Recently, the Reston Raiders Hockey Club along with the Virginia Statesmen hosted a coaches clinic with Bill Beaney, Middlebury College’s 7 Time NCAA Division III National Champion Head Coach and small games guru, as the key presenter.

The clinic was a superb opportunity for local Northern Virginia area coaches to learn from one of the greatest hockey coaching minds in the United States . After about an hour long discussion of the use of small games as the primary method of practice and training, Coach Beaney and his Assistant, Neil Sinclair, Williams College’s Women’s Team Head Coach, took to the ice with coaches from the Statesmen, Raiders and Ashburn Xtreme for a hands-on demonstration of small games. The coaches were winded after about a half hour of small games, but it was an absolute blast and no one wanted the thing to come to an end.

Here are five main take-away points from Coach Beaney’s presentation:

1. What can you do in practice everyday that will help your players really learn the style of play that you want them to show?

As many touches of the puck as possible, many battles for loose pucks, games with consequences for mistakes or poor decisions, games that involve problem solving at a rapid pace and allowing the game itself to be the teacher.

1. What areas of the game should you consider to be priorities?

Winning the constant little battles for the puck, transitioning quickly and effectively, smart play without the puck, creating “shape” or supporting teammates on offense and defense and creating a good balance of support around the puck.

1. Short-term versus long-term growth. Small games are practice for the long-term benefit of the player. Drills and systems can create success in the short term, but games will teach life long skills and understanding of the game.
2. 80% of practice! Coach Beaney suggests that 80% of practice should be small games, because small area games create a learning environment where the game is the teacher. The players learn to make sense out of chaos, players learn to improvise and players learn to love the game. Small games also help develop skill while the kids play; it helps build confidence, anticipation and hockey sense as well.
3. Less then 5% of the game do players have the puck. Small area games, better than any drill, can teach players how to play without the puck. And since players are without the puck for 95% of the time, this is crucial to success for the team and for the individual player.

Thanks very much for Coach Beaney and Coach Sinclair for taking the time to visit the grass roots of hockey to teach youth coaches about the importance of small games and to further expand upon USA Hockey’s agenda to incorporate small games for the better development of players in this country.

We look forward to the possibility of doing it all again next summer