A Complete Guide to the 5 Levels of USA Hockey Coaching Education Program (CEP)

🏒 Ever wondered what it takes to become a top-notch youth hockey coach?

In this eye-opening episode of Our Kids Play Hockey, hosts Lee MJ Elias and Mike Bonelli take you on an exhilarating journey through the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program (CEP). From rookie coaches to seasoned veterans, this comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about the five levels of coaching certification that are shaping the future of American hockey.

🔥 Highlights Include:

• The secrets behind USA Hockey's world-class coach education system 🏆
• How Level 1 turns chaos into fun for 8U players and first-time coaches 🎉
• Level 3's game-changing approach to teaching hockey's four types of play 🧠
• The cutting-edge video analysis techniques introduced in Level 4 📹
• Why Level 5's coaching symposium is the ultimate hockey think tank 🤔

Whether you're a parent, aspiring coach, or current bench boss, this episode is packed with invaluable insights, practical tips, and inspiring stories that will elevate your understanding of youth hockey development.

🎧 Tune in now and discover how USA Hockey is revolutionizing coaching education—one level at a time!

📚 Want to learn more? Visit USAHockey.com for additional resources and certification information.

👉 Want to go even deeper? Check out our blog, “What Does USA Hockey Teach Its Coaches?” for a full breakdown of each CEP level and how they’re shaping the next generation of great coaches.

💬 Got questions? Share your thoughts with us at team@ourkidsplayhockey.com.

#YouthHockey #CoachingEducation #USAHockey #HockeyDevelopment #OurKidsPlayHockey #CoachingTips

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🎁 Use code OKPH at hockeywraparound.com for a special discount on a 2-pack — just for our listeners.

Let’s puck-around and find out. 🏒

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Transcript

Lee MJ Elias [0:08 - 2:23]: Hello hockey friends and families around the world. And welcome back to another edition of our Kids Play Hockey. You know, Mike, 400 episodes. I never get tired of saying that. As you heard there at home, it's Mike Benelli with LE Elias. Here today, Christy Cash and A. Burns literally on assignment. She's a news lady. That's her real job. She is doing the news this morning. So Mike and I got together and we decided on a topic that we think is pretty pertinent actually for this time of the year. We're recording this in the summer, but this is one of those episodes that year round can be good, but we'd love to make sure that the content in the summer really does have an impact. I'm doing my little thing with the papers, the news thing. Today's topic, Mike, what does USA Hockey really teach their coaches? We're going to go through the USA Hockey coaching education program, levels one through five, give kind of an overview of what we do at each level, why we do it. It's an important discussion because I think A, a lot of people don't know what USA Hockey is teaching the coaches. B, I think sometimes the expectations of parents of what we teach coaches is a little bit too high in terms of what we should be able to do and what we need to be able to do. But it really all starts out with this, Mike, is that, you know, when it comes to the cep, the coaching education program, USA Hockey is not trying to create professional high level super coaches that can coach in world junior championships and professional leagues. They're trying to create youth hockey coaches. And you really got to bring it back. When you think about what are we teaching now? Again, every coach, every youth coach in the United States must go through this program. It's a requirement. It's all about age appropriate training. It's athlete centered coaching with long term development in mind. And it also, as you will find, encourages, you know, continuing education for coaches. It's a pretty robust program and it's an important program no matter what your skill level is. If you're brand new to hockey and you're a dad or mom that is just trying to volunteer or you are someone like me who has coached professionally, you still need to go through this program. There's still value in it. But Mike, we're creating youth hockey coaches in the United States again, as I introduced you, Mike, just so people know, Mike's been doing this for a long time, been doing it for about 10 years. Plus one of the teachers, he's one of the Instructors. He is literally the best guest you could probably have here today for this episode. Mike, let me pass you the puck. 

