As a hockey parent, you want your child to be in the best possible position for success. You’re up early to drive them to practice, you invest in expensive equipment, you encourage and (try) to motivate them, and you dream of watching them thrive.
All of that is admirable. But the problem is that some common beliefs regarding youth hockey development can work against your child.
Let’s look at some common myths, see what science has to say, and discuss what you may want to focus on instead.
1. Does Early Specialization Give Them An Advantage?
This is perhaps one of the most common misconceptions among hockey parents. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Huh, so that’s not true?” don’t skip this section.
The idea makes sense. Lock your child into hockey as early as age 6 or 7, and they’ll have more than a decade to become the best hockey player, possibly even make it to the pros. After all, practicing one sport can only make them good at it, right?
While intuitive, the idea is a bit misguided, and research backs it up. A systematic review published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine looked at 29 studies on elite, professional, and Olympic athletes (1). They found that most athletes perform better when they’ve engaged in multiple sports early on.
Additionally, the paper points out that early specialization was consistently linked to increased injury risk at the highest levels of competition.
A 2020 meta-analysis found that youth specialization before the age of 12 is associated with increased burnout rates and dropout from sport (2). Put simply, kids get sick of the activity and give up or move on to other sports.
Lastly, a longitudinal study looking at 9241 athletes from local to Olympic competition level (in different sports) (3). They concluded that world-class adult athletes typically started their main sport later, practiced it less early on, and played a greater variety of sports as kids.
What to do: Encourage your child (especially if under 12) to explore other sports seasonally.
2. That More is Always Better?
It makes perfect sense – the more your child practices, the better they get. We’ve all heard of the “10 000 hours to master anything” rule, so why would something as complex as hockey be any different?
First, young athletes who train more hours per week than their age in years face a significantly higher risk of serious overuse injuries (4). Growing bones, growth plates, and tendons simply cannot handle adult-level training loads.
Second, there’s the mental toll to consider. We know that overtraining is very real and can affect anyone. Research shows that, as the training load increases, negative mood states, including depression, tension, and mood swings, become more pronounced (5). Moreover, kids handle stress differently from adults.
What actually drives improvement at young ages is quality over quantity. A focused 30-minute session where your child is fully engaged beats two hours of going through the motions every time.
What to do: Prioritize structured rest days, unstructured movement/games/play, and short, high-quality training sessions.
3. Is The Team’s Record Indicative of the Player’s Development?
Development at an early age depends on individual skill-building, not on team records. So why do we put so much emphasis on the latter?
A kid on a dominant team may be coasting, whereas one on a struggling team may be getting faster, stronger, more agile, more resilient, and more skilled overall. This is because of facing harder situations, making more decisions, and learning to compete under real pressure. While most people will notice the winner and shrug off the one on the losing team, coaches from other teams and scouts will be watching from a different point of view – and they will notice how that player is making an impact for their team and what that player is doing to stop the players on the opposing team. Work ethic and attitude is very noticeable and is a quality that coaches who have a focus on player development will seek out to add to their roster.
What to do: Watch your child, not the scoreboard. Are they taking chances with new skills? Are they recovering quickly from mistakes? Are they developing leadership qualities? Those are the signs of a player that’s improving.
1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23259671221129594
2. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2325967120907579
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9124658/
4. https://joinstriveon.com/solutions/training-calendar-and-schedule/guides/practice-time-optimization