Santa Fe New Mexican 10/28/2007, Page E05
Hockey association inspires players, coaches

 By Todd Bailey
 The New Mexican
  The Santa Fe Hockey Association isn't just about teaching kids how to be future hockey players, but also about teaching hockey players how to be future coaches. On Oct. 28, 12 high-school-age hockey players were part of an annual student tcoaching seminar at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center. After spending 45 minutes in the classroom learning about the dynamics of coaching, each of the 12 student-coaches spent the next hour on the ice with a child learning to play. The student-coaches worked with the children on how to hold a hockey stick properly, how to shoot the puck and how to skate.
  "I think this program has multiple benefits," said Peter Olson, Santa Fe Hockey's coordinator on players and coaches.
  "The student coaches get a sense of accomplishment and have a larger bind to the hockey program. But because they are also on their own teams, they have to listen to their coaching and then teach the kids. S o it helps the student coaches learn their game better."
  The Santa Fe Hockey Association has more than 80 players within its five age divisions. The youngest is the Mites, ages 4 to 8. Then come Squirts (9-10), Pee Wees (11-12), Bantams (13-14) and a high-school division with junior-varsity and varsity teams.
  The student-coaches come from the Bantam and high-school division and will be assigned to help coach a team.
  Olson said some student-coaches request which teams they want to help coach during the season, which ends for most in January. Some student-coaches want to be on a team with a younger brother or a friend.
  "I am a huge believer in empowering kids to excel and if we give them this responsibility to be role models, they will feel better about themselves," Olson said. "We have some student-coaches who repeat the program and come back because they had such a good time last year.
  "They get into this practice of helping, they're going to be able to do that in other parts of their lives as well, not just on the ice."
  Olson said another benefit to the student- coaching program is that it meets the community-service requirements some area high-schools have.
  "I remember walking in a grocery store with my 15-year-old son and having one of his students tell his mom in a loud voice, 'There's my coach,' " Olson said. "And the boy wasn't pointing at me. He was pointing at my son. My son was just beaming for the rest of the day. The affects of this program is positive for everyone."
  Contact Todd Bailey at 986-3088 or at .
 

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