Mike Bonelli [2:24 - 4:31]: Not the best, but we do have a big, we did have a big region. I mean, I, I used to run the, you know, basically our East District of New York, which is, you know, we have probably have 2 or 3,000 coaches come through the program per season. So it's a large organization, you know, large piece of the organization. And I think, you know, more so about, more so than teaching coaches how to coach. It's more about teaching how we have to understand people learn. And I think as coaches, you know, we want to understand, like, how do people learn? And how can I present material that the kids can take in as opposed to, can I just, you know, I played hockey, I, I, I know how to run a power play. I know how to run a penalty kill. You know, that's my expertise. So I don't think it's about, you know, becoming expert coaching as it becomes, how do you, how do you actually teach the kids that you're working with the most efficiently and to keep them in the game the longest? And I think that's where, you know, certainly USA Hockey's philosophy on this has changed quite a bit from when I started, where I remember we used to get binders and binders of drills and lesson plans, and this is how you run a lesson, where now that's only a very small component of the coaching education program. It really is more about now about how do kids learn, how do you teach? There's more involvement with physical education teachers and education professionals. You know, Most of us, 90% of the coaches, aren't education professionals. You know, they're plumbers and electricians and accountants and podcasters. And, you know, they just, they don't have that expertise in the background to help. So this is really a great way. I, I call it almost like a. If you're going to coach in youth hockey in the United States, it's a great way to find your baseline, just a good way that everyone can start on a, on a base idea. And then just like anything else, you're going to take that piece of that education and run with it from where you or you are motivated to do that. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:31 - 7:27]: Yeah, absolutely. And the goal of the episode today, what we're going to do is we're going to actually go through each level of coaching, kind of tell you what, what it is there for, what does it exist for, maybe some of the benchmarks that you'll leave with and what you're looking forward to like what are we going to be looking building towards as a coach? Right. And again depending on your level of coaching, this can be very fresh, brand new knowledge. You could be coming with a lot of X and O knowledge. I can tell you this too, that sometimes this can be a groaner for coaches of. I don't want to do that. How you go into it is how you get information out of it. Go in with an open mind. Go in ready to learn. There's something in every level of the CEP for you to learn. Okay. But you got to be realistic about why you're there, what we're teaching and who we're teaching. Right. So let's, let's just start with level one. So the breakdown here is level one can be taken and then you can hold on to that for a while. If you're doing certain age groups, level 2, level 3, level 4 have to be taken in consecutive years before opening you up to the Level 5 Coaching Symposium which they do every, every other year. Right. But let's dive in with level one. This is basically coaching 101 for most new coaches. The audience is going to be 8U coaches, first time coaches or someone who just needs to get their SO coaching certification moving forward. And what you're going to learn in Level 1 is like Mike said, the importance of creating fun, have an engaging atmosphere. Obviously some basic safety and equipment basics, age appropriate feedback. That's one I know a lot of new coaches need to get of. How do you talk to an 8 year old? How do you talk to a 6 year old? It's not the same thing as Talking to a 22 year old, obviously how to deal with parents and communicate expectations. They're also going to introduce you to the ADM which is the development model for all USA Hockey players which has been proven to be very, very successful as USA Hockey has pretty much swept the field in, in international events this year that we're recording this. But again I think the goal Mike for Level one is we really want you to be able to walk away from this. Being able to run a small area game, being understanding of how to speak to athletes and how to teach very basic skills which I'm going to tell you coaches and parents, it's not as easy as you think. I remember one of the questions I was asked, you know again as someone who has coach at the high level is can you please break down how to do a hockey stride? They just ask that question that way and you go oh yeah, I can tell you how to do that. And as soon as you try and start doing it, you realize, wow, this is actually not as easy as you think. You have to think about bending at the hip, bending at the knee, bending at the ankle, the optimal stride place. Then you got to talk about someone who's never done this before. It's actually not as easy as you think. And that's the fundamental starting point before you start teaching things like stick handling and shooting and systems. So Mike, Level one, again, it is, it is literally elementary in many different ways, but it's a, it's a good stepping point, at least turn your brain on of, hey, we don't all know everything. There's something here to learn, right? 

