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Already dreading tryouts


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6 minutes ago, Jjinson said:

Dude. It’s october. Worry about the team you’re on this year. Tryouts shouldn’t even be talked about until after the new year at the earliest 

So in you experience you would not suggest any additional season skating or training outside of regular practice or games? Asking for a friend.

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I think what you are talking about is player development.  It really depends on the player. If they love it and want to skate more go for it. Just don't burn them out. There are some nice clinics over the Christmas break that keeps the kids skating and hopefully teaches them something. Preparing for next years tryouts should not be the goal.  Getting better while enjoying hockey should be the goal.

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13 minutes ago, HockeyDad23 said:

So in you experience you would not suggest any additional season skating or training outside of regular practice or games? Asking for a friend.

Up to you and your kid.  I think kids get better by taking lessons and clinics.  But some kids don't want to be on the ice that much. 

The other things is a couple of lessons don't really matter.  You really need to make a commitment.  Probably need to do something almost weekly. 

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If your going to invest in anything it needs to be skating.  I agree with twoboys, 1 or 2 lessons isnt going to mean much.  It has to be on a regular basis to really get anything out of them, and your kid has to have a good relationship with the instructor.  My sons coach is tough on him but also picks him up when he struggles.  He's been going to her for over 2 years.  His decision, not mine.  Thats a lot of golf and Stella if it was my decision.  If you go to any AA or AAA tryout, skating and understanding the game is key. Also make sure you get a skating coach with hockey experience, whether it be from playing or working with hockey players, there are some sketchy ones out there so be careful.   But the key is understanding the skating coaches want a relationship, they dont want the kid that is going to only come 1 or 2 times a month for 6 months and then nothing for the next 6 months.  Sure they will take your money but your child will gain very little.  Just make sure they want to do it.    

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It depends on how much he is currently skating and what else he has going on. I like to do weekly privates after the season ends before tryouts and throughout the summer. If the child will put in the extra work, then they can benefit from an extra skate a week. But be careful, who is driving the cart, you or the child? At that age, to prevent overuse injuries and to prevent burnout, it isn't necessary to do more.

There is nothing wrong with playing a lower level of ice hockey. Better to be an average player who develops a true lifelong love for the game than burn them out trying to reach for something the kid doesn't want, imho. You don't have to be the best to do something. Just enjoy it.

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I think that a lot of kids that are Squirts and Peewees still do a lot of clinics and lessons during the season.  Seems like as kids get older they stop doing them for whatever reason. 

I agree that skating is important but I also feel that skating can be worked on with pucks.  A good skill instructor can work on both stick handling and skating in one lesson. 

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For young kids (8-10), and if they are committed to playing goalie, weekly goalie lessons are a great idea.  Our son did this when he started 10 years ago and it has made a lot of difference in his ability in his older years... but your player has to be committed and willing to learn and sweat.  We spent a lot of time driving to Harmarville in his early years but it was worth it for him.  He still does lessons to fine tune his skills (now in Midgets).

Edited by Scooby Doo
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4 hours ago, HockeyDad23 said:

Dads, Moms, or coaches out there.

Any advice on preparing ahead for Peewee tryouts next spring?  Any supplemental prep in addition to current A Major travel hockey schedule?

e.g. additional power skating, clinics, dryland, nothing?

Feedback is appreciated.

 

Preparing for PeeWee tryouts next year?  Yea, I would focus on Baseball, Lacrosse or possibly Soccer.

I'm not kidding.  If a child is less than 14 years old, they need to play more than 1 sport.  Do not keep them on the ice year round, they will not develop all their muscle groups (no matter how much you work out).  They need multiple sports for muscle and coordination.

Edited by Eddie Shore
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8 minutes ago, Eddie Shore said:

Preparing for PeeWee tryouts next year?  Yea, I would focus on Baseball, Lacrosse or possibly Soccer.

I'm not kidding.  If a child is less than 14 years old, they need to play more than 1 sport.  Do not keep them on the ice year round, they will not develop all their muscle groups (no matter how much you work out).  They need multiple sports for muscle and coordination.

Bingo. Go find non hockey athletic activities. 

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Don't neglect off ice development. Hockey USA has an excellent guide on age appropriate set of exercises on their website. Unfortunately, this is a missing part of hockey development in most of the local organizations. But you can easily do it at home.

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I'd suggest finding another sport (if he/she doesn't already play one) and then supplementing that with a weekly or twice weekly clinic or skating session.   All of the research out there shows the value in non-specialization at younger ages.  I've also heard of some players working with a "speed coach" that work on developing the "fast twitch" muscles in an off-ice environment.  

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For those of you that don't have young kids, a lot of the better young players (squirts and peewees) play other sports in addition to hockey.  They may have two hockey games and a baseball game on the same day.  Or they may come straight to hockey practice from baseball.  Yet they still find the time to take clinics or lessons.  The difference between these kids and other kids is the amount of time that they have to run around outside.  This is because they just don't have a lot of free time. 

 

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Let's not forget that it's up to the kids (at least in my perspective - as to what they want to do sports-wise.  I NEVER forced either of my kids to play one sport or another.  They are the ones that picked ice hockey, and they both played ball hockey when not playing ice hockey.  My daughter is a good swimmer but the high school team wouldn't take her because she couldn't be at 100% of the school practices.  So she quit the swimming team.   At least with ball hockey they are still running around a lot and keeping in shape.  I can't force them to play basketball or volleyball, etc. 

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16 minutes ago, Scooby Doo said:

Let's not forget that it's up to the kids (at least in my perspective - as to what they want to do sports-wise.  I NEVER forced either of my kids to play one sport or another.  They are the ones that picked ice hockey, and they both played ball hockey when not playing ice hockey.  My daughter is a good swimmer but the high school team wouldn't take her because she couldn't be at 100% of the school practices.  So she quit the swimming team.   At least with ball hockey they are still running around a lot and keeping in shape.  I can't force them to play basketball or volleyball, etc. 

Well, I don't think anyone here is suggesting to force a kid to play a sport they don't want to.  Also, as you can see from some of the responses, most are stating that at a younger age they should play more than one.  Most of the links I posted say you should specialize starting around 14 (so right as you are getting ready to go into High School).  So, yes at a High School level, you should commit 100% to one sport.

At the risk of triggering a few people here, most kids (at a young age) are open to trying anything.  It is usually is the nut-job parents (I am excluding you from this generalization of course), who are so hyper-focused on getting some Squirt aged player into special clinics with former pro instructors, dietitians, off ice workout programs and all the other nonsense that most pro athletes do, that they cause more damage than good.

To reiterate, most research now shows kids should play multiple sports until the age of 14, then begin focusing on one.  But, each parent is of course entitled to make their own choices.  The OP is the one who came on here and asked for the advice.

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On the LIGHTER side of things, I think Peewees & Bantams (12u and 14u) are going to have the peak # of players at tryouts and thus are the "toughest" to make the top team at any given organization.  16u the player count drops and 18u it drops even more.  So I'm past that "peak" of worrying about tryouts :classic_cool::classic_cool:  Plus, I don't even need to go to tryouts anymore since my kids can both drive :classic_smile:

Edited by Scooby Doo
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