Assessing Talent in a child

Pablo Messier

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Jan 25, 2019
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Every kid is different. Some kids like to play rough, some dont. Some are selfish, some are too unselfish. If he enjoys playing, keep it up. Find a coach who cares about individual development over winning. Once the confidence grows, he'll become a totally different player. Drop a level or two if that is where you find the right coach.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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You know you bumped a 9 year old thread, right?

I always question why you'd segregate kids at 8 years old into "AAA", but that's neither here nor there.

But to get to your question, I feel like you describe my 6 and 7 year olds. They're not "top 10", but their skills are solid. Good skating, good puck control - in practice. But when it comes time for games, they're not engaged at all. Half the time they aren't paying any attention to the puck. If the puck just so happens to come on their stick they can skate with it and make a play, but that's it.

They're the only kids I know who like practices more than games.

I think I'm just going to stop pushing hockey. Right now when asked they say they want to play hockey next year, but if they change their mind as long as they play some sport I don't care. But while you can teach skills all day long, I have no idea how to teach desire and will to play.

You can’t really teach desire and effort.

My daughter has been skating since she was four and playing hockey at six (just turned 9), but she was kind of content to hang back and just let the play come to her until this past season.

What changed? Her desire, because she set a goal for herself.

A 12u travel coach happened to see us running drills this past summer and approached me about her trying out for his team... I knew she wasn’t ready and politely declined.

She asked me why she couldn’t play, and I said she needed more time and I was in no hurry to rush her...

Ever since that day she has been self-motivated to get better because she wants to play travel/rep hockey.

She does her own drills after school on the synthetic ice I got her two years ago that was barely being used... now she’s wearing it out.

She’s constantly asking me to get her on the ice to work on things she needs to improve...

And her game has improved dramatically since this time last year.

She had to want something for herself, and nothing I said or hinted at in the past motivated her to get better... she needed to be self-motivated with her own goals for herself.
 

Slats432

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Training and work ethic. When he was cut from Peewee AA and sent back to house, the next offseason he started with a personal trainer and was playing 3 on 3 in the summer. By the next fall he was Bantam Tier 3, then Bantam AA then Minor Midget AAA and Midget AAA for two years before signing in the SJHL.

You have to be honest with your strengths and weaknesses. Also be willing to work your ass off to fix them. For him it was always being fast enough (Big kid). Had pretty much everything else.

Finding a good trainer, good camps to go to and putting in the time.
 
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Craig Ludwig

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Jun 16, 2005
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My kids are now teenagers so I have watched an entire region in Montreal grow up. What I can tell you is that the select few that were standouts at 7-8 years old, and I mean major standouts, were the ones that are now being selected by the Prep Schools, QMJHL and US Colleges. But the keys to being standouts were tremendous skating ability (something very hard to teach), but also the killer instinct, and not vision. I have seen others that didn't have that innate ability, yet did the 10,000 hours, and although they were good, never equalled those gifted kids that practiced a lot less. Vision will come, but skating like the wind cannot be taught, it's almost like they were born with skater's hips.

Also, those gifted kids were also the best soccer and baseball players also.
 

DannyGallivan

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Very good replies so far.

Another thing that creates this kind of talent is the positive feedback and encouragement by the parents to play the game correctly. When you have parents who can watch their son or daughter play the game of hockey and do all of the RIGHT things correctly and give high praise no matter what the score sheet says, you will have more of those RIGHT things happen. Not many parents will give negative feedback to their kid for scoring a goal that should have clearly been an assist or an end to end rush that should have been a pass way back in the defensive zone.

I have not met too many parents who truly understand that overhandling the puck is poor hockey. The belief is usually "My son has the skill to do it, so I will not discourage him not to do it" I don't care how great a player is, no coach at ANY level wants a player that overhandles the puck. NHL, Jr A, College, coaches want players who can play the game simple with creativity.

In the case of the player you mentioned, I would not be surprised if his parents are giving him very high praise for everything you see him do. And that high praise and encouragment I am sure started from the very first time their son stepped on the ice. (It takes very smart parents to encourage their son to share the puck with lower skilled players at 4 years old but I am sure his parents enjoyed watching him be a little playmaker even though the vast majority of the passes were never converted to goals)

Outliers is a great book and I do agree with a lot of what Malcolm Gladwell says. I see a lot of what he writes about first hand
Some comment in general about my observations with 7/8 year old kids.