Mike Bonelli [7:28 - 8:46]: So even player, even, even new coaches that have played at high levels or maybe there's a lot of coaches that have coached. I've had coaches in my classes that have coached 20 years of high school hockey and all of a sudden they have a grandkid or a kid and they want to coach mites and they have to do their certification like I just did 20 years of high school coaching. I never had to do this. Right. But it's a different, it's just a way for you to come into the room, understand and you know, and be a value actually to the room and to the, to the, to your, to your group and to use your vast experience in life to help now break this back down to a 6 and 7 year old to understand that. Listen, it's, it's all about interacting with the kids, creating age appropriate lesson plans, age appropriate skill development. We've actually had a recent podcast on, you know, what skills you need to have at certain ages. That's a big component of the cep. It's, you know, you have to crawl before you can walk. And I think this is, this, this Level one allows you. I almost wish they didn't call it Level one. I wish they just name it something because it does incorporate everyone. Whether you're a first time coach or somebody's coach for years and years, all of the pieces in there can benefit anyone at any level, starting wherever they may be. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:47 - 11:16]: Yeah, I agree with that. 100. I'm going to say it again, Mike, that you kind of get out of these things what you put into them. If you go in with a, with a closed mindset, you're going to have a hard time in these courses. If you go with an open mindset, they really do fly by. But again, for the parents listening, all we're trying to teach coaches in level one is creating structure out of the chaos. Right. 8U hockey, 6U hockey is chaos. We really just want to get the kids moving. It's about basics. How to keep a kid moving, how to get a kid to touch a puck, how to keep them smiling. Right. And then basic team management. It is an introduction to USA Hockey coaching. And Mike, maybe that's the better name for it is just how to coach the chaos for a use. Because I said most, most experienced coaches getting into this probably have a kid starting in hockey and starting to understand it. So again, much like we talked about in the other episode, you mentioned AU coaching level one coaching the basics, right? And understanding the basics. There's always something to learn there. All right, now, as you move on to level two, we're going to start developing a little bit more in terms of not just being able to observe and watch a drill, a small area drill, but really start to run drills. Right. So when we get into level two, we're starting to look about how progression based learning starts to play into this right? Of we're teaching a skill now. We want to progress that skill. One of the big mistakes we see a lot of coaches make, Mike, is they do one practice on one skill, then they move on to the next thing. When in reality it's okay to do four or five or six practices based on one skill set and develop. Right. So in a building that we want to also teach beyond the basics. Right. Edge control now. Passing, positioning, managing energy games. Positive behavioral enforcement. I remember that being a big part of level two was not just the hockey, but the mindset of a child and how to keep kids in hockey that, you know, we don't want kids to burn out when they're 15 years old. But level two kind of, it is a little bit of a big step up. Like I said it before, level 2, 3 and 4 really do work in tandem. That's why you have to do them in consecutive years. But I think at the end of this one, Mike, the idea is you can run drills, right? Not just a small area drill. You're not just there to kind of be an assistant. You can run drills, you can create a practice plan. You're starting to create that in game feel with your drills. And then again, continue to communicate effectively with parents and people before and after games. A big section on that is how to just communicate with your team. Right. So getting to your point before the episode of this, this is going a little bit beyond X's and O's still. 

Mike Bonelli [11:18 - 11:41]: Yeah. It's the building blocks of coaching. Right. It's really now where you're not just babysitting and you're not just kind of hurting cats. But now you're, you're getting into the area of, you know, now you got to start teaching concepts, not craziness. Like that's a, you know, you look at like the way they lay out the percentages of what you should be working with. I mean, it's basically less than 10% is systems and, and things like that. Like, it's, it's a very minuscule amount. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:41 - 11:44]: We didn't do anything really more about just to your point. 

Mike Bonelli [11:44 - 13:24]: Right, right. It's just kind of a brush over of, hey, if you're gonna introduce this, introduce it in a fun way in a game, in a, in some kind of a, you know, activity where it's constraint based learning rather than, you know, telling the kids, you must go here. I mean, when I grew up, you know, it's like, okay, you're a right winger. Do not ever go over. If you went over the center line, you get SAT for a period. You know, I mean, like, like you, you stay on your ring, you're up and down the wing. You're on the wing. Don't cross over. No cross, you know, no crossing at the blue line. So it's just evolved so much. And that's what I think that I love about the coaching education program. You know, not so much for coaches now, but when we started doing this, there was a, there was a vast, I mean, people forget that in the early like 2000s, I mean, hockey was still being played like it was since 1960. I mean, it was like there was no, it really hadn't evolved, you know, you know, this positionalist play idea and this idea that, you know, you know, athletes are interchangeable in zones and that, you know, you can be creative and the puck doesn't always have to get deep, you know, to be successful or glassing out, you know, doesn't even get talked about anymore in the coach education program. So just a matter of, you know, going into it and your philosophy of how has the game evolved. But at level two, there really, then at least there becomes a component of, you know, the structure of hockey and how again, the best thing you can have is if you have physical education teachers in your classes, those are always the best ones to have because they're going to tell you, I would never do this in my physical education class. And you can't do this on a 200, you know, foot sheet of ice either. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:26 - 16:27]: Yeah, you know, What I find funny is that again you have to go into these coaching education program classes and almost forget everything you know about the game. There is a point where their knowledge of the game will play into this. But there's a reason they're not teaching us that right? It's because you already seem to have that right. So again, when you look at level two as opposed to level, level one, basic skills, organizing the chaos, running a small area drill. Level two, now we're starting to see a little bit more of the game, of how players interact with each other, how those basic skills develop into a play. Not a system, a play. Now the passing and the skating can start to work on what is a basic breakout start to look at. This is level two. Now when you get to level three, okay. And the audience for level three is not now you're starting to see the 10U coaches, the 12U coaches come in because again, most coaches are progressing with the kids that are, that are in the, the levels that they're coaching. Now we're starting to see deeper skill layering right puck control, transition offensive zone understanding, gap control. You start to understand these. And what I want you to understand for everybody listening is you almost have to think of this as a singular level. Once again, what is gap control? What is puck control? Right? So now we can teach those skills and start to put them into a game environment. We're trying to teach the kids how to think a game. You're going to introduce in level three, introduce D zone coverage, four checks. What does that look like now from a coaching standpoint? Practices versus game intensity. You might talk about special teams, but it's definitely not a focus in level three, Right. And then the idea now is building on the practice plan, right? You've done the small area drill. Now you've done the drill. Okay, now can we start looking at progression in drills over the course of three or four weeks, really putting together a plan for long term coaching. Right. Also they'll go over how to run a bench effectively. When you get to level three, you're starting to deal with a little bit more of a teenage age, most likely. You know, there's aspects of that also at level three is when you start to learn how to teach kids how to pass versus when a skate and read plays. Right. So now we're starting to see it mimic the game a little bit more. Again, you'll notice I didn't say for level three, four checks. Like we're not working on one 2, 2s, two one twos and understanding that and complex defensive zone coverages. Yet now we're starting to say, okay, let's take all of the skills we've taught and teach kids how to use them in a game. And in terms of utilizing the skills in a game. Right, Mike, now when you get to. We'll talk about level four. Level four jumps on top of this as well. But level three really is a transitional level where it's less. Okay, let's. Let's make sure they're in a line. Let's make sure we're using all the kids at once. You should never have them in a line. Right. And saying, okay, let's make this look like the game now. Although you want to make all drills look like that all the time. But from a coaching standpoint, we're teaching the game now. 

