Give Me a Break
Kids these days are now going all in on their favorite hobby or topic, at least they’d like to think they are. They will go to extreme lengths to find out ways to become better, quicker, more than ever before. With today's access to almost anything you can think of at your fingertips, today’s youth are mastering hobbies quicker than what was possible 20 to 30 years ago.
Today's skill trickle down effect is far more widespread than it ever has been before. One day the brightest young players in the NHL are trying moves, the next day, 10 year olds are doing so at practice. Even crazier is they're seeing success right away. Clips of insane trick shots on and off the ice are going viral, giving people 15 minutes in the spotlight. Hours are spent mastering these shots when they could be applied somewhere else in someone's life. Very few people are wired to be on, all the time, and be able to perform day in and day out at an elite level. It is what makes players like Connor McDavid and Kobe Bryant so special.
Even those players find times take breaks here and there. Time off, or inversely, time spent training needs to be relative to a player's age skill set and other scheduling factors. It's easy to understand why a child would want to spend all of their time doing one thing but it's much better for them to do other things throughout the course of their year. When listening to top draft picks, almost all of them were very good at other sports as well. Well rounded athletes are more appealing to elite level coaches as it shows all around ability as well as the capability to decipher plays with a different view, typically leading to creativity. They don’t call it a “lacrosse” goal for no reason.
It does not need to be organized sports either, it can be pick up sports, or an athletic hobby like wakeboarding. The key point is allowing the body and mind to wander from the game from time to time to refresh the hunger inside to be the best one can be. It’s never too early to look ahead to the years tournaments though. Check out our Facebook, Website, or Blog to see our 2022-2023 calendar of youth hockey tournaments in Michigan. Registrations are already rolling in, so make sure to secure your spot this upcoming season.