HYHA supports the mission of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national nonprofit developing “Better Athletes, Better People” by working to provide all youth and high school athletes a positive, character-building youth sports experience.

The goal of PCA is to change the culture of youth sports so that every:

• Coach is a Double-Goal Coach® who prepares athletes to win and teaches life lessons through sports;
• Athlete aspires to be a Triple-Impact Competitor® who makes self, teammates, and the game better;
• Sports parent becomes a Second-Goal Parent® who concentrates on their child’s character development while letting athletes and coaches focus on the first goal of winning on the scoreboard.

Double-Goal Coach®

HYHA coaches will use hockey to teach life lessons while preparing athletes to succeed on the scoreboard.  The coach will always be on the lookout for teachable moments on the ice, both positive and negative.  The coach will also work hard to prepare the team to succeed (first goal), but also never sacrifice character development just to win (second goal).  There are few places better to build character than on the ice.  HYHA coaches are committed to the program, their team, and each individual player.

Triple-Impact Competitor®

This is the highest form of competitor who makes:  1) themselves better; 2) their teammates better; and 3) the game better.  The traits inherent in this concept are hard work, a teachable spirit, teamwork, leadership, and respect.  This helps the athlete not only in hockey, but also in life.  HYHA will strive to cultivate athletes who work extremely hard to improve, but also focus on personal mastery and improvement rather than the scoreboard results.  HYHA athletes will look for ways to make their team and teammates successful, and make the game itself better by following a code of honoring the game with integrity.

Second-Goal Parent®

HYHA parents should focus on the big picture and focus on the important role of ensuring their children take away from hockey lessons that will help them be successful in life.   Let the coaches coach, the referees ref, and the players play.  Hockey players get the best results when they focus on what they can control and block out the rest.  HYHA parents support this by focusing on the ELM Tree of Mastery.

E is for Effort,

L is for Learning and Improvement, and

M is for Mistakes, how skaters respond to them.

HYHA parents know their skaters will be successful if they routinely give their best effort, have a teachable spirit and learn from everything that happens, and don’t let mistakes or fear of mistakes stop them.

When done correctly, youth hockey can be a virtual classroom for building character and teaching life lessons.

Click here to go the PCA's Development Zone for additional resources