Mike Bonelli [16:27 - 16:36]: Yeah, you're managing more. I mean, you're managing. And then, you know, introduction of, you know, you can't just be a coach for the players. You have to be a coach for the goalies. It just managing, you know, staff. 

Lee MJ Elias [16:36 - 16:37]: Yes. 

Mike Bonelli [16:37 - 18:07]: And having conversations, you know, having conversations around, you know, how do you use managers and how do you structure your. Your day? And. And then the biggest thing, too, is the introduction to really understanding communication and, you know, the. The. The type of language you use. And I don't mean, like, swearing, but the type of the way you approach a player and what you're asking them to do. You brought up the point earlier about teaching a skill. You know, just screaming and yelling down the ice doesn't do it anymore. Right. You have to be more strategic about how are you teaching and how are you setting up your day. I. And I love the fact that in that level three and four, you're gonna have so many coaches that are in the room that now have gone through, like, the. The pros and the cons. Like, I loved it. You know, usually at the end, right. You'll always talk about, like, you know, what are some things you thought getting into coaching would be and really what was the reality? And it's funny to hear, you know, some of the feedback you get. Like, I thought I was going to be doing this, but actually I was doing this. Like, me. Like, Like, I'll give you example. Like, when I first became a hockey director, I was like, I'm gonna love being a hockey director. I get to teach, I get to do this, I get to do that. And I go, I'm really just doing payroll and. And. And admin stuff. Like, I don't even get to go on the ice anymore. So it's like, you know, sometimes as a head coach, you have to understand all the different things that go into it. And a big piece of that is that communication piece and learning how to manage a lot of different personalities and people, you know, within a hockey season. 

