Up My Hockey with Jason Podollan
Up My Hockey with Jason Podollan
EP.143 - Jamal Meyers and Reaching Your Potential in Hockey: Insights on Coaching, Development, and the Future of the Sport
Former NHL player and Stanley Cup champion Jamal Mayers joins us for a fascinating journey through the ice, as we explore what it takes to reach your potential in hockey. We reminisce about our own encounters on the rink, including that unforgettable NHL game between Toronto and LA, and delve into Jamal’s current adventures coaching his son's impressively ranked youth team. With fellow ex-NHLers by his side as assistant coaches, Jamal offers a treasure trove of insights into the joys and challenges of mentoring young players, stressing the importance of consistency and foundational skills.
Our conversation shifts to the shifting landscape of junior and college hockey, where we dissect the recent NCAA policy change that allows Canadian Hockey League players to accept scholarships. This significant shift could rewrite the North American hockey playbook, with college teams now favoring older freshmen. We examine how these changes might influence leagues like the WHL and BCJ, and the newfound freedom players have in crafting their developmental paths, adding a new layer of complexity to the sport’s future.
Finally, we dive into the realm of youth hockey tournaments and coaching philosophies. The upcoming UMH 68 tournament promises an exciting platform for young players to shine, and we share personal coaching experiences that emphasize accountability, effort, and honest feedback. By weaving in anecdotes from my own journey coaching my son's team, we explore the delicate balance of being both a parent and a coach, and the importance of fostering a culture where young athletes can own their journey, ultimately crafting a holistic understanding of hockey development.
Joe Vitale and I, we talk about like we aren't going to do new things for the sake of newness. So it looks new, oh, it's a new day, new, no, no, no. The warm-up and the stick handling and all these things that we're doing, the foundational elements, whether it's a backhand or a toe drag or whatever it is, it's going to be the same every day because it takes that repetitiveness, that consistently doing it, to get better.
Speaker 2:That was 915 game. Nhl veteran and Stanley Cup champion, jamal Myers, and you are listening to the Up my Hockey podcast with Jason Padolan. Oh oh, oh oh. Won NHL games but thought he was destined for a thousand. Learn from my story and those of my guests. This is a hockey podcast about reaching your potential. Hello there and welcome back to the Up my Hockey podcast with Jason Padolan. I am your host, jason Padolan, and we are here for episode 143 in the series and Jamal Myers is joining us today.
Speaker 2:Jamal Myers is somebody that is actually I'm looking at his bio here now. He's actually two years older than me, so he was born in 74, but we did cross paths in the minors and in the NHL. I get right into it here in the interview. We actually fought in the NHL. It was the last game of the season in 1999, I believe St Louis versus Los Angeles, and I started with that. It wasn't a plan, it just sort of came to mind and Jamal remembered it, so we revisit that. But we definitely did play against each other when he was with Worcester as well and I was with the St John Maple Leafs. So a little bit of a history there, and Jamal was nice enough to come on the program today and discuss some of his time in the NHL, his journey into it, but mostly we talk about actually youth hockey. Surprisingly enough, I don't ever have a game plan laid out for how the interview is going to go, but Jamal has a son, a 2012-born son, that he is head coaching right now. It's a good team. I guess he said it's the 15th-ranked team in the US. He's got a couple assistant coaches with him that are also ex-NHLers with sons on the team and they're having a ton of fun doing it. So that's what the car the conversation shifted to quite quickly. And then we also conclude with uh the new development of the ncaa accepting canadian hockey league players. Uh into the scheme, into the fold. They're now able to accept scholarships after playing major junior hockey. So we discussed the potential impact that may have and, all in all, it was a good conversation. It was a short conversation, you know, considering where my podcasts usually end or start and end, and it was about a 40-minute conversation today because Joval had other arrangements, so we kept it short and sweet. We definitely could have talked longer, that is for sure, but today is a little bit of an abbreviated interview from what you're used to if you're a long-time listener. So yeah, well, let's get right into it. It was awesome talking with Jamal.
Speaker 2:I mean, for those of you who don't know Jamal, I guess I should give you his hockey DB a little bit. He came out of Thornhill, he's from Toronto, originally came out of Thornhill, the Met JHL, and he says in the interview that he always wanted to play OHL but he wasn't good enough at the time when he had to make the decision. But he was able to get a scholarship to Western Michigan University where he played four years and got drafted there his first year playing at Western Michigan. He went on to play with the Worcesters, split time with the Blues until he became a full-time St Louis Blue in 99-2000. And then from there, essentially the rest was history. He played for the Blues for looks like seven or eight seasons, ended or had a stop in Toronto with the Maple Leafs, which we never talked about at all, but playing for his hometown I'm sure was special Went from there to Calgary, to the San Jose Sharks and ended with Chicago where he was able to hoist a cup in 2013, I believe. So, yeah, a lot of his career we actually didn't touch on. But at the end of the day, jamal played 915 games in the NHL, scored 90 goals, 219 points and 1200 penalty minutes, and also 63 playoff games. So a super, super successful career. He also represented Canada at the World Championships in 2000. So lots, lots for him to be proud of with his career. Now he's trying to pass that on to the next generation there in the St Louis area.
Speaker 2:So without further ado, I bring you Jamal Mayers. All right, here we are for episode 143 with an old adversary of mine, longtime NHLer, mr Jamal Mayers. Thanks for being on the program, sir. Great to be here. Good to see you again. I love the beard. Yeah well, hey, what do you do, hey, I?
Speaker 2:started growing it out and I'm like what the hell?
Speaker 1:happened to my dark beard? I hear you. I shaved mine so you can't see the gray.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, actually, my hair itself isn't nearly as bad as my beard. I don't let the hair grow very often, but yeah, this is very different than 10 years ago. Facebook will flash up memories or whatever. I'm like that was 10 years ago. It looked really dark and black and, uh, I guess three kids and you know all the things that happen.
Speaker 1:it's, uh, it happens, but that's right, just gotta own it man just gotta own it absolutely um, yeah, awesome to have you on.
Speaker 2:I was actually uh, chuckling because I was looking at your, at your DB and which didn't exist right Like back when we played, which is so crazy, cause we had no idea where guys were coming from, where they played, you know like what their, what their resume was like, and uh, and I had to chuckle because when we, when you got your instigator for jumping me in LA, do you remember that?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Cause some guys don't remember. I'm kind of a bad memory but that stuff too. But I didn't have many fights and you had more than I did. So I didn't know if you'd remember, but I was looking at that and we were both kind of in the same, in the same point of our careers, of like trying to be NHLers at that point, like you weren't necessarily cemented. Um, of like trying to be NHLers at that point, like you weren't necessarily cemented, um, I don't know if that's a good place to start or not, but I brought it up. I was, I was thinking about that game and I'll give you my backstory. Um, just so you know where I was at. So I had just got traded, uh, from Toronto to LA. Uh, parole went back the other way. They started me off in long beach.
