AMHA MANAGER S MANUAL

AMHA MANAGER S MANUAL Revised 2005-08-09

AMHA Team Managers Manual This manual is designed to assist Team Managers in the execution of their duties. This manual may not contain the answers to all of your questions, so we would welcome your feedback. INDEX Team Manager Job Description Structure of Abbotsford Minor Hockey Contact Names and Numbers Team Safety - First Aid Kits/Stop Signs - CHSP/emergency preparedness - What to do if there is an injury - Extra insurance for travel - Medical forms Start of League Games Game conflicts and how to rebook a game - Ice - Referees - Exhibition games Game Sheets, Timing, Scorekeeping, Referees Exhibition Games League and Playoff Games Penalties and Misconducts Payment of Referees and Financial Management Tournaments Sponsorship Fundraising Equipment Tracking Photo Day Team Communications References 2

JOB DESCRIPTION FOR HOCKEY TEAM MANAGER Most Coaches will agree that the difference between a good hockey team and a great hockey team is the quality of team management. The Team Manager is the liaison between the parents and the coaching staff and is responsible ensuring the well being of the players. The Team Manager job includes: completing and processing the game sheets; organizing timekeepers, scorekeepers and 50/50 draw; paying officials; maintaining the team jerseys; rescheduling conflict games and dealing with any other changes as required; preparing team phone lists and schedules, communicating with parents; keeping team bank account and tracking team finances; scheduling tournaments for the team and arrange for travel and accommodation, etc.; assign a tournament representative to coordinate the team s duties for the AMHA tournaments; attend the Team Manager s meeting at the beginning of the season; PCAHA requires Managers to take the Speak Out course (3.5 hours). At this point the Speak Out course only has to be taken once; Managers must undergo a Criminal Record Check; The AMHA Executive must approve the appointment of the Team Manager. Team Managers report to their team s Head Coach. PROCESSING THE GAME SHEETS Hockey has a lot of paperwork, and as Manager you will be responsible for this. Each game your team plays must have a Game Number that is obtained from or assigned by the League Manager. At the end of the game you will collect the scoresheets, distribute the blue and pink copies to the visiting and home team respectively, and mail the yellow and white copies to the League Manager within 24 hours. If there is a incident involving a major penalty or misconduct during the game, the referee may retain the white sheet and write a report on the game. The referee will send in the white sheet including the report. You must still send the yellow sheet. In these cases the game sheet should be faxed to the League Manager immediately. INJURY REPORTS If there is an injury the HCSP person is responsible for filing an injury report with the AMHA Risk Manager. It is very important to report and track all concussions regardless of whether the parents want you to or not. 3

GAME OFFICIALS If it is a home game, The Team Manager will ensure that the on-ice officials are paid prior to the start of the game (Atom Rep and above). Payment is to be in cash (folding money) and you must have the exact change for each official (refer to the PCAHA manual for referee rates). Each team (Atom Rep and above) will receive two cheques during the season. These cheques are the referee funds. The Association pays for all league and playoff games as well as two exhibition games. Until these cheques are received, a team official may be required to front this money. A record of all referee payments must be kept on the appropriate AMHA tracking form. Referees for Atom C and below will be paid by the Association twice a season. The Association pays for all league and playoff games as well as two exhibition games. During tournaments officials will be paid cash by the tournament organizers prior to the game. If all or some of the officials do not show, you need to report this to the Referee Coordinator within 24 hours. Do not pay out any more than the specified amount for the number of officials in attendance. (Refer to the PCAHA handbook for rates) If your team has arranged to play an extra game, you are also responsible for booking the referees. At the beginning of the season you should contact the Referee-in -Chief and provide information about the time, date, and location of the game along with the game number, and the referees will be assigned. The League Manager will establish a process for this to be done when the season begins. In the event that referees were booked for a game and do not show, make every effort to play the game. Refer to the PCAHA handbook for this procedure or refer to Hockey Canada Rule 41. EXHIBITION GAMES AND AWAY TOURNAMENTS If your team wishes to book an Exhibition Game, the game can be booked on the team s regular game time or a practice time as long as there is not a league game scheduled. League games include tiering, regular season and playoff games. Once you have secured a suitable ice time, you can contact the other Team Manager to line up the game. Team coaches or contacts can be found by contacting the division League Manager or looking in the PCAHA website for Association Member websites. Several Associations list contact phone numbers. If you call the Division Manager, they will often provide Coaches names / numbers. 4

