The Early Exposure Theory

This tip looks at another defining characteristic of successful athletes, early exposure to important resources. There are two common ways used to illustrate this, the first being the relative age effect. Research has clearly proven that the earlier you are born in the year, the more likely you are to succeed in hockey. A January born player can have almost a whole year of development to their advantage over a December born player. This advantage makes them more likely to do well and coaches will see them as talented, even though the difference is largely because of their relative age.

However this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy because once they are picked on the better teams this gives them the opportunity to experience more practice time, and sometimes with better coaching. Hence, they do become better.

The other illustration that early exposure to important resources is a defining characteristic to becoming a successful athlete is the birthplace effect. Research has also shown that being raised in city with a population between 250 000 and 1 million people will give you the highest chance of becoming a professional athlete. Above or below that range and your chances decrease.

This shows that an athlete needs both the right resources, yet those resources have to be readily available. For example, a larger city like Toronto has great resources, facilities and instructors, but on and off-ice training sessions are always filling up, potentially resulting in poor coach to player ratios. Also players will potentially either not be able to sign up for everything they want or for anything at all because of the high demand that leaves resources having to turn players away and increase their prices, leaving some players financially disadvantaged.

On the other end of the spectrum, in a much smaller community the availability will be high and costs low but the resources are not likely to be as good.

In summary, my advice would be to not use some research findings as an escape goat from achieving what you desire, instead use them to your advantage.

If your child was born later in the year take a serious look into whether playing for the top team is best for their development. Sometimes a player will be better off playing AA over AAA if they are not going to do well enough at the AAA level. It will allow the player to take on a more important role on the team and develop their confidence. Also, playing on a lower level team doesn’t mean the player has to get less exposure to important resources. If the player really wants to get better, look into getting them the extra help and coaching they need on the side so the prophecy doesn’t become self fulfilling. I like to think we have a fair bit of control over our own fate.

Furthermore, I don’t think moving to city of 250 000 to a million people is necessary to optimize a player’s chances of being successful. There is lots of help out there, not to mention the about of free information on the internet that grows daily. I think it was said best in the old English proverb, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Deliberate Practice

For those that are unaware, the number one predictor of success is practice time. The more you practice, the more you are likely to succeed. However, having lots and lots of practice time doesn’t guarantee success, and some people find a way to be successful with less practice time. One of the reasons that have been used to describe this is deliberate practice. It is a less commonly mentioned but a key distinct aspect of successful athletes.

Deliberate practice means practicing with a goal in mind. It could be to score more goals this practice or drill, anticipate plays better or just focus on skating with better form.

To explain how having intentions will make you more successful, we need to look at the subconscious effect that they have. Setting a goal prior to a drill will direct your attention to important details about your performance that you might miss otherwise. In this way, you’ll be more engaged to learn and are more likely to improve. Research shows that clarifying one’s intention for both practice and competition can be very powerful and if used properly is incredibly beneficial for improving performance.

Hence, if you start practicing deliberately you are more likely to improve at a faster rate and more likely to become a better hockey player.

Another important finding is that a player’s development is optimized when their training corresponds with their developmental status. Meaning you don’t tell Sidney Crosby to spend half an hour on his backward cross-overs, just like you wouldn’t tell a novice to spend half an hour on his backhand toe drag spin-o-rama! Maybe not a shocker to many, but it is important to remember it is better for a player earlier in their development to spend more time on basics and developing their broad motor skills.

In summary, if you want to be better practice lots, practice deliberately and master the basics before the back hand toe drags.