Lee MJ Elias [18:08 - 22:15]: Yeah. And, you know, from a, from a hockey standpoint, this is cool. I can bring this up now. When you get to level three, the concepts that they teach you to teach the kids are. I'm gonna say it again. They're not as advanced as you think. I mean, they actually break it down to. There's four types of play. There's defense without the puck, defense with the puck, offense with the puck, offense without the puck. And they. That's really a big eye opener for coaches because it simplifies the game and understanding that you have to teach those four bases before you can even think about what a system looks like in those spaces. So level three, Mike, as you said, you know, you're there now because you want to be there, right. You're not just there because you have to be there so much. And, and it develops. You know, there's also a good point kind of halfway through the episode to tell y' all, the, the coaching program's not dislike school, right? When you, when you're in school, you learn about, we'll just use the Revolutionary War in four different grades. And they build upon your education of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or whatever you're learning about, right? So the coaching education program does that. Like I said in the first level, very basic skills, how to skate, how to stride. Level three, now we're teaching more advanced skills, but in the same methodology that they taught us to teach that skating. Now when you move on to level four, I'll say this, this, this is maybe if you're, you know, an advanced hockey player, it gets pretty fun. Okay. Because now you are learning about how to implement systems, right? Long term player development is something that we talk about, obviously, coaching philosophies, but now we're getting into the advanced X's and O's, you know, forechecks, back checks, neutral zones, power plays, special teams, how to use video as a tool to teach. All of this comes out in level four. And what I really loved about level four is that you know that in the class now you're really starting to make drills, right? Obviously, we go through a lot of discussion in the earlier courses about, about mentality and philosophy, but what I noticed in level four, there's a lot more, hey, let's create a drill Together, work together. Now share your drill with another coaching group and you start to see how those philosophies work in, but also how to teach a system, how to teach what F1, F2, F3 really is at this point. I really enjoyed that. And again, I'm gonna say it again. The power of video. All right? And how video can be a great teacher for coaches. But by the end of level four, you're going to be able to plan a whole season now of practices or really understand how progression and practice matters. How to. How to put your foot on the accelerator or the decelerator is a big one. Another big one is how to work and create drills or use USA Hockey drills to add more players in, take more players out, add different aspects to really make your drills look like the game. That's something they press on you from the start, is you want your practices to look like the game. You don't want to be practicing something that's excluding kids or that's just such a small skill that it's not going to really affect. Right. So when you leave this, you're going to leave with a pretty robust coaching, you know, mindset of wow, I never thought about that. I'm going to create this season. I mean, if you're level four, I'll say it like this, parents. A level four coach should not be winging practice. They should come with a practice. They should have it probably sent to you before practice. Putting it up on the wall at practice. It's prepared now, right? It's prepared and you're ready for level five at that point. But Mike. Yeah, Level four is a really great one also. But Mike, before you go, I should say this too, parents. Level 4 coaches are required to actually do additional coaching courses throughout the year to maintain their level four. So a level four certification you can maintain for a few years before jumping to level five. But there's continued education modules that level four coaches have to do. The goaltending program I've done that is a great example of that. The coaches site symposium that they do is continuing education point. So you have to maintain it. So if you get to level four, you're in this now. You want your level five at that point. But Mike, again, level four really in depth. I. I really enjoyed level four. Not that I didn't enjoy the other ones, but you know, everyone there wants to be there. They're all coaching. They've all got several years of experience. It's a fun time. 

Mike Bonelli [22:15 - 24:58]: Yeah, it's a, it's a real difference from like block training and block drills to constraint based learning and game and game activities. Like now you're playing, now you're, you're moving, now you're. You know they talk about coaching. You're coaching for the modern game. You're not coaching for your kids success this year, you're coaching for their success in their career. And you know that's difficult for a new coach or any coach to look at. It's like well I'm really, I'm really coaching this kid to be an 18 year old, not so much a 12 and a 13 year old. And so it is. But, but, but then they have, you know, I think the, like you just said the pieces in when we're talking about the coaching education curriculum like the actual class, the hours you're in there, you're in with a lot of people again you're going to have the ones that are, are putting the video on and, and making believe they're there and they're not interacting. But you're, but mostly it's, it's the people that want like they're sit like me. I was like a, like I was like a coaching geek, like a real sponge. Like I would go to the Roger Nielsen's clinic, I would go to the coaches site clinic, I would go to a, a level four symposium somewhere even if I had my level four. Like so the coaching, the, the, the continuing education piece I think is so important because it finally gives credit to the coaches that are doing it anyway. Like a coach that's seeking out more information now at least you could get a little bit of credit for that so that you're not stressing out about you know, A not learning and B, you know, not progressing. I think the worst thing you could have is a coach that says oh, I finally got my level four done, I don't need to learn anymore. And I think that's the scariest person is the one that, that, that stops learning. And, and I think that's where, when you, when, when somebody like, like when you have a pro athlete come into the coaching education program and They've played for 25 years in NHL and then all of a sudden they have to go do a level one. The game is so different than when they played and the teaching and the philosophy and the way everything goes. So to watch that progression now as you go through, you know, for like for most people you're getting your level four in like a five year window. For most, right. So you get your level one, you may be coaching au hockey for two years or three years and then you're doing two and three and four, you're progressing. And so the worst thing you could do is say, oh, I got my level four. I'm going to wait as long as possible to do any kind of other continuing education. So I think, I think the way it's structured now, it forces you to do it, but it also enables you to go out and seek the courses you want to take and you're interested in rather than the ones that somebody's mandating to you. 

Lee MJ Elias [24:59 - 25:58]: Yeah, well, I can tell you too that after level four, you want to go to level five, you want to go to the next level, because level five is a different monster. Level five is the coaching symposium. It's in person. I should have said this earlier in the episode, but. But levels one through four, most of them all can be done via Zoom remotely in your home. Some, some territories still do an in person version of it, but these are very, you know, there's no travel. You can do them in your house. Mike, I did want to say on this too, cause you mentioned this, that they do a really good job of making sure that you're not someplace that you're not supposed to be. There's constant check ins, there's constant breakout rooms. You have to have your camera on during the Zoom sessions. If they even think that you're not paying attention, they'll call on you. They're pretty good about that. Also, the rules are you can. My favorite ones, you can't be doing this in a car. You can't be driving while you're doing it. My favorite one was you cannot be on a bench coaching while you do it. Which apparently has happened. All right. 

