For as long as I can remember, I’ve been passionate about helping hockey players realize and fulfill their potential.
One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is why I got into this field to begin with (and why I like it so much). The truth is that I’ve known EXACTLY what I wanted to do since I was about 13. This was the age that quality on- and off-ice instruction really turned around my career as a player.
How it All Started
I played my first year of club hockey as a 2nd year peewee and made the PeeWee B team, competing at a level that I’m not even sure exists anymore. The next year, I was cut from BOTH Bantam A teams and started the year with Bantam B. Mid-way through that year, I was “called up” to the Bantam A2 team because one of their players moved. The coach of that team was one of the top power skating instructors in the country and just about the only hockey person in my area that did ANYTHING off-ice/lifting related. The impact on my career was profound.
Since I played street hockey with my older brother Jim for about 7 hours a day everyday for 4 years, I had pretty good hands. Because I spent every weekend watching his games and analytically watching games on TV (two things that not nearly enough players do today), my understanding of the game and vision on the ice were pretty good as well.
How it All Ended
My problem was always that I was impressively slow and poorly conditioned. Intense, dedicated off-ice training turned that around within a Summer. I won’t bore you with the month-by-month analysis of the subsequent 10 years of my life, but I will tell you how it all ended. My final year of college hockey I was the Captain and one of the top scorers at the University of Delaware. We finished 4th in the country that year (the 2nd best finish in school history). I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for the work I did in designing our off-ice training manual and was told later by my coach and most of my teammates that I was the best captain they’ve ever played for.
The Truth about Hockey Development
I was never pro hockey potential, but I did manage to complete a pretty successful career for my ability-level, and was an extremely late bloomer at that (didn’t play Tier 1 until I was 15). It’s frustrating for me to see so many players and parents get discouraged when the kid doesn’t make the Tier I squirt or peewee team. In reality, this doesn’t matter. Kids at that age should be playing multiple sports and focusing on developing athleticism anyway, not getting sucked in to the year-round hockey craze that has infected North America. More than that, if players equip themselves with the right information, they can COMPLETELY transform themselves in a single off-season. This is one of the reasons why I put together my new Ultimate Hockey Development Coaching Program and why you can get access to all the call replays for FREE.
There’s too much misinformation out there about what is best for developing hockey players. It’s time that YOU get the quality information you deserve, from many of the top hockey and athletic development experts out there.
Go to the link below to register. It’s FREE to do, and remember, it’s never too late to take your game to the next level.
=> Ultimate Hockey Development Coaching Program <=
To your success,
Kevin Neeld