Patrick Kane: Beginning to understand

Patrick Kane is a wonderfully talented forward with the Chicago Black Hawks. He is already emerging as an extraordinary talent on the ice - a significant component of the major Hawk resurgence over the last year.

Off the ice, it’s been a bit more of a struggle. This past summer, Kane was alleged to have been involved in an incident with a taxicab driver, leading to assault charges that were eventually dropped. (Kane pleaded guilty only to disorderly conduct.)

Athletes often face a burden - and a responsibility - that those in some other professions may not have to deal with in quite the same way. The expectations are high, even if they don’t necessarily include being a “role model”. Their perceived successes and failures on and off the ice/field – as well as their behaviour – occur in a very public setting.

They face often intense public scrutiny, fair or not. They are expected to be accountable on the playing field- and off.

For his part, Kane, in speaking with NHL.com recently, made some observations that suggest he has learned from his misstep this past summer. The story indicated Kane has changed the manner in which he conducts himself in public.

"I still feel I'm the same kid at heart. Obviously situations like that open your eyes a little bit. It was a tough situation. You never want to go through that. Obviously, the only story you guys heard was what the cab driver said,” Kane is quoted as saying.

"The worst kind of came out of the situation, but at the same time, I think maybe it was better that it happened sooner rather than later. You can take a positive from a bad situation. Pretty much every (situation) I treat now, when I'm out to dinner or walking down the street, I'm going to treat like it's going to be publicized, and like it's going to be put in the media."

I always try to tell my young clients in the sports field, “You can be yourself. Just be your best self”.

An NHL agent whose clients I have advised on occasion over the years told me some time ago that he regularly reminds the athletes he represents to behave in public expecting to run into someone they know- and whose opinion matters to them.

It’s great advice for all of us, and nudges people-high-profile or not- to be aware that behaviour matters, wherever you are.

Clemmensen and the team player approach

Sometimes a comment made in frustration can taint a player’s reputation.

A couple of weeks ago, Florida Panthers goaltender Scott Clemmensen was quoted as saying something to reporters that hundreds of goalies before him at various levels of hockey have probably thought. The comment: he described his team’s defensive zone coverage when the puck was in the slot as “total chaos”.

By all accounts Clemmensen has been a respected player. He has largely been a back-up goalie at the NHL level, but last season was thrust into the number one job when New Jersey all-star Martin Broduer was felled by a serious injury. Clemmensen stepped up and played well, landing a free agent contract this past off-season.

But in his first 4 games this season, he gave up 16 goals, and his comments were likely not welcomed by the coaching staff (who establish the team’s system”) or teammates.

Florida Head coach Peter DeBoer , not amused, didn’t even mention Clemmensen by name when he was quoted the in the newspaper in a story I saw circulated by the National Post.

“I understand where a goaltender who has let in (12) goals in his last two starts would be frustrated, but it’s misdirected,” DeBoer is quoted as telling the Florida Sun Sentinel. “When things aren’t going well, I think it’s important we all self-reflect and see what we can do better in order to help the situation. I don’t think finger-pointing is real productive at this point.”

Being a team player is easy to talk about but hard to be sometimes when things aren’t going your way.

But just like credibility is something that takes a long time to earn but can be thrown away in an instant, having a reputation as a team guy can be lost quickly, too.

It’s a lesson for young athletes to keep in mind.

It’s past the time to take a step back

Credit should go to Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press for his recent thoughtful piece on serious hockey injuries as an issue leaders in the sport simply have to look at.

The column came on the heels of an incident in which a young 16 year-old Ontario Hockey League player was seriously injured when checked, arguably from behind, by a 20 year-old player.

The league has now suspended the aggressor for the rest of the season.

As Pyette points out, hockey is a fast, skilled and physically tough sport. Injuries will happen, many without any intent on the part of the person who caused the injury.

Toughness and hard-hits have always been a part of the game, and applauded by almost everyone. No one wants to see a hockey game without physical contact. It’s part of why millions love NFL football, and professional hockey.

