I watched the National Team Development Program U18’s play yesterday vs. Muskegon, here is what I learned:
The thing I tried to tell every player I’ve ever worked with is a simple truth…
Go to where the best coaches are and stay as long as you can with them.
Your development compounds non-linearly, but it requires the right environment.
Problem 1 is parents:
Most parents would pull their kid from Greg Moore or Nick Fohr’s hypothetical 12u teams that they don’t coach *. Both coach at the NTDP… Because he didn’t mention ‘winning’ once. He even said there wasn’t an emphasis on it at this age…
“Is he nuts?” You would retort as a current hockey parent.
And you would then pull your kid out of the best player development environment he could get at his age to go across town to ‘win more tournaments’.
The first rule of compounding is don’t interrupt it.
Here’s what happens with the NTDP if you’re not familiar. They come in at 17 and play a schedule of D1 games against 24-year-olds, they play in the best junior league in the country against 20-year-olds, and they lose a lot in the 17’s year.
Guess who the parents aren’t calling to pull their kid out of the program at years end because they didn’t win enough? The National Coaches…
Why?
Because they understand the ultimate truth of player development.
Go where the best coaches are and stay as long as you can.
In the 18’s year they play more connected, more explosively, and due to the non-interruption of the development compounding… The score begins to take care of itself… AKA, they win more.
Thought To-Go
If some of the smartest athletes in the world (NFL QBs) recognize a need for compounding, we can all take a lesson:
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