The things I’m learning about the NTDP right now are incredibly fucking disturbing
No wonder Will is living life at the fullest. He was fucking traumatised and abused for years.
No wonder he wants to make the most of every hobby when his ‘individuality was broken down’ to create a ‘better team’. When he was referred to as a ‘product’. Not prospect, not player. Product.
No wonder he keeps everything private when the coaches kept tabs on every player’s dating life. No wonder he’s always on time and plans everything when ‘there would be consequences’ for being late to anything.
No wonder he loves to bake when the NTDP controlled every meal down to the MINUTE and measured their weight and body fat constantly. No FUCKING WONDER he likes restaurants when the NTDP caught two players eating a McFlurry and publicly humiliated and punished the whole team for it. When he was only allowed “16 grapes”, “10 fries”, “23 almonds”, “12 baby carrots” AS SNACKS ?????
No wonder he’s chronically online and calls his parents at any opportunity when the NTDP confiscated his phone every fucking day.
No wonder patriotism runs so rampant when they’re made to exhaust themselves in the name of America and tap their sticks after each anthem. They are a CULT. They’ve partnered with the MILITARY!!!! Their merch says DEFEND THE FLAG.
No wonder he’s building a life outside of hockey after playing for an organisation that forced him to change in the hallways because he hadn’t ‘earned the right to privacy’.
An organisation that employed coaches using military training techniques on 15 year old boys. One of those coaches who was then charged for the murder of a 16 year old boy.
An organisation with a secondary ice pad for the boys to keep skating while the Zamboni flooded the main rink. So they couldn’t even rest for 10 minutes. 2 hours with no breaks. And then gym. And then weights. And then fucking jiu jitsu.
An organisation that forces families to hand over guardianship and power of attorney the moment their children move in with a billet family.
The organisation that urges players to do online school so no reporters outside USA Hockey can get information out of them.
They make these teenagers run miles with logs the shoulders. They made them go through a 12 week program in just 6 weeks. The conditioning was described as ‘excruciating’.
An organisation with NO OFF DAYS. Coaches that admit to push them further than their limits, and when they’re exhausted, they keep pushing.
Years of his life Will himself describes as ‘army style’. Literally saying “at first I was like ‘get me out of this place’. The workouts were awful. 8 hours a day in the rink”. And Leno said “work outs that just don’t end. Going through Hell with them.”
No wonder he’s doing anything and everything when he wasn’t allowed out of the rink from sunrise to sunset. Even online school was at the rink.
He was in a fucking cult. And the only thing that saved him from the full scope of horrors was his family taking one look at that place and going “you’re not going alone”.
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