Rogge May End Women’s Olympic Hockey?

I was a little unhappy the other day to see ESPN report that Jacques Rogge had threatened to remove Women’s hockey from the Olympics in 8 years if the talent gap between North America and the rest of the world didn’t close. For those who followed the tournament, they would see that there were several blowouts in the hockey tournament. Canada defeating Slovakia by a score of 18-0, for instance. Being that we here at EXACT Sports love to do math, that translates to a goal every 3 minutes and 20 seconds. That poor Slovakian goalie (Zuzana Tomcikova) faced a total of 67 shots… or, get this, 1 shot every 54 seconds. And she stayed in the whole game (I could see EXACT simulating that goaltending experience at one of our hockey camps!). By contrast, the Canadian goaltender (Kim St-Pierre) faced, on average, only 1 shot every 6 minutes and 40 seconds—the equivalent of 3 shots per period.

The tournament basically was a 2-team tournament between Team USA and Canada (Canada eventually winning the gold). While I don’t blame Rogge or others for their frustrations, I’m not sure this is the right move.

Here are some thoughts:

• Women’s Hockey is growing in the United States in Canada. Since EXACT Sports has begun working with competitive girl’s hockey clubs and camps several years ago, we’ve seen firsthand the commitment and interest from players, their parents, and coaches. We think that hockey, including Women’s hockey, is a positively infectious sport and will do well outside of North America.

• It just takes time to promote and grow a sport. China has only 67 women in its entire country of 1 billion+ that play hockey (in the tournament, Team USA defeated China 12-1). In the traditional hockey power countries like Finland (which won the bronze) and Sweden (which upset Team USA back in Turin), the gap is beginning to close.

• EXACT Sports has been intimately involved with long-term player development for quite some time, and what it’s going to take to keep growing hockey in these countries is a commitment from the top (Olympic hockey) and then follow-through from the bottom. These countries will need to continue promoting the sport with more girls camps, clinics, and girls hockey tournaments. Where that may be difficult due to a lack of critical mass, such as in China, the national hockey associations must provide hockey training and coaching to their players in a meaningful way. We’ve seen China show this kind of commitment before (did anyone see the Chinese snowboarders?), so I am certain they’ll be successful.

Just like in the Men’s game, where we’re starting to see parity, development of the game takes time, especially for a complicated skill sport like hockey. Hockey player development is a long journey. It might be longer than 8 years before teams like China can compete, but I am certain that by competing in the first place their development will be expedited.

I want to leave this post on a note about how merely having the Olympic competition will inspire and improve the state of the game internationally. I was reading the American Development Model (ADM) blog (http://usahadm.com/wordpress/?p=84) about how Coach Mark Johnson had Team USA practice cross-ice hockey (small games) during a practice session before the tournament began.  As Team USA was playing their small games, the Chinese team was watching on the other side of the glass.

I can only hope that they were picking up a few tips, tricks and techniques—and maybe even a little bit of excitement—to bring back with them to help keep growing women’s hockey in China.

Three Things EXACT Sports Learned from the Ripkens

Cal Ripken Jr. had always been a personal hero to me and so many others that I was more than delighted that EXACT would be working with the Ripken Foundation / Ripken Baseball to design a new program, which eventually was called, “Healthy Choices, Healthy Children”.

Our relationship began in the spring of 2006. The Ripken Foundation had been successfully working with youth since 2001, offering a tremendous amount of financial support, and more importantly, personal guidance to boys and girls across the United States. The Foundation wanted to create a national program that would guide the character / behavioral development of these youth. With EXACT Sports’ assistance, the program was unveiled in 2007 as both a program that honored the legacy of Cal Ripken Sr. and the values he passed on to Cal, Jr. and Bill. In working with the Ripken Foundation to building this curriculum, there are 3 main things I learned from the Foundation, Ripken Baseball staff, as well as Bill and Cal Ripken Jr.:

[1] “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” — Cal Ripken, Sr.
For EXACT Sports, this means our programs, such as the National Player Development Camp, is not meant to make you better tomorrow. It is meant to make you better today. Parents and players are unanimously grateful to EXACT because the training is real, the training is intense, and the training is led by both NCAA college coaches from around the country as well as EXACT’s expert scientific development staff.

