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Early Specialization for Hockey


I know many of you might think I’m beating a dead horse and maybe I am but I am going to continue to publish the evidence. Check out this article from a website called Active for Life

http://www.activeforlife.ca/april-2012/are-complete-athletes-really-the-best-hockey-players

The subjects of the study were members of the Canadian Junior National Team this year. The average age of specialization was 14. In my neighborhood it seems to be about 9.

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This entry was posted on April 4, 2012 at 1:55 am and is filed under Guest Authors, Hockey, Training, Training Females, Youth Training with tags , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “Early Specialization for Hockey”

  1. Thom von Muehldorfer Says:
    April 4, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Thanks, I will,…to help confirm the choices we’ve made.

  2. mboyle1959 Says:
    April 4, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    What you describe is the problem. Parents feel pressure to follow the gurus, to listen to “everyone does this”. Search this blog for Early Specialization. You’ll read about Gretzky, Messier, Mia Hamm, Nomar Garciaparra and so many other who did not follow the specialization path.

  3. Thom von Muehldorfer Says:
    April 4, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    No, I am not saying they lied,but it is my observation in Canada,that even at a young age,it is difficult to participate in other sports, while you see people loading up on hockey.That being saidi,it’s my role as a parent to help guide my child to make the best choices.

  4. mboyle1959 Says:
    April 4, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    So these kids all lied in the survey? I doubt it. I have interviewed the worlds best athletes in every major sport and almost none of them specialized.

  5. Thom von Muehldorfer Says:
    April 4, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    I realy question the degree to which these major juniour players really participated in all these sports. For the most part,any type of participation in organized sport,outside of hockey,would have to be sandwiched in between,the regular season ,the spring season(which 80-90 percent of the elite kids are participating in)and summer hockey camps.The seasons blend into one long one,for the pursuit of the, “Hockey Dream”.This makes multi-sport participation,development,peripheral at best.

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