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14U/16U Q-and-A: Are you truly elite?

10/13/2016, 1:45pm MDT
By Ken Martel, ADM Technical Director

Q: What makes you “elite"?

A: In today’s youth sports world, it seems every league, team, player, camp or coach has the "elite" or "premier" tag added to their self-prescribed title. By definition, elite is the best of anything considered collectively. So what makes someone or something truly elite?

Let’s consider this question from the player’s perspective. What separates you from the group collectively? When many people think of an elite hockey player, they tend to try and put it into terms of physical skills. Yet, quite often that’s not what separates great players from good players. More often it’s the mental skills and attitude that ultimately makes players the best. Much of it is within the player’s control.

Do you work harder than everyone else on your team? Can you stay positive in the face of adversity? Do you treat your teammates and opponents with respect? Do you prepare relentlessly through training, diet and sleep? Do you compete in every drill in practice at the same intensity you would in a championship game? In reality, being an elite player is not another “A” on your jacket, it’s in your attitude and how you carry yourself. The interesting thing is that almost anyone can be elite in aspects of our sport, but it’s hard. Ask yourself, can I work harder than every other player on my team all the time, not some of the time or just when I feel good, but all of the time? Can I be a positive force for my team? Can I help my teammates be the best they can be? Can I compete and prepare relentlessly, both on and off the ice? Nobody controls this but you. It’s a choice.

Ultimately making those choices has far more to do with achieving “elite hockey player” status than whatever tag a team, league, camp or coach may use to market itself.


The author, Ken Martel, coached collegiately at Air Force and Michigan Tech while also helping guide numerous U.S. National Teams. As a player, he skated four seasons at Lake Superior State, winning an NCAA championship in 1988.

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