always look forward

Always look forward

It’s that time of the year we take a look back at what happened to us in 2020 and look forward to what is in stock for us for 2021. We all know it was a special one last year. 2020 has been a year with some extraordinary challenges for most of us. But, true in sports, business and life… challenges also bring opportunities. They force us to break with old habits and look for new solutions, which always is a useful exercise.

What happened in 2020

In the midst of our preparations for the HOCKEYtoday.cc Coach Conference planned for June 2020, COVID struck. Lives as well as sports around the world felt the impact. When the first lockdowns were implemented over here in Europe we decided to ramp up our output. So the lack of time on the field could be used online to share some knowledge. We went from a monthly coach chat to a weekly session doing AMA’s (ask me anything) with the best of the best and free (!) for all. For 2 months we did a weekly session with coaches like McLeod, Caldas, Retegui, Hager… to name but a few. In June we had a great Coach Conference with among others a keynote by Teun de Nooijer. In the summer of 2020 we decided it was time for some changes.

Our co-founder Bernardo Fernandes decided he had to step down because of a lack of time. I decided that was a good moment to make some changes and add some new team members. So HOCKEYtoday.cc became thehockeysite.com. And we added Sergio Olles 🇪🇸 (ESP), Jenn Beagan 🇨🇦 (CAN) and Tsoanelo Pholo 🇿🇦 (RSA) to our team. I’m still looking for a coach from Oceania, Asia & South America to join the team as well. Email me 😉

What did not change, nor will change is our 1 key mission to #sharetheknowledge. Following the summer we found a rhythm of more or less 2 coach chats every month. This means at the end of 2020 we now have a library of 38 one-hour webinars from some of the greatest hockey coaches available on demand for our members, hundreds of coach clips (videos between 1 and max 10 minutes each), several online courses and thousands of drills & exercises in our catalog.

What is planned for 2021

We’ve got 2 coach chats lined up every month for early 2021 already. With some top experts from New Zealand, the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, Germany, … These will deal with 1 very specific topic as usual followed (or interrupted) by Q&A. But we wanted to make our live sessions, which will remain free (!) for all, more interactive. So from now on we can bring some of our attendees on “stage” as well to elaborate on their question. Plus we’ll open our doors 2 hours before every live coach chat. So you could come in early and have some informal video chats with fellow coaches, old & new friends, in our lounge. Or do some speed networking to expand your global network of coaches. Following the live session the lounge will remain open for another hour or so to talk among fellow coaches some more. Experience our new “venue” for our live presentations (coach chats) for the first time on January 15…

We intend to do full coach conferences around some of the major events international hockey will bring us in 2021. As well as possibly some interesting “second screen” events for singular international games. Always with a coach audience and #sharetheknowledge as our main intent. Keep an eye out on our site and social media for more news on this. By the way… please follow us on instagram, twitter and facebook 🙂

In January of 2021 we also will reach out to all of you checking if you would be interested in setting up or joining your own MasterMind groups, hosted by THS. To determine which would be a possible set up for this concept where all enjoy the added value of such peer-to-peer coaching without breaking the bank 🙂 The goal is to help you, as a coach, navigate through challenges using the collective intelligence of others… #Sharetheknowledge , remember?

Last but not least… 2021 will also be about updating our catalog and adding new online coach courses. If you think you have what it takes to set up an interesting online coach course on a very specific topic, technical, tactical, physical or mental… get in touch. It could be an interesting way for you to make some money besides your coaching job.

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It promises to be an interesting year… and if you’re making some money from coaching yourself and you think we add value for you as a coach. Consider joining as a member to help us continue to be able to #sharetheknowledge in 2021 and beyond 😉

Let me finish by wishing all of you the very best for a healthy 2021!
Ernst Baart

PS 1: Did you know we also maintain a dedicated hockey calendar with all relevant international games around the world? Which you could integrate in your own digital calendar. We owe a big thanks to Jon Bray (@worldhockeynews) for keeping this up to date!

PS 2: Share your feedback, remarks, ideas and suggestions in the comments below… or click here to send us your feedback!

One Response

  1. 2020 has been a unique year, but with you guys, it’s been awesome. This is the year I have got most education and info as a young coach and it’s all thanks to you guys. Thanks Ernst and your amazing team for taking the time to set all this up. Really excited about what’s coming in 2021. #sharetheknowledge

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