Get to know our U14 "A" Head Coach selection Choya Fraser as we sit down with him for a quick Q&A.
- Can you tell us about your background in hockey, both as a player and a coach?
I was born and raised in our wonderful town of Penetang and played all my minor hockey in our hockey association. Playing in both the LL and Rep programs I learned that in order to improve, I needed to have the right mindset to get the work done in order to make and compete in our strong rep team system.
I played for a lot of great coaches over the years. I was fortunate enough to get to work with some great coaches starting at the age of 15 when I started to help coach our younger Rep teams, while still playing with our older rep teams. When my daughter started playing hockey for the North Simcoe Girls Hockey Association I continued to help Coach her teams with some incredible Coaches. When my son started playing hockey in Penetang I started coaching his age group and continued helping with my daughters team. I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the top coaches in the area, and I’ve learned a lot.
We’ve done a lot of great things with these players, won many tournaments, gone to numerous OMHA finals, OWHA finals, and Provincial finals. We regularly compete in tournaments above our classification in order to push ourselves to improve. This past year we took our U13B team to the Bell Canada Cup and competed in the A division. Finishing 2nd out of 22 teams in the round robin play and eventually losing to the Gyeonggido Hockey U13 team from South Korea. It took an entire country to beat our small town. This was a great experience for the team and something that they will remember forever.
I love to coach. In addition to coaching hockey, I was a functional fitness coach (cross fit) at 2 of our local gyms and I’ve used this knowledge to run our dryland/plyometrics training for our teams during the season and in the off season as well.
- What is your overall coaching philosophy, and what values are most important to you as a coach?
Hard work pays off with the right mental mindset.
I’m a firm believer that a hard working, skilled team will always come out on top in the end.
Having a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset is very important in an athlete's development. This is not just for hockey skills development, but in helping to succeed beyond the ice as well. Teaching the athletes that they can learn to do anything that they want, that challenges help them grow, learn to grow from mistakes, and to focus on the process and not the end result. A growth mindset will open new doors for them, and help them succeed beyond this hockey season.
I believe that positivity is huge for young athletes. Today's world is full of negativity, the sport that they love should be the last place they need to deal with it. The coaching staff will promote a positive environment for the athletes where they will feel comfortable and better able to open up to the growth mindset and help them learn the skills that we are going to be teaching them.
Being respectful to your teammates, parents, competitors, referees, coaches and most importantly, themselves is a value that I hold near and dear. They represent an organization on and off the ice, no matter where they go, they should want to make a good lasting impression.
Players will be pushed out of their comfort zone in practices and during off ice training. Being challenged and making mistakes are learning opportunities for the athletes. We promote team leadership and accountability amongst all players. Teammates are to encourage each other during team training, and help pick their teammates up when they need it.
- What style of hockey do you coach, and what can players expect in terms of systems and game strategy?
High energy, hard working, heads up, puck possession style of game. I’m a firm believer that Creativity is the hardest thing to defend in hockey. That is why most of our practices are based on decision making drills and small area games. We work hard to get the puck, we don’t throw it away under pressure. We teach them to exhaust all options before clearing or dumping a puck. Set plays can work when everything goes right. There are too many variables in hockey and players need to adapt to the changing situations quickly and learn how to support each other. Communication is key in our sport, that is why we promote passes only to be sent in practices when a player is calling for a pass or if the passer tells the receiver it's coming. It needs to become second nature for the players in all situations to communicate.
We review game videos and show the players the good things that they’ve done in games and the areas they need to think about. We break down other teams systems and how to best defend them.
We emphasize a hard forecheck and backcheck and total team support in all zones of the ice.
We will focus on skills development in practices and improving Hockey IQ with specific small area games and drills. Being able to know what to do when the situation presents itself in a game with or without the puck, only helps the players sucksess and overall enjoyment of the game.
Our power play and penalty kill systems will be built around quick decision making, constant movement, puck support, communication, puck control and speed. Forcing opponents to make mistakes and capitalizing on them.
- What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming season?
Having worked with many of the 2012 players from Penetang, Midland and other local centers in ball hockey and spring league teams, I look forward to the process of bringing them all together and seeing how far we can take them in their development. Bringing players that have been playing against each other for the past 6 years and getting them to become a team will be a challenge. I believe that my experience with working with all of them in the past will help with this transition.
This is the first year of body contact for the 2012 group. It can be exciting for some and terrifying for others. Teaching them how to play the game with body contact is key. Dialing them in and teaching them when to hit, how to hit, how to take a hit and how to avoid dangerous situations will be one of the many skills that our coaching staff will be working on.
I look forward to the challenge of learning and figuring out how to get the most out of each player. Each player learns differently, figuring out how they learn is key.
I look forward to a competitive season in the YSMHL where we plan to play at the highest level we are allowed to compete in. Knowing the players in the area and the new open borders policy, I believe we can be very competitive and challenge for tournament and league championships.
- Why should players want to be part of the Islanders next season? What makes this team and program special?
There's nothing more exciting than something new. This is our inaugural year and the association has plenty to offer for all of its players. The emphasis is for player development, competitive play, challenging the player and building hockey IQ.
We offer two 80 minute practices a week for teams to work on individual development, team development, and hockey IQ. Every other week we offer a 60 minute skills session for teams run by instructors. Players will be instructed on edge work, and puck control. Every week we will be offering goalie clinics from goalie instructors that will follow a training program that's second to none. To help with players' overall strength and fitness, teams will have a 1 hour session at one of our local gyms where the coaches will focus on strength, speed, mobility and coordination.
- Is there anything else you’d like players and families to know about you or the upcoming season?
I work closely with my team manager, trainers and assistant coaches. We work together to help make the team a success.
I bounce ideas off my manager for team building events, fundraisers and how to give back to the community. I’m a firm believer in having the players learn the importance of giving back to the community.
I work with the assistant coaches and trainers to help develop practice plans and game strategies. We bounce ideas off each other and we all provide input into what we believe is working for the team and what is not. We all want the same thing, we want to help develop an athlete that plays hockey, into a true hockey player. To encourage them to want more, and not settle for mediocrity. To understand what it means to be a part of a team, and help them try to achieve their goals.
Over the summer months I plan to run team building dryland training sessions that will consist of a warm-up, mobility with yoga flow, plyometrics, body weight exercises and a workout that will engage their competitive drive.
For the upcoming season, we’re excited about the potential we have as a team. Depending on who stays, who returns, and who attends our tryouts, we have full intention to take this team to the AA level next season as part of the YSMHL. There are a lot of great 2012 age players in our area and we look forward to putting together a competitive team for the 2025/26 season.