Interested in feedback from long-term coaches or experienced parents: Do the kids who have been at the top of the age group over the years tend to remain at the top throughout high school or is it more common to see significant turnover in the top players after puberty? Does turnover tend to occur more with defenders where a big physical kid who is years behind in stick skills can still be really impactful? I understand that the 2023s who have already had their growth spurt are temporarily advantaged but assume late developers will soon catch up. What to expect afterwards? What have you seen?
This is a great question and a nice break from "holdback" and "zone defense" posts. In my experience, (parent and coach) I would say that the top players in an age group do tend to be the top players in HS. I have seen many kids that were great in 8th grade, who I knew were great, now playing on Saturday's for top programs. However this is still a generalization. I have had a chance to watch the careers of a few D1 players and the common denominator for me was that they all worked very hard. They always seem to be the ones that practiced a lot and asked tons of questions. The kid who had his stick in his hand almost all the time. Size is an issue for some positions but there are AA players under 5'10". I think at the highest levels of play there are plenty of great athletes but that is not enough. I think some players are just "gamers" and know how to make plays. Some coaches refer to this as lax IQ. Even at the 2023 age group it is not always the biggest kid who is the best player. I think the players that love the game and work to improve on their own tend to be the ones who will be the top HS players. They are also some of the best players now.
