Success can be judged in many ways. Some coaches gauge it by the scoreboard. Others take a long-range view of how much a player or team improves over the course of the season. 

For Chuck Gridley, success has the look of steam rising from the sweaty heads of tiny players with smiles stretched across their young faces after a fun and active practice. 

Judging by the looks on the faces of the Mite-aged players coming off the ice at Ray Hurlburt Community Center in Louisville after a recent practice, the first NYSAHA coaching clinic for new coaches working with 6 & Under players was a total success.

While only 12 coaches came out for the inaugural clinic, Gridley sees potential moving forward as word catches on and future clinics are held earlier in the season.

“It doesn’t really matter what time of year you do it, you’re always going to have conflicts with people’s schedules,” said Gridley, the long-time coach-in-chief for New York. “What we need to do next year is to get them on the calendar earlier so people can plan for them.”

The clinics are free to first-time coaches working with 6 & Under players and include both classroom and on-ice sessions aimed at giving these new coaches a strong foundation on how to teach basic skills. Unlike other coaching clinics for beginning coaches, Gridley said the message was light on theory and heavy on practicality. 

“You talk about why you do it, you talk about what it looks like and then go out on the ice and execute it,” he said.

Gridley stressed that these new coaches play an important role in whether a young boy or girl sticks with hockey after the first year. It's all about creating an environment where new players feel a sense of accomplishment and improvement while also having fun and making new friends. The responsibility falls on the coach to make learning fun for kids.

“The better trained and prepared the coaches are the better shot of kids coming back next season,” Gridley said.

“They’re not just out there moving cones around and pushing pucks. Even if you didn’t play hockey or this is their first time coaching, these coaches are still an important part of the process.”

The on-ice session was divided by age with 6U players at one end and 8U players at the other. Each group played a series of soccer games followed by agility drills. Then coaches set up three stations at each end with kids skating through each station once before coaches changed the drill the second time through. That was followed by a series of cross-ice games to end the day.

“The kids were really into it, which was fun, and I think the coaches got a lot out of it too,” Gridley said. “Hopefully they put some of what they learned into their practices the rest of the season.”

While the current season is already under way, Gridley hopes to hold similar seminars in other sections this year and expand the program by hosting multiple sessions next season around the state.

“We’re definitely excited and hope it’s the first of many coaching clinics to help kids get better by making the coaches better,” he said.