In the past year or so there has been a spectacled fair haired Canadian gentleman from Hamilton, Ontario that has been running around from ice rink to ice rink in the four corners of Hungary.
This man is Darryl Easson, former Sport Development Manager for the IIHF and now an external project manager who spends most of his time working with the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation as a mentor coach where he is responsible for getting Hungarian coaches up to the same level as in elite hockey countries. This is done by analyzing the way practices are run and how coaches are working in live game situations. There are also a number of seminars as well as on and off ice clincles for the coaches to learn from.
Easson is from Hamilton, Ontario who went to England for what was originally for six months which ended up becoming an ice hockey career in Nottingham, England. Darryl moved in to coaching in England both at the club and the youth international level. In 1999 he completed an IIHF coaching course, after receiving this certificate he ended up holding camps for coaches, giving advice in Europe and Asia. After a number of years the IIHF offered him the job as Sports Development Manager which naturally he jumped at.
What is your major focus in Hungary?
Last year we were reviewing what coaching is going on from a particular point of view, watching practices analysing what was going on in practices. This year we are broadening that to games, and coaching abilities during games, what are they doing in those situations and what they are taking from practices into the games. The other aspect is doing more courses or seminars for coaches, maybe even regionally with them and working on and off the ice, giving ideas.
We are also trying to work on improving recruitment, some clubs are struggling finding players, they need to learn how to find players, working with the information that is provided by the IIHF and implementing the ideas that have been successful here in Hungary.
How much are you traveling within Hungary?
I do travel to visit other clubs, however, it is nice there there are so many clubs based in Budapest, there are days I can visit two clubs in one day. Last year I had the opportunity to visit all the clubs, so this year it is easier to visit everyone when they know someone familiar is coming. If there are two teams close to each other such as Debrecen and Miskolc I will visit them back to back days but a place like Szeged is an overnight trip.
What age groups do you focus on?
I mostly work with all age groups from U18 all the way down to the youngest, sometimes with U20 but that is an age group where fundamentals are not the major objective, they are full grown adult players. I work strictly with teach the basics to the young hockey players.
What are the goals for the year?
The most important is that we come up with a coaching development program and that it can be effective for the future of Hungarian hockey. Right now there is a university program that is the basis for coaching development at this time, we would like to get this program more in depth and specific to individual sports. We would like to take advantage of the opportunities that are in the Learn to Play program and hope to further develop the coaches every time they re-apply for a coaching licence. There is an opportunity to work on the nuances such as bench management and recruiting as well.
Could the federation and the universities work together to get betting coaching courses and classes?
That would be great it would happen and it would great to have everyone on the same page in developing them. We have to produces better coaches.
What is your schedule this year?
Its two or three weeks at a time and one week back at home in Switzerland. I will be in Budapest until Christmas, and will be back in the new year.
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