Coaching High School Sports

Coaching at the High School level is so much fun, and is very challenging at the same time.  High school is such an interesting time, and your players reflect all the different phases that they are going thru.  The difficulty of coaching in High School is that the players are at so many different levels, both in ability and dedication.  I believe that coaching in High School is 10% hockey, and 90% everything else.  Sometimes you feel like more of a guidance councilor or psychiatrist, trying to help these young players get thru the challenges of life.

When they tell me that they want to play hockey after high school, I always ask them what they think it will be like.  As usual, they see more the glamour or the feeling of success at that next level. I try and make them understand that playing high level hockey isn't always about the joys of making it, rather it's about the hard work that you won't always get credit for, the effort that goes unseen.  

It is still so much fun, I always love working hard.  It comes down being willing to do the work, sometimes handle rejection, to dedicate yourself to school, personal life, hockey, and being able to balance all of those things for success.  If you think you can do that, I really think you have a chance.  If it's for the right reasons, it'll work out...

-Coach Benny