12U large player help and insight.

I really just wanna hear that I’m doing the best I can, I guess as a parent I’m struggling. Maybe other coaches/parents can reassure me.

I have a 12U player that I’m trying to push to get faster. He’s 6th grade, been playing hockey for 6 years, always on a travel team. I reference him as a locomotive, once he gets going he’s hard to stop. He can stop himself with ease but players that get in front of him he usually goes right through.

He is 11, 5’6 tall, 195 lbs. he has legs like tree trunks. He does have a belly on him that he’s working to reduce.

I’ve given him every opportunity we can, he has a skate coach that he skates with weekly, him and 2 AAA 14U players in the same class. Ours isn’t AAA but that would be his ultimate goal. But it seems so far out of reach for him at this point. But I’m really hoping for him.

He has a lift coach that has a background of coaching hockey players, his lift coach recently told us that he’s never had a 6th grader lift the kind of weight he lifts. I’ve seen him do 18” box jumps with 10 lb weights, leg press 400 lbs, goblet squats with 65 lb weights, 225 partial dead lifts, I’ve seen all of this happen or most wouldn’t believe it.

His problem is getting him going, getting him moving, once he’s moving he’s good but getting his feet going fast enough is the struggle.

I guess I’m asking has others seen this? Did the switch eventually just click and the player all the sudden took off and got moving? I truly believe he’s in the wrong sport but he’s very passionate about hockey and wants to get better. Recently we’ve been working more on toning and less on bulking cause he’s saying his thighs affect his crossover ability.