This question can be best answered after taking some time to define your values and to set your goals for hockey and for your academics. Then you are poised to weigh opportunities against your goals and life values. This site should help you put on paper some basic thoughts from which you can begin to create a strong framework. Although you may get lots of advise from family friends, former coaches and recruiters, only you and your family know what is going on behind the scenes in your life and are in a position to make these decisions. This site will be most helpful to those who take the time to really think about and talk through your answers together.
The challenge: you must make some big decisions based on some limited information gleaned from a variety of conflicting sources in a relatively short period of time. Not a great recipe for success if you just go with the flow and hope all the critical details surface. Frankly, it may be several years after college graduation that you are in a position to really step back and evaluate the choices you made. But this is a starting point for what must be addressed today the best you can.
We have based this decision-making process on thirty premises:
● Players who participate in showcases and junior hockey tryouts desire to keep playing competitive, elite hockey.
● You have been a star prep/AAA player who has regularly been on power play, penalty kill etc.
● You have become accustomed to being first or second line, getting lots of ice time.
● If people ask you who you are, you define yourself as an athlete (and more specifically a hockey player).
● You are one of the top players in your school, your region. People know who you are and about your accomplishments
● Your parents have been a strong source of support, encouragement, & finances as you’ve chased your dream thus far
● You have a lot of community/team pride and strong relationships with your teammates
● Up to this point you have not played nine-month-long seasons with 50+ games and extended travel schedules
● Although you know players who have gone up through the junior hockey ranks, you really don’t know that much about it
● You like to win games and you have been a big factor in helping your team be as successful as they have been
● You want to play, not just “dress for games”
● You have not trained regularly with a strength and conditioning specialist who designed a program for you and pushed you
● You have not lived away from home for extended periods, or been responsible for basic day-to-day tasks like grocery shopping, cooking, car maintenance etc.
● Your parents are going to continue assisting you financially through the next steps, including juniors and college
● Your parents/coaches/school staff have been instrumental in helping you set/keep behavioral boundaries
● Your parents have attended most of your games & been actively involved in team parent/booster activities
● You are excited about graduating from high school and the possibilities of what is next. Your friends are all making solid plans and you wish that you knew what was next for you too.
● You are not independently wealthy
● You expect that junior coaches and staff will treat you honestly and with respect
● You have enjoyed media attention, fans and the rush of competitive hockey
● Your character and belief system have not really been tested yet
● You have not taken full time college level classes and therefore have not yet mastered to balance higher academics with hockey
● You have the grades, ACT scores to get into college and can be successful in the classroom
● At some point in the next four to six years you want to graduate from college with a bachelors degree after playing college hockey at the highest level you are able
● You will continue to grow physically and in maturity as a young man, an athlete and a student
● In the next year you will be faced with some challenges that will help shape the kind of a man you will become.
● You have never worked out as intensely or been pushed as hard as the next step you’re about to enter
● You play hockey because you love it not just because of your parent’s dreams or because you’re good at it.
● You are highly motivated to do what it takes to reach your goals; you won’t quit when things get tough or inconvenient
