skip navigation

10U: Are the Days of Long Car Rides Dwindling?

11/10/2014, 12:15pm MST
By Michael Rand - Special to USA Hockey

Wayne Wilson gained an appreciation for the concept of youth hockey programs emphasizing practices over games more than a decade ago, on long, and often fruitless, car rides.

Wilson, the men’s hockey head coach at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), recalls driving all over New York for games involving his son, Stu, who now plays for Yale.

“We’d be going all the way to Buffalo for a game, and the curfew clock was going off all the time,” Wilson said. “It was nonsense. You’re in the car for an hour, not even there for a full game, and who knows how much they even touched the puck.”

USA Hockey’s American Development Model emphasizes the opposite approach, recommending a 3:1 practice-to-game ratio and development in one’s home rink. It’s particularly important at the younger ages like 10U, Wilson says.

“I think USA Hockey is on the right track,” he said. “It’s a perfect model.”

Seduction of Games

Even by the time their kids are 10, parents have sometimes invested countless hours and dollars in their kids’ hockey futures. They want to see the payoff – goals, trophies, something they can brag about to friends and co-workers. Excelling in a skill drill doesn’t offer the same payoff.

“Parents want games. They’re waiting for goals that their son and daughter are going to score,” Wilson said. “But kids are on the bench. You’re on the ice, tops, 15 minutes.”

While practices aren’t as flashy and don’t carry the immediate gratification of games – in particular for parents – from a development standpoint, there is no better way for a 10U player to grow, learn and improve.

In a practice, Wilson notes, the ice can be divided into multiple sections. Several years back, he and an assistant coach devised a practice system with three different stations, followed by a scrimmage.

That’s very much in line with the ADM, and you can find a wonderful resource filled with 10U practice plans here: http://www.admkids.com/page/show/915460-practice-plans.

“In a practice, you’re in a small area, you’re skating the whole time and the puck is close to you,” Wilson said. “If you want to get better, you have to be better on the puck. And if you don’t have outdoor rinks and are regulated to whatever your organization has for ice time, you’re not touching the puck very often in games. To be a part of an organization that puts an emphasis on games, they’re just not going to develop.”

Breaking from Tradition

Sparking change often means the triumph of innovation over tradition, a battle that can be a long and stubborn one when it comes to hockey.

“I know there are traditionalists who say, ‘This is what we’ve always done and this is what we’re going to do,’ and want to keep playing 50 or 60 games,’” Wilson says. “I remember as a kid myself, going to a tournament was a big thing. Then it got outrageous with tournaments every weekend. Kids were playing as many as five games on a weekend, which is not good for the body, let alone development.”

Thankfully, Wilson says, a lot of 10U programs have already implemented the ADM recommendations.

“It was a highly competitive machine where you had to stack a team to win nationals,” he says. “I think the game is coming full circle and back to the roots.”

The days of long car rides with his son are over now that he’s older, but if he was a youth hockey parent now, Wilson says his experience might be better because, in his home community, the hockey leaders are on the right track with emphasizing more practices over games.

“They’re doing it in Rochester in general, dividing up the ice, and I think we have good people here looking over the sport,” Wilson said.

More ADM Newsletter Articles

Tag(s): Newsletters