Venom1

Breeg, Agreed on point 1 and 2. My point is that passing, receiving, puck support and play reading are not being taught because they are not the "sexy" option. Parents want that "Pavel Barber" experience for their kids, and the skills sessions I'm seeing focus on those skills. The majority of ADM practices I've witnessed also focus on individual puck possession, or battle type drills. Very little to no passing is present. I'm Not saying I don't believe in ADM, either, because I truly believe in the benefits of ADM. The issue is that it's not being utilized to the extent USA hockey intended. Your #3 point is wrong. And I've seen it over a lifetime of hockey. The players most in danger of this are the over-developed ones. They dominate at the 8U, 10U, and even 12U levels because they can just take the puck and go end to end. Kids catch up to them in the size and speed category at that 12U level, though. Coaches don't coach those kids to move the puck, and no one incentivizes them to do so. The parents are happy because the kid is scoring bucket-loads of goals, and the coach is happy because his team is winning. Then all of a sudden, everyone's confused when this kid all of a sudden can't contribute effectively. It's because he's been playing a one-man game his entire life. Those kids don't get that foundation and wash out. I once saw a kid score 200 goals in his 8U season (full-ice, pre-ADM). Everyone was saying he was the next big thing, "going all the way," etc. He made Squirt "A" on reputation alone, and scored twice that season. He was a "C" player by peewee, and had quit by bantam. Why was he so dominant as a Mite? He could skate north/south and raise the puck.The kid scored 200 breakaway goals and never learned a thing about hockey. There is absolutely a place to teach system hockey at the youth levels just as you described: puck support, how to get open, reading the play. The point I'm making is that I don't think USA hockey has done enough to help people understand how important this is to development. People here the word "systems" and start waving the finger (Breeg). Age-appropriate system introduction is paramount to teaching high IQ hockey players. My biggest fear as a coach is that someday I'm going to get this special kid who has all of the tools and I'll be so enamored with his raw talent that I won't make him distribute the puck to lesser-skilled players. If we don't force our kids to work on puck movement, we are doing them a great disservice (especially the "good" ones).

"In-house" Squirt programs are all fine and dandy for programs with enough teams to facilitate an "in-house" league. What about the programs who don't have that ability? I really wish the city slickers out there with all the answers (apparently everyone on this thread) would think about the smaller communities once in a while. What's happening to our program is absolutely devastating: All of the bigger communities around us are going to this model, so when our association tries to schedule games with them we're told "sorry, we have an in-house league for our squirts." So what do we have to do in order to get games? we end up having to travel further than what we would've had to travel before. We have two programs inside an hour's drive where we could get all the games we'd need. Instead, I had to take my son 2.5 hours away on Saturday. What ends up happening is we have parents that say "we're willing to travel an hour or so, but two hours is too far." This movement will slowly eat away at the smaller clubs and eventually we'll have parents that have to drive upwards of an hour not once, but 3-4 times a week for their kids to participate. I'll also disagree with the statement that "It is an incontrovertible truth that NOTHING a player does (or doesn't do) at the 10U level really matters when it comes to his/her chances of 'going somewhere with hockey'...unless s/he gets so fed up with the game that s/he quits, of course." If we want to preach ADM, and it seems all of you are very familiar with this model, you'd know that the optimal "window for trainability" is between the ages of 9-12. This means that EVERYTHING our athletes do between the ages of 8-13 absolutely "really matters when it comes to his/her chances of 'going somewhere in hockey.'" The letter chasing statement is one I'll agree with. A "bubble" kid is almost always better served being the top player at the lower level. They get more puck touches and generally see more playing time. I've seen a ton of "bubble" kids at the squirt level end up being great high school and junior players. I think many forget that hockey is, in fact, a "TEAM" sport. systems should never take precedence over skill development, but the trend i'm seeing in the skill development communities is that the emphasis put on individual skill is put above all else. I've seen too many kids with amazing hands and feet that couldn't make or catch a pass to save their life. These are the same kids who end up quitting because they scored 150 goals a season up until the peewee level and can't make the adjustments needed to play at the next level. Why? because they don't know where to play in order to be effective! One man show hockey is great for YouTube content, but terrible for understanding the actual game. It's also not fun for the majority of players on the ice. We teach our Association kids that if they pass the puck, there's an opportunity to get it back. I've watched too many players make the right decisions, only to have a hot dog, Pavel Barber Wannabe try to go end-to-end through an entire team, lose the puck, and give up a goal against. Pond hockey is because the kids get the touches they don't sometimes get in a game. hockey is the most fun for everyone, when everyone gets touches, and everyone gets touches when others know where they're going to be. That comes from setting up basic systems. I'm not advocating teaching 1-2-2 foosball forechecking to 10U players, but I do teach three different breakouts and we have a controlled zone entry philosophy (get the puck as deep as you need, spread out, and work together). Our community has enough for exactly ONE 10U team, and that's only possible right now by double-rostering 4 mite players. This means we have a very wide range of players from AAA calibre, all the way down to one or two first-year skaters. When they leave here and begin to co-op with the other town, our kids stand out. they are stronger skaters, think the game faster, and generally speaking, are the better players on their respective tiered teams. In the last 15 years, our small club, which has less than 50 skaters from 10U to 6U, has produced on average 4 of the top 6 players yearly for the neighboring high school team, whose club is almost 70% larger than ours. Unfortunately, most of these kids in the future will not even get an opportunity to play the game, as we'll be absorbed by our co-op in the next 10 years, and many of our parents will be unwilling to drive a 3, 4, or 5 year old an hour each day just to try hockey. I love the majority of USAHockey's philosophies, and I'm a big believer in station-based practices, cross-ice hockey, and ADM as it stands. But this is not a "No Squirt Left behind" philosophy, this is a "Destruction of rural association" movement. It will lead to less participation outside of urban areas

Interested in this topic as well. I have an 11 year old that we just realized has the same issue. We had the HS Athletic trainer look at his feet and recommend stiff arch support (superfeet). The Trainer ended up modifying his speed plate footbed with those orthotic wedges under the inside of his heel and just behind the ball of his front foot. He also has exercises that he does to try and strengthen the interior muscles, and stretch out his achilles. We were told that at his age there's a chance to correct the issue and we're hoping to accomplish that, but we know it won't be a quick fix. I just wanted to offer my support because I know how frustrated you must be. You can be the strongest and most well-conditioned athlete on the team, but if your legs are fried after three shifts because you're constantly riding both inside edges, the rest of the game can feel like you're skating through mud.

Both No Name and All Black carry the "Lidstrom" (W02/P02) Pattern if you're looking for an alternative brand. The curve market is so strange to me. My older boy switched to a P28 as soon as I could get that curve in his flex (BattleMode was the first to offer it in youth flexes), but as he's gotten older, and his playing style has changed, he's switched to a P88 (My 8 year-old still uses and enjoys the P28). I'm really struggling to find the P88 option at the retail level right now, though. Youth sticks for years came in either P92 or P88, but they've since switched to a majority being offered in only P92 and P28. CCM, for instance, only offers the P28 on the youth JetSpeeds, and a P29 on the youth Tacks sticks.