So, not unlike Halley's Comet, GREAT, GREAT PLAYER appearances are
infrequently sighted in the National Hockey League, which is a Canadian
outgrowth! Not meaning reference to foreign invasions, but what's so NATIONAL
about it anyway!?
 
We can't seem to emulate the MOM-POPS home grown, feeder sysytems that fill
benches of the NBA and NFL! Course, recreational parks by the dozens fill most
communities. Hockey ain't cheap, you said!
Frozen back yards serviced the likes of how many of those Canadian GREAT
GREATs, who we won't see again in our lifetimes!?
 
Americans are by far the best capitalists! From the Atlantic to the Pacific,
hockey schools are proliferating as an indication of developmental programs
available, at a price of course! Yet, National development is awry! Training
at the college level with only weekend game schedules sounds good! But, how
old will you be!? With the current time-table in mind, then split some
seconds, and the average American Hockey Career will be over before a blink of
the eye. Count: two years junior A, then four years college, then a minor
league stint to break into the pace, and how many of those player years have
you got left. No one really wants to do that kind of TIME!
 
The common denominator for success still is individual talent, without it
development is superfluous! A star, is a star, is a star! I can't help but
think a REAL AMERICAN rookie invasion will be a by product of a more united
developmental front: more practice time, more emphasis on skill development at
a much younger age.
 
A fascinating and paradoxical aspect of American player credibility is the
lack of physical play that seemingly sends many very talented finesse
Americans to Europe cause they don't cut-it-up, while Euorpeans finesse their
way into million dollar contracts on American terra firma. What makes their
brand of finesse taste better than ours!?
 
In considering development, the issue of contact is another sore spot! The
medical sector is applying pressure toward eliminating
contact in youth sports, more recently by objecting to the addition of contact
in girl's hockey, which has been proposed by USA Hockey! The issue of contact
and competitiveness is very much a nation wide medical emergency, at least to
the medical sector!
 
So, what's the rock bottom developmental line we must tow!?
 
Heavy topic!
 
 
Vicki Price
violentcontact.net
Concussion Free Zone
 
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