USA Hockey Presents the ABC’s of the American Development Model Part 1
The American Development Model was designed by USA Hockey to provide guidelines and continuity in youth hockey. The following article is part one in the ABC’s of the ADM and provides background on how the model was started as well as other interesting facts.
- A is for ABC’s – Improving agility, balance and coordination among all youth hockey players is a main goal for the ADM.
- B is for Balyi – Internationally recognized coaching educator Istvan Balyi developed the Long-Term Athlete Development model based on scientific data of how young people develop their maximum sporting ability, linking more closely coaching and the development of players to their physical and psychological growth.
- C is for Competition – While competition is great at older ages, it is not the best way for younger players (ages 8 to 14) to develop their skills. Studies have proven that the average player touches the puck a little more than 20 seconds during the course of a game.
- D is for Development Stages – The eight stages of long term athlete development are active start, fundamentals, learn to train, train to train, learn to compete, train to compete, train to win and hockey for life.
- E is for Equal Ice Time – At the youngest age levels, all players should receive the same number of ice touches, opportunities and exposure to quality coaches. This is a stark contrast to the current structure where early bloomers are given more and better opportunities to the detriment of kids who grow slower and develop later in life.
- F is for Fun & Fundamentals – Keeping things fun and more age appropriate while helping every player improve his or her fundamental skills will help create more hockey players for life.
- G is for Growth & Retention – Getting more kids to try hockey and keeping more kids in the game for life is vital to the growth of the sport. Too many families are leaving hockey because of the cost, time commitment and win at all-costs attitude that is pervasive in our sport today.
- H is for High Performance Clubs – High Performance Clubs will be located around the country with teams at the 13U, 14U, 15U, 16U and 18U levels to compete in a National HPC League.
Editor’s Note: For more information about ADM, please click here.
Most Popular Articles
Written by admin · Filed Under USA Hockey
· 
Print This Article