Passing: they are just starting to "get" this part of the game, but most kids still do not even try to pass. This part of the game will come.

Puck hogs: On the one hand, the only way to really develop skill is to do it in a game situation. Puck handling is a very important skill, and in my opinion the whole purpose of hockey at this stage (other than the prime directive of having fun) is to develop skills. So, I don't really have a problem with kids overhandling the puck - on occasion. But, on the other hand...

Hockey Sense: ... they need to develop hockey sense as well. And a large part of that involves when and where to pass the puck, so stickhandling through the entire on-ice lineup does not help achieve this part of development. The kids also need to know where to go on the ice when they don't have the puck, whether it's offense or defense. To me, this is the toughest part of learning the game. I've seen kids with lots of talent not make the A team because of a lack of hockey sense. I've also seen slow skaters who always seem to find the back of the net because they know where to be and when to be there.

Competitiveness: This is more about mindset than skill, but it's the one thing that will separate them from the pack when skills are equal. They need to want that puck when the other team has it - they need to learn to appreciate pursuit and checking.

Conclusion: At this age, time on the ice and time touching the puck are the most important goals IMO. Kids aren't going to get better standing still and watching, they need to get involved. And this is a good time to invest in some extra training (power skating particularly), in order to give the kids the basic skills that they can practice during the season.

I really don't care that much about the score or wins and losses at this age. To me, it's about the kids having fun and getting better. What I hate the most is coaches at this level trying to have kids stay back in a defensive shell. That's not going to improve their skills. Taking the odd risk and learning the ebbs and flows of the game and where to be on the ice will make them better.
 

DannyGallivan

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Did you really just create an account to comment on a thread that has been dead for 10 years?
Although you aren't directing this at me, I didn't even know this thread was so old... I just assume that these things are current. That's funny. Some things are timeless, I guess.
 

Jjbuck

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Apr 1, 2014
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You don't know what you have in a player until Bantam. My kid who played Peewee Tier 5 made Junior A.

No truer words have been spoken!

My kid was the slowest thing on the ice in the lowest tier peewee. Just kept telling him, wait till bantam, where you can slow those fast kids down.

He was an undersized bantam, but loved contact. Since he was always small/slow, we focused on checking clinics years before he could hit.

He always had high hockey IQ. Always tough, no fear of big kids. And had proper check technique.

Very driven, worked hard, years with skate coaches. Was always over looked early, stuck with it, just finished HS hockey as one of his coaches favorites.

Most kids from his peewee/bantam teams quit years ago. We have 2 college club team tryouts on the schedule.

Things change when kids can look at their toes all game anymore ...

No one has a clue about their kid till the hits start coming. I've seen my share of all stars fade away.
 

Lap2000

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I do a little scouting. In my experience, the best of the best kids in Novice, are the best of the best kids that now have a chance at being drafted to a CHL team. They were also the kids who got the most ice and were typically born earlier. Of those kids the puck hogs are still very good and they are all early born, of those kids who were not the puck hogs though and instead who showed great IQ or are born later in the year - they are now the best of the best and have the shot at being drafted. There are also a few who just never got much ice or instruction who have bumped up into this group of elite - but not many.

PeeWee is the worst age to compare anything, Bantam Minor is the second worst age to do comparison. Those years are just a race to puberty and that's it for the most part as far as the top kids on the team. In second year Bantam AAA - most of those kids have hit so it's good to compare again, if it's not AAA then typically it's not yet time to compare because of the Puberty. If however the kid is now a hairy beast with a deep voice and he is not one of the top 2 or 3 of his team - he will not be drafted to the CHL. If he is only good (Maybe even middle of the team) - but hasn't sniffed Puberty - there is still hope for him! If he is outside of these parameters - it is unlikely to change.

Many will say you can't tell anything at 7/8. You can't tell who will be good at 7/8 I agree but you can rule some out. If they are born early in the year and have received a lot of hockey instruction and have done summer camps etc. and they have not made the top travel team by then - chances are they will not make a living in the sport on the ice unless they are wearing stripes - which is a great and very challenging goal is well!
 

BadgerBruce

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The occasional necro-bump of a thread isn’t always a bad thing …

I coached minor hockey for 34 years. Take this longwinded post for whatever you think it’s worth.

An extraordinarily small number of kids truly love to play hockey more than anything else in the world. They rarely say “I love hockey,” but they show it nearly 24/7. They are the modern day equivalent of Gordie Howe getting booted out of grade school for a few days in the mid-1930s because he brought his hockey stick to class every day.

