Team Manager Duties
The Team Manager is responsible for all aspects of running the team that are not associated with the training, coaching, and performance of the skaters which are the duties of the coaches. This includes scheduling practices/games/events, assigning game day duties, carrying all team documentation, registering for tournaments, etc.
Communications – You are the primary communicator to the team about team specific news, events, and information. This is done, primarily through email, or you may distribute some handouts. You should create an email distribution list specifically for your team.
o See examples of Team Manager emails.
o Beginning of the season Team Meeting – The Head Coach will usually run this meeting and it provides an opportunity for introductions(coaches, skaters,parents), he/she goes over his/her coaching philosophy, and works to agree on and finalize the tournaments.
§ This meeting usually takes place the week after the teams are made.
§ See examples of Beginning of the Season meeting agendas
o Provide weekly email reminders or “The Look Ahead” on practices, games, and other events.
o Skim the WAHA book which contains playing rules, defines regions, lists hockey club classifications, and tells you when/where the state tournaments are being held for your age level and classification.
o If you wish, when the team accomplishes something great, contact the local schools so that the accomplishment can be announced.
o Here’s an email tip when using email distribution lists when someone doesn’t want their email address available to the rest of the team:
§ Place the distribution list in the Bcc address line in Outlook – the email will go out to your entire distribution list but the recipients won’t see each other’s email addresses.
Team Scheduler – You will be scheduling games and sometimes practices. You will also schedule other parents to work “jobs” during home games.
o Game scheduler –
§ You will be provided a list of home game ice to use in scheduling games.
§ At the beginning of the season, there will be a WAHA Region 4 Team Manager meeting held where you will be able to fulfill most of your game ice.
· It’s a good idea to collect the names/email addresses of the other team managers of the teams you will be playing.
§ As you schedule with other teams, you will want to get a “reciprocal” game at their home ice.
§ There are times you can get an extra away game without having to reciprocate(explain we are only given a set number of home games and you don’t have any left).
§ If you have home game ice left, but the time doesn’t work for your opponent, work with the WYHA Ice Scheduler to find another ice time.
§ If you want to purchase ice with dollars from your Team Fund or Corporate Sponsor money contact the WYHA Ice Scheduler for the ice time, and the WYHA Treasurer for “payment”. You will need to pay for both the cost of the ice and the officials.
§ It might help with scheduling games to use a Game Schedule Template. See example.
· Make sure you block out what weekends you want to refrain from scheduling games: Thanksgiving/Christmas/tournament weekends.
§ Be flexible! Games can be difficult to schedule – be open to very early morning game times. Many teams have game times at 7, 8, and 9am on Saturday/Sunday mornings. Usually travel teams play 2-3 games per weekend.
§ Golden rule: “Trade ice onto others as you would want ice traded onto you”.
§ Schedule games based on your coaches input. Don’t make the decision on your own.
§ At the Squirt level and above you need to make sure you schedule league games first (home and away) before scheduling other games. Most of this can be done at the WAHA Region 4 Team Manager meeting.
· Make sure all league games are scheduled by end of January.
§ All teams should schedule games with Stoughton and Janesville as these are the teams you will see in the playoffs(Region 4, Level 2).
§ Typically, the Patriots, Middleton, Sun Prairie, Oregon, Southwest, Polar Caps, McFarland, Janesville and Stoughton are represented at the Region 4 Team Manager meeting. Work with your coaches to find out what other teams you should be scheduling with outside of your league/playoff teams.
§ Other teams you can reach out to include: Waupun, Beaver Dam, Dodgeville, Sauk, Baraboo. Reaching out means, trying to find the team manager or the master scheduler contact on that team’s website and sending them an email.
Team Scheduler (continued):
§ Register at www.region4hockey.org under the Team Manager section at your team’s level. Here you will find other team manager names/emails and the “Games Wanted” list(where you can view other games available and enter any games you want filled). You will be provided with an access code that will allow you to set up your own username and password. This website is also where you enter game results. You do not need to enter a roster of the team.
§ For leagues, Region 4 ALD’s will ask for a schedule of your league games. These games will be assigned a game number.
· You will need to enter these game numbers when you record a game result in the Region 4 website.
· Identify the game number in the notes section on the WYHA website.
§ Enter the games on the WYHA website schedule and refer your teams/families to the website as game/practice schedules change.
o Schedule referees for home games.
§ At the beginning of the year you should request access to the Dane County Hockey Officials Association. Set up a logon id/password at www.dchoa.org.
§ Directions on how to request officials can be found here: http://www.dchoa.org/documents/Team_Rep_Instructions.pdf
§ Officials should be scheduled at least 10-14 days prior to the game. Do not wait as you may not get refs!!
§ Late fees will be assessed to WYHA for late ref requests.
§ The entire fee is forfeited if you fail to cancel refs if a game is cancelled.
§ If you are not able to get refs, you can work with your coach and the other team manager to have coaches ref the game. This game cannot “count” in league standings.
§ If you purchase extra game ice, you will need to pay WYHA for the officials for that game also.
§ Sometimes DCHOA cannot find officials for your games. They will send you an email the week before the game when this happens. Let your coach know and your opponent’s team manager – you can decide to still play the game with coaches as officials. Game will NOT count and should not be recorded on the Region 4 website.
