age and the level. The more serious of a team you're on, the more of a commitment it should be. However, some of your athletes, like I talked about in the episode with John Francisco from Fort Check Hockey, you know, I have a really good player that I train who's in the USHL now, but when he was a 14, 15 U triple A player, he was missing practices or coming, not really missing, but he would come late to a lot of them or barely on time, like getting dressed while all the boys are getting on the ice because he was coming from very high level soccer. He's as good as he is now because he played high level soccer. Of this, I have no doubt. So like just getting in front of the team as the coach and saying like, this is what we're gonna do for the players that play different sports. You're allowed to miss X amount or, you know, something like that. - Yeah, just have the policy. - Yeah, but I would make sure that I would be saying to the parents, we are okay if you miss this many practices or you let us know within this amount of time and you will not be punished for missing practice versus a player who comes to every practice because this is our rule for this team. Because what inevitably happens is, and I saw it and I've seen it for years, parents of players who make every practice 'cause their kid doesn't play any other sports. Not the wrong with that, whatever. Getting upset that this player who does play multiple sports and is late to practice as often is still on the power play and things like that. So you as a coach need to get ahead of that at the beginning of the season and be like, we encourage it. This is our rules. This is what we're gonna stick to. And soccer player, if you wind up missing more, like yes, you will be benched because these are the rules. Is that fair to everybody? Okay, boom, everybody agrees, now we go. Now, from the parent side, this is something that when you're going to try outs, especially for the higher levels, you should be asking about. Don't surprise the coach in the middle of the year and make it a thing. If you know that your kid is playing multiple sports and they wanna play multiple sports and you want them to play multiple sports, bring this up before the season starts. Don't wait till the last second 'cause coaches, especially good ones, especially ones at the higher levels, should be like Tof always talks about making practice plans and coming up with developmental processes throughout the week, throughout the month, throughout the season. And if your player is always gonna be missing and they never know about it, you're hoping that coach's ability to help everyone else on the ice as well. So just don't be selfish, be upfront, come up with a plan and now you don't run into any of these scenarios just by being upfront, honest and open in the beginning of the season about these things. Also, you might not want your kid to play for a coach who's gonna be like, nope, he has to come to every single practice, every single game. If he misses, he's missing a game. Well, maybe that team's not the best for your situation and you should go elsewhere, which would be better for your player and yourself. - Yeah, yeah, 100%. And it's funny, I had a conversation with a guy yesterday who coached a kid who ended up playing in the NHL and the kid came up to him. He was a midget player at the time and he was like, hey, I'm never gonna be able to go to prom again or I think it was homecoming. And like, I'd love to do that. Can I, do you mind if I missed this practice to do that? And the coach was like, yeah, absolutely go be a kid, you know, like, and so yeah, for sure. I think 100%. And then I do agree with what you said with the parents. Just be upfront in your communication with the coach. Like, that's so incredibly important. Hey, my kid wants to play soccer. He practices on Monday and Wednesday at four o'clock after school. I know we got practice at six. We're gonna be hustling. Like, are you cool with that? Like, exactly upfront, beginning of the season. So there's no surprises when, and the coach knows what to expect. And then the coach will have his standard and say, well, it's either better fricking get here on time. So, you know, if he has to miss 10 minutes at the end of his soccer practice to get here, this is my standard for everybody. Then, okay, at least the parent knows that. Or it's, okay, yeah, no problem. If he's late, cool. We'll factor in a practice plan where we don't need him for the first little bit. No problem. And then at least you know what the standard is as the parent too. So you may not agree with it. You may not agree with it. But you know it. But you know it. And then it's up to you to decide, okay, this team isn't for us or little Johnny. We've got to talk as a family. We've got to make some decisions here. You know things like that. But again, we talk about it all the time, but I know that I've seen this come up so many times with different athletes that I've worked with. So like get ahead of these things. Don't let them just sit to the last second. Then everybody's butt hurt. The other parents, you guys, the player, the coach, get in front of that and just be open up front and honest. And you can go from there. And then you won't have any of these, you know, miscommunications and things like that. Because playing multiple sports when you're younger will help you be a better hockey player. I guarantee it. Yeah. Yeah. And look, this is all easy stuff to talk about. The reality of the situation is, and we talked about this with John on the podcast, every sport thinks their sport is the most important sport. Every coach thinks their team is the most important team. So this is a really tough thing for a lot of families who do want their kids to play multiple sports. I've mentioned that my nephew, who's eight years old, he made travel baseball and loves baseball and loves hockey. And his travel baseball starts in January, right? And so we literally had this conversation with my sister. It was like, hey, and it was the same thing because my dad's been a youth coach forever. And it was just, hey, just like communicate upfront what the expectations are. Tell them exactly what your situation is and what your kid wants to do. And then, you know, you figure it out. And not every situation is the same. Not every sport is the same. Not every level is the same. And that's why this discussion is so difficult because every sport interlapse intertwines with each other from a timing scheduling standpoint nowadays. Every single sport does. Gone are the days of you play one sport, one season, another sport, another season, another sport, another season, unless you're playing truly rec, rec sports. So, but what can help this impossible situation is clearly defining the standards from the coach's side and clearly defining, or clearly communicating what you're hoping for as a parent on that side. That can make things a lot easier for the impossible situation. So, time's up, show it, show it, show it. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs wants to talk about how coaches, players and parents navigate the reality of multi-sport athletes, in-season. It’s one thing to say we want our athletes to have a diverse skill set, and to say we encourage players to play multiple sports - but it’s an entirely different thing to manage that as a coach, parent and player.
TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW!
We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites!