[2] Celebrate the Individual — Bill & Cal
Too many teams, coaches and organizations try the “one size fits all approach” to training players. Not EXACT Sports. Each player working with us receives his/her own development profile, customized uniquely to each person. We are on a mission to change the way sports training is done.

[3] Sports is a Reflection of Life
Everthing that happens in the game is a ‘mirror’ of what happens in life. EXACT Sports is more than an organization committed to making great athletes, we are committed to making great leaders, great students, great family members / friends, and great individuals. The classroom for EXACT and the hundreds of college coaches we work with, is the athletic field. We hope to see you or your player on the field, at one of our National Player Development Camps.

Recap of Boy’s Soccer Camp: Miami, FL

There is nothing quite like landing in Ft. Lauderdale, getting bumped up to a Red Mustang with Satellite Radio, and tuning into a channel that plays Springsteen 24/7.  Cruising down I-95 to Barry University for the National Player Development Camp.

In terms of staffing a NPDC, I’m interested in two things.  First, can we find a group of college coaches committed to overall player development and willing to spend 1-on-1 time with each athlete?  Second, does the coaching staff represent a group that gives the athlete a good amount of exposure to the demands of being a collegiate soccer player?

In Miami, we accomplished both goals.  With Steve McCrath (Barry University) leading coaches from Florida International University, Florida Atlantic, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, we had something pretty special.

On Friday we sampled the local fare, which in Miami means Cuban at Coach McCrath’s favorite: Little Havana.  Great dinner with the staff, and a chance to take a look in advance at each of the players who registered to attend the camp. During this dinner we discuss how to best use the weekend to help each player, and we come away with a guide for how we want the development camp to be uniquely tailored to the athletes in attendance.

The weekend brought a tremendous amount of talent with players joining us from all over Florida.  Their was great energy brought to the field and classroom and I want to give a shout out to Host Coach Steve McCrath for bringing it.  Some coaches really get what this is about.  Coach McCrath gets it and everyone benefited from his enthusiasm.

Barry has great facilities and players left Saturday completely exhausted but ready for more.  The staff ran them hard, and we covered a lot in each classroom session, with Dr. Jennifer Gapin leading our sports psychology session and covering some really important material for the athletes and how to deal with emotion in competition.

Little doubt we’ll be back in Miami next winter for round two of the boys NPDC Miami.  Hopefully they’ve kept the Mustang in running order for a cruise down I-95 and some of the best soccer in the country.

USA Hockey Infuses ADM into Select Player Development Camps

In 2009, EXACT Sports began a relationship with USA Hockey to improve the monitoring and development of its top players attending the Select camps in Rochester, NY. EXACT looks forward to continuing the relationship which includes the behavioral, physical, and skill/technical monitoring of players.

Continuing this summer, EXACT Sports will incorporate its advanced behavioral diagnostic (Competitive Athlete Psychological Inventory), sophisticated mental efficiency tool (Assessment of Mental Performance), physiological development protocol (Physical Evaluation of Performance) and analytical methodology for the National Hockey League’s player evaluation forms (Central Scouting Service) into the camps. These tools align well with USA Hockey’s mission for optimal athlete development, through the American Development Model (ADM). EXACT applauds the youth-focused approach and is proud to be partners of USA Hockey. The ADM’s mantra says it best — I am Potential.

Soccer Players & Parents – Stay connected as a Facebook Fan

Are you a player interested in staying connected about college soccer camps throughout the United States? Or a parent looking for information on how to best monitor your player’s development? Or are you looking for expert guidance from EXACT’s instructional network of college coaches or sports psychology experts?

To maintain up to the minute information about the National Player Development Camp and training conducted by EXACT Sports and its partners, please connect as a fan to the newly launched EXACT Soccer Facebook Group. We look forward to hearing from you!