The Team Manager is responsible for getting the game numbers for Exhibition Games and Tournament Permission Numbers for home and away tournaments. These are available from your League Manager. Their name can be found in the front section of the PCAHA Rule Book that you will receive early in the season. In addition to a Tournament Permission Number, AMHA teams are required to obtain written permission from AMHA to attend outside tournaments. Contact your Division Coordinator or Director to obtain this. Referees can be organized through the Referee-in-Chief, the division referee assignors or League Manager. HOME TOURNAMENTS The AMHA hosts tournaments for every division. All teams must participate in the AMHA tournament for their division. Each team must provide at least one person to work on the tournament committee to ensure a successful tournament. All parents are required to assist in some way, timekeeper, sell 50/50, get donations... Teams must have a tournament permission number to participate in any tournament, including the AMHA tournaments. These numbers can be obtained from your League Manager. If your team wishes to participate in additional tournaments, you will need to organize this as a team. You will need permission from the AMHA Division Director and a tournament permission number. You must resolve any conflicts with league games first. Tournaments can be found on the BCAHA website and the Hockey Now paper. CONDUCT AT THE ARENA The Team Manager and other parents are responsible for the behaviour of the fans this may include one of your team s parents. If one of the fans is behaving inappropriately, you may wish to engage them in conversation or redirect their behaviour in another way. It is possible that they do not understand the referee calls in which case some explanations / education may be in order. If the problem persists, discuss the problem with the Coach or Division Director. Sometimes it is a parent on the opposing team that is demonstrating inappropriate behaviour. It is generally a good idea to try and introduce yourself to the Manager of the opposing team, and then you can dialogue with them further if you need to enlist their help in talking to someone who is hassling the referee, coach or players. 5

TEAM FINANCES The Head Coach is held accountable by the Association for the team finances. This duty is routinely delegated to the Team Manager who then becomes responsible for the team finances. You may wish to appoint a Team Treasurer to assist you and together you must open a bank account. The bank account must have the Team Head Coach as one of the signing authorities. Before the start of the regular season, each team must submit a Team Budget to the AMHA Executive through their Division Coordinator or Director for approval. This budget must include the projected income from parents and fundraising as well as proposed expenditures. Remember to include the referee disbursements, 50/50 money and any other team fundraising. All monies collected by the team are to be spent on the team, team expenses and team activities. This budget must be provided to the team parents and all team expenditures must be approved in a democratic manner (secret ballot is strongly recommended). Twice per season a financial report is to be submitted to the Treasurer of the AMHA. The first report is due at the Christmas Break, the second is due at the end of the season. Please refer to the AMHA policy manual for the dates these are required. The financial reporting form can be found on the AMHA website. PAYMENT OF REFEREES Please refer to the GAME OFFICIALS section for specifics on payment to referees. The Team Manager is responsible for the referee payment (Atom Rep & above). Referees are paid before each game. They should be given exact change, and paid cash (folding money). TEAM CLOTHING Teams wishing to purchase team clothing (jackets, hats, t-shirts, ect ) may do so from the supplier approved by the AMHA. All clothing purchased for the team must have the AMHA name and / or logo. The AMHA has negotiated with the approved supplier to obtain a fair low price and a product that is uniform to the association. One of the benefits of this is that parents will not be required to purchase new team jackets every season, thus saving parents money. TEAM SOCIAL EVENTS Many kids enjoy hockey for the social aspect of the team. You are the Minister of Social Affairs. An early meeting or event will ensure that good communication is 6