The kids who behave as though someone in their family died if a 6:00 a.m. practice the day before Christmas is suddenly canceled.

Hockey is not a “job” to these kids. No, it’s pure, unadulterated joy. As an aside, I never said “good job” or “good work” to any kid I ever coached. No, I always said “good play.” Play is fun. Job is not fun. Work is less fun. But I digress …

Sure, the kids with a chance at a future in the game have hockey IQ and skill and speed and all those measurable things. Athletically gifted, for sure, and they are internally driven to improve. But the separator, in my experience, is the immeasurable depth of their LOVE of the game. It’s definitely NOT normal.

The ones who “make it” do not outgrow this love. Most kids do. They wake up one day and realize they are 14 or 15 years old and love a child’s game. It’s sobering and, honestly, a bit embarrassing for some young men. Let me put it this way: imagine your 4 or 5 year old loved to play ping pong, and when he’s 15 or 16 years old the ONLY thing he wants to do is … play ping pong. Be honest: the kids in high school are going to think your kid is one strange cat. Yeah, hockey can be like that, too. A young man is really good at something that has absolutely no value outside of a sheet of ice, and everyone around him has abandoned children’s games and is … well, “growing up.” Another aside: one of my (now adult) sons made the mid-season league all-star team when he was 17 and playing Tier II junior, and he quit the team and the game forever two weeks later. “Where does this lead?” he asked himself. Didn’t like the answer. Thought he’d found his one true love but ended up divorced at age 17. There were high level figure skaters who were floored by the quality of his edge work, but great edge work and an open schedule will get you a minimum wage gig at Tim Horton’s. Scratch that — one doesn’t need the edge work.

But the truly special ones are like those swans that mate for life. One love — hockey — and the search is over.

When even the youth game becomes stiflingly regimented, when upbeat minor hockey coaches are replaced by ugly drill sergeants when a kid is just 10 or 11, when head games get played by amateur psychologists and all the inherently beautiful elements of just being on that gorgeous sheet of ice are replaced by adult agendas few kids really understand, the special ones STILL LOVE hockey more than anything else. Being on the ice is better than anything else in the world. I’ve heard other coaches say, “that kid might make it, there’s no quit in him.” In my humble opinion, they are incorrect. The key isn’t “having no quit.” No, the key is undying love of the game.

So, if parents need to push a kid to go to practice or “work hard” at a camp … the kid doesn’t have that extraordinarily rare obsessive love of the game. No amount of training creates this love. And in my view, that undying love is why a guy like Big Gordie played pro for 32 years.
 
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Mr Jiggyfly

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You can’t really teach desire and effort.

My daughter has been skating since she was four and playing hockey at six (just turned 9), but she was kind of content to hang back and just let the play come to her until this past season.

What changed? Her desire, because she set a goal for herself.

A 12u travel coach happened to see us running drills this past summer and approached me about her trying out for his team... I knew she wasn’t ready and politely declined.

She asked me why she couldn’t play, and I said she needed more time and I was in no hurry to rush her...

Ever since that day she has been self-motivated to get better because she wants to play travel/rep hockey.

She does her own drills after school on the synthetic ice I got her two years ago that was barely being used... now she’s wearing it out.

She’s constantly asking me to get her on the ice to work on things she needs to improve...

And her game has improved dramatically since this time last year.

She had to want something for herself, and nothing I said or hinted at in the past motivated her to get better... she needed to be self-motivated with her own goals for herself.

Pretty cool to see this thread bumped and see my older post almost three years later.

Also looking at the time stamp, I made my post a few weeks before the pandemic hit… who knew how f***ed things were going to get shortly after.

My daughter has taken her love for this game to a much higher level than when I made this initial post.

I’m extremely proud of how hard she works and her self-motivation to improve.

I just hope she keeps this love for the game as she gets older, but the next few years as she enters her early teens, will be the big test.
 
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Yukon Joe

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PeeWee is the worst age to compare anything, Bantam Minor is the second worst age to do comparison. Those years are just a race to puberty and that's it for the most part as far as the top kids on the team. In second year Bantam AAA - most of those kids have hit so it's good to compare again, if it's not AAA then typically it's not yet time to compare because of the Puberty. If however the kid is now a hairy beast with a deep voice and he is not one of the top 2 or 3 of his team - he will not be drafted to the CHL. If he is only good (Maybe even middle of the team) - but hasn't sniffed Puberty - there is still hope for him! If he is outside of these parameters - it is unlikely to change.
I know this post is a couple years old but just saw it again with the thread being bumped and yes, this is true.

