Grassroots: The Minor Hockey Show

Episode 125 - Rahim Karmali's overhaul of Whitby coach development

After years as a coach in house league and competitive hockey, Whitby Minor Hockey's development coordinator Rahim Karmali is re-jigging the organization's approach to coach development. His initiatives, and many hours in rinks with coaches, earned him the OMHA Development award.  Two books Rahim provided Whitby coaches with discussions on them to follow: The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle Belfry Hockey by Darryl Belfry with Scott Powers

Episode 124 - Are SSGs/SAGs misunderstood and misused?

An investigation of what SSGs/SAGs are, what they're supposed to do and are they being done effectively. Host Richard discusses with guest host Dean Holden and Brian Gillam who explains how he's used these with his own U16 team. In the podcast, reference is made to Tom Mollloy's website: hockeycoachingabcs.com [http://hockeycoachingabcs.com].

Episode 123 - A Poditorial: The Bronze

Beginning with a nostalgic opening from the original Ottawa radio podcast, host Richard Bercuson gives his views that help explain Canada's Bronze medal performance at the recent world juniors. He divides his explanation into five topics to describe Canada's standing in the hockey world.   Hockey population by country [https://www.statista.com/statistics/282349/number-of-registered-ice-hockey-by-country/]

Episode 122 - The DMIQ

From IQ to Hockey Sense to Hockey IQ, and now to DMIQ: The Decision-Making Intelligent Quotient. Richard and Dean discuss its importance, when we should introduce it and how to go about it. Naturally, it involves using appropriate spaces in order to enhance children's and teens' decision-making skills. Listeners are encouraged to read this research document related to the topic. It can be found online by copying and pasting the title into a search engine. "How Small-Sided and Conditioned Games Enhance Acquisition of Movement and Decision-Making Skills"

Episode 121 - TOP Sports: A different kind of experience - in three sports!

TOP ("The Other Path") Sports aims to provide families with alternatives to both traditional sport experiences and the private ones, though this, too, is privately owned. Kevin Shier, executive director and co-founder with two other men, discusses what's so different, especially since its approach to hockey, lacrosse and soccer employs what is widely known as the Constraints Based/Led Approach to teaching, something that is mostly non-existent in Canada's minor hockey landscape. Club Technical Director for soccer Tom Waud further describes the approach as it's presented to their paid coaches and why it is foundational to the club's coaching.   TOP Sports: https://www.toronto.topsports.ca/