established for your team and it will provide a time for questions and answers or explanations. Before you know it the holiday season has arrived, and many teams want a social event. Then there is the final wrap-up party to arrange! Teams are encouraged to get together to do some team building. Remember though that special events will require a Special Event Permission. This is a form that is completed by the team and signed by the AMHA President. This form is then sent to PCAHA or BCAHA for approval. A copy of this form is included within the Coaches Manual. TEAM STATISTICS Your Coach may wish you to keep him / her up-to-date on team standings and individual player statistics. This information can be very useful to a Coach. You must make decision as to how you will keep them. Often posting the statistics for parents and players can cause controversy. The Team Manager must track all penalty records. All misconduct and major penalties must be reported to the Division Coordinator or the Division Director. To keep track of penalty minutes, keep a ledger and record the major penalty minutes given to each player from the information on the game sheets. In the event that a player is assessed a Match or Gross Misconduct, the player must sit out a minimum of three (3) games or seven (7) days and may be subject to further suspension by BCAHA, PCAHA or AMHA. Please refer to bulletins for BCAHA and PCAHA on their websites. It is the Team Manager s responsibility to ensure that all suspensions are served immediately. Failure to do so could result in a player or team official receiving an additional suspension. THE STRUCTURE OF MINOR HOCKEY The Abbotsford Minor Hockey Association (AMHA) has over 1000 participants. The AMHA is a member of the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association (PCAHA) and through it, the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association (BCAHA) and Hockey Canada. These governing bodies provide the regulatory framework in which minor hockey is played. The AMHA develops policies in order to manage this Association in accordance with the guidelines and rules established by our governing bodies and the Societies Act. The purpose of this is to ensure that all players registered with AMHA are treated as fairly as possible and are provided with the same opportunities. The AMHA is governed by a board directors, referred to as the AMHA Executive. The AMHA Executive is elected by the Association membership at the AMHA Annual General Meetings. The AMHA Executive members serve a two-year term and each year, half of the AMHA Executive positions are open for election. The AMHA 7

Executive is the responsible for the management of the AMHA. The following is a list of the elected members: President 1 st Vice-President 2 nd Vice-President Past President Treasurer Secretary Directors The duties of the AMHA Executive are assigned annually by the President of the Association. In addition to the elected members, there are several people appointed to positions. AMHA members are appointed to these positions by the AMHA Executive and perform specific duties. These positions include: Risk Management / Harassment Officer Ice Coordinator Registrar Referee-in-Chief Head Coaches C Division Coordinators Tournament Coordinator Equipment Manager Fundraising Coordinator Communications Coordinator Web Site Manager A list of all the contact names for our organization is up-to-date on the AMHA Website. We have attached a useful phone numbers list both for Rep and House. Please refer to our policy manual for the communication policy and ensure that team officials and parents adhere it to. TEAM SAFETY First Aid Kit The team First Aid Kit is supplied by AMHA. The team HCSP should routinely check the First Aid Kit and replenish items used or missing. It is the responsibility of each team to maintain their first aid kit. Add copies of the player medical forms to the First Aid Kit. They should be kept in a Zip Lock bag along with blank injury claim forms. 8

Medical Forms Each player must fill out a medical form, the original is to be kept by the Team Manager. Please ensure that you have an up-to-date medical form for each team member. A copy of these forms should be kept in alphabetical order in a Zip Lock bag in the First Aid Kit. The HCSP must ensure that the coaches are aware of any player medical conditions such as allergies or asthma. If there are players with food allergies, advise the team of snack restrictions. Stop Signs Stop Signs are required on the back of every game jersey. They are provided on each jersey and may not be moved or covered. Spare Stop Signs should be kept in the first aid kit in case one is required. As a result, name bars are not permitted. The Stop Signs are intended to reduce injuries to players due to contact from behind. In order to enhance the effectiveness of these signs, name bars may not be sewn onto team jerseys unless authorized by the AMHA Executive. What to do if there is an injury The HCSP on your team should take charge in the event that a player is injured and an ambulance is required. There must be at least 2 adults with a player in the dressing room at all times, never leave an injured player alone; If a player is injured and their parents are not at the game, contact them as soon as possible; Injured players can not be given any medication, including aspirin, Tylenol etc, except by their parents, guardian or a doctor; Provide every injured player an Injury report form that they can take with them and have completed by their doctor; Refer to the policy manual for more information regarding injuries, reporting and players returning following an injury. Injury reports are included with this manual. A copy of the Injury Report Form must be forwarded to the Risk Manager within seven (7) days. The completed form will be mailed in as per the instruction on the forms as soon as possible by the Risk Manager. The reason is to ensure that our insurance is valid in case it is needed in the future. Claims must be received by the insurer within 90 days of the injury in order to be accepted. It is the Team Manager s responsibility to ensure that the forms are complete and forwarded to the Risk Manager. Insurance coverage assists player s families that do not have extended health care benefits. PCAHA supplemental Insurance coverage includes catastrophic injury insurance and US travel. It includes such things as ambulance, crutches and 9

