Seven Successful Habits for Young Athletes
By
Tom Sullivan
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!
Tom Sullivan runs Sullivan Training Systems in Braintree, Massachusetts,
where he specializes in helping young athletes develop speed, strength, and
injury-proof bodies. He can be reached at
tssullivanjr@gmail.com or
www.tsullsworld.blogspot.com.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
