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8U Q-and-A: Yabba Dabba Doo

02/13/2017, 11:00am MST
By Roger Grillo, USA Hockey ADM Regional Manager

Q: What is the best way to improve younger players’ fundamental skills?

A: The best way to improve young players’ basic skills is what I call the “Flintstones Vitamins approach.” What is it? In simple terms, it’s doing something for kids that is both developmentally beneficial and wrapped in fun.

At 8U, kids need to learn the most basic and fundamental skills. It’s essential as a building block in their overall development. But sometimes, these stripped-down, basic elements can be boring. They’re essential, but maybe not a lot of fun – like taking vitamins; bland adult vitamins.

Well, kids need to take their vitamins, but instead of bland vitamins, we give them Flintstones instead. Fun characters. Gummies. Sweet flavors.

It’s the same concept when it comes to providing the essentials on the ice. Instead of forcing kids to choke down bland basics, we can hide the basics in a fun, competitive, activity-based environment.

The two most important things to remember when dealing with our 8U athletes is to (1.) build passion for the sport and (2.) give them a base of athleticism that will serve them well in future years. Forcing bland essentials may help fortify their base, but it doesn’t build their passion, and without passion, they won’t excel. So we’ve got to make those essentials fun, like Flintstones vitamins.

How does the Flintstones vitamins approach look in terms of practice? We hide all the basic skill development in games. For example, to teach proper skating, we utilize tag or races that force kids to work on their edges and balance and coordination in a fun, challenging and competitive environment.

When visiting rinks, I sometimes see the 20-25 minutes of full-ice power skating at the start of practice for young players. It makes me cringe. I understand that skating is extremely important, and if the young player does it well, then they will have more success, but it’s critical that we avoid making the process of becoming a great skater stale or boring. An effective coach or teacher can hide the necessary work or repetitions in a fun format that will ultimately have a much greater impact for the young athlete.

If we aren’t patient and we force development on our adult terms, then the pushback comes in two forms: 

  1. Slower development and less competitive players.
  2. Higher burnout rates due to adult culture being forced on young kids.

If more of our coaches and parents approached skill development like we approach our kids’ nutritional needs (Flintstones vitamins), then we would have a much larger pool of older players with the necessary base of skills to have the success they desire.


The author, Roger Grillo, has coached for more than 20 years at the high school and college levels. He spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Brown University and was a Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year finalist in 1997-98.

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