Mike Bonelli [25:58 - 25:58]: Yeah, so. 

Lee MJ Elias [25:58 - 26:39]: So they do a really good job. So look, as we move on to level five, level five is the USA Hockey Coaching Symposium. This is in person. It's over the course of several days. They build it up. It's every other year that they do it. At least right now. And you know, Mike, I'm going to let you actually talk about this one a little bit too because in, in addition to it being in person, obviously there's some guest speakers. There's also a project or a thesis that you need to do at the end of this one. I'm bringing this up because I haven't done it yet. I'm still level four ready to go to level five. So I'd actually love for you to tell me what's going to be happening at level 5. Although I can tell you right Now I'm very excited about it. Looks like a really great event. 

Mike Bonelli [26:39 - 29:11]: Yeah. Well the cool thing is about level 5 is it now becomes a really a coaching conference with people that want to be there and are eager to learn and, and, and you know, kind of hone their trade, right. And, and the speakers that USA Hockey assembles, you know, they have forums, they have know round table discussions. You have, you know, it's not just all lecture. It's a lot of breakout rooms. You can learn off ice training techniques and you're interacting with you know, some of the, you know the nice thing what USA Hockey does is they bring the best educators in the world to you. Like so they'll bring people from Finland in, and Sweden and, and Russia and, and Canada and you know the interaction between having out people outside the sport of hockey coming to teach and mental fitness and, and they do a really good job of you know, putting you in a room or putting you in a place where you can then you know, kind of take all this in at your own pace and then ask questions about your own age group. There's a lot of level five coaches that are coaching 10U hockey. You know, they're in there and they're coaching 10U and like so they're not there to learn like, like the real intricacies of a, of a breakout or a forecheck. It's really comes down to which is, which is fun to hear right? When you inter, when you hear the interviews and the, and the, and the programs going on in the seminars. These pro coaches are coaching kids like they're coaching the same way you, they have the same, you know, frustrations and the same you know, problems and you know, the same constraints that you have as a coach. You know, trying to motivate an athlete, trying to get a person to play within the team, getting somebody to buy into a system or, or a philosophy. So and you get to hear all that. And I think the, the, you know the nicest thing too is I think the, the live presentation, the, the I, I often said this about the coaches site and, and USA Hockey level fives are the same. The real learning and the best part happens in the hallway. It happens at the cocktail party, it happens at the breakfast. It's really when you really get to interact and meet so many different great people that you get to now probably stay in contact with for the rest of your coaching career. And you know, and it allows you to collaborate with the like minded people as you and I think in that setting privately, like you're just in a, in a hallway. It's amazing all the stuff that comes out of those. 

Lee MJ Elias [29:12 - 30:39]: Yeah. You know, to your point. And look, you got me excited about it. Keeping in mind too, I've been coaching for 20 years and the idea of going to this is still very exciting to me. But at every level of the cep, the education program. Mike, you make a great point. You have, you, you were required in front of your name on the zoom to put what level you're coaching. And at every level I've done, there has been every level of coach. Right. You're going to have 10U, 8U, all the way up to 18U. I mean, the last one I was at, I saw some junior coaches. So there really is no age base on this. Again, if you just need to get a basic thing to get on the ice and that's all you want to do, that's what level one is. Okay. But as you progress through the cep, you learn more. And I can say this too, again, still before level 5, I can only imagine the amount of information in level five. That's going to be fun. I'm a better coach because of the USA Hockey coaching education program. All right. I have learned a lot. I have benefited from this. It's a good program and the instructors really do a good job. Now, Mike, I do have to ask this for anybody who's level four or below. Everyone's going to want to know from a coaching standpoint. Tell me about this thesis project thing that you got to do. I'm sure it's not done at the symposium. It's probably a season long thing, but tell me about that. There's like a little bit of this sounds like a master's, a little bit. I had to do a thesis for my master's. I'm sure it's not that intricate, but what is the thesis project for level five coaches? 

