1. The economy will rebound not once but 3 times. We all have heard that the corner has turned, but I predict that we will be turning that corner more than a few times. When will we really see a true turn around?
2. Role models will not be celebrities or sports figures in the future. Mass media will stop painting them as role models – we don’t need the disappoint. Go back to really showing the true role models. This means – local area news will have to feature ordinary folks doing extra-ordinary stuff for no reason at all. Just because is good enough.
3. Human interaction has gone more on-line everyday. I predict that dinner time conversations will make a comeback. Verbally discussing the day activities rather than texting, emailing, wall to wall or twittering updates. I am an empty nester now, so – for me that maybe a bit tougher to do, but every chance I get – I want the discussion verbally..
4. Electronic gadgets will continue to spring up all over the place. My hope is that Intel chips are everywhere.. Which could have an impact on the stock! The only downside – too many gadgets, so little time.
5.  Arguments around social computing (Enterprise 2.0) technologies internally will move from what and why to implementation of more agile capabilities that do not tie to one size fits all philosophy I see with most companies. I do want my cake and eat it too… Why can’t I have both?
6. After years of complaints, software vendors will insure that upgrading or their new releases – will not require hours of work to insure that what I already have will work in the new. Seems that every upgrade has me spending hours to relearn, migrate my content or reset up permissions. Enough already – using your stuff was supposed to save me time.
7. Decisions that I have been putting off – will move to the forefront of my to do list. We all have stuff that we should do, know we should do; but put off due to too many other reasons. I am saying no more excuses… Time to do something for me.
8. There are way too many overly serious folks in the world. Fun, should not be something that you have to schedule, force or demand. Fun should just happen. Smile more, laugh more. Surprising how better you feel.
9. Educating the future will become a reality. Budgets will match the expectations of what we want to happen. Time to prioritize the future – and stop living in the past…
10. I will get to know my neighbors. It is amazing how when I was growing up in the 70′s – every house had a front porch and neighbors used to talk with each other. Today, how many front porches do you see? How many of your neighbors do you really know? For me, I know I have to do better…

I was sitting this morning and my mind wandered to my days of coaching hockey! Summer is over and high school starting up again is just around the corner. What does that bring? For us hockey fans – it means another high school season is firing back up.  This is the part of the season that every team is busy! They are recruiting players, ordering uniforms, the coaching staff is getting together for laying out the season and the players just unhappy the summer is over. High school hockey is a bit different than house or travel programs – it is all about your school!

Tips:

Recruiting – this is truly a year round activity.

• At the end of every school year – the coaches, players and parents should spend some time at the middle school’s that feed into their high school providing information. It is amazing how many times (when I was coaching) going to the middle school’s – I heard, “I did not know high school X had a hockey team.” or “Wow, he has always wanted to participate in school sports but really only has played hockey. This is cool.”
• Every high school has the week before school starts – orientation for each grade level to get the id, class schedule and activities. Each year, my teams would sit through each of the four days and answer questions, sell some high school hockey stuff and inform potential players about high school hockey and the program. This is especially good for the freshman class – as that is your new crop of players each year.

Planning for the season – It is never too early to plan. Every new season, comes with new hopes and expectations. Sitting down with the team coaching staff, the booster club and the active parents to lay out the season – is very important. As a coach, getting involvement from the players and parents is extremely important. No coach can do this on the own. Breakdown some of the responsibilities:

• Team Manager – every team needs someone to help organize the parents and players – off the ice. With the high school league – there are monthly meetings that are set up to help team managers keep up on league happenings. Team manager communications to the high school program is very essential to a successful program.  Uniforms are a big part of the job, it is really only a once per year – but staying on top of this is critical. Nothing worse than going into your first game without uniforms.
• Water Bottle owner – Sounds a bit lame, but water is very important. When I first started coaching, I used to do this myself. Well, it quickly became a core that would take away time from coaching. If you are waiting to fill the bottles at the rink, you were away from the players. If you did it at home, then you were taking away some of you planning and prep time. Always good to have a volunteer that insures the water bottles are there, clean and filled. One less headache.
• Some coaches like some stats folks or video folks to do some game work. If you want that to be part of your program – great. Make sure that you set it up early and insure that you are using it afterwards. I have seen many coaches take stats and just use it for themselves. I did this one year, and the coaches and players review it after each game. At the end of the season, I asked the players about that experience and they were just not impressed. They felt, it was okay, but that they just did not get enough from it. Video on the other hand. This could be a powerful tool! Showing the good, bad and positioning of game play is helpful to teach. You just have to have very solid equipment and time for all players to attend.
• Booster Club – I have been very fortunate to have a booster club that took care of fund raising or helping out whenever needed. The early years, when I first started – it was a family affair, but after just two years – the booster club just took off. Every year, they plan and put on the golf fund-raiser for the only money that is needed to run the program.
• Coaching staff – every head coach needs a solid set of assistant coaches. Insure that you get a solid set!  Work with the coaching staff to set expectations of all the coaches (who has offense, defense, goalies, who steps in as head coach, practice planning and so on), team (review the player list and assess what is needed, develop you planning, execute, reassess and re-plan), and parents (sit down and lay out your expectations to the parents (kick this off as the first meeting).

Amazing, you have done all this – and have yet to take the ice… Not bad! Just think in a short few weeks the players will be signing up, getting excited for the season to start and everyone is looking for a shot at the state title. Everyone has yet to play and everyone is in the hunt! This time of year is very busy, extremely busy, but if you spend the time upfront well, then you will have an easier time later on.

Eastern Conference First Round:

• Boston v. Montreal: Tough call, loyalty v. what is the right pick. So, I am going with the Bruins. If the Havs win I will be happier. Boston is too tough.
• Washington v. New York Rangers: Time for an upset pick – I’m going with the Rangers!
• New Jersey v. Carolina: Have to give the nod to the Devils.
• Pittsburgh v. Philly: Toss up, but I am going with the Penguins.

Western Conference First Round:

• San Jose v. Anaheim: Sharks have looked good all season, very dangerous match up. I am going with the Sharks.
• Detriot v. Columbus: Hockey town in a sweep.
• Vancouver v. St. Louis: Looking at this one as a good series, but the Canucks should win.
• Chicago v. Calgary: Another 4/5 series that is a toss up. I like the Chicago feel good story. Have to go with the Blackhawks in a 7 gamer.

Round 2 and semi-finals – Eastern Conference

• Boston v. NY Rangers – got to go with NY Rangers. My heart winning out!
• NJ Devils v. Pittsburgh – Devils should win this one. Defense is too tough.
• Devils v. Rangers – Winner of the Eastern Conference will be the NJ Devils.

Round 2 and semi-finals – Western Conference

• San Jose v. Chicago – staying with the favorite – Sharks!
• Detriot v. Vancouver – again staying with the favorite – Red Wings.
• Sharks v. Red Wings – now this is the match up that most want to see. The number 1 and 2 teams going at it. I have to give the Sharks a slight edge.

Finals:

• New Jersey v. San Jose – definitely an interesting match up. I predict the Devils winning in 6 games.

Your thoughts?