Hockey Question (Part II)

[Furd]

I read an article that said that Europe/Russia was churning out more skilled players than North America because the Europeans/Russians practiced more.

 

The theory is that youth hockey in North America focuses too much upon playing games and not enough on practice. As I recall, North American kids play something like 3x as many games per year as European/Russian kids. The additonal practice time allows the player to develop his skills, as he can work on his skills a great deal more in practice than during a game. While North America turns out more "gamers" the European/Russian kids have the skills. The theory continues that it is much easier to turn a skillful player into a "gamer" than it is to teach a gamer skills.

 

This seems plausible to me. Is it?

[Chavez]

Interesting thought; but if that's the case, why do the NBA and NFL have "developmental leagues" to get young guys PT?

 

Maybe the theory is you LEARN skills at an earlier age, and getting "game" experience isn't a big worry until later in life.

[redwings.cup]

This was being preached back when I played o-so-many years ago. I'm not sure the argument stands muster, as there is nothing like game conditions to really hone the skills. The argument really works both ways, but I'd simply summarize it as there is better youth coaching in Europe than in North America right now.

[Azazello1313]

the area where this really shows up is puckhandling. i heard once that the average player in the average game handles the puck for about 17 seconds. obviously, in practice situations you're handling it a lot more than that.