Auston Matthews' Curious Message to Hockey Parents

If you’re a hockey parent spending weekends shuttling your 10-year-old from one tournament to the next and summers at back-to-back power-skating camps, Auston Matthews has some advice: stop. Seriously. He believes the grind, the pressure, the “never miss a session” mentality is crushing young athletes before they’ve even hit puberty.

And who is he to say this? Not a fringe fourth-liner. The guy who terrorizes NHL goalies for a living and is a generational talent drafted first overall by the Maple Leafs.

Matthews Weighs in on an Important Question.

Matthews weighed in on a topic that every parent and coach needs to hear: play other sports. Take breaks. Don’t burn out. He played lots of hockey when he was young, but he didn’t live at the rink 24/7, he noted. He played baseball. Loved it. Now he plays tennis in his downtime. Cross-training didn’t hurt his shot or his hands; it made him a better athlete.

In fact, Matthews only focused on hockey full-time when he was 13. Not 7. Not 9. Thirteen. That’s the age he really started honing his craft. Until then, he sampled other sports, learned balance, and developed his athleticism in ways a single-sport grind could never teach.

Matthews Believes that Downtime Helps Build Long-Term Success.

It’s a lesson worth listening to. Parents and coaches often think that every missed session is a setback, every skipped tournament a loss. Matthews shows the opposite: diversity and downtime can be the best way to build long-term success. Kids need to explore, to play, to get bored, and yes, sometimes to fail at something that isn’t hockey. Because that variety fuels creativity, coordination, and love for the game.

The Bottom Line, According to Matthews?

So here’s the takeaway: let kids pick up a racket, a soccer ball, or just hang out for a weekend without a practice schedule. Auston Matthews, who could be the best goal scorer on the planet, is proof that elite talent doesn’t come from constant grind. It comes from balance, patience, and a little freedom to just play. And if he says it’s important, maybe it’s time we all listened.