I decided to write today after getting calls from a few parents yesterday. Both sets of parents looking to fire their current adviser and hire my company. I get these calls a lot unfortunately.
I get these calls for a number of reasons. The most common reasons are that the parents hired someone cheaper, someone with no experience, someone that “said” they could do things, or someone who held themselves out to be something they clearly were not.
I also get these calls when parents are told their child is something that he is not.
These are very hard phone calls to have in nearly every case. In nine out of ten cases, we do not take the family as a client for one of a number of reasons.
Self examination as a player is a hard thing to do sometimes. Forcing yourself to have hard looks at the decisions you make and the expectations you have as a player is something every player must do.
Unfortunately, players aren’t doing it enough, and some Advisers out there are blowing so much smoke up their clients asses that the player cant see clearly.
Here is a clue for all who are clueless. If you are playing Tier III hockey, and you bounce from team to team during the season every year, if you are on your third or fourth team in the year, you are not an NCAA prospect. You are a body filling a roster spot and paying the bills.
If your “Adviser” keeps making moves for you, without you actually understanding why the moves are being made, or how the moves are being made, you have an “Adviser” who will end your career before you have a chance to end it yourself.
If you are a pay to play fourth line player, and you move to another pay to play team and are still a fourth line player, you need to examine why. You need to wonder why you made that move. If your “Adviser” is making you move from one pay to play team to another, and another, you need to ask why.
If you find yourself on a team where a bunch of the players are represented by the same “Adviser” chances are you have a big problem.
Junior hockey was never designed to be for every player to have an opportunity to play junior hockey. It was designed for the elite level player, the prospect. Not the player who is simply going to collect another participation trophy because there are so many teams that anyone can play.
Your “Adviser” should have a plan for you. Your “Adviser” has a fiduciary responsibility to make every effort to save you money. Your “Adviser” has an ethical responsibility to place you in an appropriate league at the appropriate level that will allow you to develop. Your “Adviser” has an ethical and moral responsibility to know, understand, and work within the rules to make sure you maintain NCAA eligibility.
Finally, your “Adviser” should know what a real prospect is. Real prospects maneuver within the system. There is a big difference between maneuvering and manipulating someone else’s weakness.
If you find yourself having issues, or questions, its time to look in the mirror and examine yourself. It may be something you are doing, something you are saying, or a belief you have that is getting in your way.
When you do this self examination, sometimes you find you are ok with the truth. Sometimes you are challenged by it. But in every instance, when its done honestly, you at least know who you are and where you really stand.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
