Aug 26, 2017 | Karl Robb | 1047 views
Welcome to Try Outs
Hello everyone!
I want to take this opportunity to welcome
everyone to the 2017-2018 season. My name is Karl Robb and I have been
given the privilege of coaching the Oakridge Aeros Novice MD1 team. I am
very excited to get started and I hope the players feel the same.
Tryouts will be starting on September 5th. I would encourage all parents to subscribe to the team calendar that way you will have the most up-to-date information concerning ice time.
I also realize that tryouts can be a very stressful time for both players and parents. Please remind them that this is a game and that as long as they do their best and have fun they will be fine. You can also share the key things I will be looking for during tryouts. I will evaluate to a degree skating, puck handling, shooting and passing. I am also looking for players who battle for the puck, who are leaders (both on and off the ice), who are excellent teammates, and who are coach-able. A team can have all the skill in the world but without leadership, a "team first" attitude, and a willingness to listen and learn, you can't succeed. You will see lots of scrimmage, inner-squad games and Exhibitions games. I am not as concerned about who can skate around cones as I am to see who plays smart, who plays as a good teammate and who makes those around them better.
Let me also take this opportunity to share a little about my coaching philosophy. First and foremost, I am about player and team development both on and off the ice. We will spend a great deal of time in practice focusing on player and team skill development. I want kids to be good kids, good teammates and represent us well. Tolerance for immature behavior will be far different than last year. It is our job as coaches to prepare them for the next level, and it is expected that parents assist with that and support coaches.
We are lucky to have two teams this year. Please make sure I know if your player will only play forward or Defense. This will determine how I pick the team. If they will only play forward but I feel they make the team better on Defense, you may have to make a decision. This will be the only opportunity for parent input on position within our team.
I also want to take this opportunity to share some information about cost for MD hockey. There are additional fees above the registration cost you pay to the Association. The Association essentially covers ice time for league games and one practice per week. The additional team fees help to cover tournaments, extra practice ice time, player and goalie development sessions, practice jerseys and other team costs which will be shared during the team budget meeting. Currently the excess fee is around $800/player.
I encourage as many kids as possible to try out. See everyone on September 5th,
Karl Robb