Speaker 2:Uh, had some time in the NHL up to then, like with Toronto and with Florida and this was going to be my third team and they'd called me up so for the last six games of the season and LA was out of the playoffs.
Speaker 2:You guys weren't by the sounds of it, but it was like a mean nothing game, like you guys couldn't move at all in the standings and we were done and it was one of those flat, nothing happening games, essentially right at the end of the year, and I shouldn't have been actually handling it that way, apparently like I didn't think that I was, but apparently, like according to Larry Robinson, he was not happy.
Speaker 2:He like was up one side of me and down the other because I wasn't trying hard enough, apparently in that last game, 82 of the season. So of course, at the start of the third period I'm like well, okay, f, this let's go Right. So I start hitting. Nobody's hitting in the game at all, right, so I'm in the corner, I hit you, do whatever you turn around, and I grabbed me from behind and we get in this fight. What is your recollection? Were you kind of in the same mode as me, like were you trying to make a statement yourself or were you just pissed off that I hit you, or do you remember anything about that at all?
Speaker 1:honestly, I don't remember why it happened, but I can assume that I wasn't happy with no one hitting the entire game, that you decided that that's when you're gonna start to hit, so I probably was like this is not happening, we're gonna fight, right which is exactly what I knew would happen.
Speaker 2:That was the funniest thing. It's like you want me to be the only one out here, like running around, and I guess I should have had that mindset. I mean really doing what I do now, like I should have been worried about me making the right impression and like not looking like I was a tenured veteran when I wasn't, but I was also like, uh, I think, pretty akin to the social aspect of that. You know, like, and maybe I couldn't like, step like step, I wasn't comfortable enough stepping out of that void. Um, and then Larry Robinson obviously pushed me out of that void and it turns out you know that we, we both get five minutes and I'm in the box, but uh, kind of an interesting spot. Hey, like, maybe that is a good spot, like making yourself relevant in the NHL or at whatever level, like the steps required to do that. What was your mindset like when you were stepping in, trying to make a name for yourself?
Speaker 1:That's a great point. I think for me it was always about um affecting the game somehow and you know, especially early on I want. That for me was being physical, using my speed and getting in on the four check and being a disruptor. I played college hockey, so I didn't fight, we didn't. I never fought in junior. I didn't play junior, I didn't.
Speaker 1:So my first fights were in the minors, my first fights were in the NHL. And so the good thing is I was strong enough to like protect myself and usually through the first few years I could like protect myself enough that if I wanted to punch, I could punch, and if I didn't feel comfortable because the guy was definitely a better fighter than me, I could at least survive enough to make it look good. Um, but I think mindset wise for me was always a survival mindset, like how do I stay here? Especially because I've spent two years in the minors in Worcester and I like people of Worcester have been nice, we're nice, but people would ask me from home like how are things? And I would say they've never been Worcester, like I do not want to live here, like this can't be, I might as well go back to go to grad school never been Worcester, that's awesome so that's what I would say, because I I had told myself, if I don't make the NHL after this three-year entry-level deal, that I'm going back to school.
Speaker 1:It just it just wasn't for me to. I don't know how to explain it. I just I wanted to play in the NHL and if it wasn't the NHL, then I wasn't, I didn't want to do it and it wasn't. So I had this like fear, even when I made it, that like it was going to be taken away. And I remember every training camp, literally every year, until my last year pro, I still had that feeling where you know how it is, every training camp they say, oh, these two young kids, they're really good, they're gonna, they're gonna vie for a spot and I'm thinking they're not taking my spot. No, not this year, it's next year, they can do it next year or somewhere else, not gonna be here. So and I remember like talking to like ryan johnson, who's now assistant gm in uh for vancouver, and we would laugh because there's all these guys, like you know how it is the first week before training camp. There's no hitting, there's just guys out there flying and they're all like, oh, did you see that guy from Switzerland? He's unbelievable. I'm like I can't wait to run him over, like, like he's, he's not going to be that good once we hit him.
Speaker 1:And it was a different time then, so it was a different. There was this the fear factor was a lot more prevalent, certainly, than it is now, and so that, to me, was a skill that you honed in on that you could like use. Not that you weren't nice to people on the ice or like off the ice, but like you wanted to keep that uncertainty for me was keep people uncertain at training camp, uncertain within games. I didn't really talk to guys during games, in games, and even when I knew someone, kind of I didn't want to talk to them and they would be like what the heck man, we worked out together all summer and you're not even going to say hi to me, like I. I liked the fact that they were wondering like what a jerk? Like why would? And then after the game I text him hey, sorry, I just don't talk during the games, like I'll talk to you after and so. But that was an edge, right, cause then maybe they spent three shifts wondering like what's wrong with this guy?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's a competitive advantage and I think I've talked about it on here before. How do you feel, like because you said it has changed like those that can bring that, uh, that aspect to the game? Now it has to mean even more, I would think it does.
Speaker 1:And I remember talking I was leaving the game my last year was 2013 and and I remember talking to keith kachuk aboutuk, about Matthew coming into the league, and I remember telling him I said I said, walt, I know you retired Like maybe it was four years ago. I go there. There is nobody tough anymore playing Like. There's maybe, yes, there's six guys in the league that are super tough. That could certainly beat me up, but there's there. There's not how it used to be when you and I were playing, where every lineup had three or four guys willing to. Like. Now I think you look at the lineup and they maybe, they maybe have one or they don't have anybody that's willing to.
Speaker 1:And I said, if, if matthew's just even willing to and willing to to me is fight three times a year if you're willing to, you are going to create space because 98 of the players do not want anything to do with it. Yeah, and so I agree with you. It has become even more of a like a, an advantage, if you will to use that element to like create space for yourself and for your teammates and your line mates and like the new tough player is a different player. Like it's, yeah, it's, it's Matthew, it's, it's even um, what's his name? Number nine on there's on the same team for Florida, um, who doesn't fight very often either, but like, like, that's what toughness is now. And so if you can just build in a little, forget toughness, because I think sometimes it gets misconstrued because I know the game has changed. But if you can change the wording and say, like, if you have a little bit of unpredictability within your game, an uncertainty and I always marveled at a guy like Chris Fong was my roommate for four or five years, nice guy in the room, just an absolute terror in front of the net, not a nice person.
