This is an interesting piece about Nik Stauskas' development in the Michigan Daily. I've always wondered about how a good athlete in a hockey-obsessed country ends up playing anything else. Getting picked to shoot with Vince Carter at a Raptors' game as a 10-year old is a great anecdote, and generally you get a sense of where his drive and self-confidence come from.
http://www.michigandaily.com/sports/3-holding-court-nik-stauskas-growth-...
I think there was an article
I've always wondered about
I've always wondered about how a good athlete in a hockey-obsessed country ends up playing anything else
I know this is a little off-topic, but is it really that crazy? America is obsessed with football and we still have elite athletes choose soccer or baseball or hockey over football.
I was hoping the Daily would go a little more into Stauskas' first year in Ann Arbor, but a cool piece nonetheless. I like that they pointed out that Nik is such a coachable player.
CoE Class of 2007
This might be a product of living in the US...
where taller people get steered towards basketball with more regularity, but the percentage of high school type hockey players >6'6 is really small, with the median probably being typical NHL size of 5'10-6'2. Just speaking generally, playing good basketball as a really tall person is easier than being good at hockey at his height; he'd be ~48th percentile for height in the NBA and ~96th in the NHL.
I'm not at all saying someone with his athleticism wouldn't shine, especially in youth and high school hockey, but as someone who is 6'6 192 coming out of high school (presumably even taller for his age bracket and maybe lankier in, say, elementary school), his size is almost certainly an advantage in one sport and a disadvantage in the other. Just looking at Stauskas, he looks like a basketball player all the way. Not too surprising he went the route he did, IMO.
Go Blue!
I thought the author wildly overplayed that angle,
too. Thirty-five million people are going to have a lot of different interests.
Especially when they talk about his peer group...
playing basketball at five years old. If you're good at something your friends like to do and don't have a good reason to change (like finding out you'll be 5'10 192 instead of 6'6 192 and seeing a better future on the ice), why would you?
Go Blue!
35 million
B ball is pretty big in a lot of Canadian high schools. In fact in my HS b ball had more status than hockey. I played on both teams for a year but had to choose only one given the overlap
Keep your stick on the ice.
what elite athlete in this country ever chose soccer
over football?
Josy Altidore...so there's 1
Josy Altidore...so there's 1 (if you can't tell I'm answering somewhat jokingly as this is the best and perhaps only example I have)
Well, remember we're talking
Well, remember we're talking at the younger ages, not at an athlete's peak. Plenty of middle and high schoolers that are exceptional athletes in their peer group choose alternatives to football.
CoE Class of 2007
(No subject)
CoE Class of 2007
Real question: what OTHER
Real question: what OTHER sport do you think that he would be good at? I chose Altidore because I think he could have played Bball or football (American) with his athleticism. Dempsey is quite a good footballer(soccer), but I don't know what else he'd translate to.
See, I don't think you can
See, I don't think you can look at it like that. RIGHT NOW, no I don't think Dempsey could excel at any other sport (though, maybe, I'm not sure). I do know he is an elite athlete and if he had chosen, say, basketball, I suspect he would have been pretty succesful at that as well.
If we're talking about kids at a young high school age that could potentially excel in whichever sport they choose, then yeah, a lot of kids that choose baseball or soccer or lacrosse and don't play football could have probably been pretty good football players.
CoE Class of 2007
Also, Stauskas is from the
Also, Stauskas is from the Lithuanian community in Toronto. Lithuania is a basketball-crazed country, so it's really not surprising that he'd be into the sport.
Defense
Nik's statements on hating to play defense when he first arrived at St. Mark's really stood out to me. His coach had to "pound it into him because he wasn't used to playing much defense." It will be nice to see that part of his game continue to develop at U-M.
"He played the trombone. Did you know he played the trombone? That's a tough one to picture." --Kovacs, on Denard "Shoelace" Robinson
Important but unrelated.
Wolverine is allegedly from Canada and so is Stauskas...
Wolverine and Stauskas
Stauskas is the best he is at what he does for Michigan. Also had a quick return from the blow to the head, im seeing a lot of similarities here.
nice article. but jeeze, I
nice article. but jeeze, I know they're college kids, but the writing is just...unbearable..
Marry me, Chantel.
I think there was an article real similar to this but not from the same site. Unless this was all paraphrased. Certainly a good read!
Michigan FB, Michigan BB, Michigan HKY, 49ers, SF Giants, Sac Kings, Red Wings