With the Coach: Louis Isabella - At AA level, be tough, but fair.

 

Thursday, March 10, 2011

With the Coach is a weekly series featuring a conversation with a local coach. 



Coach: Louis Isabella, 50-year-old LaSalle resident and owner of the Atelier Debosselage Isabella Inc.

Team: Lakeshore peewee AA Panthers
Years coached: 15 years, on and off

Playing experience: LaSalle Cyclones of Montreal Junior Metro League

Best coaching tip: Teach respect and work ethic.

Louis Isabella is head coach of the No. 1 ranked peewee AA hockey team in the province.

The Lakeshore Panthers have a sparkling 40-6-1 record and are now preparing for the upcoming playoffs.

What accomplishment are you most proud of? 

Isabella: My greatest satisfaction is seeing how the team gelled together over the season.

Do you spend more time on individual skill development or team play? 

Isabella: We try to do a bit of everything. You have to implement a lot of things to be successful.

How do you manage expectations of hockey parents? 

Isabella: Listen, expectations of parents you can't look at too much. You have to look at the expectations of the kids, because they're the ones who'll be playing.
What team rules are most strictly enforced? 

Isabella: For me, it's discipline and respect for each other.

What was your coaching mandate from Lakeshore? 

Isabella: When (technical director) Greg Orsini came to see me to coach, it was more of trying to put a little more ruggedness, more toughness into the game. To be more structured, I guess. More firm. They'd seen I was firm. Orsini had seen my work with the midget espoirs (Prédateurs) for four or five years. He saw the way I got guys to work to be competitive.

What skills need to be taught to youngsters before peewee? 

Isabella: Peewee is not really an important stage, I find. In atom, you need to have skills. Coming to me in peewee at this level, they need to have more work ethic. That's what is missing. People tend to rely on their skill too much in peewee. Not only here, but everywhere. Everyone thinks they're going to go to the next level doing what they did at atom and novice.

Should there be some form of body checking in peewee? 

Isabella: Sure. I've been talking about that for a couple of years. They need to introduce it here. But how? It would be nice to do it, say in the offensive or defensive zone and leave the neutral zone away. Maybe that would be a good way to introduce it.

Should a parent be allowed to coach a AA team?
Isabella: That depends on the person. That's hard to answer because every person is different. Some parents are emotional when they coach their own kids. I've seen that.

Are today's players more skilled than in your day? 

Isabella: They're more skilled, but they're missing grit. That's what we're missing in this province.

What do you want the kids to take away from their season? 

Isabella: They'll look back and say the coach was hard but he was fair with us. I try to be fair with everybody, but each player is different.

Biggest misconception about you? 

Isabella: The parents might think that I'm a little too tough on their kids. But I'm setting the values of the game that have to be put in place for the kids to go to the next level.

The PeeWee AA Lakeshore Panthers finished first overall in the province of Quebec over 46 other teams. (Record: 40-6-1)

Source: West Island Gazette

For team Stats ClickHere