ADM Kids

The shortest distance between two points in a straight line. For the sake of efficiency and our own comfort, it sure would be nice if athletic development followed that path.

Instead, the journey for a hockey player tends follow the same meandering route as a stroll through the woods with kids. They’ll stop for a while for no good reason. Sometimes they’ll forget something and move backwards. And when you least expect it, they’ll run ahead at full speed.

Understanding that development doesn’t tend to be linear and often feels messy is a key to unlocking growth at all age levels. Ken Martel, USA Hockey’s Senior Director of Player and Coach Development, has some tips and thoughts for how it plays out at the 10U level.

For parents worried that their 10-year-old son or daughter lags behind in size, skill or talent, Martel has some good news: There’s still a lot of time.

He reminds us that at 10U, there might be kids who have been playing twice as long as others.

“Who do you think is going to be a little further along?” Martel says. “As they get older, that all starts to even out. In our sport, you never really know what a player is going to potentially be until after they go through puberty.”

While the best players at 10U might end up being stars later on, don’t count on it.

“Early success in our sport is pretty meaningless a lot of times when it comes who turns out long term,” Martel says. “It’s all about sticking with the process. As long as everybody has access to ice and is willing to put in their time during the season, they can continue to improve. The development is not linear for sure. It’s actually rather messy at different points.”

Just because we know it’s messy doesn’t mean going through it is easy for parents or players.

“We all want the best for our children and sometimes when we see them struggling that's hard,” Martel says. “But, you know, the struggle is part of it as well. Nobody that gets to be a really good player doesn't have some struggles along the way.”

To mitigate the feelings around those struggles, Martel says, it’s important to focus on the process and age-appropriate things that 10U players should be working on.

Among the fundamental ways to make progress: work to improve skating and the ability to handle the puck without having to look at it.

“One of the biggest sort of rate limiters to improvement in our sport is being able to carry a puck on my stick and have my head up to look around,” Martel says. “How often does a player have to look down at the puck when they have possession of it? If I’m concentrating on trying to handle the thing, that slows their progress down.”

That’s an early step in what Martel calls “making friends with the puck.” He borrows it from Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, who implores young players to do the same with a soccer ball.

“Can you have a puck on our stick as you look around and start to pull in information?” Martel says. “Now I can see the opponents. Where's the pressure on you? Well, where are my teammates? I have to have a good relationship with the puck. The better my relationship is with the puck, the more I can kind of look around and see what else is going on.”

It will be a challenge initially for a young hockey player to scan the ice while handling the puck with the sort of confidence needed to make plays. As a result, it will probably look clunky – until there are enough repetitions that it starts to click. 

And that’s the overall message: progress will often feel slow or non-existent if you are too focused on immediate results. But on a non-linear path, tiny steps can eventually lead to big leaps.

10U tends to be a stable age in terms of physical growth, but the skill development and mental growth are happening at different rates.

“It doesn't happen at the same rate for everybody in hockey,” Martel says. “It doesn't happen at the same rate for everyone in school. In any discipline that we're trying to pick up, some things are going to come a little easier than others. And that’s OK. They get it eventually and can be really good if they're persistent.”

Like that walk in the woods, you’ll get there eventually – and hopefully with a smile as long as you know it’s about the journey not the destination.

“It's just messy,” Martel says. “And so you have to embrace the chaos, so to speak.”