Speaker 1:He would viciously use his stick against someone at least twice a year. And I remember talking to him saying what are you doing there? Why would you do that? He goes oh, I'm going to do that every year, twice a year, so that guys that I'm playing against when I say I might carve your eye out or cross-check you in the face.
Speaker 1:Well, he has done it twice a year, every year, and he's like it's worth it for me to take a suspension, even if I have to take a suspension to keep people away from me. I'm not a big guy, I'm just kind of slight and I was like that's brilliant, it's genius and it's a different game today. But I think that I believe that the rules regress in the playoffs. Five years the game is still what it was five years ago in the playoffs. So the element of physicality, the element of intimidation, the fact that you're playing a team over the course of the best of seven, it becomes it. How do I get even the tiniest of edge? And and that physical, mental edge sometimes is the difference yeah, yeah, I know I love you.
Speaker 2:Everything you say in there is is, is so on point like that element of predictive unpredictability, um, of actual like safety, you know, like you're, you know, there there's we talk about fear, and especially what I do now with like the mindset of that, you know, and how to handle it in different capacities and and it's not the same as it once was, but there is still fear involved in the game from, uh, you know, am I going to get hit? Where am I vulnerable? If I go to the front of the net, what happens, you know? I mean, if I say this, what happens? And and some of that has been taken away with the rules and the way the game is, but there still is an element of it.
Speaker 2:When you were taught like back and again back back, when we played, there was like there was the constant threat of pain and like hurt, you know, and and there was a lot of guys in the team that would do that, and that is one of the things for me personally, being a goal scorer in that era, that I'm really proud of is that, yeah, I would drop my gloves time and again too, but that wasn't really part of who I was, it was part of the era. But the ability to get to the places to score goals and knowing that you were going to get hurt in the process of doing it, like that's a mind screw. You know to have to go and do that and um, and for me that's where I don't like that the game is regressed because it's too easy to score. I think now you know there's less, there's less bravery involved in it. You know there's less courage involved and it's just like a high skill, yes, and there's tons of respect for the, for the skill level and how to do that.
Speaker 2:In this context, the mindset side of it, I think isn't quite what it was and I don't know. Like, that's just me and kind of my viewpoint, but, um, I do love watching playoff hockey now because I think that comes back. I do think it comes back. You have to pay more of a price in different areas to to get the job done and and that's why some guys are successful there and some guys aren't.
Speaker 1:Now, it's, it's in it. I don't think that's ever going to change. And those players that there's going to be some of them, some of them happen to be on the Leafs, if you're a Leafs friend. But either they're going to figure that out and be willing to do it or they're going to spend their entire career not having success in the playoffs. And that's the truth, because even though you could have referees on here and say no, no, no, we referee the same way in the playoffs. No, you don't, no, you don't, you don't, the intensity ratchets up and you can't, or else the game wouldn't have a flow to it. So you have to let some of it go and I like the game where it it is. I think it becomes even the ferocity of it. I think I I like more in the playoffs. It becomes more exciting. It's, it's uh, it's funny.
Speaker 1:You talk about that nervousness and that that factor. It was certainly there and not to keep this digressing about when we play, but there was a price to pay. Just getting to the front of the net was either a slash, a slight accidentally on purpose punch to the face, a cross check on the ribs or, like on your arm, where they know you're not, we're vulnerable. It was something on the way to the net you were getting, so you knew that if I'm going to the net, mcsorley's gonna punch me in the face for no reason. The ref's just gonna say, well, you decided to go there. Like that's what they would say yeah, yeah, I'm like.
Speaker 2:No, you know the connection to how the game is now, and I do think I mean you know we're joking about being dinosaurs and talking about back when we played, but I think that the relevance of understanding the game then does help today's player, at least for me from a coaching aspect, because when I'm talking with some junior kid who has a high skill player, who is more of a perimeter guy, and I'm saying, hey, when you're driving the net, if you get to the far post every time you're going to score many more goals and it's a brave place to go and there's less consequences for you doing it now. So, like you know, like we, we have. We have the experiential factor of being like, yeah, that was hard and like I was able to do, and I would take X, y and Z in order to make that happen. Now, if you can get these guys to understand the value of getting there, it's just it's. It's a value to them. You know what I mean. And it's not as a heart of a place to go anymore. But there still is an uncomfortability about it because their experience with the game is just their experience with the game, right, like they haven't experienced, like how it was before. So, anyways, there's still ways to score goals and still areas to score goals, right, that will never change. It's just who's willing to go there and I think if we can get some guys to do that, it's kind of fun. I know I'm working with my 12-year-old on that right now. He likes to get wide, but then he constantly will try and go short side and usually ends up behind the net. I'm like put the leg out, get to the far post and you have way more options, right, absolutely. Anyways, what a wild ride to see the game now from our vantage point of being a player and now the next generation coming under us and helping them and using our experiences, hopefully in a positive way for these young guys coming up.
Speaker 2:Just going to take a short break from the conversation with Jamal Mayers to give a shout out to my partners at Elite Prospects, the gateway to hockey Online. Since 1999, eliteprospectscom is the number one statistical hockey resource, serving over a million unique visitors weekly. It offers the most informative hockey player database on the web and has the most reliable transaction tracker available For youth hockey players. Ep is your very own online showcase to highlight your achievements and help secure future playing opportunities Coaches, scouts and schools at every level of the game. Consider Elite Prospects their one-stop shop to discover future stars, hockey fan, crazy about the NHL, the draft and your team's top prospects? There's no better resource than EP Rinkside, providing insight and analysis on players worldwide through written features, video breakdowns, interviews and more. Head to EliteProspectscom now and experience your gateway to hockey.
Speaker 2:The Elite Prospects is a partner with the UMH 68 as well. That's how we came into this partnership and the UMH 68 is rocking and rolling for 2025. So if you are in Western Canada and you have an athlete either 2011 or 2012 age Western Canada meaning Manitoba 11 or 2012 age Western Canada meaning Manitoba, saskatchewan, alberta or British Columbia check out upmyhockeycom to see what is coming to your province. We will be in Brandon, we will be in Martinsville, we will be in Edmonton and we will be back again in Vernon for another year with different age groups. This is a best on best competition. It is a tournament unlike any other.
