This blog entry is directed mostly at my local youth hockey-niks...but if you live in Indiana (insert basketball) or if you live in Hawaii (insert surfing).
So, the other day I'm talking to a buddy who is an active board member at Minnesota Hockey (the governing body of association hockey which is affiliated directly with USA Hockey). As we were agreeing on just about everything that is right and wrong with youth hockey today...he gave me an incredible statistic he just discovered.
MNH surveyed the 2,000 parents whose kids played hockey last year and did not sign up again this year. My gut reaction was the parents would play the "economy" card. Fees for hockey can be close to $1,000 per year in the early years to up to $5,000 or more in years afterward.
Of the hundreds of replies received, only ONE replied that it was too expensive. That's a huge "wow" all by itself...but there's more. The other set of responses were categorized into two even batches:
1. Too Much Time: The first was that the amount of time that was required (3 days week in the early years to just 1-3 days off per month in the later years). The time commitment is huge and the early morning ice is especially painful. Most season's start light in September/October -- and go heavy from November to March (that's 6 months - not counting pre and post season clinics, AAA season, off season dryland and hockey camp).
2. Not Enough: In the early years (5-8 years old) it is common to have hockey on the weekends and once during the week. By 7 or 8, some parents (and presumably some kids, haha) want more than what their local association offers. Because of demand, there are For Profit entities happy to take these parent's money and charge them for 4-5 days a week, intense training, and adult styled games.
The conundrum is this:
Where is the happy medium to attract people to the fastest sport on earth? Is it against the law to want to just play recreationally (i.e. down at the park)? It is also not against the law to play as much as the kid/parent wants.
Commentary:
A heavy, heavy, heavy majority of the people fall in the middle. They want their kid to play hockey, play hockey with their friends, take part in a great (Minnesota) tradition. The problem lies with the people who lose this perspective...their agenda is to get their kid ahead of the pack at all cost even at the expense of friendships (including their neighbors). These people will move their families to the right zip code to get their kid on the right team, they will travel 2,000 miles to play in a game not as good as one in their own backyard....doing all of this with people they barely know and live nowhere near. All in the quest to get ahead or to say "Billy played in the Edmonton last Summer for the Pink Lady AAA Super Select Elite Ass Kickers!"
Herb Brooks said it best to his 1980 Olympic team, "...you were born to be a player, you were meant to be here..." If your kid was meant to be a player, let him play. But if your kid doesn't want to go to hockey on July 11th because it's 80 degrees and sunny and he'd rather climb a tree, then take a look in the mirror and remember whose sport it is and let him climb the tree.
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2 comments:
Another winning article!
I live in a hockey-mad section of Canada.
My oldest son is turning 9 this spring and has announced his retirement from hockey once this season comes to a close.
And you know what? I couldn't care less.
If you had told me 4 years ago, when he started as a mini Timbit player, that he would quit by age 9, I would have cried. A lot.
But not anymore.
The game is too long and overbearing for someone of my son's appetite.
He told me once that he would love to play hockey if it was once a week and in a 'pond hockey' atmosphere.
But he dislikes the organized games and the pressure associated with it.
While we don't have to drag him to games, he doesn't lose any sleep if he misses one either.
But when I build the annual backyard rink, I have to drag him off of it.
He loves the purity of the sport; skating, shooting, having FUN.
I've contacted our local governing body about creating a Pond Hockey program. It would be a mere 10 or 12 weeks, with only 1 game a week.
The rules would be simple, there would be none. Only two parents on the ice to make sure it's safe.
Other than that, let the kids have fun. No offsides, no positions, no icing. Just pure hockey.
The problem is, there's no extra ice for a program like this.
Not when you have Select 6's, Select 7's Major, Minor, AE teams, etc, etc.
A friend of my sons played 32 games by December 1st. That doesn't include the practices.
No 8-year-old should have that much sports going on in their life.
He can't play in the local basketball or volleyball leagues.
He can't take karate.
He can't do anything but play hockey. In fact, he does most of his school work on the way to an arena. He's also dined one too many times in a car this Fall and Winter.
When did playing hockey become a job?
My youngest is 5 and is in his 2nd year in Timbit hockey.
He likes hockey and I think he's a great little skater.
But he's already behind the 8-ball. He's never taken one skating class, powerskating lessen, hockey drill course, and he doesn't touch a hockey stick between April and October (except for days on the driveway).
Because of this, he's already well behind a lot of kids his age who have lived in an arena for a minimum of 10 months a year since they were 2.
I think people today hate their lives too much. They're desperate to have their kid BE SOMEONE.
They were a nobody but by God their kid is going to make waves!
They're desperate to have their kids play on elite teams so they can place that 'AAA' sticker on the back window of their minivan.
"Look everyone! My kid's awesome! Don't you wish your kid was awesome like mine?!?!?"
One of the saddest stories I've ever been told was from a mother who was very disappointed her son didn't win 'Athlete of the Year' in his Grade 8 class.
He won "Student of the Year" for not only having great grades but also for being a fantastic young man who treated his fellow classmates well and always listened to his teachers.
But this woman buried her head in her chest because her son didn't win an award that really mattered.
That's what's wrong with today's sports-obsessed parents.
They'd rather their child be a douche-bag athlete than a respectable, caring human being with average athletic skills.
Thanks for the great post...wow.
Looking for permission to re-post it someplace else on a youth hockey website.
Very well done.
Z
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