But we have reached a point where the physical nature of the sport –fueled by how those in the sport still think about toughness - may well have pushed the envelope too far for the good of the players and the game itself.

Pyette raises the issue of whether parents will now –more than ever- consider college hockey as a better and safer alternative for their sons.

Here’s the reality: As I mentioned above, the history of Canadian hockey is that we like our skill, we like a fast game, but we seem to love that hard-hitting, tough style.

It leads to a macho mentality. You have to finish your checks, and hit hard. Very hard. I’ve had hockey parents come up to me and talk about their son playing youth hockey, “You should have seen my son drill that guy”. It’s a source of pride to be tough.

“Toughness” can be a great quality in life. Mental toughness is important. Many sports do demand a kind of physical toughness.

But like most “good” things, taken too far, it’s a problem.

Players can say they don’t hit to injure, but they certainly hit to hurt, and given the reality of the human body, that’s really no distinction at all.

Players are bigger and skate faster than ever before. The huge equipment players wear is a big problem. It makes players feel they aren’t vulnerable, yet they are, in part because of the equipment they wear.

Football and hockey were both probably safer (still “hard-hitting” but safer) when players dressed more like rugby players than gladiators.

Think about: fans -and the media - have spent countless hours in recent years discussing the apparent epidemic of serious injuries—head shots (many still “legal” in hockey terms); hitting from behind situations; concussions; knee injuries and more.

It really does have to stop.

When you have 16 year-old playing against men, the risks are already there. Unless hockey authorities begin to absolutely, once and for all, outlaw hitting from behind or even the side, this problem will continue.

NHL GM’s met this week, and reports suggest movement was made about creating new rules to reduce dangerous hits. Too often in the past the league talked around the real issues. They can’t seem to decide what types of hits should be “legal”.

To me, the question is not what is legal in hockey terms, but what is dangerous.

The game has changed. Rules, and what is—and isn’t—allowed, should evolve as a result.

It has taken generations to get people to recognize the problems associated with smoking, for example, and to change behaviour. And still, probably 20% or more of people smoke in Canada and the United States.

Changing the mentality around hockey won’t be easy. You don’t want to lose the great parts of the action, but surely protecting the basic safety of vulnerable athletes—especially at the younger ages—must be a priority.

When a Dad goes too far

I recently came across a story out of the United States, which indicated that a “football dad” in the Boston area actually slugged his son’s coach.

As the story goes, the coach of the 12 year-old youth team apparently had disciplined the boy, who had arrived a few minutes ‘late’ for practice.

Given what occurred afterwards, it’s hard to imagine this was anything other than a situation that had been brewing for some time. Surely no father, no matter how over-invested they might be, would react to an isolated situation where their son may have had to do laps, or whatever the ‘punishment’ might have been for being late to practice. There seemingly had to be something more to this situation.

While youth coaches often try to instill a kind of overall team discipline, the focus in this instance may have been misdirected.

Clearly, like most youth involved in sports, a 12 year-old relies on busy parents to get to practices at all, much less, “on time”.

Perhaps there were fully discussed “rules” in place that all families had agreed upon. Maybe not. I don’t know the details.

Setting aside this particular circumstance, and speaking in general terms, there are steps a youth coach can take to at least try to prevent disappointment, misunderstanding, bitterness—or worse, on the part of families involved in his or her Club program

For example, the youth coach should host meetings with parents as a group at the beginning of a season, and then individually with parents and their son/daughter.

The objective is to establish the coach’s priorities, as well as those of that particular ‘team’ and the Club in general, so all parties understand and are on the same page. From there, he/she works toward, if it is possible, agreement on mutual expectations when it comes to discipline, attitude, punctuality and all the other things that make up being part of a youth team, whether house-league or “all-star”.

If the family can’t abide by the coach’s program, then it is likely the wrong program for that child and family. There is then time to look for options elsewhere.