Speaker 2:There's a very large development focus, with workshops for players and parents throughout player banquet. There's all-star awards and MVP game awards and there is color commentators and NHL coaches and all kinds of good stuff to be had at the UMH 68 and something you want to be a part of. So check out upmyhockeycom. You can put in what I call a player watch list request. We do have scouts in every province looking at the age group in question. We also use a network, meaning coaches and managers can refer players and parents can request that their players get watched and we can take a look at whether you are worthy of an invitation or not to the UMH 68. So check it out. Umh 68, western Canada in 2025, in June, coming to a city near you. Are you one of the top 68? Let us know your name at upmyhockeycom. Jamal, tell us about who you have in the stable here following in your footsteps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my girls are both soccer players. I have a freshman at Kansas State playing soccer. She's a midfielder. She started the nine games as a freshman, which is kind of cool. My younger daughter is a junior in high school. She just committed to go to the same school, so she's going to kansas state in a couple years, in 2026. So it'll be nice. They'll be together for a couple years anyway. Um, and then my son is the youngest. He's at 2012, just turned 12 last Saturday, and so happy birthday.
Speaker 1:That's it. Yeah, coaching him for the last few years has been a ton of fun, similarly to you. Like this it's nice to have. For us, we started AAA last year, so last year was became really enjoyable, because now you're having like-minded kids all together, right, and that changes the dynamic of what you're able to do and how you're able to motivate, what you're able to show them and get them to understand the game.
Speaker 1:And now we're at a point where we're where we're, our our philosophy with our group is to reward the intention. We want them making plays, we want them trying to make do things, we want them, you know, having fun being on the offensive side of things. But we, we have an expectation and a standard that that they've set, and we we set the standard for them at the beginning of the year, and then we're basically just stewards and reminding them of the standard for them at the beginning of the year, and then we're basically just stewards and reminding them of the standard that they created. And so what I try to do, we try to do and I'm lucky I've got Matt Lashoff and Joe Vitale, who both played in the NHL and their sons are on the team as well is that we all have different strengths as coaches and perhaps more I'm more the disciplinarian one sometimes, but I think that we play each other's roles nicely is that I try to keep them accountable to the standard that they created for themselves, and so that creates that compete level and that creates the non-negotiables that we've created. Whether it's tracking or whether it's making sure we tracking or whether it's, you know, making sure we have a third guy high, like these are non-negotiable elements that have been embedded into our game. We play a swarm I probably shouldn't tell you that so that if we play you guys, you can figure it out and use it against us. But we're doing things and we're starting to add in layers of our game where we're creating movement and overlapping and things like that in the offensive zone and and really trying to like follow the trend of where we see the game going, not only where it is now, but where we see it going, so that they have that skill set now. Because of that, we may not technically I think we're 15th in the country we may lose some games because we're we're going to turn pucks over, because we're overlapping when they shouldn't have. You've got to live with some of those mistakes, but I would prefer that they learn how to play with the puck and value the puck and possess the puck. My feeling is that 15, 16, like we can teach them. Like they still have to understand the time score situation and where to put the puck and what, and the value Sometimes you just got to get it in, but at the end of shifts. But we also want the making plays, so you're going to we live with some mistakes that we probably won't have to live with when they're 15, but I think it's important and I think that the challenge I'm sure you feel as well is halfway through the year.
Speaker 1:We all do this as coaches. We're like oh my goodness, what is wrong with him? There's usually two or three kids who are just like oh Well, you know what? I always remind myself Well, we picked him, we picked him, we got to coach him, we got to get him there. Somehow we got to get him there. And we can't just say it's not happening, we've got to push them aside. No, no, no. We've got to find a way, we've got to figure out a way between us coaches to find a way to get the best out of them, make them understand what we're trying to accomplish, try to get them to a confidence place, which is so difficult, right? Because some of the times they internalize it as well. You're just getting mad at me. Well, some of it's effort, Most of it to me, is effort. It's not the execution part. The execution part is going to come and go, but I don't know about you, but for me it's the effort in situations that we have to keep them accountable toward. And so that's that's the challenge making sure they know we care, right, making sure they know we care, but also being stern to know that perhaps they get a little easy at home nowadays, like so I tell our kids all the time.
Speaker 1:I said I'm not gonna lie to you. I said your grandma's picking you up, you know she's gonna say great game, great game, jimmy, you did awesome. And I said I had this funny speech right. I said he's he's lying to you. She's lying if grandma tells to you, she's lying. If grandma tells you a great game, she's lying. That was not a great game. And so one of the kids went home and the mom didn't go to the game. And the mom said well, I heard you had a really good game. Grandma said you had a great see, coach, said. You would say I played a great game, we were terrible. You're lying to me. The parents actually told me that story, so I started laughing. I'm like yeah, I did tell him that.
Speaker 2:I did tell him you'd say that, yeah, coach dynamics, right, the, the honesty. I think that that is I mean, not that I want to dwell on that, but but one of the things that I think my players like to hear from me and that's whether I'm coaching a compete team or whether I'm working with somebody on mindset is like the truth, at least my version of the truth. Right, and I think that so few people hear the truth right. Even like that exercise of hearing the truth and then recognizing what you can do with that information one way or the other is like a skill set, in my opinion. Right, because how many times have you walked into a coach's office and asked for something or demanded something or asked a question and maybe you heard a response that you didn't want to hear at the pro level?
Speaker 2:Now, what are you going to do with that information? Right, right, and I think if they can learn this stuff now, you know at 12, and be honest with the thing now there's, now there is, there's the process of the self-awareness aspect, right, the now, the reset, the reprogram, what I learned from that, what can I do different next time to get a different result If they're just going through it, especially the AAA level. I mean, that's that's for those listening. That's the context we're talking about here. We're talking about competitive kids who want to be better at the game. There needs to be some type of a process self. There needs to be some type of a process, self-assessment process for them to get better. If they're constantly told they're doing a good job, then that just they don't.
Speaker 1:You're not allowing them the opportunity that's a great point and I think what I like about it, doing it this way, is that now you're giving, putting the choice back on them. Now it's their choice. Are you choosing to take this information and get better and take and try it our way, which might be uncomfortable? And I think sometimes and I'll say this to some people last year, not so much this year but I'm not going to solve Johnny's problem by putting him with a different player I need him to hunt sometimes. I like that. He's smart and he likes to hover and he likes to find the quiet area. But sometimes he needs to hunt. It can't just be everybody else hunting and he's doing that. So I'm not going to fix it for him and change the lineup, change the line, just because I know it'll. Let him just do what he likes to do. I'm going to make him uncomfortable, because what happens if he's not scoring or he's not affecting the game positively because he's producing, how else is he going to affect the game? He's got to find another way to affect the game. Or else I'm making him one-dimensional because I'm happy he scored two goals, but really I don't think he played well. You know I mean like. So that's the challenge is, like I always tell, we have a really one of our players is an early 2013. He was born in January, technically 13. So he's a 13. And he's playing on our 2012s.
