Grassroots: The Minor Hockey Show

This shorty is the last podcast for the long, Covid-laden season. A few words from the host and then we'll be back in August with more great interviews and discussions about the minor hockey world. Till then...Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

The teaching of skating has improved immeasurably over recent years. While aided by improved technology, it's mostly because of a crop of eager young development people who explore ways to teach not just old skills but also the newer ones the game is being built on. One of those riding this wave of expert instruction is Jon Cara, a development teacher at a facility in Winnipeg, The Rink. In this episode Jon discusses his approach and offers advice to coaches of the key components they need to teach.Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

As David Laszlo heads to Finland to oversee development and coaching for young teens, he sees that his new club seems to have a strong vision for its future. There will, of course, be new challenges, such as finding proper goalie coaching and dealing with parental issues. Some things never change though. Here's more from Laszlo and his Norwegian goalie coach Frederik Meling on minor hockey in that part of the world.Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

Chicago native David Laszlo was once a middle school teacher and later owned a pro shop where he often sharpened the skates of some Carolina Hurricanes players. Today, after eight years coaching minor in Denmark, Finland and Norway, he has learned much about hockey overseas and his own skills as a coach. For instance, he uses his whistle judiciously and talks less, a lesson he learned in Detroit when hearing that ice cost $400 per hour. "Am I worth nearly $7 a minute to hear myself talk?" Here's his conversation, along with his Norwegian goalie coach Frederik Meling, and host Richard Bercuson.Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

USA Hockey's ADM has radically changed the game south of the border, accomplishing much of what it had aimed to do years ago. It has increased participation in the sport and, at the same time, made US hockey a world power. In this episode, we see how it works in a Massachusetts community, as described by Al Ramsay,  who coaches and directs the program where he lives near Boston.Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

At age 13, after years of playing various sports with boys, Kim McCullough began playing hockey. Just five years later, she was playing Div. 1 hockey at Dartmouth followed by stints in pro hockey. She's coached girls in junior, AA, and in national programs in addition to running development and strength/conditioning programs from her home base in Toronto's Leaside Girls Association. Her next challenge is stepping out of coaching and into mentoring and a broader development framework. What is she facing?Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

For no apparent reason, Grassroots goes in a completely different direction in this episode which, on the surface anyway, is not at all connected with minor hockey nor even sport.  The late economic historian Carlo Cipolla theorized that underestimating the stupid is done at our own peril. But why?Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

Anyone who's been around minor hockey for any length of time has heard them, perhaps even used one. From the standpoint of halting personal growth and/or organizational development in their tracks, three common statements are at the forefront. How will minor hockey's leaders ignore them and move forward or, as stated in the podcast, learn to discover new oceans by first leaving the shore?Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

A mock interview with a coaching candidate launches this episode into a discussion about how to conduct these things in a minor hockey setting. One of the biggest questions addressed in this podcast is whether or not interviewing coaches is even necessary in most instances.Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com

At first, while hanging around his hometown Scarborough arena, Steve Kouleas wondered why there were hockey players with ponytails. Then he grew up, became a well known sportscaster and hockey nut and is now host of an NHL Live show on Sirius XM radio. Along the way, "Kool" watched the female game with awe, had two daughters, put them in hockey and saw what they - and he - got out of the game. Oh, and yes, he has thoughts on how to improve the female game, as good as it is already.Contact: richard(at)grassrootsminorhockey.comX (Twitter):Richard - @berky544Dean Holden: funlearnreturn@gmail.com