American Development Model - ADM Hockey

USA Hockey defines the American Development Model or ADM Hockey as providing age-appropriate guidelines and curriculum to hockey associations across America to help more kids play, love and excel in the sport of hockey.  Most sporting programs for children have scaled the area of play to fit the age group of the child playing the sport, although youth hockey is one of the few sports that has children playing on the same platform that professional players use, which is where the American Development Model comes into play.  Given that, the goal of ADM Hockey is to make hockey fun for the beginning player by implementing practices that focus on fundamentals and cross-ice games that focus on all players getting involved in the game.

ADM Hockey puts a focus on hockey and skating fundamentals.  This works well for children that are just starting to play the sport, however if your son or daughter has been playing hockey for a few years it may not be something you are looking for.  Each American Development Model practice leverages a full sheet of ice and is broken out into multiple stations each of which is managed by one or more certified coaches .  Each station targets a specific area that focuses on a hockey fundamental, and the kids rotate among each of these stations during the course of the practice.  They kids spend an average 5 ñ 10 min per station and are constantly on the go working on different aspects of the game.  The stations normally focus on the following fundamentals:  cross-over skating, power stops, backward skating, puck handling, passing, battling for the puck, and shooting. The games that are played are cross-ice games (3 on 3), so everyone truly gets involved in the game.

My son, who is almost 8, started in a youth hockey program in the fall of 2009.  He wanted to try his hand at hockey, so I got him involved in a Learn to Skate / Learn to Play program.  He had only been on skates one time in his short life prior to this, but based upon my conversations with the coaching staff I felt comfortable that they would not only be teaching hockey but also focusing on skating fundamentals.  While he progressed nicely, he still had a lot of catching up to do with the other kids that had been playing the sport for the last 2 – 3 years.  Going into his second full season of hockey, which by the way is leveraging the American Development Model, I’ve seen a drastic improvement in my sons game since he started practicing just over 6 weeks ago.  I can tell you from first hand experience, this appears to be working.

While I’m impressed with the focus on fundamentals, the program seems to have lost sight of the team concept.  For each ADM hockey practice, there are 3 different teams on the ice at one time.  I have yet to see any work on game preparation for the various teams.  By this I mean my sons team hasn’t had a practice that just focuses on their team.  How are they learning their positions, or working with each other to prepare for a game, and most importantly getting to know their teammates?

All in all, I like the ADM hockey concept.  The proof that it’s working is seeing the progress my son is making on the ice, and most importantly knowing he’s having fun.  What are your thoughts on the American Development Model?  Have you coached it or seen your child involved in it?  Have you even heard of the American Development Model?  Let everyone know, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.  By the way, I recently saw another post related to this topic on an article in the Boston Globe that shows the success this program has.

Update: Summer 2011

As we gear up for the Fall 2011 hockey season, I’ve created a new post titled Hockey for Kids and the American Development Model, which will hopefully give you my view of ADM Hockey after seeing it in action for a full season.