Five Ways to Help Hockey Kids Thrive! Parents and coaches often make the critical error of believing skills and drills make strong hockey players. While the technical side of hockey certainly matters, without the proper mindset, minor players will never reach their true potential.

1- If you want your young player to do the hard work both on and off the ice, you need to show them by example. Do you tell your kid they should be shooting 100 pucks per day? How many are you shooting in the basement each morning? If the answer is “zero”, you’re dictating, not leading. If you want your child to adopt successful habits, you must first show them what the structure of success looks like. They will follow in your footsteps and be inspired by your efforts.

2- When you set expectations for a young athlete, you create pressure. In rare instances, high-pressure environments can foster dedicated players, but more often than not intensity will shut them down and make kids afraid to try. The younger the player the more praise and space they require to grow. Create an environment where mistakes are encouraged, praise is plentiful, and correction is positive.

3- Young players need structure, discipline, and relentless rules. But within that framework, they need to experience joy and excitement. In our programs we don’t talk when the coach is talking, we make eye contact, we don’t lean on the boards between drills, and we don’t act silly. But as long as we’re following this structure, we want to maximize the fun we have within it.

4- Regarding both games and practices, we want to push our players to focus on what they can control. Especially when there is such a skill discrepancy in the minor ages, focusing on scoring and winning will become deflating for many kids and teams. Instead, have kids focus on and measure what they can control every time they step on the ice; their effort, their attitude, their coachabilty, and their focus.

5- To build a growth mindset in our players, we must praise effort instead of outcomes. When we tell kids how talented they are instead of pointing out the strength of their efforts, they start to believe success should come naturally to them. Once they reach a higher level of competition and stop seeing immediate success, they crumble. If, on the other hand, we praise effort, work ethic, discipline, and attitude, we encourage a mindset that strives for constant improvement regardless of the stat sheet.

Teaching the skills, tactics, and strategies of hockey is the easy part. Reinforcing strength of character and a winning attitude is where most parents and coaches struggle. If more role models focused on the latter instead of the former, we’d see better, happier, more fulfilled players as they grow into their teen and young adult years.