EP 9 - Ashley Holmes - USA Hockey Assistant Coach in Chief

Tera and I are joined by Ashley Holmes, the Assistant Coach in Chief for Female Coach Development in the Minnesota District (that’s a mouth full!!).  Ashley shares her story of growing up playing hockey in the Alexandria area, how that led to playing at the University of North Dakota and then on to coaching.  An important part of her coaching journey is that she was ASKED to coach a 12U hockey team. Without that invitation, she is unsure if she ever would have found her path in coaching.  So, hockey associations, and mainly MALE ALLIES (because you are currently the majority in hockey), remember to ASK females to coach. Many of them will not step up without an invitation. Within her role at USA Hockey, she is working to attract more female coaches to get involved in the coach developer role and NORMALIZING seeing women in leadership roles within USA hockey, MN hockey and within the youth levels.  She also hears from many female coaches throughout the state of MN who are facing similar challenges.  She regularly hears females express encountering the challenges below: Feeling like you aren’t welcome Having people second guess your abilities Males with less experience getting a coaching position rather than you because it’s a higher level and females aren’t seen as capable at that higher level Not having their voices heard Having to prove their competency when their male counterparts are automatically granted competency It’s a challenge for those female coaches to want to continue coaching within the game when they are volunteering their time AND having to overcome all of the situations at the same time. They start to question, “Why am I doing this? Is it even worth it?” This leads to a challenge in retaining the female coaches who are willing to step up.  Lastly, we talk about how the move away from USA hockey’s ADM model and community-based hockey is producing fewer top level female talent within the State of Hockey. Parents having an understanding of the ADM model and its value is vital to continuing to be the State of Hockey on the female side.  She is also focusing on bringing MN female coaches together to help support each other and be resources for each other. If you are a MN female hockey coach, look for an invitation to a MN female coaches GroupMe and reach out to Ashley at any time with questions. She is here to support you!   Contact info: Ashley Holmes - [email protected]   USA Hockey Female Coaches GroupMe - GroupMe - Join the group for USAH Female Coaches   Reach out to Tera and Sarah if you have any questions or if you have a story to share. [email protected]