Brad M.

I have been coaching youth hockey for the past 10 years with Chelmsford Hockey Association. Being an avid hockey fan all my life, I jumped at the opportunity to help coach when my oldest son started playing. Since then I've coached both of my sons from the development stage through the PeeWee level (12U), was on Chelmsford Hockey's Board of Directors for 5 years, and have been serving as their Development Director for the past 6 years. As Development Director I run both the on and off ice activities for the Learn to Skate, Learn to Play Hockey, and In-House Hockey programs. Recently I started my own company called Bladez Skating Development to further my passion of working with kids in the development stages of both ice skating and hockey. My #1 rule is "Have fun!" and goal at the end of each session is to see big smiles, sweaty heads, and the desire to come back for more.

A passionate hockey fan all my life, a "pond rat" growing up playing ice hockey with my friends any chance we had, and now a coach focused on helping kids in their development stages. I believe not having a formal high school or college hockey experience helps me connect with kids just starting out in ice skating or hockey. I've learned a ton about proper technique, positioning, and best practices these past 10 years and feel that this recent "leveling up" of my skills helps me relate with kids going through their own development.

A typical session starts out with a quick stretch, safety message, and then a review and practice of whatever fundamentals we are working on that day (balance, edges, forward/backward strides, start/stops, body positioning, puck control, general hockey skills, etc...). Next are station-based drills/games to reinforce those same fundamental skills. Depending on the size of the class, splitting kids into groups of 4-6 helps ensure they are always engaged in the activity vs. waiting in line. Then by rotating kids through those stations every 6-8 minutes, we keep things fresh and avoid drill fatigue. At the end I usually like to play another game that is more competition-based. For hockey this can be a scrimmage or puck races, for skating this can be freeze tag or tire races.