Information. Google is making a fortune by providing you with information online based on the search terms, or questions you ask. Everything you do relies upon giving and receiving information with other people in your personal and professional lives. If you disagree with that premise, you can stop reading now.
Every year I watch players go about making what they think are decisions based on an absolute zero information base in which to make a decision. I used to sit by and just shake my head in amazement. Now, it is simply sad to watch.
By now, many, if not most of you have be starting to plan what I like to call the “summer camp tour”. Every weekend, or every other weekend spent on the road or in airports on your way to an arena to “try out” for a team. Now, some of you are thinking “I am going to main camp” and saying this article doesn’t apply to you. You couldn’t be more wrong.
A “Main Camp” invitation is a try out. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. On its face it is an opportunity, and nothing more. Which main camp has real opportunity though? Did you pick the right main camp? How did you come to the decision that it was the right one?
While I do subscribe to the belief that every opportunity has a cost associated with it, I do not subscribe to indiscriminately accepting every alleged opportunity as a legitimate opportunity. I subscribe to the belief that opportunity costs can only be absorbed based upon getting the right information to place a correct value on the opportunity.
It would make no sense to spend ten thousand dollars on a car that is really only worth two thousand.
Unfortunately, those of you that do not have the right information are preparing to go out there and spend a lot of money on opportunity that isn’t worth the money you are spending.
This isn’t solely the teams fault either. Sure, many of them are taking advantage of the fact that you are desperate to play for one team or another. But this is your fault as well.
At the end of the summer when you look at your check book, or credit card statement and add up the costs, are you going to believe that you received “value” for what you spent? Nine times out of ten the answer to that question is a resounding “no”.
If you’re a forward, and you sign up for a “main camp” and you don’t know how many other forwards are coming, how many the team is already committed to, or how many they are still looking to sign after cuts are made from higher levels, then what is the “opportunity”? The same goes for every other position.
If you think the team is simply going to give you that information, you are naïve.
Teams look for the “low hanging fruit” after their drafts and signing periods. Parents should understand what that phrase implies.
I write this article now in the hope that some who read this will stop and think. It is time to stop acting like sheep and simply following what everyone else does. Its time to stop believing that “main camp” is anything more than an open tryout with a better label on it.
My clients that are drafted do not attend an open camp, they do not attend a pre draft camp, and I know who is interested in drafting them at least two months before the draft. Only one of those players last year was not drafted in the round he was told he would be, but even then he was taken by the team who said they would draft him. Nearly ninety percent of drafts are over before the first pick is made.
That draft scenario is based on having the right “information”. Just like camps though, “information” has a cost associated with it. Someone is paying for you to get the information from google, and its their advertisers. You will have to pay to get your information as well. Finding the right information source will save you thousands of dollars every year, and countless instances of disappointment.
If you are reading this now, chances are, you are looking for an opportunity to change your trajectory. Chances are you also have no real plan on how to achieve what you want to achieve. You are asking friends, associates, coaches and other people who you think are going to give you good advice about what you should do. Everyone does this to begin with. Not everyone continues with a course of action that isn’t working though.
Its time for you to stop wasting time. Time to stop wasting money and at least talk to an Adviser. A good one will give you an honest opinion of where you fit in. You may not like his honestly, but at least you can never say you weren’t told the truth. Don’t wait until the end of the summer an you have spent all your money to do this either, by then you likely wont be able to afford the Adviser, and all those better roster spots will be full.
Information only retains its value when you act on it in a timely manner. What is google ranked on the first page today may not be tomorrow because someone else spent the money to optimize their opportunity. It is no different in hockey, and it is no different for you.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
