Up Close With The Coach

Chuck Fox, SPHS Ice Hockey

By Amy Russell
This month, we sat down with Severna Park’s head ice hockey coach Chuck Fox to find out a little bit about how he came to coach at Severna Park, and where he hopes to see the team go from here. Fox has been with the Falcons for ten years and owns a skate sporting goods shop in Bowie.

Q: How did you get started in ice hockey?
A: Well, I went to Old Mill High School and there wasn’t any high school hockey, so I played for club teams, like the Chiefs. As a kid a lot of my friends played so they got me interested in it. I’ve been playing on club teams ever since.
Q: How long have you been coaching at Severna Park?
A: About 10 years ago, I met a guy named George Metz and he was starting a team at Severna Park and asked me to coach. So, technically, I’ve been with Severna Park since the programmed started. I coached for six years, took two seasons off and came back two years ago.
Q: Severna Park has a talented, but small, squad compared to some of the other teams in the area. What can you say about how the roster size has fluctuated over the years?
A: Well, it has definitely fluctuated. In the first two years we had a lot more kids. The year I came back we were down to 12 kids, then last year we had 20 and this year 12 again. We have a middle school feeder team, but last year there weren’t any 8th graders; so, knowing we would be graduating several seniors last year we were prepared for a small squad this year. Next year we have a few new players coming in.
Q: A few years ago the facility at Benfield, the one Severna Park called “home,” closed. How has that impacted Severna Park?
A: We figured we would have the same amount of kids come out to play, but we were worried the fan base would disappear, and it is certainly not what it used to be. At Benfield we had the Friday night spot and played right before the Severna Park basketball games, so a lot of the students would come to the hockey games first, and the place would be packed. Now that we play out of Bowie, we don’t see that kind of attendance.
Q: What other coaching experience do you have?
A: In the past I’ve coached for the Chiefs, a club travel team, and a Chicago showcase team for juniors and seniors in Virginia, DC and Maryland, sponsored by the Washington Capitals.
Q: What is the biggest challenge in playing hockey?
A: Skating… it’s the hardest thing to do in hockey. I read an article in Sports Illustrated recently, and it said that hockey is the hardest team sport to learn, mostly because of how demanding the actual skating can be. To anyone interested in playing ice hockey, my advice would be to learn how to skate well first.
Q: What is your coaching philosophy?
A: Ice hockey can be a pretty physical sport, but I actually coach from the opposite perspective. If you go out there trying to hit with 10 kids on the bench, all you’re going to do is tire yourself out. At the beginning of the season I explain to the parents and the players we’re not trying to make professional hockey players, I want them to have fun and continue the sport after high school. We’re lucky at Severna Park because the school really supports the team. Even though, technically, most teams aren’t directly affiliated with their respective high school, Severna Park has done a good job of working with us and supporting us.
Q: What would you like to see for the Severna Park hockey team in the future?
A: I just want to keep it going. It’s tough, because it’s very expensive and it’s tough to get kids to keep playing, whether it be travel or club or high school. It’s been pretty stagnant over the years, I haven’t seen a lot of growth, but I hope to keep it going because it’s a great sport.