Speaker 1:And you know, sometimes I'll tell him, I'll say do you want to be a goal scorer or do you want to be a hockey player Because you're a goal scorer? Do you want to be a goal scorer or do you want to be a hockey player Because you're a goal scorer? There's no question. But to be a hockey player, you're going to have to change some things. You're going to have to try it a different way sometimes, because, as I'm sure you're aware, like sometimes, those guys will go through the game and the game will end, and they'll be like what happened? I didn't get anything. I'm like, well, you should have recognize that eight minutes in and made the adjustment to get more on the hunt, and then then, then, it'll flow for you. So it's, it's so much fun to show them this part, to teach them this part to when they're accepting of it, and then, though, the light will go on, the big oh, okay yeah, you're right I get it I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean building the. There's so many dynamics. My two right now, my two out players, so my 0-9 and my 12, they're both more playmakers, right, and you're talking about hunting. So they want the puck and they're good at distributing it, but when they don't have the puck, they're so anxious to get into the mix right, because they want the puck that they forget that quiet, quiet ice and they also take themselves out of that area to score. So it's funny, like right now in our own home, like that's what I'm working on with them.
Speaker 2:It's like being above the puck, being above the play, let it happen and then jump into a seam, you know. So you can be the one that gets the shot, not always the one that's setting somebody up for it. But, yeah, everyone has their like, their tendencies, right, which is great. And if you want to expand, expand yourself, I mean, that is the way you have to see the game. You have to be able to see it from as many ways as possible, and it's great that you're, you're given to your, your boys, the opportunity there to see that. On the minor hockey kind of topic that we're on here, the father, son um, is one of the most. Uh, I don't know what the right way to put it is, but there's been a lot of bad experiences. Let's just say that in in my hockey community, I got my hockey facebook group and and there's a lot of discussion about that right like the uh, what is that called? When parents take care of their own kids? There's some word for nepotism yeah.
Speaker 2:So the nepotism involved, right that you know the, the cap, the, the dad's son has the sea all the time and gets the most ice. It might not be the best player, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, I, when I started, I was so hyper aware of that that I actually took the opposite direction, and I'll just tell you a quick story. It was like two months into the season we were coming home from a game and I almost choke up anytime I've ever tell the story.
Speaker 2:But Hudson said to me he's like, dad, why don't you coach me like the way you coach everybody else? Like I wouldn't talk to him, like I was doing the opposite, because I was like so focused of not being that guy that I was involved and invest in everybody else and I wouldn't even invest in my own kid, right. So I took it, I took it too far the one way, and now I found a. You know, the longer you do something, obviously the better you get at it now. Now I think I found a really good balance of being able to coach my own kids along with everybody else's. But how have you taken that? And and where is your awareness at with your, you know, involvement with your own son, who obviously you care about and and you know, and his involvement in the game well, it's a work in progress.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm definitely harder on him in the way that I speak to him in games. I have less patience with him, so I think I have to work on how that communication happens. What I'd like to get to is a point where it's one of the other coaches that are communicating to him, because I am very quick to get on him about certain things, or like reads, or if he's not being aggressive enough or hard enough, or doesn't come to the bench hard enough, it's like, or extends his shifts too long. So it's it's definitely a challenge.
Speaker 1:I think that I am harder on him. I think that his makeup is he can handle it. He'll come back at me at sometimes too, but we're still figuring that out because I don't think it's healthy to continue that. I also do check-ins with him, like to know, like that I care that I want the best for him, but that only goes so far. I think that I have to get better at just letting it happen and letting the other coaches do it. What I see is I think it's just to be honest with you, it's probably more on me. I've got to get better at it in how I communicate with him in game um. He also needs to do a better job of receiving that feedback when it happens, yeah and so.
Speaker 1:But I'm the adult so I think I think it all like 90 of 90. I'll take on me and like so I've tried a new approach. At times I'm not great at it, but I have tried a new approach with him where I'll say I'm not going to yell at you, I'm going to sit you down, I'm going to talk to you calmly, but then you have to take the information and like, use it. You can't just ignore me when I'm telling, communicating the way you have chosen, that you would like me to communicate with you, right, yeah and so. But there's times where I do get on him about skating, because sometimes he gets watching and the problem is not problem but the part that as a coach is, sometimes you get the reaction you want and you're like it worked. So it's like I'm going to have to do that again. So you know when you need more out of them and you need a spark, you need something. That's.
Speaker 1:It's hard because when I have gotten on them, it's if I did that to my middle daughter, she would shut down, it'd be, it'd be done, my older one. I could get on him, get on hard, and she would respond well, it would be done my older one. I could get on hard and she would respond. Well, when I get on him he responds positively more times than not. So it's I will say I'm not good at it, it's a work in progress. It's the reason why I probably, you know, at 15, like you know, you're kind of like where's the next coach for him?
Speaker 1:like when is that happening? Yeah, it's, it's. It's nice that we have different voices. Like phil mccray comes out on wednesdays basically helps run all or the whole practice, they get a different voice as a group. Um, it's healthy for them to have a different voice and all three of us coaches coach differently, right? So that's a long-winded answer to tell you that I'm not very good at it and that it's a work in progress. But I think, having those check-ins with him on the way home, I asked him do you want to talk about the game? Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes it's yes, sometimes it's no. On the way to the game, I can't help myself. Sometimes I'm like I'll text him three things and that's all I get. I'll like say move your feet. If a guy's even with you by the time you get to the like you're on the entry, guys even with you by the hash mark, cut back. Like you know what I mean. I'll give him three pointers and then I'll leave it alone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to take a short break from the conversation with Jamal to say thank you to everyone who has emailed or reached out through the website, who is interested in becoming either an ambassador or an affiliate of the Up my Hockey brand. I announced it on the last podcast and many of you were listening and that's fantastic. So, if there is anybody, this is something that is happening. It is for real.
Speaker 2:I am trying to grow the reach of Up my Hockey in a geographic sense, to have either ambassadors on the ground, in hockey hotbeds who either want to promote the program themselves, be a part of the action, or have a background in coaching, are immersed in the network themselves and want to grow their hockey acumen and become one of the Up my Hockey mindset coaches working with me and under me through the Up my Hockey programming that is available.