My oldest kid is 2010 playing second year U13 (peewee), and yes the effects of puberty are massive. My kid has hit puberty, and he's like a head taller and just visibly more mature than a bunch of kids on his team (other than a couple others who have also hit growth spurts). On the one hand it's kind of cool to see him be so physical out there on the ice (within the rules, he gets few penalties) against kids he is noticeably bigger.

But I can remember growing up - around his age I suddenly sprouted up, was one of the biggest kids in the class - until everyone else caught up or even passed me. I'm now a very average 5'8".

So we'll see. His game doesn't just rely on being bigger - he had a dominant year last year before puberty - but size certainly helps. Nothing set in stone for sure.
 

May Day 10

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My kid is 9... so Im grinding through this for the first time.

In my opinion, you can't tell if a 7-8 year old 'has it' as you project them to being 15+.

However, you can clearly see which ones really have picked it up, have the skating down, can shoot to score, can see the ice, etc. As stated in the thread, having an early birthday is a really nice advantage as well.

These players, will have access to the top level team(s) for their area. They will also be invited to play for elite Spring teams. If navigated correctly, they will have access to the best coaches. As long as their parents have the means, they will have access to extra ice time and camps (premium teams cost a lot of $ too). Financial is a big piece.

At that point, it is a matter of them continuing to enjoy the heck out of the activity. But the 'top' 7-8 year olds certainly have a very nice lane to stay at the top of their "class" for their area/region in order to perhaps play some college hockey or CHL. Lots and lots of continued work and enjoyment of the game ahead and required though.
 

Yukon Joe

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My kid is 9... so Im grinding through this for the first time.

In my opinion, you can't tell if a 7-8 year old 'has it' as you project them to being 15+.

However, you can clearly see which ones really have picked it up, have the skating down, can shoot to score, can see the ice, etc. As stated in the thread, having an early birthday is a really nice advantage as well.

These players, will have access to the top level team(s) for their area. They will also be invited to play for elite Spring teams. If navigated correctly, they will have access to the best coaches. As long as their parents have the means, they will have access to extra ice time and camps (premium teams cost a lot of $ too). Financial is a big piece.

At that point, it is a matter of them continuing to enjoy the heck out of the activity. But the 'top' 7-8 year olds certainly have a very nice lane to stay at the top of their "class" for their area/region in order to perhaps play some college hockey or CHL. Lots and lots of continued work and enjoyment of the game ahead and required though.
A couple of observations from someone just a few years more into this...

Obviously you can't say being a phenom at ages 7-8 means nothing. All the greatest players (Gretzky, Crosby) all stood out at an early age. Google The Brick tournament to find out about a tournament for 10 year olds that has produced a lot of NHLers.

But I do find a lot of players that dominate at early ages also get kind of lazy. They learn a couple of moves, have a decent shot, and can score at will. So they don't work on a lot of hockey fundamentals until it catches up to them.

I think it'd be almost impossible to start hockey at age 10 and make it to the NHL - but it's not uncommon to be a completely ordinary player at age 10 and then be elite just a few years later.
 

puckpilot

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At that point, it is a matter of them continuing to enjoy the heck out of the activity. But the 'top' 7-8 year olds certainly have a very nice lane to stay at the top of their "class" for their area/region in order to perhaps play some college hockey or CHL. Lots and lots of continued work and enjoyment of the game ahead and required though.
So I follow this youtube channel with a coach that works with players from all levels. He played in the WHL. He coached NHL players like Aaron Ekblad. His kid is playing in the OHL. In a conversation about parents who push, he said just asking for a kid to make it up to those levels is a very significant ask. It puts them in the top 5% of hockey players in the world.



If you're a hockey parent, I'd recommend checking his channel. It's a nice peak behind the curtains of high level youth hockey. He talks about scouting, extra training, crazy parents, etc.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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So I follow this youtube channel with a coach that works with players from all levels. He played in the WHL. He coached NHL players like Aaron Ekblad. His kid is playing in the OHL. In a conversation about parents who push, he said just asking for a kid to make it up to those levels is a very significant ask. It puts them in the top 5% of hockey players in the world.



If you're a hockey parent, I'd recommend checking his channel. It's a nice peak behind the curtains of high level youth hockey. He talks about scouting, extra training, crazy parents, etc.


