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Roger Collins (centre, back row) celebrates with his hockey team, the Trois-Lac/Lakeshore Eagles peewee B girls after w
With The Coach:
From hockey to soccer without skipping a beat
John Meagher
The Gazette
Friday, May 23, 2008
Roger Collins (centre, back row) celebrates with his hockey team, the Trois-Lac/Lakeshore Eagles peewee B girls after w
With the Coach is an occasional series featuring a conversation
with a local coach.
Coach: Roger Collins, 47-year-old Beaconsfield resident and
consultant for a high-tech firm
Team: Lakeshore under-13 A girls soccer team
Years coached: 10, fourth as intercity head coach
Playing experience: Soccer, hockey, baseball and basketball
Best coaching tip: "Have fun."
How do you manage to juggle the demands of coaching two sports with
your family and job responsibilities?
Roger Collins: Pretty much with a lot support from my wife and my
team managers. Monique Blanchette was an incredible manager for
hockey this year, and Dominique Roelandts has been a very useful
manager in soccer.
Is there much overlap between hockey and soccer seasons?
Collins: Coaching soccer at Lakeshore is pretty much 10 to 11
months a year. So I did the (indoor) winter soccer camp the same
time as I coached hockey.
Were there a lot of scheduling conflicts?
Collins: Actually, no. There were no games I had to miss to go
coach soccer. Conflict-wise, it worked out well.
Which sport do you prefer coaching?
Collins: I have to say hockey, being my first year in hockey. I
just had more fun coaching hockey. I don't know if it's a new
challenge or it's because hockey was my sport when I was younger. I
think it's a combination of both.
What did you learn as a first-time hockey coach?
Collins: The whole strategy of not being inside the girls locker
room before a game. That is quite different from soccer, where, as
soon as the players get on the field, they're yours. When they're at
the arena, you cannot control that aspect of the room.
Should girls be forced to play girls-
only hockey?
Collins: No. But I tell you this year I had two girls on my team
who were forced to join (our peewee B girls team). At first they
didn't want to, but now they don't want to got back to a boys team.
But removing their right to choose, that was a slap in the face for
them.
Is your coaching philosophy the same for both sports?
Collins: I maintain my philosophy, which is geared toward the
individual player. I'm not going to coach each individual the same
as the whole team. I'll try to get the best out of each individual,
to trigger something for them to perform better. It's not a general
trigger, it's an individual trigger.
Your coaching motto?
Collins: Have fun. It's very simple. I see too many girls quitting
sports because they're not enjoying themselves any more.