Sports Position Playbook: A Coach's Guide to Position Selection in Sports

When it comes to helping your players choose their positions in ice hockey, it's essential to consider their strengths and weaknesses in areas like skating, shooting, passing, and physicality. It’s also important to remind the parents and yourself, the coach, that we must strengthen these weaknesses and put youth players in situations of failure to help them grow. As a coach, you must address these shortcomings in skilled practices.

 

“Why must we assign a specific position to a

player so early in their youth career?”   

-Mike Weaver

 

Remember that age and experience also influence this decision-making process, which develops over time. A coach's responsibility is to teach your players their overall sports knowledge, understanding of game strategies, and teamwork abilities. Some will grow faster than others, and their passion for the game will increase.

 

 

Now, all that's left is to ensure you have effective practice plans to facilitate growth in skill, knowledge and, above all, fun! The most challenging and time-consuming task of a coach is creating practice plans. That’s where CoachThem comes in with our sports drill drawing sketchpad, the fastest tool on the market. Our tool allows you to create customized practice plans and draw sports drills, making your training sessions dynamic and helping you save on ice-time costs. From drawing up skill-specific drills, power plays, and penalty kills to practicing zone breakouts and offensive strategies, our platform offers a comprehensive library of sport-specific skill-focused drills and plays.

As coaches, it's essential to encourage late position specialization. Therefore, encourage players to explore different roles before sticking to one position too early. There have been some great examples of successful position transitions throughout hockey history. Players like Jake Gardiner, Andrei Markov, and Dustin Byfuglien have switched positions and excelled. Even within the forward positions (RW, LW, and C), players like Boone Jenner have shown versatility as a valuable asset.

Position flexibility opens up new opportunities for players and allows them to thrive in various career roles. Being adaptable and versatile on the ice can lead to greater success and longevity in the highly competitive world of hockey.

 

 

By fostering a "players, not positions" approach, you'll encourage your players to explore different roles and promote adaptability, ultimately creating more well-rounded and successful players on the ice.

CoachThem is your go-to drill drawing and drill discovery platform. Our tailored tools and resources for hockey drill drawing can significantly assist you with streamlining your practice planning while enhancing player development. As a PRO subscriber, you can access a vast library of drills with video available for free in our Marketplace. Take it a step further and invite your assistant coaches where all of you can easily create, customize, and share these drills, allowing seamless communication and collaboration with your coaching staff.

 

Written by the CoachThem Team 

August 3, 2023

 

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