Or better yet, who's your Mama? 

The correlation between the athletic background of an athlete's parents, uncles, or grandparent and the child's success is often a huge debate. The purpose of this series is not to discuss the empirical evidence correlating success of former athletes and their children. This series is simple...there are four simple pieces to the puzzle that may lead a player to athletic success, each of which can be overcome if a player chooses.

First of all, every player makes it to the next level on their own merit...especially Division I or the NHL. Having the right last name is important along the way, but it will not get you a Division I scholarship.

But here is where the right last name and good genes can help. If a player's parents played a sport or sports at a high level growing up it can be an important lens into how much work it takes to make it.

Example: One top-end Bantam player in Minnesota has an athletic Dad and a Mom who was All American Gymnast. First of all, having athletic parents is a plus. But having a parent who performed at a very high level understands what it takes to be great. A level of understanding that is far higher than the high school flameout (for many reader's, including the author grab a mirror).

Genetically it is helpful to have some athletic success on your family tree. Being the child of Bret Hedican and Kristi Yamaguchi is not a guarantee of Olympic Gold. One former Gopher player had relatively average parents in stature and athletic ability. But his uncle was an All American tailback. The physiological meal ticket skipped his parents but not their son.

Physiology is a very important topic that arises in many conversations around the rink. Here's a favorite of mine, "the kid is good, but both of his parents are five foot two..." As if to say, the kid should give up and become a jockey or a plane spotter on Fantasy Island. That being said, a player's size is important, which can easily be tracked to his parents or family tree. His athletic ability is important...which can often be traced to their family tree. Other factors that can't be taught and are usually God given are Trainability (can the child's body or mind take the mind numbing amount of work it takes to make it) or Athletic IQ (the player has all the tools to play the game but no mental aptitude to be sucessful).

In more cases than not, the player with the proper DNA suited for size, speed, hard work and field smarts can be traced to a family member who has done it before him. Is the theory 100%? No.

As they say on April 15, the only things that are 100% are taxes and taxes.