physiotherapy. If an ambulance attended there will be a charge this is often not sent until after the 90-day time limit, so please advise the parent to follow through and get an estimate of the charge to submit prior to the time limit. Extra Insurance for Tournaments All tournaments must be sanctioned and the team must obtain a permission number before entry. US Travel Medical Insurance is available and provides coverage for; individuals, volunteers, parents, immediate family members and friends; that travel with the team to sanctioned league, exhibition, or tournaments in the US. This is coverage for costs above the BC Medical should someone require medical attention or hospitalization during the trip (refer to the PCAHA rulebook under US Travel Insurance). Mutual Aid Insurance will not cover non-sanctioned tournaments, particularly those in the United States. You are not permitted to participate in a non-sanctioned tournament as an AMHA team. START OF LEAGUE GAMES The first series of games are the tiering round (not including Novice). The Team Head Coach and Team Manager must go to the PCAHA division meeting to obtain the schedule. These meetings are generally in early October Once teams are tiered, the next series of games are the regular League games. The League Manager will provide the schedule. GAME CONFLICTS AND HOW TO REBOOK A GAME When you receive your team s schedule, there may be game conflicts such as two games on the same day or a home and away game on the same night. If this happens it is up to the Home team or team designated by the League Manager to reschedule their game. It is the Team Manager s responsibility to resolve these conflict games. There are 3 steps that must be taken: 1. If you have weekday (after 6pm) or weekend practice ice (see PCAHA rulebook Section G), you may be able to use your practice ice to resolve a game conflict. If you do not have a suitable practice ice, C teams call the Division Coordinator, Rep teams call the Ice Coordinator to check the options for rescheduling your game. This typically means trading your conflicting home ice time for some other time. After the Ice Coordinator gives you some options, call the Manager of the visiting team and offer the alternative(s) that are available. When a rescheduled time is agreed on, confirm the change with the Division Coordinator or Ice Coordinator. The League Manager must be informed of the schedule change. For C division teams, the Division Coordinator will do this. The Team Manager for Rep teams must contact 10

the League Manager to advise of the change. Note: if you have offered three options to the visiting team and they have not accepted one of the times, contact the League Manager and advise them of the situation. The onus may then be put on the visiting team to provide a game ice. 2. Call or send an e-mail to the Referee-in-Chief and arrange to have referees for the rescheduled game time. A minimum of 72 hours is required. 3. In most circumstances the Home team is responsible for rescheduling a conflict, however, the League Manager who makes up the schedule may occasionally designate the Visitor as the team that must resolve the conflict. This is sometimes done to equalize the rescheduling burden. The League Managers generally use an asterisk or some other mark to note which team has to reschedule: check these and do not automatically assume that if you are the Home team the conflict is your problem or vice versa. Reschedule conflicts as soon as you receive the schedule. If you wait, it becomes very difficult as there are typically few options remaining. The league provides an extra week after tiering games and an extra week after regular season league games for make-up and conflict games. If your team is the visiting team and the home team does not call you within a week of the schedule being issued, call them. MANAGING THE GAME Exhibition, Tiering, League, Playoff The home team runs the 50/50 and must keep record of the winners; The home team provides the scorekeeper and timekeeper, and game sheet and sends the score sheet to the League Manager. In Tyke 1, 2 & 3 do not post the score. The clock is used with the two-minute buzzer; Referees are paid by the home team before the game (refer to the section on game officials for details). Have the exact change for each official. (see PCAHA rulebook for rates); Games are three periods. (see PCAHA rulebook for times) If the game officials are not at the rink 15 minutes before the game starts, call the referee assignor and confirm the officials were booked. If you cannot contact anyone and the officials still have not appeared, the game may still be played provided that the two coaches can agree on an alternate referee (coach, older sibling ). A player from each team may be appointed to be the linesmen. If this can not be arranged, make arrangements to re-schedule the game. League games can only be rescheduled if there is a conflict on the original schedule and for tournaments. You must have permission from the League Manager to reschedule the game. Games cannot be rescheduled for reasons such as; there are too many players away or if the Coach is away. Games can not be forfeited. If your team is short players, players from a lower division are permitted to play subject to PCAHA rules and the AMHA policy on the Use of Affiliated Players. 11

