Episode #103

Join us as we talk to John Luetkemeyer about how a youth sports organization went from a local disaster to national recognition based on volunteers changing how we trained players! It is an incredible conversation filled with nuggets of wisdom.

John has spent 25 years as a youth hockey coach working with players from mini-mite to high school. The last 15 years he has been a coach with the Kirkwood Youth Hockey Association, including 7 years as its Coaching Director. John researched, designed, and implemented a Mite Development Program for U6 & U8 in 2006; a format that Missouri Hockey mandated other clubs adopt in 2009.

Since 2011, John has spearheaded full adoption of the USA Hockey’s American Development Model, leading to the club’s designation as a USA Hockey Model Association in 2013 (currently only 23 in the entire country). In 2015 John turned the Coaching Director role over to his protege but remains on both the Board & Coaches Committee of the club.

Quick Announcements:

Way of Champions Conference will be in Denver, CO on August 2-4. Visit https://changingthegameproject.com/wocconference for more information!

Highlights from the podcast with John Luetkemeyer:

Min 14 The club before making changes

Min 18 “As a club, we were losing 7 out of 10 games…”

Min 27 The anxiety level at our evaluations decreased substantially for our parents

Min 32 How the implementation process went down

Min 34 Redefining Success and Improvement (re-training the parents)

Min 41 Saying goodbye to those who don’t like the change

Min 44 When the parents “get it”

Min 49 Confidence drives participation in sport

Min 50 The statistics of implementing this program