Book Private Ice-hockey Lessons with Coach Greg

I've been on the ice longer than I can remember. In my 35+ years of playing and coaching I have seen and taught all level of talent. And I continue to have a passion for the game that drives me to not just keep my play as top-tier as possible but also bring my knowledge to elevate others game as well.

I coach based on a athletes needs. I accomplish this by first understanding the player through conversation and skills evaluation and from there can build a program tailored to the individual, breaking down skills in need of development to the basic components and building progressively on those skills. I like to follow the training adage of "slow is smooth, smooth is fast," always pushing the tempo while maintaining control.

Initially, I start with building a program which involves evaluating the athletes skills and needs. After that program is developed, sessions could take on several different looks with in three basic forms; on-ice, off-ice, or a combination of both. Off-ice sessions can be dryland training for strength, speed, agility, and/or endurance. Off-ice sessions may also include or consist of a "classroom" element to review skills or hockey specific knowledge and could precede on-ice activities in combo sessions (ice time isn't cheep!). For younger athletes, these sessions are more rare as I find interactive instruction with hockey specific skills tends to be more helpful for those athletes. For on-ice sessions, depending on player need and ability, warmups are typically followed by skills drills to either develop or re-enforce proper mechanics and build quickness. From there, we either build to more complex drills or work on game-specific scenarios based on the athletes developmental needs. Development can (and should) take on many different looks so sessions will be diverse and always based on the continuously re-evaluated needs of the athlete and what is effective for them.

The best coach I ever had wasn't a team coach but one that ran clinics. Most team coaches I had were more focused on game scenario and strategy development over individual development and the player had to find their own role and development inside that scope. Strategy and scheme are important aspects of the game but if a player doesn't have the basis to understand or perform as an individual in that scheme, it's a none starter. Guy taught me more about my individual skills and development and understand how to learn the game than any other coach because of the individual approach and why I am motivated to pass that along to others.

I am a proponent of USA Hockey's ADM program and its focus on age specific training. Understanding the needs and basics of what training methods provide the highest returns on effort for a specific age group is key to being an effective coach. This is especially true at younger levels where I think a lot of coaches focus on technical and team play where individual skill development and "learning to train"/"training to train" approaches are much more effective for player development. Even at the higher edge of youth hockey age limit, competitive play is just starting to be introduced and focused on without neglecting new individual development strategies that can now be introduced like weight training and more focused technique development.

Coaching is also about learning the individual and their capabilities too. Some develop fast or in different areas more easily. Learning the player helps develop the most effective training plan and builds communication between player and coach, which is easily half the battle. If you can effectively communicate the what and why you are not going to get the commitment needed from the player or the understanding needed to make long term progress. Players need to understand and buy-in to plan and not just have it forced on them.