Speaker 2:So two ways to be involved either as an ambassador or as an affiliate slash associate, and that's a pretty exciting time in the growth of Up my Hockey. So if you are one of these coaches, somebody who wants to make the game a better place, someone who believes that mindset is a very important component of the development arc and want to give back to the game, while hopefully helping you in the compensation aspect of your growth and journey as a coach and training, then Up my Hockey may be a good avenue for you to pursue. So yeah, reach out to me at jason at upmyhockeycom or through the contact form on my website. I look forward to the conversation and seeing if we're a good fit. Now let's get back to the conversation with.
Speaker 2:Jamal Myers, good for you. The one thing I really liked there that you said, and one one it is a challenge, I mean, and it's a dance and it's hard enough. Uh, you know, with a team full of 17 where you're trying to find all those entry points right and to be successful with them, and then you have the dad hat on, including the coach hat it is. It is much more dynamic than I think. Some people realize that haven't been in that environment. But the idea of of like how can I coach you best? I really encourage parents even to have that conversation with their kids and you mean, yeah, we're talking 2012. So what's that like? Right now we're talking 12 year olds. Most 12 year olds are able to have that conversation. Maybe some aren't. But like, don't discount what your kids are able to talk about either. And like asking them how do you want to go over the game afterwards, if at all. Like getting them involved in that. You know how you want me to participate and and like that is a really cool dynamic, because even when it comes to development, let's say, or like the practice away from practice.
Speaker 2:You know, some parents I get that a lot is like he never wants to do it. I'm constantly nagging. Well, as soon as you're nagging, it's over, it's done, like right. So it's like how do you want me to support you in this? Like you've said, you want to be a triple a player, or you want to be this or you want to be that. Yet your actions aren't maybe aligning with what you're telling me. Because they asked you to help, right. Right, you know what I mean, and so that whole perspective is massively different. But that initial conversation has to happen. So you mean kind of a long-winded answer to your point, but like you asking him hey, like this is how I want to be coached. Essentially, I don't want to be yelled at. That's a pretty, that's a pretty mature conversation, you know. And then so you're coming at him in a mature way and, yes, you're gonna have to turn the volume up every now and again, like when it needs to be, but at least you understand how he wants to be spoken to.
Speaker 1:I think that's pretty, pretty productive yeah, I think that you know, at the end of the day it's not worth our relationship, right, and so I don't want it to get to a point where it's affecting that. And so I think having those check-ins, even away from the game, just making sure everything's okay, or, even smarter than that, having mom have the check-in with him to see where he's at, is also helpful information. You know, I think that that part allows them to like own the process and own that the pace of what's happening. But I do have a point to make about what you were talking about. The off-ice skills and and working on it was way different for us, right. Like we would just grab their stick streetlights I live in the city, so we'd go work on our game. We'd be like play street hockey and there was a lot more organic.
Speaker 1:The way I suggest it for parents now and I do skills and stuff too is go out there and do it in the driveway or wherever. You're doing it in the basement or in the garage for 15 minutes and then come back in and do something else. And if you tell them to do it for 30 or 45 minutes, it's not happening in my experience, but when I tell them to do it for 10, 15 minutes. Go work on your pull, pull it in. But our chop, pull it in and shoot it. I'll come up pass with you, if you want, and then he'll go. He'll go out and do it for 15 minutes, or let's say they all, they're kids, so they go a week and you're like you know, I haven't seen him outside shooting pucks in a while. And I'll just say to him hey, I haven't seen you outside shooting pucks in a while. I think you're you, you forgot to do that. And he'll be like oh yeah, and then it might not be that day, but the next day you'll go out and do it again, but it's never for more than 50 minutes.
Speaker 1:Come in, do something else, get a popsicle, do something else, play a video game, watch tv, whatever they do on tiktok, I don't even know, uh, whatever they're doing with their phones, and. But my point is I love getting kids to do it 10, 15 minutes twice a day on their own. Then they they're more likely to do it every day and, as you know, it's the compounding everydayness of it where they start to improve. Versus 30 minutes twice a week, they're not going to improve. It's, it's too long. It feels like work for them. They're by themselves Most of the time. It's like there's no chance they're going to sustain that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're speaking. That's awesome Cause you're speaking. I mean, that's awesome because you're speaking. You're speaking exactly my language.
Speaker 2:I developed a program that's an online program that teams can take or individuals. It's kind of the backbone of what my mindset stuff is about. And week two is all about. I call it 10x development, so like ways to get better. Um, so it's short, short form videos throughout the week, monday to friday, and and I build up like what I call the peak potential process and and part of it at the end is like understanding the value of time and also the understanding of like the deliberate practice when we're talking about time and that we can't deliberately practice something for extended periods of time and we can actually make the most of smaller time increments by involving our head and like having a plan and really taking this almost like a professional approach to whatever this block is.
Speaker 2:And I call them 20-minute monsters in the program, so a little bit longer than you with the 10 to 15, but 20 minutes. I say a 20-minute monster. Now what are you going to do in that 20 minutes that you're going to dedicate mind, body, soul to to get better right and talk about it from a strength and weakness perspective too. Like that, we have this plan and you're 100% right because that is where the that's where the juice happens. Like when you not in the garage or outside shooting pucks aimlessly to get 100 pucks in because dad wants me to right, throwing them at the net. But like actually committing to some aspect of that shot for 20 minutes with deliberateness is going to do way more for you than just throwing a hundred pucks blindly at the net. So I talked to them all about that process, right, and and, uh, and.
Speaker 2:It's great because when people are armed with, now, new information, they can make new decisions, right, and they can be responsible for those decisions and their development. And it's not a big poll or uh, or, or, you know, I mean this, this, this, this thing coming down from above for mom or dad to make them do it. They actually get invested in it because now they see the excitement in it and it's not a huge piece of time. But I will say one thing to you that I add into the program 20 minutes a day for a year is three, eight hour work weeks. Think about that. That's what that is. That is like it's crazy when you think about the compounding of time if you want to play the long game. 20 minutes a day for 365 days adds up to three eight hour work weeks. It's bonkers to me. You're telling me you don't practice. You practice your shot for that long you're not going to have an advantage over somebody else. You know and we're talking in that small little chunk that you said who doesn't have 20 minutes a day?
Speaker 1:exactly right exactly.
Speaker 1:You know, I love the part about the intentional part, every aspect of that, but especially the intentionality of it.
