Today I sit down with NHL defensemen Brian Strait to talk about how he navigated his way from Massachusetts youth hockey to prep school and then out to the US National Development Program.  Brian has put together an impressive career including a world U18 championship, multiple Beanpot and Hockey East championships, a National Championship in 2009 and 10 year professional career playing for the Pittsburg Penguins, the New York Islanders and the NJ Devils organizations.

We cover a lot of great points through the show from what to focus out on workouts to dealing with "family advisors", but the 2 biggest takeaways for me are: 

1. Everyone has a different path, find yours not someone else’s. 

2. If you find your sport early, run with it.

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Show notes

2:15 - Realizing that hockey was the sport

4:34 - No two kids are the same

6:40 - Avoiding burn out

7:50 - Listen to your child

9:50 - Focusing on what the next step is

12:00 - Being recruited as a 12 year old and meeting my agent

14:35 - Do your homework on “family advisors”

16:20 - Experience with prep school

18:30 - Wanting to be one of the elite players

20:00 - Realizing that you have a chance at a dream

22:33 - Our take on off ice training at the youth level

25:20 - Focus on plyometrics: box jumps, hurdles etc..

27:30 - Living like a professional athlete

29:25 - Playing to your strength to get to the next level

30:55 - Living life away from home

33:40 - Eliminating distractions

35:45 - Stay the course, verbals don’t matter and you have time

37:00 - The factor that put you over the top