This season marks the sixth year of the OMHA Coach of the Month presented by The Coaches Site. We asked for nominations of deserving coaches and after much deliberation, Matt Hall of the Orangeville U11 HL Team 5 was selected as the Coach of the Month for January.

Here's his story as told by his nomination:

Matt has been coaching within Orangeville Minor Hockey for three years now and his drive and support for the house league group is second to none. Whether there's an early practice that doesn't have support or a grading day where last minute needs aren't met, Matt has consistently risen to the occasion.

His ability to encourage the youth of Orangeville to consistently be their best and help has been noted in many of his regular interactions both on ice and off. Matt supports a clear and inclusive message to his teams each year and continues to not just find way to better the overall performance of the kids during game play but continues this even off ice too.

Coach Matt grew up playing minor hockey in Orangeville and got into coaching when his son began playing. He has volunteered with the same group of coaches for a handful of seasons and uses the lessons learned from his own coaches as a player.

I love watching the growth of the players over the season. In the beginning you feel like you're trying to herd kittens. Then as the season progresses you start to see the skills you're working on in practice come through in a game. The offsides start to go away and the players start making passes to teammates. When the kids start realizing they are using the skills they are learning, it grows the excitement they have to play and learn the game and that fuels us as coaches.

Communication is huge. We praise the importance of being a good teammate and playing to your ability. We provide attainable goals for each player based on their skill level and provide the support needed. We try to be organized so that we can make the most of the time we have together on the ice. We build up the more skilled players and show them how to be leaders to their teammates. We also have two post-game awards we hand out - Player of the Game (POG) and Hard Worker of the Game (HWOG). The POG receives the gold jersey and game puck while the HWOG gets the hard hat for leaving it all out there on the ice. Even after a hard fought loss, the boys are excited to hear who won the jersey and hard hat and happy for the teammate that won.  

Our team has a great group of parents/kids. I have multiple parents that are ready to assist at the drop of a hat. Whether it be emailing possible tournament locations or putting the players names on back of their jerseys. We had one parent make the entire team Christmas Ornaments with the players names/numbers on them! We have a parents Team Chat Group where pictures/videos are shared of the games and encouraging messages about all players are exchanged. These parents are supportive of not only their child but every child on the team. It's a great environment to be in and one we are all proud to contribute to.

Please note that all previous submissions are still eligible for upcoming Coach of the Month awards and do not need to be resubmitted.