Kansas City Stars Hockey

It’s nearly the middle of July and hard to believe that hockey season is right around the corner! With that in mind, I want to share a re-cap of last season and some thoughts and updates for the upcoming season with our players and families.

 

Starting early last season, my goals were to become better organized in our operations; increase and improve communication at all levels; and do a better job of executing our programs and initiatives. By doing so, we will make the program more fun and rewarding for all players and families in the Stars organization.

 

I learned a great deal in my first year as the Hockey Director. I am proud of the great strides we made in many areas. As always, there is room for improvement in some areas going forward. During my first year as the Hockey Director, I tackled programs and areas of need that I identified during my prior experience as a parent and coach for the Stars organization. At that time, I had not been fully exposed to the entire scope of the Stars operations and programs. Last year was my opportunity to learn about the entire organization from top to bottom. To say I learned a lot is an understatement.

 

We sent a survey to our families before last season to help me understand the perspective of other families in our organization and to identify and prioritize specific areas in need of improvement. My first step was to implement changes that would make the biggest immediate impact. We then “tweaked” less significant areas that needed improvement. The process was all driven by your suggestions included some trial and error. We have worked hard to address the issue of player costs and tried several approaches to reducing and offsetting the cost of playing hockey. Some approaches worked and some did not. Hockey is simply an expensive sport in our area. But, you never know until you try. We will continue to work on cost reduction ideas in the future as an organizational priority.

 

The Stars organization grew from 326 to 360 players. This is a tremendous increase given the difficult economy. The house program will always be the foundation of our program and the future looks bright. We went from 20 Atom house players in 2008-09 to 31 in 2009-10. These player numbers will grow incrementally as each year goes on and indicate that the organization will be strong for years to come. We are working on ideas to make “trying” the game of hockey cost effective at the younger ages. As we’ve all experienced, once the kids hit the ice they are hooked and the parents soon follow!

 

We continue to offer as many quality options as possible for our players, ranging from introductory programs to house, house select and travel hockey opportunities. The Stars took over the spring hockey program and it doubled in size from about 80 players to 170 players. Finding available ice and roster spots became a huge challenge that we did not anticipate.

 

For the first time in my 5 years with the Stars organization, we fielded travel teams at the AA, A and House Select levels in all divisions – Bantams, Pee Wees and Squirts. Thank you to JF Quintin, Travel Hockey Director, for his work with the travel program. His efforts allowed me to focus on working on other aspects of the organization. Our travel teams were very successful and have become well respected across the region.

 

I also want to thank the house coaches for their effort and time in helping organize and run the all-important house teams. Thanks in particular to the house select coaching staff for their willingness to take the time beyond their house obligations to make the house select program so successful. 

 

House Hockey: Last year our focus was to complete USA Hockey certification for all coaches at the required level for each age group. Better coaches make for a better experience for our families. One of my main priorities is to identify, educate and support our coaches. Proper USA Hockey training and certification is the first step in the process that results in better coaches for our players. 

 

Under the direction of Mark and Lisa Beischel, the Stars organization coordinated a USA Hockey certification weekend that included coaches from all four Kansas City area associations in addition to coaches from St. Joe, Omaha, Wichita and Des Moines. As the largest youth hockey organization in our area, we feel obligated to taking the lead in coaching development programs. As the saying goes, all boats rise with the tide. Having quality coaches on our benches as well as the opposing benches who know each other and work collaboratively results in better games for all players and a better family experience. It all starts with teaching the coaches. We have established a great relationship with the Midwest affiliate coaching development staff to support our certification seminars. We will host the regional USA Hockey coaching seminar again this year. We will require our coaches to keep progressing through the coaching certification levels.

 

In this same vein, we were fortunate to have Pat Ferschweiler, head coach of the Russell Stove AAA teams, on the ice helping our house coaches during the spring hockey season. Our coaches were exposed to Pat’s approach to teaching skill development and team play fundamentals. It was a great opportunity for them to learn from one of the best teachers of the game in the Midwest. We anticipate more of this type of hands-on education for our coaches as a practical extension of the classroom training involved in the USA Hockey certification process.

 

I will never skirt an issue or take offense with suggestions on how to improve the organization. One of the most difficult issues I encountered was creating parity among our house level teams. I am constantly amazed at how much kids can change and develop at different rates. What started out as balanced teams can change in a hurry. We know it’s a constant issue and we manage it the best we can early in the season. However, there comes a point in the season where shuffling players just doesn’t make sense. Usually several players, families and teams are affected. We also require the consent and cooperation of the parents and players involved in the trade. It is simply not as easy as it seems from the outside. Please know that I work diligently with the coaches in the evaluation process to ensure our teams are even. We will continue to strive for team parity and to accommodate reasonable requests for family convenience.

 

Travel Hockey: The travel hockey coaches have been named and are posted on the website. I feel we have the best coaches available in Kansas City for our travel program. We will soon assign high quality assistant coaches at each level as well. Announcements will be forthcoming.

 

We are excited this year to have Trey Ennis as our Travel Team Manager Coordinator to help identify, train and support our travel team managers and treasurers. Trey has many years of experience in travel team operations and scheduling. He is a “wiz” at putting together an efficient, well run, cost effective season designed to maximize the fun and reduce the hassle factor involved with travel hockey. Trey will be guiding our team managers in mapping out budgets and schedules as soon as the teams are selected. We plan to travel as an organization as often as we can. By doing so, we will reduce costs and limit multi-player family travel and expenses. More importantly, we will build relationships and morale throughout the organization by offering the opportunity for players, parents and coaches at all travel levels to get to know one another and support the other teams on the road. Last year it was really fun for our families to be in a city with the ability to watch and support our other Stars teams when they played. We would like to build on that experience as much as possible.

Citywide Travel Hockey: For all of you who have ever asked why we don’t combine all KC travel players into one unified travel program (and most of you have), you should know that Stars leaders spent a considerable amount of time and effort working in that direction with the leaders of other organizations during the off season. Everybody tried very hard to make it happen, but at the end of the day, we just couldn’t get it done for a variety of perfectly legitimate reasons. We did, however, establish very positive lines of communication and relationships that will serve all organizations well in the future. The door is still open and we will continue to support the quest for a workable solution for unified travel hockey in Kansas City.

 

Pat Ferschweiler: Pat recently accepted a position on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Division I Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Pat helped found and build the Stars organization. It is a great and well-deserved opportunity for Pat and his family. Our thanks to Pat for his contributions to the Kansas City Stars organization and for putting Kansas City youth hockey on the national map. We will be watching and wishing Pat and his family the very best for success with the Western Michigan team and perhaps beyond.

 

The dates for all events and programs are being finalized and will be posted on the Stars website in the next week or so. Play It Again Sports will be hosting another hockey night in KC towards the end of July. They are currently buying used hockey equipment and would like for you to bring your gear in starting immediately so they can get it ready for a special selling night.

 

I am genuinely excited about the future of the Kansas City Stars organization at all levels moving forward. We are definitely going in the right direction. I look forward to seeing everyone at the rink soon and hope you enjoy the rest of your summer. Hockey season is on the way!!

 

Regards,

Tom Tilley

Hockey Director

KANSAS CITY STARS HOCKEY ASSOCIATION