But again, it’s important to establish priorities and expectations early on, so everyone is understands specific expectations and individual family limitations and hostile feelings don’t build and build.

There is no way to defend punching a youth coach, even if the coach was off-base in handling a particular situation – whether it was about playing time, foul language, unfair disciplinary methods, whatever.

It’s difficult enough to find good role models to work with other people’s children.

Now, it’s easy for us to make judgments from hundreds of miles away, but some questions come to mind:

1. If a coach has made it clear a player must arrive on time, is that actually reasonable, given the age of the children?

2. Is punctuality more important than the attitude and work ethic of a young player when they are at practice?

3. What were the actions on both “sides” in this situation that preceded the punch-up?

4. How will that 12 year-old look at his dad in future? What has he “learned” about handling disagreements?

5. How will the rest of the team look at the coach? What have they “learned” about handling disputes?

Youth sports organizations exist to give young people outlets and opportunities for healthy activity. They aim to “hire” volunteers with the best approach and skill set to act as positive role models.

They don’t always bring in the right people, and mistakes will inevitably be made.

The more the sports association, local clubs, individual coaches, players themselves and parents communicate their mutual objectives together, very early on, the better off everyone is.

All the parties may not agree, and if they don’t, thankfully parents have the freedom to protest, ask for change, and ultimately leave a ‘club” if it’s obviously not the right club or team for them.

Punishing a kid for being late- and punching out a coach, is never healthy, much less a solution.

It’s difficult but you have to deal with it

Reports out of Philadelphia (I viewed a story by the Toronto Sun) suggest there is a bit of a freeze in place between Flyers captain Mike Richards and the local media that covers the hockey club.

According to reports, some of the team’s young players have been mentioned in the context of allowing their social activities to affect their play. (Evidently a number of them moved "downtown" last season, away from the where the club trains in New Jersey.)

In any event, I certainly don’t know the details, but if media reports are accurate, Richards asked the team’s media folks to ensure that reporters didn’t question Flyer players about this particular matter.

When related questions were asked anyway, Richards apparently subsequently tried a media “boycott” and then resorted to providing only short, clipped answers to questions about a game that had just been played.

It would seem the Flyers captain was trying to send a message to the local media, but it may not have been effective.

Based on various reports, club management is not only aware of but is monitoring the “situation”. This gives the impression, to the public at least, that this is of at least modest concern to the club. (One of the players in the “group” that moved downtown last season, Scottie Upshall, has since been traded to Aanheim.)

Here’s a thought for young athletes: It is understandable that you will feel that your “personal” life is no one’s business but your own. But if/when your performance fades in any way, reporters will look for reasons why.

You will always face what I call “performance criticism”. It’s part of the job. If you can’t handle that, professional sports will be a tough field for you.

And reporters can get too personal. No question. You need to be aware of effective and appropriate ways to try and guard your privacy.

But in the above situation (again, I don’t know all the circumstances), it seems that, rather than asking the media relations department to tell reporters not to ask certain questions (that only makes them want to ask those questions all the more), it would have been better to address the issue head on.

It the captain had simply said, “Here’s your chance. If you want to talk about the issue, let’s deal with it openly. After this, I’m not going to address this going forward”, it may have helped.

Would it have helped for sure? Who knows? Nothing is guaranteed.

But trying to hide, or trying to avoid dealing with a sensitive issue, rarely if ever really works.

I’ve often told professional coaches who are clients of mine that the “local media beat reporter or columnist generally will last a lot longer in that market than you will.” In other words, they best better figure out an effective way to interact in a professional and mature manner with those individuals.

Handled poorly, a situation like that which is apparently facing the Flyers can sometimes worsen, much to everyone’s discomfort. The issue becomes bigger, and “lasts” longer, than it otherwise might.

And, as an athlete, if it gets into your head and affects your play on the ice, then you have a real problem.

The media is doing their job, whether the players like it or not.

The players have to do their jobs effectively on the ice – and off.