Speaker 1:Um, working on something specific, I think that like it's important to create a progression and an understanding, like the fundamental aspect of it, the repetitiveness of it, and I try, when we do things in the summer, joe Vitale and I, we talk about like we aren't going to do new things for the sake of newness. So it looks new, oh, it's a new day, new. No, no, no. The warmup and the stick handling and all these things that we're doing, the foundational elements, whether it's a backhand or a toe drag or whatever it is, it's going to be the same every day. Because it takes that repetitiveness, that consistently doing it to get better. And I tell the kids that if they want to get better, they're going to have to sink into that monotony of that specific drill, that specific skill, doing it over and over and, over and over again. That's why you see, like colby, doing a simple crossover, step back shot, like the simplest thing that you would think, because that's the foundation for everything. So it's it's so important that they know that 100 i%.
Speaker 2:I mean that a big word for some people out there. I know it's for me, but it's myelination, Like, it's the art of learning, like, which is another thing that I actually touch on. Like the four stages of learning and like getting those brain connections wired so it becomes awesome and automatic, like there's not an awkwardness in it. We can do other things, we can almost do it without thinking right, because it's so programmed in and we've dedicated the time to it that we end up in this spot where it is automatic, right, and that's totally foundation. And talk about the nuances and the layers you can get in that right, like of whatever that skill is and coaches, my gosh, yeah, you're hitting a passion point for me of like, and half the parents don't know any better. Like every skill practice is this new thing with new apparatuses and you it's. You're not getting any better at all unless you have the foundation that you're building from that. It shouldn't be like a circus show out there and just trying to keep everything novel, um, and it doesn't mean it's better, it's actually the.
Speaker 2:I think that the guys well, I mean that's I'm biased because it is my approach, but like, I feel like I'm 20 years behind when I'm watching everyone else doing cause I'm doing. I'm doing basic edge work, I'm doing basic skills, uh, you know, when it comes to stick handling, adding progressions in a movement and reads, but like, if you don't have those pieces dialed, like, why are you going anywhere else? Um, so anyway, I don't know. I kind of I don't have an attention on that, but it's so true, I'm 100 on board.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's, it's like an arms race right now with, like you know, trying to the more gadgets you can have on the ice, the better your practice is, or something it's I'm like can we get rid of these gadgets?
Speaker 1:like I'm trying to get less things on the ice I'm so happy we're at the age now where we don't have to bring cones on the ice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no doubt I had one more question, but we're on time. Should we cut it? I wanted to ask you about the NCAA, since you were involved. Yeah, is that okay? Yeah, so I want to talk a little bit more about your. I mean, played university super young, came out of there, actually got drafted from university. You weren't in competition at that point with any junior players that wanted to also, uh, maybe have a have a bite of that. The announcement last week with the ncaa now allowing chl players, uh, to take scholarships, um, you know, in some cases away from other players, I think what do you think that does to the landscape of ncaa um in particular, and maybe the Junior A route might be even more interesting in general to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, honestly, I think it's going to squeeze in two areas in my opinion. I think what happens is you're going to see the majority of players still come from the USHL and the North American League is going to get squeezed, and I think that the BC League is going to get squeezed, because what's going to happen, in my opinion, is, if I'm, let's say, I went to Western Michigan, they're building a new rink in 2028, and we can now take junior players. I am hiring a dedicated scout for the OHL and the Western League and even perhaps even the Quebec League to go scour undrafted players that are playing junior currently, that are wondering what the heck they're going to do, but are really good players, and I want to take them at 19 and offer them a full. Basically, what you're offering them, in my opinion, is forget the scholarship, because they're not there for the scholarship. They're. They're not even there for the education. You know what they're there for. They're there to extend their hockey lives, and that, to me, would be the catch. That I would say is, I can buy you five more, four more years of development to realize your dream. And oh, by the way, your parents are going to love this part you're actually going to have a degree when you're done and if you are done, you have a degree. So that would be my strategy.
Speaker 1:But I think you're right. Where does it get constricted? Well, I think they're going to start taking players from junior. Just makes sense. The ushl will be fine because there's still a ton of really, really good players there and a lot of americans are not going to want to go to canada play junior, so they're going to just go to the ushl and then go to school. And then that's where I think it hurts the north american league and that's where I think it hurts the bc league.
Speaker 1:Because you've seen it right, like the reason why I was fortunate, I went to college at 18 or 17, but my as a true freshman. Well, because quinnipiac won a national championship. Now these other schools realize hey, wait a second, I could take a 20 year old freshman. So the trend now is there's very rare to take a freshman that's 18. If they'd be a very, there's maybe a handful of them now. Um, I just fear that it's going to squeeze out kids in the North American League. It's going to squeeze out kids. It's going to buy kids and junior an extra life. But what it would also do is you have a 2012. The idea of playing junior to me is now a possibility, because I can convince my wife hey, if he's good enough to play junior at 16, 17, 18, he could still go to school after that if he ends up not being good enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, and and. So that's what I think ends up happening. There's a lot smarter people that know the interdynamics of what's gonna happen, but my thinking is, if you take four kids off of each junior team I mean major junior team that go play college, well, they're taking someone's spot from somewhere, right yeah, yeah, I mean, it's just.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think it's just the black and white of it, right? I mean a 19 year old playing the BCJ, trying to get a scholarship, is usually there because he wasn't good enough in the beginning, right, to get to the WHL or the OHL. Not saying that they can't improve or go, but I'm just saying across the board, right, so now you're giving a scholarship to somebody in the BC junior league at 19 because you don't have access to the 19 year old in the WHL. Yeah, is this? Is this not a?
Speaker 2:That player in the WHL, I would say seven times out of 10 is probably better, maybe even more than that. You know, I'm trying to be gracious, right? So, like there is going to be, I think, more scholarships taken away from those leagues you're talking about. I would suspect I just make sense to me uh, which also then, I think, makes college potentially get a little bit older. I think it maybe makes all the leagues a bit older. Like I think that maybe the whl gets older because now they have the ability to to go to the bcj, where they couldn't before, and now they can have a 19 year old. There's a hell of a good hockey player and probably better than 17 year old they would have, or the 18 year old they would have, right. So why not make camp competitive and see what that league's like? So so now they have access to more players too. I think maybe the bcj gets a little bit younger. It's more of a development league for the whl. Um, yeah, it's going to be interesting, though it really is going to be interesting. Who knows what? What it's gonna, what it's gonna be. But I I just love the fact that for someone like me, looking looking back at like I would have loved to have had at least the option right, not saying I would have I signed early and played pro early, but it would still have been great not to have to make this ultimate decision at 15 years old about which path I was taking.