§ Once per month, the WYHA Treasurer will send an email containing an invoice from DCHOA that outlines all the games that were officiated by DCHOA in the previous month. You will need to confirm to the WYHA Treasurer that you did have officials for those games so that he/she can pay the invoice.
o Organize Off-ice officials. Read the Off-ice Officials guide and train your parents. Parents must be recruited to perform the following “jobs” at home games: running the scoreboard and penalty box, and keeping the scoresheet. At away games, you may be asked to provide someone to run one of the penalty boxes. This is a great way to get all parents involved and help them learn the game.
§ Create a rotating schedule of parents to perform the different jobs. See example of Off Ice Officials Schedule. (Rule of thumb: don’t schedule spouses of the coaches as the coaches are already “working” the game).
§ See 5 Off Ice Officials Training Document in the Managers tab on the WYHA website for information about each of the off ice official’s duties.
§ The penalty box worker counts the number of saves for the goalie for their team or the goalie playing on the side of the rink the penalty box is on. The visiting team should also provide someone to man the other penalty box(sometimes they don’t, so just get another parent to do it).
§ Running the scoreboard.
§ Scoresheet. Data needs to be entered and signatures obtained from the officials and the coaches at the end of the game and then given back to the Team Manager. One copy must be given to the opponent’s Team Manager. The Team Manager should keep all scoresheets for the season until the next hockey season.
o Team Building
§ Schedule team building events early in the season so that the skaters, parents, and coaches can get to know each other. Pizza parties, bowling, etc.
GAME DAY!!
o A week before a home game, confirm with the opponent’s team manager the game, time, and place.
o Don’t forget your scoresheet (for home games). Create stickers for labeling your scoresheets with player/coach/team manager info. There are 3 copies of the scoresheet for a game and each will need a sticker.
§ See Roster Sticker example.
o Always bring extra stickers and scoresheets to the game with you.
o At away games, seek out the other Team Manager and provide 3 stickers for their scoresheet.
o If a skater does not attend a game, cross their name of the sticker.
o At the end of a home game – give a copy of the scoresheet to the other Team Manager. At the end of an away game, get a copy of the scoresheet.
o If after the game is over and the scoresheet signed, you find an issue with who was awarded a goal or assist, you can modify the scoresheet to make it correct for use in awarding skater patches as well as updating the WYHA website with the accurate data.
Team Documentation – You are responsible for having and even carrying all pertinent team documentation.
o Team Roster List: This will include skater name, jersey number, parent’s names, phone numbers and email addresses, coaches names,phone numbers, email addresses, and the coaches’ certification (CEP #) numbers/levels/expiration dates. This list is distributed to the team.
§ See Team Roster example.
§ Some teams have laminated the team rosters (or made wallet cards) and distributed to the families of the team to assist in the families getting to know each other.
o USA Hockey Roster: You will be receiving a roster from our Registrar. You will need to obtain player and coach’s signatures and then send the original back to the Registrar. The Registrar will provide you with a copy of the signed roster once it’s approved. You need to keep a couple of copies of this as you will need to present this at all tournaments (including Region 4 playoffs and state).
o Enter the team roster into the Region website:
· Login to Region 4
· Go to the Managers/Coaches area
· Find the grey tab marked “Manage Team”
· This will take you to another screen that has a drop down menu that says “What would you like to do?”
o Select Manage Roster
· Find the section called “Player/Coaches to Add”
o Enter each skater and each coach and press submit after each update
o For skater’s position put “any” unless they have a designated position
o You might get a message saying they are already in the database, just hit submit again
o You will see that you start building a roster on the screen
o Make sure the button that says “display roster on region 4 website?” is set to No (then other teams can’t see it)
o Player’s files: At the beginning of the season, the Registrar will provide you with a file for each skater. This file will contain birth certificates/Birth Facts form, medical consent forms, and signed code of conduct forms.
§ It may be easier to keep originals at home and carry copies with you of birth certificates/Birth Facts form, medical consent forms, and the USA Hockey Roster. Make sure you shred your copies at the end of the season. The originals need to be turned in at the end of the season.
§ Don’t get caught without your team information!
o Coaches CEP Cards: Photo copy the front and back of the coaches CEP cards. The coaches may be asked to present these at a tournament. If they don’t have it, then you will have the necessary documentation to allow that coach to be on the bench at the tournament.
Team Documentation (continued):
o Team Statistics: Game statistics will be entered into the WYHA website(if this is what your Head Coach wants) and the WAHA Region 4 website at the end of each weekend. On the WYHA website, you will enter the game score and goals/assists/saves/goals against and penalty minutes for each player.
§ Scores for the local newspapers will be extracted from the website on Sunday night, so please have them updated before 8pm if you want the scores in the newspaper the following week.
§ It is important to update the Region 4 website as this is the official Region 4 standings that will drive placement in the Region 4 playoff games. In the WAHA Region 4 website, you will enter the game date/time, game number if league game, opponent and score. It is best to do this each weekend instead of waiting.
· If you make a mistake entering a game result, contact the Region 4 ALD to get it corrected.
o Skater Patches: Keep track of patches earned for your skaters using the scoresheets.