a result.
In Hockey Calgary, we were responsible for 1,500 Peewee children, who mostly had coaches with very little experience. Layer that on top of Moms and Dads (particularly Dads) who were probably raised in an environment of “Suck it up,” and “You just got your bell rung.”
Little Johnny was lying motionless on the ice, and several of the parents had now come closer to the glass, to see if Johnny was going to be okay. Presumably one of those parents was Johnny’s mother, gasping and horrified at the thought that her son was lying there motionless on the ice, facedown.
At the same time, from the other side of the rink, Coach Smith is scooting across the ice in his tennis shoes towards little Johnny. The referees were standing 20-30 feet away, talking to one another. These teenaged boys would have been scared that they had missed a call that might have led to this moment.
The coach, of course, while shuffling across the ice, is letting a few choice words fly out of his mouth in the direction of the referees who, in his opinion, have missed a call. Unfortunately, the fact that little Johnny is lying on the ice doesn’t mean he was fouled. In this case, he had been legally checked, even though he seemed to be very hurt by the hit.
When the coach reached little Johnny, it becomes pretty clear that Johnny is terrified, scared more than anything over the fact that he’s just had this huge, huge hit; he still lay motionless on the ice. Thankfully the coach didn’t try to move him initially, and he allowed Johnny to decide of his own accord whether he could move or not.
For a few minutes, all of the parents pressed up against the glass, watching, the referees stood a good distance away, and the players were all assigned back to their benches. You could hear a pin drop in the arena, as this ten-year-old Fourth Grader was lying on the ice motionless. Thankfully, eventually Johnny was able to, of his own accord, roll over and sit up. He was visibly shaken up by this, and was in tears. He was helped to his feet, and thankfully, he was not severely injured.
This situation, in particular, ended well. Johnny returned to the bench, and a few shifts later, he was back skating. However, all too often, the outcome of such an accident is a little bit different.
Within this book so far, I’ve spoken out mostly about body checking among eleven- to twelve-year-old children in the Peewee age group. But I personally believe that there shouldn’t be body checking in any children’s leagues, except for possibly the most elite groups. Hockey for 99% of these children is about camaraderie and enjoyment – not unlike within adult recreational, or “beer” leagues.
What is interesting is that, within beer league or recreational hockey for adults, there is no body checking. Why? Because the businesspeople who play in those leagues need to wake up the next day to go to work. Shouldn’t we be thinking the same thing about our children? If they get hit too hard, they may not be able to go to school. Isn’t there something the matter with this?
On a snowy day in Calgary, I look out my window and see kids playing on the pond that’s just over the hill. That’s what hockey is all about. It’s about kids having fun. That’s where this game came from. And it’s what we need to remember at the ice arena.
This nostalgic memory of playing on a pond outside in the middle of the winter conflicts directly with the vision of some parents and coaches in our current environment. They want their team to win at all costs, and they want their kid to end up in the NHL and get fame and fortune. Believe it or not, this is one of the main arguments against the elimination of body checking at the Peewee level.
Some coaches and parents believe that their kids need to start learning to body check at age eleven, or they won’t be able to get into the NHL. We tested that hypothesis, and we spoke to several members of the NHL, and
In Hockey Calgary, we were responsible for 1,500 Peewee children, who mostly had coaches with very little experience. Layer that on top of Moms and Dads (particularly Dads) who were probably raised in an environment of “Suck it up,” and “You just got your bell rung.”
Little Johnny was lying motionless on the ice, and several of the parents had now come closer to the glass, to see if Johnny was going to be okay. Presumably one of those parents was Johnny’s mother, gasping and horrified at the thought that her son was lying there motionless on the ice, facedown.
At the same time, from the other side of the rink, Coach Smith is scooting across the ice in his tennis shoes towards little Johnny. The referees were standing 20-30 feet away, talking to one another. These teenaged boys would have been scared that they had missed a call that might have led to this moment.
The coach, of course, while shuffling across the ice, is letting a few choice words fly out of his mouth in the direction of the referees who, in his opinion, have missed a call. Unfortunately, the fact that little Johnny is lying on the ice doesn’t mean he was fouled. In this case, he had been legally checked, even though he seemed to be very hurt by the hit.
When the coach reached little Johnny, it becomes pretty clear that Johnny is terrified, scared more than anything over the fact that he’s just had this huge, huge hit; he still lay motionless on the ice. Thankfully the coach didn’t try to move him initially, and he allowed Johnny to decide of his own accord whether he could move or not.
For a few minutes, all of the parents pressed up against the glass, watching, the referees stood a good distance away, and the players were all assigned back to their benches. You could hear a pin drop in the arena, as this ten-year-old Fourth Grader was lying on the ice motionless. Thankfully, eventually Johnny was able to, of his own accord, roll over and sit up. He was visibly shaken up by this, and was in tears. He was helped to his feet, and thankfully, he was not severely injured.
This situation, in particular, ended well. Johnny returned to the bench, and a few shifts later, he was back skating. However, all too often, the outcome of such an accident is a little bit different.
Within this book so far, I’ve spoken out mostly about body checking among eleven- to twelve-year-old children in the Peewee age group. But I personally believe that there shouldn’t be body checking in any children’s leagues, except for possibly the most elite groups. Hockey for 99% of these children is about camaraderie and enjoyment – not unlike within adult recreational, or “beer” leagues.
What is interesting is that, within beer league or recreational hockey for adults, there is no body checking. Why? Because the businesspeople who play in those leagues need to wake up the next day to go to work. Shouldn’t we be thinking the same thing about our children? If they get hit too hard, they may not be able to go to school. Isn’t there something the matter with this?
On a snowy day in Calgary, I look out my window and see kids playing on the pond that’s just over the hill. That’s what hockey is all about. It’s about kids having fun. That’s where this game came from. And it’s what we need to remember at the ice arena.
This nostalgic memory of playing on a pond outside in the middle of the winter conflicts directly with the vision of some parents and coaches in our current environment. They want their team to win at all costs, and they want their kid to end up in the NHL and get fame and fortune. Believe it or not, this is one of the main arguments against the elimination of body checking at the Peewee level.
Some coaches and parents believe that their kids need to start learning to body check at age eleven, or they won’t be able to get into the NHL. We tested that hypothesis, and we spoke to several members of the NHL, and
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