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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is a little bit of a catch-22. There definitely ends up being some favoritism whether intentional or sub-conscious for kids who take the extra lessons with coaches. On the other hand, outside of the Director of a program, and even then, [b]I'm not sure how much those folks are actually taking home, [/b]I'm sure that the coach of any particular youth team, even if paid, is not making a ton, and is often more of a stipend.  Being able to make a little extra giving lessons is pretty normal across the DMV. I know a lot of folks who are cobbling together a living coaching, doing lessons in the morning, and then working a 9-5 if they have one, or another more 'normal' part-time gig. I don't begrudge them being able to earn a little extra, especially with the cost of living in this area. [/quote]

It's not a mystery. You could just check to see how much the person in question (Keegan) is "taking home" from MYHA because it's posted on the tax filing I linked to earlier. I'll save you the effort--it's $80k.

But I'm not sure you're a hockey parent either, nor that you read the article at the top of this thread, because otherwise you'd realize that the scenario you describe is not what happens in youth hockey around here. You're correct that there are numerous modestly-paid coaches in the area (of high school teams, or clubs like Tri-City). But they are not running clinics at scale like Keegan is. Nor are they typically doing private lessons in their down-time. The ice is simply not available for these area coaches to use for that purpose. Plus Keegan is--if memory serves--at tryouts for all age groups and deciding the placement for teams he will not coach. But he still can, and apparently does, favor players of different ages who take his classes.
  
Keegan is not actually a paid coach. He's paid by MYHA to be Director of Hockey Operations and I suppose as part of that, he has taken on a team to coach, just like all the other (volunteer) coaches at MYHA. Because MYHA doesn't pay coaches--they rely on the free labor of parent volunteers. At Tri-City (and I don't know about the others), coaches are paid, typically non-parents. Tri-City fees are not higher for players IIRC, so it's not like MYHA uses volunteer parent coaches to save players money. Meanwhile, he also runs the fee-extra NBN hockey classes/clinics/camps.

The situation with Keegan is problematic in two ways. First is that it is somewhat of a monopoly serving the MYHA families; the second is that when it comes to team selection, the people who choose to pay for his company's services are (by the looks for things) favored for their patronage rather than skill, despite the fact that the club runs tryouts (that imply that he selects based on skill).

[/quote]

I assure you that I am a hockey parent, and I did read the article. We were a Medstar family, and have taken clinics and small group lessons from a myriad of coaches around the DMV in the off-season and during the season when there are breaks. NBN was highly recommended by some other (non-MYHA)  families because it was good coaching and good ice time. So, from a non-MYHA perspective, there is a market. We know many coaches at Loudoun, Reston, Medstar, MYHA, St. James, Loudon Ice Center, Rockville, Haymarket, Laurel etc. who moonlight with morning sessions, and have skated with them from time to time. There are lots of coaches giving lessons in their downtime. (In fact, we were at Haymarket this past weekend, and there was a coach wearing a Little Caps jacket giving a lesson during stick and shoot.) If you go to a free skate at Medstar on any given day, there's usually at least one coach (might be a figure skating coach) working with a hockey player. Both of my kids took 'private' skating lessons with one of the Medstar hockey coaches during open skates when they were small. This was a paid coach who definitely had a say in who did and did not make the teams. FWIW, those lessons made them great skaters, but did not pay immediate rewards in getting them on a top travel team. That didn't happen until later. Not everything is a conspiracy. Again, I am not a MYHA parent, I don't know about the inner-workings of that organization or all the political pitfalls. It's a free market society and if you're not happy, there are other options.[/quote]

Apologies-- I stand corrected. I also agree with several things you said: that NBN offers clinics that many families consider good, and that separate from that, there'd be coaches occasionally giving a private lesson during public skate or similar. But the point I was making (or should have been more clear about) was to counter the main gist of your post where you are inclined to give Keegan and his MYHA associates the benefit of the doubt because it was somewhat understandable if (A) coaches gave private lessons on the side and (B) this private tutelage ended up making them unintentionally favoring these private students.  No argument for me about A or B.

But my point is what people are talking about with MYHA is a whole different kettle of fish than what you describe. Keegan regularly runs clinics for groups of say, 40 players(?) at certain age groups, including pre-tryout clinics, and it just so happens to closely coincide with the age level(s) where he selects the kids for the teams (because he doesn't only make the choice for the team he coaches...he's overseeing tryouts generally if I understand correctly.) And various PPs report noting kids who aren't as good but make the team, including kids who are customers of his clinics and sometimes even private lessons.  "pay to play." Certainly taking a single NBN class/clinic doesn't guarantee a spot on MYHA's AA team, because there would be too many players to fit on a top team.  But perhaps paying for multiple classes, and taking the chance to cozy up to the decision-makers is part of the formula. 
Not to mention, the coaches from other clubs aren't offering these clinics at Rockville Ice Arena, because only a small cohort of guys can use it for their business. It's a free market, exactly as you say... But monopolies do not help a free market. And it happens that the supply/demand for ice in the DMV is tight as it is, so it's not as if a family can easily find the other options without incurring a lot of travel time. And the other professional coaches in the area (ie not the volunteer parents) don't have the chance to make much side $, because their only chance is to squeeze in a single person lesson at a free skate, etc.[/quote]

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