My own observations as a coach and team manager collecting copies of birth certificates for elite and less competitive teams correlates perfectly with the author Malcolm Gladwell's statistics regarding the direct correlation between the month a player is born and his or her level of competitiveness. Obviously, there are exceptions. But the stats are what they are.
I've also also observed the POWER OF PRACTICE... In Gladwell's investigations he has found that the "magic number" whether you are an NHL hockey player, a member of "the Beatles", or a world class computer geek like Bill Gates... is 10,000 HOURS. 10,000 hours to become a world class pianist, pilot, surgeon or whatever your endeavour.
Relating this to what I see at hockey... I don't know how many times I've heard parents and coaches talk about certain kids as "natural skaters". Certainly that rings true at very early ages but when you peel back the onion you will discover that with the older kids, these "natural skaters" ALWAYS work their butts off at practice and ALWAYS attend specialized skating clinics. The same holds true for shooters... Look at 2 of hockey's best shooters in the game... retired Joe Sakic and current Steve Stamkos. In similar cases... Sakic's dad used to berate his son if he wasn't shooting pucks in the basement and Stamkos asked his dad to put him in specialized shooting clinics because he knew he just wasn't as good as the other kids on his team and around the league. What Gladwell shows here is that when it comes specifically to perfection, when given the opportunity to excel, it ain't magic. That doesn't mean by any stretch that your kid will end up in the show, but it does make me think of the oft quoted double entendre...
"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Practice, practice, practice..."
This is a remarkable book. Let me know what you think.
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