In 2000 Hockey Canada voted to implement a National Coach Mentorship Program with the purpose of mentoring coaches as a means to future growth of coaching in Canada. The AMHA's Mentorship program has been devised based upon Hockey Canada's definitions with specific attributes to the AMHA.

Hockey Canada’s Definitions

Mentor - A wise and trusted teacher, advisor, counsellor, instructor, tutor, trainer.

Mentoring - A relationship between a guide (mentor) and a coach, which enables the coach to become more successful in all aspects of his/her coaching skills.

Mentoring involves - Stimulating and managing the individual growth necessary to support coaching performance in the delivery programs beyond the present levels of delivery within the Canadian hockey system.

Benefits of mentoring - Provides coaches with the required skills, knowledge and support to promote and sustain higher levels of performance within the coaching field.

A1 Coach Mentorship Program

For the past 3 seasons the AMHA A1 Head Coaches (non-parent) have provided an extensive number of Mentorship hours to the C & Rep teams within their respective divisions.  Each A1 coach agrees to provide a minimum of 15 hours of mentorship to the coaches, that are open to learning from their experience, totalling 60 mentorship hours per season for AMHA.

As mentorship is voluntary by the coaches not all have taken advantage of the program but we have seen a significant number of our coaches learn from the A1 coaches.  AMHA will continue to offer this program in partnership with our A1 Head Coaches for the 2019-20 season and we encourage our coaches to reach out and utilize this valuable to tool.

• On-ice assistance with drill progressions
• Practice Planning
• Bench Management techniques
• Communication Tools / Strategies
• Use of Technology / Video

Are you a Coach? Looking for New Ideas, Drills, or Resources?

Coaches looking for more ideas and/or assistance with their team's program please contact the AMHA Hockey Director.