am i too old too start bak up and advance too make a career out of hockey one day???

Question
hi.. i am 23 and live in brevard county florida.i played hockey in 1997 to 1998 when i was younger and went to two huron camps.i was a right wing and had a great time picking the game up from scratch.i recently bought a pair of skates a month ago to see if i could do it or not and found out i was skating better than i did back in the day.theres not much for ice hockey in florida but i cant stop thinking about it.my old coach told my ma back in 1998 that i should stick with it and one day i will definitly be great...but because of school and soccer and baseball i unfortunatly couldnt..i am a natural athlete and cant stop thinking about hockey.i am getting into an adult rec league...seen them play and know that soon they will be no challenge for me.this summer i will have the chance too move anywhere in the u.s. and maybe thinking about canada..where my grandpa played hockey his whole life?is there any chance for me too go anywhere in this great sport,or someday make a career out of doing what i love and shouldove been doing since 1998?please help i know i was meant too play...  thanks  micah.

Answer
hi Micah....

To be realistic your odds are somewhat against you if you have not already played some junior or college level hockey by now!  HOWEVER THEY ARE CERTAINLY NOT IMPOSSIBLE.  

Yes you must be playing in the highest levels of hockey you possibly can as soon as you can.  Your clock is ticking, but if you can somehow get noticed or go to some exposure camps you just never know...  You need to get games in and build a reputation through playing and getting some history of stats and scouting.

Once you "get in the system" you will then be able to climb the ranks to show your skills.  You can promote yourself by putting a little resume together and mailing/giving them to coaches of team's you'd like to play for.  This will "make them" look at you...  bottom line though - YOU MUST PERFORM!!  

Here are some links of minor pro teams you can try to contact:Most of the tryouts are typically in late summer... though some leagues will run some screening skates at the end of their seasons in  the spring.  

You can write to the team's scouts and managers that you are interested in, sending in your resume, and most will let you know when their open tryouts are!

The hockey news will advertise exposure camps during the summer months.  There is usually very little TRYOUT recruiting during the season.   

Sending in your resume COULD get you call though!  If for some reason a team suffers alot of injuries -- I've heard stories that some teams have had to call up (men's league) players in a road town to see if they could come out and SUB...  and some guys have even stayed on after the game!!!


So if you are looking for minor pro - there are several leagues you can look up --  SPHL (http://www.thesphl.com/), UHL (http://www.theuhl.com/) and CHL (http://www.centralhockeyleague.com/)to name three, or if you want to go to Europe - you can check out the Elite League (http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/) -- if you really want to aim higher you can try ECHL or AHL as well.  They usually have their open tryouts a little later in the year.

As I said you can also buy the Hockey News or maybe look up their site - they will occasionally have an ad or two in there about OPEN FREE AGENT CAMPS http://esportsdesk.com/leagues/custom_page.cfm?leagueID=13721%26clientID=4226%26...
for Minor Pro players who want to get scouted and maybe get an "agent".  These camps will get you exposure and from there you may get a tryout...  be prepared as sometimes it is in Europe...  It pays decent in Europe -- but it can be a trek if you are not used to it!

Again know that there are alot of "players" on the market --  so what will make it tougher for you is if you don't have a track record...  i.e. recent stats? references.  However, some coaches are more open to 'risking' than others - you may have to PR yourself for that.

Notwithstanding -- if you can stand OUT each and every game they watch you play -- you may get a shot somewhere and the key will be for you to keep the same level of play (or higher) going.

Feel free to follow up with anything if I missed something or if you wish that I elaborate.

Thanks and good luck with the puck!

Feel free to follow up with any other questions.

Martial