Kansas City Stars Hockey

As the Stars organization heads into our house evaluations and travel tryouts I wanted to send out a recap on a few recent events as well as some thoughts on the next couple of very hectic weekends. This is a fast-paced and exciting time of year where accurate information and rumors exist side by side. Hopefully, this communication will provide additional information on our programs and help dispel a couple of rumors that are floating around. For additional information on evaluations, tryouts and registration for these events please visit the Stars website at www.kcstarshockey.com. I encourage our families to visit the website frequently for all of the scheduling and event questions you may have.

The event was a resounding success in terms of the number of families who turned out for the one day event to take advantage of exchanging equipment their player’s had grown out of for quality “gently worn” equipment that fit or selling old equipment. Our hopes were to have a central location with professional assistance and broad selection of equipment in an effort to save families money by not having to buy new equipment. I want to thank Bob Jarvis, the owner of Play it Again as well as a Stars family member for a great job by him and his staff.

 

I would like to thank the players and families that participated in the hockey camp Travel Hockey Director J-F Quintin and I put on at Pepsi Ice Mid-West earlier this week. The camp was sold out and I apologize to those we had to turn away. This was our first year for the camp and we will work on expanding it for next year if needed. It was a great opportunity for players to get on the ice and get some instruction and conditioning before evaluations and travel tryouts. We’re hopeful that by giving players the opportunity to get on the ice prior to evaluations and tryouts it will help us make the best evaluations in the coming weeks in terms of parity in the selection process at the house level as well as travel selections. I hope the players who participated enjoyed the camp and learned some things along the way. All I know is that my feet are sore!

 

Travel tryouts are this weekend and as we head into the selection process I just want people to understand that J-F, I and the travel coaches understand the anxiety that comes along with the process both for players and parents. I am a parent as well and have the same feeling as my son enters his first competitive travel tryout (which I will not be a part of). In an effort to be clear on the selection process, attached is a communication from J-F on his thoughts and approach to the travel team selection process itself.

 

These will begin Friday August 28^th and run through the weekend. I will be assisting the house coaches in the evaluation process at all levels but will be leaving it to the coaches themselves to divide up the teams for my final review. I can’t begin to understand the dynamics of the car pooling etc. that will be involved at all levels and I respect our coaches and their knowledge of the players to make sound decisions and split the teams evenly. If there are any issues along the way I will help resolve them.

 

I have been in touch with most house coaches from last year and have a lot of new volunteers for the upcoming season. I’m excited at the pool of talented and experienced coaches we have for the upcoming season and we will be deep at every level. Thank you in advance to the coaches for volunteering their time! I was inundated by e-mails by people volunteering to coach while on vacation recently so if you contacted me regarding coaching at the house level and I happened to not respond please contact me at ttilleyx4@aol.com. I apologize if I missed an e-mail but want to be sure you reach out to me again.

 

I received a call yesterday from a concerned parent which I really appreciated. Apparently the rumor going around is that we plan to do away with the House Select program. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ideally we would like to have House, House select, “A” and “AA” at every level so there is something for everyone. Ultimately it’s the parents and players rather than me or anyone on the board that decides what teams we have at each level. It is based on who signs up at each level and where they decide to play or tryout. House select will be more restricted this year in terms of games and tournaments because other organizations (who may not have select programs) complained that my Squirt Select team (it was my fault) messed up all of their scheduling last year. This was an accurate statement but I never knew at the time that it was a problem. There will be league wide restrictions on the number of games and tournaments House Select teams will be able to participate in for the upcoming season and moving forward. The house select program is not designed to be an equivalent alternative to travel “A” hockey. If you feel your player would benefit for significant additional practice time and is ready for a higher level of play and better competition, you should consider trying out for an “A” travel team.

 

Our goal is to have an “A” team for each division… squirts, pee wees and bantams… if we have enough players to do so. I envision the “A” level being a scaled down version of “AA” to make it fit more people’s budgets and other family considerations. The important part of “A” will be the two practices a week which is how players learn the game.

 

I will be addressing all of this on Saturday at tryout meetings. There is no plan to do anything with House Select except continue to promote it and give families as many alternatives as possible. Anyone who wants to learn more is free to attend family travel hockey meetings Saturday. If the meeting times are not posted on the website it’s because they were sent out to people who registered for travel and I will have Mary Helmick post the meeting times on the website. Moving forward if there is a question or concern of this magnitude I encourage someone to e-mail me or pick up the phone. This rumor seemed to have gained steam quickly and could have been defused sooner had I been contacted earlier.

 

Thank you for being a part of the Stars family and I look forward to seeing you at the rink!

 

Regards,

Tom Tilley

Kansas City Stars Hockey Dierctor