Speaker 1:Didn't ever make sense, right? Every pro player that I played with that played junior. Whenever they've been to a college game or they see college, they're like, why didn't I do this? This would have been unbelievable. Play on the weekends and be a student and like this would be unbelievable.
Speaker 1:So you know, I grew up in Toronto so I wanted to play in the OHL because you see the global game of the week, the Longine Wittenauer player of the game on Saturdays on global. You're like, oh, that looks so cool, I want to do that. Um, I wasn't good enough and so I had to go to college. I wasn't, you know, I got drafted but I said I was going to school. Um, you know, I think it'll be interesting. I just, you're right, I think it becomes. It becomes an older league, or maybe it goes the other way. Let's say you're, you're a, you're london, and you say I'm philosophically only going to have a team of 16 and 17 year olds and maybe I create such a great example or like system for them that they want to stay. And so then you know that's what you're building up, because it's hard to develop if you just grab kids when they're 18, 19. Like, it makes it harder.
Speaker 2:I think the draft is still going to be super relevant. But I think, like it's just like those top guys will get fed in but I think there'll be less room for some of the other ones. You know what I mean. Like there's going to be another place to go right. Like I think there's always going to be a desire to develop your top product, just like in the NHL, right. I mean like the top guys will be there, right, and then the other guys go to the AHL and they scrap it out. But it's definitely interesting. I mean there's already been announcements right from the WHO I know I'm more tied here to the West of like guys going to college next year and moving on. And yeah, it's going to be. I'm interested to see what happens to the AJHL BCHL. You know what that looks like as far as who they bring in and what camp looks like next year from the WHL level. Like are there any BCHL guys coming? It's going to be interesting.
Speaker 2:A lot of the guys from Ontario. Here's a guy from West Kelowna Pridham, I think, is his last name. He's a chicago blackhawks draft third rounder. He was here in west colona, um. He left like days after the announcement. He's going playing for kitchener in the ohl now like and that's he's not the only one vernon viper's here they lost two guys to the whl boom really, yeah, they left. So like the bcj is already losing players, um, you know, in some capacity because these different routes have been open. So I think we're just starting to see the dominoes fall about what's going to happen that makes sense.
Speaker 1:I I never even thought about it happening that way, but that's that makes a ton of sense, because they would have went to junior, but they're like no, I want to keep my eligibility now, they're like no, I can go yeah, it makes the chl better.
Speaker 2:I think, like the top, the top guys, right, and there's not that many top guys like that actually stay, you know, like, like, who would be the the most recent one there? Oh, like the, the Nadeau brothers, right. So a first rounder to the NHL draft from the BCJ. I mean, it happens every once in a while, but not very often. Usually those best guys are already playing junior somewhere else, like you know, major junior, but those guys don't have to stay there, right? So those top guys will go to CHL most likely. Why wouldn't you? It's a better league, right. Better towns, better venues, better, everything, right Exposure. So I think, yeah, like that whole thing is going to be interesting. I don't know Whatever. I have a bunch of parents ask me, so I wanted your opinion from what it looks like for you guys out there.
Speaker 2:And I do agree with that ushl scenario, because there's no reason why that would change at all. All the us players would still go there. You mean, like I shouldn't say all some. Maybe you want to play a longer season, potentially, and maybe they'll, they'll hop the border because they can, but I think for the most part of that league will be intact and nothing much will change with it. It's going to be the subsidiary leagues that that maybe see an input, but anyways, we're over time. Uh, loved chatting with you, boy. We barely even got into your stuff, but that's the way hockey goes, especially when there's so many aspects to cover. But I really appreciate you coming on today, jamal and um, and sharing your, your story and and your coaching story here.
Speaker 1:Uh, today, yeah, so happy for you and excited for all the stuff you're doing, and best of luck with everything. Thanks man, see you doing well.
Speaker 2:Thank you for being a listener of the up my hockey podcast and for listening to that entire conversation with Jamal Myers. I know I enjoyed it. It is a little shorter than what you're used to here If you're a long time listener. They got my hockey podcast 40 minutes but that was what Jamal's schedule could allow and I sure enjoyed the time. We did have to shoot the breeze about youth hockey During that conversation. You probably remember a part where we were talking about deliberate practice.
Speaker 2:Obviously, conversations are completely unscripted and Jamal brought up the idea of 10 to 15 minutes a day for younger players to go out maybe twice a day to work on their game and to really compound their skill development, and I was able to talk a little bit about the Peak Potential Program and how that's a main piece of week two. So I just wanted to double back on that and just talk to you parents and players out there that maybe feel that they aren't investing as much as they can outside of their practice time. That is a common concern that I have through the mindset quiz that is offered on my website, that players regardless of age, like junior players all the way down to U13 players, feel a type of guilt sometimes that they aren't doing enough away from the rink, that they feel that there is more that they could do. They're not motivated enough. Maybe they don't have the intention of what to do or the consistency and accountability to do it. Which is why because it's such a common theme even across high-level players that I created week two of the peak potential process. It talks about the four stages of learning. It talks about the process required to get better. It breaks down the stages of. It, gives you a strength and weakness builder and talks about deliberate practice. In the 20 minute monster which I referred to, week two of the peak potential process is essentially worth the entire price of the program because the players that do use the information involved in there is like we're talking about maximizing development for a long time. The longer the runway, the longer you understand how development works, the longer you can apply deliberate practice to your own growth. The gains are absolutely exponential.
Speaker 2:And parents that's one of the biggest responses from parents is seeing the new dedication and accountability that the players have and they don't have to be involved in the idea of hey, did you do this? Hey, shouldn't you do that, why haven't you done this? Players take accountability. They have their two-week planner set up on an ongoing basis. They know what they're going to do, they know when they're going to do it and they're excited to do it because they've been taught the reasons of how it's going to help them and they see the results that they're getting and that they are getting better, that they're getting that they are getting better. So if that speaks to you, you might be somebody that wants to get your player involved in the Peak Potential program. It's an ongoing rotation.
Speaker 2:As far as the guided mission is concerned, that's when the players get to work with me on coaching calls at the end of each week. So you can check my website for when the next one is being offered Right now. If you are listening to this live, the next one is going to be launched November 25th. We are going to start officially with lessons that day, on the Monday. So it might be good timing for you, right before Christmas, to get some new insight, new tools, new perspectives into the brains of your players so they can utilize them for the second half of the season. If that timing works out, great for you. Check out the mindset quiz at upmyhockeycom. That's all I got for you today. Hope you enjoyed. Jamal. Jamal, thank you for being on. Really appreciate you and what you're doing, and until next time, this is Jason Padone. Play hard and keep your head up.