My daughter played in the CCM Invitational in Novi Michigan a couple weekends ago and she is playing AA girls.

She did really well, but when I had that extra hour at the rink as her team warmed up, I would watch the AAA girls and it’s like a different universe.

My daughter played agt some of these AAA kids over the summer for the PIP Tournament in Rochester and she couldn’t do anything when she got the puck.

I literally just taught her how to do linear crossovers like McDavid in early Sept to attack defenseman, and she used them well in her AA games.

But the AAA girls have been banging those types of crossovers out since they were probably 9.

These are the girls that will play college/Olympic hockey and the difference is staggering.

I can’t even imagine the money and resources put into their development when I know all the time and money put into my AA daughter’s development.

The scary thing is we have saved tens of thousands since she started playing because I’ve taught her most of what she knows.
 

Yukon Joe

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My daughter played in the CCM Invitational in Novi Michigan a couple weekends ago and she is playing AA girls.

She did really well, but when I had that extra hour at the rink as her team warmed up, I would watch the AAA girls and it’s like a different universe.
Just an observation:

My 12 year old boy made his U13AA team this year for the first time. There is no AAA at this level in our city, so this is the highest level for his age category.

Coming from Tier 1/2 rec hockey last year (his home team was Tier 2, but he affiliated up a bunch to Tier 1), at his first game it did feel completely different: everything was done at a higher tempo, passes were incredibly accurate, kids were backchecking like fiends. But you know what? My kid adjusted and adapted and is now doing really well (says the very biased dad).

So yes - just because the AAA girls look so much better doesn't mean your daughter, if/when given the opportunity, couldn't play with them next year. Now saying she will obviously, but these things aren't frozen.
 

Slats432

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My daughter played in the CCM Invitational in Novi Michigan a couple weekends ago and she is playing AA girls.

She did really well, but when I had that extra hour at the rink as her team warmed up, I would watch the AAA girls and it’s like a different universe.

My daughter played agt some of these AAA kids over the summer for the PIP Tournament in Rochester and she couldn’t do anything when she got the puck.

I literally just taught her how to do linear crossovers like McDavid in early Sept to attack defenseman, and she used them well in her AA games.

But the AAA girls have been banging those types of crossovers out since they were probably 9.

These are the girls that will play college/Olympic hockey and the difference is staggering.

I can’t even imagine the money and resources put into their development when I know all the time and money put into my AA daughter’s development.

The scary thing is we have saved tens of thousands since she started playing because I’ve taught her most of what she knows.
Development isn't a straight line. I keep mentioning my boy who went Novice Tier 8, Novice Tier 5, Atom Tier 6, Atom Tier 5, Pee Wee Tier 6, Pee Wee Tier 6, Bantam Tier 3, Bantam AA, Midget U15AAA, Midget AAA, Midget AAA, Junior A.

There either comes a time when the light goes on, or it doesn't and you just enjoy the social part of hockey. Belief in themselves is a big thing so makes sure one thing you work on is the mental side of the game because that can be the edge.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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Just an observation:

My 12 year old boy made his U13AA team this year for the first time. There is no AAA at this level in our city, so this is the highest level for his age category.

Coming from Tier 1/2 rec hockey last year (his home team was Tier 2, but he affiliated up a bunch to Tier 1), at his first game it did feel completely different: everything was done at a higher tempo, passes were incredibly accurate, kids were backchecking like fiends. But you know what? My kid adjusted and adapted and is now doing really well (says the very biased dad).

So yes - just because the AAA girls look so much better doesn't mean your daughter, if/when given the opportunity, couldn't play with them next year. Now saying she will obviously, but these things aren't frozen.

She played against the AAA girls in June agt her age group (2011) in the PIP Tournament, and the first game she couldn’t do anything, and she came back to the hotel and started to cry.

It looked like she was skating in quicksand and she’s not slow, but it was bad.

Her team made it to the championship so she got in five more games and got better each time.. Ie she could catch these girls but when she got the puck it looked like a bunch of Yellowjackets swarming some victim.

She couldn’t do linear crossovers then and it’s made a massive difference in her skating, but these girls are just so good.

And this was the 11 year old division… I watched the 12 year olds and some of them were so big and fast I thought I was watching 16u at first.