Mike Bonelli [30:40 - 33:48]: Yeah, you do have a small window. It's not a year, but you have a, you have a window to get it in. I think it's a couple of months, maybe a month. But it's really more. Your thesis is really a subject that you come up with. I think, I think sometimes I think in the past they've said you have to do this. Like this is the only thing. Like when I did mine, I did mine on growing a youth hockey program and I just took that and I got a job. So I was able to, you know, I said, okay, I'm going to take my. Because I took my level five in Pittsburgh. Jesus. It's probably 1990, like, say it's 1996 or something like that, whatever it was, but I bent it. But I've been to five or six or seven other level fives now at this point. And you know, you know, Lake Placid in Vegas and that, you know, there's all, there's, there's a whole bunch of places you can go to take these things. Cape Cod, you know, they're really great opportunities to, to do your own continuing education. And I think, like, for me that's always been the funnest part is to hear other people's kind of what they've written and their thesis statements. Like, but a lot of it is just, just you figuring out like, okay, I want to do a program on how I'm going to teach constraint based learning. And how do you do that? Or how will I approach having males and females on my team? How are you going to work with that? Like, how are you going to build that into how you teach? I'm going to work with the fact that I only get half ice for my entire year. How are you going to work with that? Like, how are you going to, how are you going to build lesson plans that incorporate that? And they get reviewed, they get looked at, there is feedback, but it's really for you to use as your own model to see, okay, what have I learned? What am I passionate about? And now what can I, what can I put out there that's going to help me? And, and often USA Hockey will see these things like, wow, that's a great idea. You know, we'd love to take that idea and run with it and, and see, you know, where we can go with this. So, you know, there was a lot, I've talked to people that wrote full, full thesis statements on, you know, the benefits of cross eyes hockey and the benefits of cross eye, you know, small area games all the way through junior hockey. Like, it all depends on, you know, your, your level of expertise. But I think to me it's always about an opportunity for you. It's not a job, it's not like, oh God, I got to do this. It's really an opportunity to put something down that, you know, somebody's going to review and something that you can actually, you know, kind of use for you, for you to use. And it's, you know, if you're doing drills and you're building drills and they say, we want you to do a, a whole season lesson plan. Okay, well, what level you're coaching? How many kids do you have, what's the skill level? What region are you in when the playoffs start? When you know when it was the break, like so you have to think about all those things and you can't just throw a bunch of drills on, you know, what's the progression, where do I start with what do I end? Where do I want to go? How do I want to start? Who do I have? Who do I have helping me? Do I have other coaches? It's just me alone. All these kind of things go in. It just helps you become a better coach. So if you're taking your level five and you're taking it in June or July, it's a great, great way to kick off the year and kind of build your syllabus of how you're going to run your team. 

Lee MJ Elias [33:49 - 35:41]: Yeah, well, look, I'm looking forward to it. And I'll say this too. When you think about actual real master's programs or really higher education, you know, one of the, the benefits of thesis or projects is it's your opportunity to help advance the game. And I actually love that. USA Hockey kind of does this because you don't know what ideas are going to come from the coaches. And there's no better places to get ideas than from the coaches. So I imagine that USA hock look at this stuff like you said, not just to grade it, but to see maybe there's something here that can help evolve the game. You know, the, the many minds is better than one mind. So I love that. My, my thesis Mike. My project's going to be. I'm going to create a podcast about youth hockey for hockey parents, coaches and players. I'm gonna try and bring that to the table. How about this idea? Yeah, we might maybe. I've been doing that over the last four years. No, I enjoy, I enjoy projects like this, but I'm also an nerd like that. But that's level five. Level five. Really making you a level five coach and obviously really allowing you to become a thought light leader based on the USA Hockey ADM ideals. Again, the ADM has proven to be so successful with USA Hockey's advancement of players. But not just players, but coaches. And again, look at the end of the day, gang, the CEP Coaching education program, levels one through five are to help you become a better community leader within the game of hockey. Okay. By the time you finish these five levels, I'm going to say it again. You should be a thought leader. You should be able to teach other coaches at this point, but most importantly, you're able to coach youth hockey. Okay, Youth hockey. The purpose of the program is not to make you a great skills coach. That's something you do on your own time. The purpose of the program is to teach you how to coach kids. Right. How to manage expectations on the bench. Right. So when a coach comes up to you parents and says, well, I'm level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, allow that to be a judging point. Right. They're on the progression. That's the point. Go ahead, Mike. 

Mike Bonelli [35:43 - 37:23]: Yeah. And just understand if you're in other sports, USA Hockey is the leader in building educational models. USA Lacrosse literally just took the USA Hockey model and changed every word from hockey to lacrosse. Like, you know, soccer, football, finally is coming out with a curriculum like all, like everybody is following what USA Hockey has done. To invest the time and effort in changing the sport and work and having our adults work with kids is, is literally changing the rest of the landscape for governing bodies of their sport. And it not so, you know, the fact that they've gone out and been a leader in this is great for all of us that, you know, don't, you know, maybe you don't have 45 years of coaching education experience. This gives you that, this gives you the tools whether, you know, again, if you're a first time coach. I love coaching. I love, I'm a sponge. I want to know more. I want to, I want to progress on my own. If USA Hockey CEP didn't exist, I'd still be a Level 5 coach. Like, I would still be pursuing the things I need to do to be a better coach. I'd be reading, I'd be watching video, I'd be going to seminars, I'd be going to conferences. But because we have this thing here for us, it enables you to do all those things and have, and everybody else did the work. You all have to pay your fee. You all pay your 65 USA Hockey fee. Use it. This is yours. You paid for it. Get all the information you can out of it and you know, leverage the fact that somebody else did all the work for you. Even if you want to do the bare minimum, this is going to help you be a better person on the bench. 