Players may not play more than five games with a team in a higher category or division. Permission from the League Manager is required. Penalties and Game Misconducts It is the responsibility of the Team Head Coach and Team Manager to ensure suspended players do not play in games. It is recommended that the Team Manager sign all game sheets, not the Head Coach. A player is considered to have played in a game if his name appears to a game sheet. Players who receive game misconducts during the last 10 minutes of play cannot play in the next game. The Team Manager must record all major penalties and suspensions and report them to the Division Coordinator or Division Director. PENALTY FREE GAMES The Penalty Free Game is an event that all teams are eligible for. During Minor Hockey week teams that have penalty free games may send their game sheets in and win prizes. Specifics of this program can be found on the BCAHA website. The BCAHA runs this program and it changes slightly each season. TRAVEL If your team travels out of town, ask the parents to have another team parent be responsible for their child if they are not travelling with the team. Know who that parent is. For teams travelling to the US, bus rentals are cost effective, convenient and recommended. Ensure all players and parents accompanying the team carry proper identification (players over 15 years of age must have photo I.D.). Ensure players do not bring fruit or beef products that cannot be consumed before you reach the border. At the border, when the team is asked to get off the bus, make sure all food and items carried on the bus are removed for the bus inspection. TEAM SPONSORS The AMHA Sponsorship Committee arranges sponsors for all Minor Hockey Teams. Teams will be notified about their sponsor as soon as possible. The Team Manager is responsible to ensure that the sponsor is informed of the team schedule, and invited to participate with the team. The sponsor may like to come and watch the games. Arrangements must be made with the Sponsor to attend the Sponsor Night. A Sponsor Night is simply a home game that the team invites the Sponsor to and presents them with a token of the Associations appreciation. This can be done at the start of the game. Make every effort to make this a special experience for your Sponsor. 12

Teams may not solicit sponsorship for the team in exchange for advertising. The Association, for the benefit of the entire Association, arranges all sponsorship and advertising. This does not preclude teams from accepting donations to their team, however, a team will not provide acknowledgement to the donator in any form of advertising. FUNDRAISING In general, teams raise money by doing a 50/50 raffle, which involves selling the tickets during the first and second period, dividing up the tickets, and drawing the number at the intermission between second and third period. Alternatively you can collect money from the team members in lieu of or in addition to doing 50/50 to cover team expenses such as team socials, end-of-year trophies, tournament expenses etc A record of 50/50 winners must be kept. This record must include the winners name, phone number and address. If a winner refuses to provide this information, simply draw a new ticket. Use the tracking form provided by AMHA to record the winner s information. The Director responsible for fundraising must approve all other fundraising. There are guidelines as to how funds may be spent. Refer to the AMHA policy on fundraising. PHOTO DAY Photo day will be on October 29 th, 2005. Please ensure that photo package order forms are handed out in advance. Bring a pen on Photo day. Teams will be assigned a photo time and advised of the location. Please ensure that your team is there and ready on time. If there is a conflict with the time your team is assigned, it is the Team Manager s responsibility to reschedule. TEAM COMMUNICATIONS As the Team Manager, you are responsible for team communications. This involves communications about schedules, practices, changes of times, fundraising, social events etc The easiest method of communication is group e-mails. This works well when there is lots of lead-time. On short notice, parents and players will need to be called personally. If a parent has a concern about their player, the Team Manager is the liaison between the Coaches and the parents. Refer to the AMHA policy manual for the Communications Policy. 13

MISCELLANEOUS For off ice team activities (fundraising, entertainment such as laser tag, etc ) complete a PCAHA Special Event Request or BCAHA sanction form, have it signed by the Association President and fax it to BCAHA. The forms must be completed in advance (a minimum of 10 days.). Should one of the players mention doing a school project on hockey, there is an excellent website that has interesting facts and information on such topics as what makes ice slippery, etc. This site is called The Science of Hockey http://www.exploratorium.edu/hockey/ The PCAHA website: http://www.pcaha.bc.ca/ has team standing (albeit not always up to date) and includes the bulletins that we are given regarding equipment, standards, forms, sometimes studies... The BCAHA website: http://www.bcaha.org/main.htm lists provincial events. It is also the one that has the Canucks Female Jamboree applications. Arena addresses can be found in the PCAHA website http://www.pcaha.bc.ca/main/arenalocations.html and Mapquest used for maps. These two websites are great for directions to arenas. It is a wise idea to send the map to each team member via e-mail. 14