Tryouts At US

Question
Hi, My Name is Christian Giron, I'm from Colombia South America, i love this game and i have been skating since i was 6 and playing roller hockey like 6-7 years already. I'm 24 years old, 25 in September. I'm already graduated but i will like to try making a hockey career at the US. Is it too late for me? where can i go to make tryouts?. I got a good stickhandling, hi speed and been training really hard because we are in National championship, and looking forward to participate in the Echo Challenge tournament at Orlando with my inline hockey club.

Answer
Ok, so are you interested in Ice Hockey or In-line Hockey?  Both are pretty much the same with the exception of the number of players on the ice and players ability to do a hockey stop.  

If you can do a hockey stop at full speed, then you are better then most.  As for age.  99% of all players with the NHL or semi-pro leagues have played major juniors at 16.  This is key.  Most scouts, pro or college will not look at you unless you were playing in major juniors.

But, there is still that 1% that get ahead.  In order for you to make a career out  of this, you must stand out more then current pro's with the NHL.  The other direction you can go into is coaching.  This is the other route you can take.  Do you have a college degree that is accredited?  If so, you can get a NCAA coaching job and then make your way into the NHL through coaching.

If you don't have an accredited degree, then you can go more towards a program developer.  This means that you would run a hockey program for youth organizations.  Although it pays about $40,000 to $50,000 a year, you can get ahead more if you have an accredited college degree.

Now, there nothing saying you can't go try-out for "Open" try-outs.  Just call the team you are interested in and ask them if they have open try-outs.  If they don't move on to the next team.  However, you will have better luck with a semi-pro team.

I would recommend that you try calling teams within the CHL.  They have several teams along the Mexican border and could use a player like you.  I would recommend that you contact those teams and tell them that having a player that speaks Spanish could help drive more Hispanic to purchase season tickets.  Once you start talking money, they stop and listen.

I am about to get some work with a youth program in one of those CHL cities close to the border.  If you want, once I am there, I could talk to the owner for you.  In order to do this, I will need several things from you.  How many teams you have played with and what are your stats.

Hope I answered your questions.  Please feel free to send me all of this stuff to my e-mail address: [email protected]

Good luck
Head coach
www.passthepuck.net