Lee MJ Elias [37:24 - 39:07]: Yeah, I, I love it, Mike. I, I, I think that's a great place to, to close the episode. Again, we wanted to give parents and coaches an idea of what happens in these courses and want to say to you like, they really are valuable courses. Again, I'm going to say this. You get out of it what you put in. If you go in with the closed mind coaches, you're going to have a hard time. If you go in with a real open mind, you're going to learn something. You know, primarily, I always say too, they, they do a great job of teaching you the difference between teaching and. And training. Right. If you're, if you're going into this course, there's a good chance you have some hockey knowledge. I know there's people who go in that are new to hockey. There's a good chance you have some background in hockey, you're going to learn something about teaching versus training. And I could say as someone who's gone through at least four levels of it, I'm enjoying it. I mean, I don't. It's not a problem for me. I look forward to these courses. Of course, there's the, the scheduling. You got to find time to take it or find time to travel to the level five thing. But I enjoy it. And I'm gonna say this again too. The continuing education aspect of it, I think is a wonderful add on to the entire thing. It's newer, but the goalie certification, the bronze, silver, gold, that has been brilliant. Right. And it's not just for goalies. This is an important course for non goalies. So you can learn how to incorporate goaltenders into your practice, which, believe it or not, is extremely important. Right. And then there's other things too, that you can take throughout the year. So the USA Hockey CEP coaching education program, based on the American Development model, successful. I encourage it. I love it. Parents, I want you to know that the coaches that dive into this really are in good hands again. Mike has been doing it for a long time. He's seen it develop. It really is top notch in the way they do it. Mike, any final thoughts before I close it out? 

Mike Bonelli [39:10 - 40:06]: Just. If you're listening to this now, get on it. Get those dates. Secure your coaching education requirement. Know what they are. Don't wait until December 31st, say, don't do that, and then blame everyone else that you didn't do it. Like, I think the biggest problem here that we have is that, you know, in December, like, oh, you have to give me a waiver. I gotta get in. You're gonna hurt the kids. I'm not gonna be allowed on the bench after this. Well, if you really did, and you know, if you really don't want to hurt the kids and you don't want to hurt the fact that you just worked four months to coach, now you're not, you can't be on the bench again, then do it now. I think you just said you did yours and this is in, we're talking about June. I mean, so get your coaching education done. There's plenty of time in August and September and October. You know, take your day. You know, take your time, block it off. If it means missing a practice on a Monday night to take a coaching education course, miss the practice. I mean, get it done. Don't wait until December. Start scrambling, looking for courses. 

Lee MJ Elias [40:07 - 41:57]: Well, and I'll, I'll add on to that, USA Hockey does plenty of courses throughout the this summer, fall and winter. And I'll say this too, with the remote accessibility to them, there's never, there's just no excuses. If you put it off, you put it off, my friends. But, but get it done. It's worth your time. And we should also say, Mike, that if you want to learn more about this USAHockey.com Click on the coaches tab. There's all the information you need. And this last thing, parents, this, this education program is in addition to safe sport and other modules that are required by almost every organization and USA Hockey. So that that's a separate kind of attitude in our background checks. That all comes separately. But CEP has really been a joy, Mike, and again, I love that we've done it. So we hope you gave you that. We hope you gave you a good overview here. Right? What does USA Hockey really teach its coaches now? You know, we're not teaching advanced NHL systems. We're teaching basics of coaching and following that adm that's going to do it for this episode of our Kids Play Hockey. Hope you learned something or Mike Benelli, I'm Lee Elias. Remember, if you want to email us team@our kidsplayhockey.com that email works wonderfully. At this point. You can also text us via the link inside of the description with this episode, make sure you tell us your name, where you're from. We love doing those episodes that you suggest. Or Mike, once again, I'm Lee. We'll see you on the next episode. Everybody have a great time. We hope you enjoyed this edition of our Kids Play Hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network, or our website, our kids playhockey.com also make sure to check out our children's book, When Hockey stops@when hockeystops.com It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of our Kids Play Hockey. And we'll see you on the next episode. 

Mike Bonelli [42:04 - 42:13]: Sam.