Outliers Academy brings more opportunity
With the Utah Regulators program reinventing itself as Outliers Hockey Academy for the upcoming 2015-16 season, leaders within the program are confident the transition will initiate more growth for the game, locally.
Outliers director of hockey operations Paul Taylor and club president Scott Farrell, who also work together with the Western States Hockey League’s Salt Lake City Moose, are committed to making the organization stand out from the pack.
“What will set us apart will be the way we develop players and our attention to detail,” said Taylor. “It’s a small community here in Utah, and we want everyone to see how the players will literally transform before your eyes.
“You know how there are before-and-after pictures when people go on diets and you see how much they’ve changed? That’s what we want to do with the Outliers. Look at the kids when they start and then at the end of the season and you’ll see positive growth and development.”
The idea of creating the Outliers program came from the 2008 book of the same title authored by Malcolm Gladwell. Taylor described an outlier as someone who’s unique and has the ability to separate from a group.
“That’s what our program is all about – to initiate significant change people want to experience,” said Taylor. “We want all of our program’s players to play at an elite status and put themselves in a position to be successful.
“We’re not all about wins and losses; we’re about development.”
To start next season, Taylor said the organization, which will be classified as AA with an eye towards evolving into a AAA outfit in short order, will have a Squirt team, two Pee Wee squads, a Bantam club and an 18U team.
Taylor noted that 90 percent of every roster is already full for next season, and all coaches are also in place.
“As an academy, there’ll also be an education component to the program,” Taylor said. “I think when people start to look around and see what other programs offer, ours will certainly stand out based on what we’ll provide and our results.”
– Matt Mackinder