1. Succeed academically: It’s crucial for young athletes to start developing solid study habits as they get older. When the college selection process begins, any coach will tell you that a good player who has excellent grades and good test scores is invaluable to a program. Usually, a coach has a small number of players who he can be more lenient with during the admission process. If you remove the obstacle of getting admitted, you make the coach’s job much easier.
2. Work hard: Young athletes might not be happy to hear me say this, but hard work may be the best trait a player can possess. The beauty of this habit is that you have complete control over how hard you work. You want to build a reputation as a “guy who will go through the boards if you asked him too.” Coaches love these guys. So, start working hard in practice, stay after to shoot pucks, ask what other things you can do to get better, block shots, finish checks, and just flat out hustle at every opportunity.
3. Be a team player: A young athlete needs to be a team player. This means at all times, not just when you feel like it. Pick up pucks at practice, clean the locker room, don’t talk back to coaches, be positive to your teammates at all times, and don’t bitch and moan.
4. Get a summer job: As soon as your son or daughter is old enough, he or she should be working in the summer, even if you’re wealthy enough and your young athletes don’t have to work. A kid who spends a summer or two working construction or landscaping becomes a mentally tough kid. I would take a construction worker over a kid who plays video games all day. Also, it makes them respect the value of hard work and education. Five summers of landscaping for me really made me think about how I should work hard in school because I didn’t want to do this for the rest of my life.
5. Read: Read anything and everything. Find an author or some books that you like and read them. It makes you smarter. Read magazines, newspapers, and anything you can get your hands on.
6. Play every sport you can: Don’t specialize in hockey. Play baseball, golf, football, soccer, and tennis. It makes you a better athlete and actually makes your body more injury-proof because you’re exposed to multiple stimuli.
7. Respect your parents: You won’t realize it right now, but your folks kill themselves to get you to practice and they pay to for select teams, off-ice training, school, and many other things. Tell them that you love them and appreciate everything they do and clean up after yourself for God sakes!