Six Reasons why my Son's Hockey Team is so successful

When I posted last night's video (I always film Colin's game and usually share the videos with our fellow hockey families, this time I also did so with my social media community), I got comments about the large amount of goals they scored. 

They won 0:27

The other weekend the end result was 0:22.

Are they that great? 

Do the opponents just suck?

Both is not the case.

Here are my thoughts about the reasons why they are currently leading the ranking and may end up among the top three by the end of the season.

They are part of a National League Franchise.

Therefore they benefit from resources that others can only dream of: 

• Not one, but two well maintained ice rinks, allowing them to train several times a week
• Great coaching and other staff - when they were younger they even trained with the NL's skills coach. None of our coaches is a player's Dad at the same time. This is the case with other clubs, and it leads to an unfair treatment. On the other hand, most of our coaches are parents, so they know how to talk - and discipline, if necessary - kids and teenagers.
• A professional management, including a marketing team that takes care of sponsors. I am sure if this wasn't the case, our guys would either not be able to attend an annual week-long practice camp in the mountains, and if they did, our membership fees would probably be twice or three times as high. During camp they train twice a day, and they have team-building activities and a session with a mental coach as well. Usually they get a visit from one or two NL players, so this is a huge motivational boost!
• A cooperation with an equipment outfitter granting us discounts - OK, the gear still costs an arm and a leg.
• The catchment area of our club as well as the reputation in the population are big - that way all the players know each other, are friends and have been training together for as long as eight years. Other organizations are associations of two or three regional clubs, from which different numbers of - and changing - players are assembled for individual championship matches. They do not have this blind trust in each other. 

There's also a structural reason. The purpose of a  National League's youth development is to bring out own talent. On average one or two boys per year may up with a NL contract once they're 18 to 20 years old. Even if at the age of 13 it becomes clear who this super talent may be, he will still need a team of 15 to 20 people to train and compete with for the next few years. 

What if there are 40 to 50 boys playing in this age group? There will be a cut. Those who are somewhat likely to develop into a future pro, are selected to play for the "Elit category", yes, Elit, not Elite. Don't ask me why. 

They have a tough schedule. They train every day, sometimes even twice, and their championship is nationwide, so on Wednesday late afternoons and weekends they will do quite some traveling. Some of these kids have some sort of a scholarship allowing them to attend a sports school, where class and practice can be balanced easily.

Everybody else - among our organization - will play for the "just for fun category." That's where Colin and his teammates are. Their championship is more regional, even though, half of our opponents are located in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. Where school is concerned, you'll have to beg for exceptions and end up talking to principals and teachers every school year. Luckily Colin is doing well in school, otherwise the daily and weekly time burden would be impossible to manage.

Other franchises may lead a "middle category": not future pro, but still better than just for fun. Sort of like AP classes in Highschool? 

Since we don't have this category, everybody who belongs there, still plays just for fun. In Colin's team this is the case for a handful of guys, him being one of them. Two are clearly over-qualified to play with us, and they get frustrated, which leads to conflicts, see my recent post. 

I hope these explanations bring more clarity to the situation. 

Oh, and one more thing: So far they have been playing against five out of seven opponents. 

Guess what, the two remaining teams - they will meet next weekend, and the week after - are the strongest ones. Not usually, but this year, since they are being reinforced by Ukrainian refugees called Myrolsav,  Danyll, Maksym, Fedir, Timur, Illia Konstantyn and Ivan. They have performed quite strongly so far, and we have to prepare well.

So keep your eyes open - and your fingers crossed for us!