Arena Notes | What are we working on, coach?

On Saturday, we were using a practice plan that Coach Matthew used with his Select team. There was a mix of technical skills, team tactics, and fun drills. After we finished the first drill, Coach Matthew sauntered up to me and made a beautiful, effortless hockey stop, and said, "What are we working on, Coach?"

It was a light bulb moment for me. I'm the head coach. As if it wasn't clear enough already, Coach Matthew wants me to be head coach. He said as much at the beginning of the year, that he couldn't be head coach. He has also been taciturn and not opinionated about what the team was learning from professional coaches. I had hoped to take care of the off-ice details and leave the on-ice to Coach Matthew and Coach Mahmood. In retrospect, this division is not that clean. What happens in the dressing room is connected with what happens on the ice. And nobody had been driving. I was hoping one of them would step up, and they thought I would take the job.

So, I picked the next drill and paid close attention to how he gave instructions. I will need to pick up a whistle and whiteboard an arena printed on it. He explained the drill using the whiteboard and then demonstrated on the ice. I listened to the words that he used and the scribbles on the whiteboard.

We lost our game on Sunday. In the dressing room, Coach Matthew pointed out that we were an easy team to beat right now, because we're not passing the puck. I had been waiting a long time for him to say something like this, so I was looking forward to the next practice.

I'm taking the steering wheel now. I now have a direction, buy in, and some tools. Let's go.