2014 Beeski Hockey Parents Survey

2014 Beeski Hockey Parents Survey

The results are in! We had 126 responses from 24 teams – our largest survey so far!

This survey is intended to show how youth hockey programs are performing relative to parents’ expectations. It was conducted online in the Spring/Summer of 2014. Geographically, the responses were concentrated in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware

© 2014 Beeski, LLC. All rights reserved.

We had 126 responses from 24 different teams

2© 2014 Beeski, LLC. All rights reserved.

We had 126 responses from 24 different teams

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Valley Forge Colonials 23Lancaster Firebirds 21Palmyra Black Knights 19Philadelphia Junior Flyers 11Old York Road Raiders 10

And 10 or more responses from 5 of them:


Only 21% of respondents played travel hockey as a

child.

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That’s 1 in 5 hockey parents.


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Most parents (nearly 75%) travel less than 30

minutes to get to the rink.

Not surprisingly, Tier 1 parents tend to

travel a little farther.



We asked you how satisfied you were with the 2013-14 season in four categories: Overall Hockey Experience, Coaching, Practice, and Games. Parents chose on a scale from 1-10, with 10 being Very Satisfied and 0 being “Not Applicable”.


Management of the hockey program

Consistent application of the program's mission statement

Communication between you and the program/rink

Sense of community/identity within the program

Commitment to skill development among all players

Frequency of practices

Frequency of off-ice training

Value for the cost of participating

Overall hockey experience

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

How satisfied were you with the Overall Hockey Experience?

Average - 2013 Average

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For Overall Hockey Experience, the average score was 6.5.This was about a point lower than last year’s survey, and this difference held across all of the questions under Overall Hockey Experience.











0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Average Staying Average All

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As you would expect, the data shows that parents who decide to stay with a program tend to be more satisfied than the average parent.











0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Average Moving Average Staying Average All

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And those who decide to leave a program tend to be significantly less satisfied than the average parent.


Quality of coaching/instruction at practices

Effectiveness/efficient use of practice time

Effectiveness/efficient use of off-ice training time

Distribution of ice time during games

Quality of coaching/instruction during games

Bench management during games

Discipline and player/parent management

Demeanor/interaction with the players

Commitment to a fun hockey experience

Overall coaching quality/effectiveness

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

How satisfied were you with the Coaching?


10

The same trend held true in the other categories: Coaching,


Availability/frequency of ice time

Availability of full ice practices

Practice times

Availability of specialized instructors (e.g., skating instructors, goalie coaches, etc.)

Amount of idle time for players during practice

Discipline/player management during practices

Overall practice quality/effectiveness

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

How satisfied were you with Practice?


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The same trend held true in the other categories: Coaching, Practice,


Amount and frequency of games

Amount of travel to/from games

Frequency of tournaments

Quality of competition was appropriate

Balance between winning and fun

Overall game experience

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

How satisfied were you with the Games?


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The same trend held true in the other categories: Coaching, Practice, and Games. Responses from parents who ended up leaving the program were 1 to 1.5 points lower than average.



We asked you about your priorities in choosing a hockey program. These were multiple choice (with a write-in option) and parents chose their top 3, in order.

We also asked you what you thought your coaches priorities were during the 2013-14 season.


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Making sure my son/daughter has fun

Dedication to player development

Quality of coaching staff

Having a competitive team

Quality/reputation of the hockey program

Proximity to your home

Cost of the season fees and travel/extras

Know/get along with other parents/players on the team

Other

Availability of ice time for practices/games

Winning as many games as possible

Quality of the rink/facilities

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Summary of Parents’ Priorities

Top Priority

The blue bars show the number of times each option was chosen as the parents’ top priority. The top 3 responses were unchanged from 2013.


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Other




0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Second Priority Top Priority

The maroon bars show the number of times each option was chosen as the parents’ second priority. Again, the top 3 responses were unchanged from 2013.


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Other




0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Third Priority Second Priority Top Priority

The green bars show the number of times each option was chosen as the parents’ third priority.


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Other




0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Top 3 Priorities Third Priority Second Priority Top Priority

Looking in aggregate, the purple bars show the total number of times each option was chosen as any one of the top 3 priorities. The 4 leading responses really stand out, giving a clear picture of what the parents are interested in.


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Skill development for every player

Making sure the players had fun

Teaching the game

Promoting good sportsmanship and team play


Instilling in the players a love of the game

Playing their own kids as much as possible

Other

Distributing ice time fairly

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Summary of Coaches’ Priorities

Top 3 Priorities Third Priority Second Priority Top Priority

Here’s the same view, but showing what the parents felt were the coaches’ priorities last season. For the most part, there is good alignment between the parents’ and coaches’ priorities.



Finally, we asked you if you were planning to switch hockey programs next season, and why or why not.



31% of respondents (39 out of 126) indicated that they are moving to a new hockey program for 2014-15. That’s up from 22% in the 2013 survey.


31% of respondents (39 out of 126) indicated that they are moving to a new hockey program for 2014-15. That’s up from 22% in the 2013 survey.

With a team of 15 kids, that means on average you can expect almost 5 of them to leave the program next season.

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The reasons parents cited for staying with their current program indicate a high level of satisfaction with their youth hockey experience.


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The reasons parents gave for moving to a new program indicate a desire for better coaching, less politics, and better management.


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If we split the different reasons for leaving a program into three categories: Positive, Negative, and Neutral – we can get an idea of the parents’ motivation in moving to a new program.


The reason for leaving is positive only 21% of the time.


Here are the results of a few new questions we asked this year.


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75% of the respondents’ coaches are believed to be volunteers and 77% of them are parents of one of the

players.


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Parents who move to a new program tend to do so with

their child’s input in the decision to move ...


… and the team to move to.

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As a quick summary of the “Open Response” questions, we categorized the responses by theme and tone (positive,

negative, or neutral).


About half of the responses were negative, but there were quite a few positive responses too.


And last, but not least – want to know how your team stacks up in Overall Hockey Experience?


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Here are the team by team results. Remember: the fewer the responses, the less reliable the results are.


Team Responses Avg. Overall Hockey Experience

% of Respondents Leaving the Program in 2014-15

Old York Road Raiders 10 9.0 10%Lehigh Valley Little Phantoms 1 9.0 0%Reading Jr. Royals 2 8.5 100%Flyers Youth 1 8.0 0%Palmyra Black Knights 19 7.5 0%Lancaster Firebirds 21 7.3 10%Hatfield Ice Dogs 3 7.0 33%Delco Phantoms 1 7.0 0%York Devils 2 7.0 0%Hershey Jr. Bears 5 6.6 80%Valley Forge Minutemen 4 6.0 25%Lehigh Valley Flames 1 6.0 100%Valley Forge Colonials 23 5.9 17%Exton Kings 4 5.5 50%Regency Panthers 1 5.0 0%Philadelphia Junior Flyers 11 5.0 73%Quakers 3 4.3 67%Delaware Jr. Blue Hens 1 4.0 0%Grundy Senators 4 2.8 100%Bristol Blazers 5 2.6 80%Delaware Rough Riders 1 2.0 100%Wissahickon Warriors 1 2.0 100%Delaware Stars 1 1.0 0%New Jersey Junior Titans 1 0.0 100%


Thanks for you interest in the Beeski Hockey Parents Survey!

For more information, contact Steve Bochanski at [email protected].

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2014 Beeski Hockey Parents Survey