I keep trying to encourage her and be positive but ya…

Development isn't a straight line. I keep mentioning my boy who went Novice Tier 8, Novice Tier 5, Atom Tier 6, Atom Tier 5, Pee Wee Tier 6, Pee Wee Tier 6, Bantam Tier 3, Bantam AA, Midget U15AAA, Midget AAA, Midget AAA, Junior A.

There either comes a time when the light goes on, or it doesn't and you just enjoy the social part of hockey. Belief in themselves is a big thing so makes sure one thing you work on is the mental side of the game because that can be the edge.

Ya she wrecked it in Novi so her confidence is up, but again she will have to get crazy fast to do anything with the puck agt these mutant AAA girls.

She works her ass off away from the ice trying to get better and I am doing my best to help her, and she hasn’t hit puberty yet so I try to lay that out there to make her feel more encouraged.

But hard to see her being a freak like these girls, and I just keep pounding home she needs to live in the moment and enjoy the game.

She loves it so much and I don’t want her to lose that passion.
 
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puckpilot

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I can’t even imagine the money and resources put into their development when I know all the time and money put into my AA daughter’s development.

The scary thing is we have saved tens of thousands since she started playing because I’ve taught her most of what she knows.

It's not necessarily about how much money was spent on development. Development helps but some kids just have it or they don't. My nephew plays AAA. (Beer league is his most likely end game) He's done camps etc., but the amount of time and money spent pales in comparison to some of his teammates in past and present. 24/7 hockey for them. End result some couldn't make the AAA team.
 

Yukon Joe

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She played against the AAA girls in June agt her age group (2011) in the PIP Tournament, and the first game she couldn’t do anything, and she came back to the hotel and started to cry.

It looked like she was skating in quicksand and she’s not slow, but it was bad.

Her team made it to the championship so she got in five more games and got better each time.. Ie she could catch these girls but when she got the puck it looked like a bunch of Yellowjackets swarming some victim.
OK, so that does sound a bit rough.

Next year is a different beast though. As you say she could sprout up due to puberty kicking in. The extra height / size can make a huge difference (certainly is for my kid). She has more time to get faster. And being able to get off plays at speed is a huge part of getting better at hockey.

Or maybe she just goes back to girls AA, kicks ass, and has fun. Almost all of my kids hockey buddies did not make U13AA, instead going back to play Tier 1 Rec. It sounds like they're having a blast at that level. (so confusing because your daughter's AA sounds quite different from my son's AA).
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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It's not necessarily about how much money was spent on development. Development helps but some kids just have it or they don't. My nephew plays AAA. (Beer league is his most likely end game) He's done camps etc., but the amount of time and money spent pales in comparison to some of his teammates in past and present. 24/7 hockey for them. End result some couldn't make the AAA team.

Ya, we try our best. We put aside a little money for a couple camps in the summer, she does group dry land training with 8-9 teammates where we pooled our money together for a group program.

We recently moved and have a big hockey court literally across from us that’s owned by our HOA. And we invested in some Mars Blades and I’ve been working with my daughter out there 3-4 times a week.

Her skating has taken massive leaps in that time and all it took was a couple hundred for the Mars Blades and had them thrown on her old Vapors for like $50.

We can’t afford personal trainers on and off the ice like all the girls she has gotten to know on these AAA teams though.
There is a lot of land around us where she does sprints and other speed and quickness drills.

She works hard and I don’t have to push her to train and work on things, she is the one pushing me to keep helping her.

I feel kind of bad we can’t afford the training the other girls get, but I’m trying my best to help her without going broke dumping tons of money into the youth hockey training syphon.

OK, so that does sound a bit rough.

Next year is a different beast though. As you say she could sprout up due to puberty kicking in. The extra height / size can make a huge difference (certainly is for my kid). She has more time to get faster. And being able to get off plays at speed is a huge part of getting better at hockey.

Or maybe she just goes back to girls AA, kicks ass, and has fun. Almost all of my kids hockey buddies did not make U13AA, instead going back to play Tier 1 Rec. It sounds like they're having a blast at that level. (so confusing because your daughter's AA sounds quite different from my son's AA).

I just keep working on her speed and quickness because her window is open to develop those abilities right now.

She keeps saying she wants to go through puberty so she can become a great player, but I keep telling her it’s not some magic pill.

She’s so driven to be the best that I have to keep her grounded to reality without crushing her confidence.

IE she and I kept watching the top ranked player at the CCM tournament in 12u AAA, and she asked me if I thought she could ever be like her…

And all I say is “who knows doll, just keep working hard and be the best you - and have fun”

What else can you do, right?
 

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