QuestionQUESTION: Hey Rob, my name is COry and im in a bit of a bind and would like your opinion. 營m 21 and never played junior hockey before this year. 營 went to Elmira to try out for the Echl team the Elmira jackals. 燭hey liked what they saw, but thought I should get some junior experience before playing on that level. SO i was sent to play juniors in Philadelphia. ? games into the season my coach, who is the assistant Elmira coach tells me Im to old to play in the league and I should continue to practice with the team to keep my game up and when this blows over I can play. 燦ow its 5 months later and im still in the same spot. 燤y coach doesn't help me at all and he lied to me the whole season saying hes sending me here and there and what not. 燦ow he wont send me to Elmira because I havent been playing in games, so he doesn't know if im ready which I think I am. 燦ow my question is, is how do you feel about me contacting the echl and ahl teams in the area to see if I can come down to a few practices so they can have a look at me and possibly place me somewhere next season. 營 just want a look honestly, I still have no stats and ive considered an agent because I know I can play at a high level I just need 燼 shot. 燭hankyou
ANSWER: Cory,
Thanks for writing. If the coach isn't doing anything for you, then I recommend that you don't wait for him to get you to the next level. Most coaches, even though they say the do, don't want you to leave.
but, if he's not doing anything for you...don't wait! I recommend that you find all of the teams within the league that suck. Then contact the coach via Linked-in and ask him when their open try-outs are. I recommend that you start to build yourself a resume of that teams that you played for in the past and the Coaches, Camp, programs that have help you become who you are.
Please it in a word document to when the coach says...send me some information about you. Send him that information via e-mail. Don't stop communicating with him until you have all of his contact information.
Then move on to the next team, and the next team, so on and so on, until there is no one left to contact. Then you start hitting teams that are out of your reach; South States, Central States, West Coast States. You just have to contact them one at a time and for god sake...keep track of who you talked to.
Get yourself a binder and several types of dividers; A-Z, Month, Day of the Week dividers you can buy at officemax. Now, when you contact these teams, you write down as much information on the team. Place the teams name at the top of the sheet. Then every time you make contact, you write the results on that sheet. Example:
Thunder birds Hockey Club
Address
City
State, Zip.
Contact person's name.
1.# February 23, 2012 Called left message to speak with coach...not in!
2.# February 30, 2012 Called talked with secretary, said call back next week on Friday.
So then you take that sheet out of the binder and move it over to the dividers that say Friday. So, depending on who you called, the first thing you do is call all of the contacts that are in the divider for that day.
So once you get to Friday, you call and they say, call next month. Yes, you take it out and place that sheet in the Month divider #March).
Why all of this bull shit? This is a corporate tracking system that is used for cold calling. This is exactly what you will be doing to sell a product. That product is...you! But you have to be organized. You can just call them off the cuff just because you are in a hurry. Plus, this system allows you to track multiple teams at one time. Each team you contact, you make out a new sheet. But this way you will get your foot in the door.
Now, it's not going to be easy. It takes a lot of work when you don't have an agent. In fact, this is what an agent will do...all of the leg work. But that's what you will pay him for and it's not cheap.
Now, if you get invited to a try-out, take your book with you because you might have to contact other teams that you have scheduled to talk too while you are out of town. The last thing you want is a coach waiting by the phone for you to call, and you don't. all that work getting into the door has now been shut because you didn't want to or didn't have the time.
Plus, if you are at that try-out, what if they don't want you. Then you will have to go to the next team. don't stop calling until you have a try-out. Then once you get the job, you call all the coaches or send them an e-mail, thanking them for time in selecting you. But you would like to write them to tell them that you have found work with this #X)team.
If you are good with computers, you can do the same thing on a spread sheet. The only way for you to get what you say you want is to put in the leg work. However, most people fail because they don't want to put in the work it takes to become successful at what it is they would like to do.
Plus, you have to have a mind set that you will do whatever it takes. In other words, you have to be hunger. What would you do if you haven't eaten in two weeks? Get it! Don't let anyone tell you that it can not be done. It's going to take work on your part to get it done. There will be days when you will say..WTF am I doing? Think about the end results. Think about what it will sound like, feel like taste like at the end result. this will keep you focused!
Good Luck and I hope this helped.
Rob Lopez - Commissioner
University Ice Hockey League - Mexico
www.passthepuck.net
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thankyou so much for your answer, it was a great help. The only problems I feel I'm going to run into with what you suggested is that I have no track record. I played all house leagues up until at 12 then stopped playing and then played one year of high school hockey at 15. I've been playing men's leagues and open hockey's since I went to the free agent pro camp in Elmira Ny. By going there I was sent to play juniors here. My problem is I have no stats and no records and I only played the first 5 games this season. My coach is known for making false promises to everybody to satisfy them for the short term and unfortunately I'm just finding this out now. So when I contact coaches there going to ask me for my records and I have none. I will show my self when i get the chance, it's just getting the shot that will be hard. This why I considered an agent, because without him I'm not sure what high level team will give me a shot.
ANSWER: Cory,
Send me some contact information about you. I have a friend that runs a pro team in Europe.
Rob
[email protected]
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Sure, that sounds great. My full name is Cory Rodriguez and I'm cell is (631)796-3172 and my email is . Let me know if you need more info. So back to what you were saying before, do you still think I should contact teams or agents around my area to see what they say?
AnswerCory...Rodriguez? Nice, I thought I was the only hispanic in hockey...LOL. For years, every time someone hears my last name they generally say..."Hockey, why not Soccer?"
You probably get that a lot as well. So, I need to know what state and city you live in. Plus, have you ever been to any hockey camps? Which ones? Ok, you played 5 games...what happened in those 5 games. I hate to play the race card, but your coach is a dick, maybe because you are hispanic. He probabaly is pissed that a hispanic in moving into "his" game.
Do you have any videos of you playing? If so, post them on YouTube and send me the link.
Rob
