Build Character, Not Trophy Cases

By Dan Bauer

Tie game. Three minutes to go. Your second line is about ready to change. It is decision time for a coach. Does my third line go in, or do I go back with my first line even though they just finished a two minute shift? If the third line goes out and gives up a goal, everybody is going to be asking why they were on the ice. The first line is the only line that can get this game won. Ten seconds… what’s your decision?

During the course of every season youth hockey coaches are faced with these types of decisions hundreds of times. In each of these instances winning the game will be a major factor in the decision. Just how much emphasis is placed on winning will determine in large part whether or not this decision will be character building. Contrary to popular belief, sports don’t build character, coaches do.

Legendary NCAA basketball coach John Wooden who won ten national championships at UCLA, including seven in a row, was notorious for not talking about winning. Any player who had the privilege of playing for Wooden will attest to that fact. Wooden believed in the concept of a pyramid and emphasized the building blocks needed to be successful. His pyramid included seventeen characteristics like industriousness (work ethic), pride, loyalty and enthusiasm. If his players developed the qualities represented in the stones of his pyramid, then winning would be the natural result. It was his focus on the process and not the end result that was the hallmark of his success.

The pre-occupation we have with playing games, games and more games in youth hockey lends itself to result based evaluation. While games are played to determine a winner, a result, practices are based on the process. At a time when skill development and character development should be a priority, we find ourselves spending most of our time traveling & playing games. Coaches, even at the youth level, often feel they are judged on their won-loss record. Some of that pressure is from external influences (parents, board members) and some of it is their own desire to win. The competitive nature of coaches makes it virtually impossible for them to escape that pressure to win.

When winning is the driving force at the youth hockey level, decisions will be made that are not consistent with the educational environment we should be modeling. Coaches will tend to look the other way when top players make mistakes and come down harder on players at the bottom of the team’s food chain. Alpha players will get extended playing time as if they were Scott Stevens or Rob Blake. Player development will be sacrificed for the opportunity to “get another win”. Coach Wooden’s pyramid comes tumbling down when winning is placed at the top with no solid building blocks underneath.

As much as we all like to win, most of us understand that there is a greater goal attached to youth sports. Coaches who understand that will develop players into productive young men & women. Those who don’t will create athletes who learn that their athletic ability supersedes everything else they do in life and that their ability is a license to act immature, self-centered and arrogant. Because they are athletically gifted, they learn that they will often not be held accountable for their poor decisions. The sports pages are filled with examples of pro athletes who were given a “free pass” because of their athletic prowess. The daily decisions we make as a coach can build character or create characters.

Coaching youth hockey is a difficult assignment and it is often handed to those whose only qualification is they have a kid on the team. Few jobs require such a limited resume. We try our best to educate youth coaches through USA hockey & local associations, but it isn’t a job you can master following a one day clinic. I always believed learning the x’s & o’s of hockey was easier than dealing with athletes and the many challenges they bring. I often think a book of moral values would better serve a coach than a technical textbook on skills and systems. If coaches base their decisions on fairness and building character I believe you will have support win, lose or draw. If your decisions are based solely on winning and you don’t win, you are left defenseless.

I have never had a player come back and tell me I changed his life because of any hockey skill or system I taught him. I have, however, had many former players tell me they were better prepared for the “game of life” having played high school hockey. Wins and loses fade like dusty old trophies shoved to the back of the trophy case, but your actions, words and passion leave an indelible mark. Make sure your coaching decisions are based on building character and not winning at all costs. Either way, the impact will last a lifetime.