squirt player question

2erdna · Post by **2erdna** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:09 pm

Looking for some insight on our issue...... Here is the problem My son has another year of squirts left, but our association probably won't have a B team next year like they did the previous two years, so does he stay to play C or he could try out for PeeWee ( not sure if thats a good idea). Otherwise down the road from us is an association that will have a B team, which may be an option, or there is an association even further down the road that has an A team. The 2nd option would take a bit more commitment but can be done. Anyways he is a 3rd year squirt and has had some success both years in squirts so I think that is what makes the decision harder. He on the other hand doesn't say to much, so I think he'd do whatever we think is best. Sorry to ramble on....just looking for some opinions. Thanks

DMan-dad · Post by **DMan-dad** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:31 am

OK I'll bite. He should play with his friends.

If you move to the A association, if it's not in his school district he won't be able to play A's his first year.

DMom · Post by **DMom** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:41 am

DMan-dad wrote:OK I'll bite. He should play with his friends.

If you move to the A association, if it's not in his school district he won't be able to play A's his first year.

He can waive because his association isn't offering an A team or a B team.

Play him at the highest level he is capable of, put off PeeWees. One wicked hit can make a kid tentative for it long enough to become a habit. He'll make new friends on his new team and he'll play against them in the future and it'll be fun for him.

dogeatdog1 · Post by **dogeatdog1** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:21 am

DMom wrote:
DMan-dad wrote:OK I'll bite. He should play with his friends.

If you move to the A association, if it's not in his school district he won't be able to play A's his first year.
He can waive because his association isn't offering an A team or a B team.

Play him at the highest level he is capable of, put off PeeWees. One wicked hit can make a kid tentative for it long enough to become a habit. He'll make new friends on his new team and he'll play against them in the future and it'll be fun for him.

M2cents- Don't put him in a bucket. If he is big try him out at peewees. I would wait and take the 3 years at a higher level (peewees) Sounds like he is a B-C player having some success. Don't get him over his head and let him keep his friends at this point. If you bring him to an association that has an A team (most likely with the politics of hockey) if he is a Bubble A player he won't be on the team.

mnhcp · Post by **mnhcp** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:45 am

"KNOW THY KID".

Some kids make friends easily where ever you drop them off.

Other don't.

So don't listen to "play with their friends". Do what's right for your kids personality. Too many parents keep their kids in these little "comfort zones".

Same goes for the level at which they play. Some kids will only play at the level for which they're expected. Others will rise to the challenge.

Do what's right for your kids personality (and ability).

2erdna · Post by **2erdna** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:04 pm

Thanks for the feedback. The 1st response "okay I'll bite", not sure what that meant. Anyway, all his friends have to move up based on their Bdays. My son ,however, has that "right after the deadline" birthday. He isn't a very big kid so PeeWee is outta the question. He's played with some of the kids that play on the B team that is located near us in summer leagues. I'm not sure if he's friends with any of them though. He is plenty capable of playing A and being an impact player. Yeah we ,wife and I, were worried about the politics and it is quite a commitment for a 10 yr old to have to travel 45 minutes to and from practice. So many pros and cons. We just want him to be challenged and have fun. thanks again

InigoMontoya · Post by **InigoMontoya** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:00 pm

Your association will only field one squirt team next year, and they've already opted to skate them at the C level? With an impact A player returning? Hmm.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:54 pm

InigoMontoya wrote:Your association will only field one squirt team next year, and they've already opted to skate them at the C level? With an impact A player returning? Hmm.

That isn't impossible IM, in fact it's very plausible. Our association only has one team. It has three kids who are good enough to play AAA Invite level in the spring but then another 11 players who can literally barely skate. It's quite the drop off and can be very frustrating to watch as a parent and even the three top players show their frustration at times (though all three are good boys and their teammates are their teamates and they know that). The point is 1 guy (not even three) can make a team at the squirt level but deciding which level to commit to can be tough. Our team beats C teams decisively, is about .500 against B teams and can't compete against A teams, we do that well against the B's because we have three really good players, but if we only had one I bet we wouldn't even be close to .500 against the B's. No matter how good 1 kid is, he can't lift an entire team on his shoulders at Squirts, at Mites maybe but not Squirts. And to ask them to is asking too much IMO. Small associations have this problem frequently. I don't know this gentleman's association but if it's that small it's pretty realistic having seen it.

InigoMontoya · Post by **InigoMontoya** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:20 pm

I don't understand. Your team plays C teams, and B teams, and A teams?

2erdna · Post by **2erdna** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:22 pm

We do have a small association. 12 mites, 18 squirts, 17 peewees and there are 2 bantam teams. Is that small enough???

observer · Post by **observer** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:48 pm

A recruiting drop off. To have kids skating at the right level you need more kids. Tough situation for you but the association needs to crank up the recruiting machine to lessen the impact in the future.

InigoMontoya · Post by **InigoMontoya** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:25 pm

At the risk of sounding rude, if your association only has 12 mites, I'd run as fast as I can to that association down the road. Your association cannot possibly maintain a program with 3 kids in each grade.

2erdna · Post by **2erdna** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:58 pm

Tell me about it. 2 years ago we had 80 kids in the learn to skate. the following year we retained just less than 30%. So yeah, we did some figuring that when my son is a sophmore it would be the only year he would skate with a full HS team. After that the number fall off......considerably. The board is trying to redo some things for the learn to skate program to retain kids. The problem was they'd have 80 kids and 4 parent volunteers, so many kids didn't get one on one attention they needed to learn to skate. SO then when they had to move up based on age their age they couldn't compete or develope so they'd quit.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:27 am

InigoMontoya wrote:I don't understand. Your team plays C teams, and B teams, and A teams?

Yes. We try to find the right "mix" so that our three top kids get challenged (and so we don't lose them), and so our other kids can develop. It's a tough balancing act let me tell you.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:34 am

2erdna wrote:Tell me about it. 2 years ago we had 80 kids in the learn to skate. the following year we retained just less than 30%. So yeah, we did some figuring that when my son is a sophmore it would be the only year he would skate with a full HS team. After that the number fall off......considerably. The board is trying to redo some things for the learn to skate program to retain kids. The problem was they'd have 80 kids and 4 parent volunteers, so many kids didn't get one on one attention they needed to learn to skate. SO then when they had to move up based on age their age they couldn't compete or develope so they'd quit.

I feel for you 2erdna. We have a brand new association (only in our 2nd year) and while the really young numbers are optimistic (mite and younger), our squirt, pee wee and bantam players are practically unfortunate casualties in getting the association off the ground and on it's feet in these early years.

InigoMontoya · Post by **InigoMontoya** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:46 am

Yes. We try to find the right "mix"

Don't let yeahyeahyeah catch wind of that, it's one of those MNH rules that some association have to follow.

yeahyeahyeah · Post by **yeahyeahyeah** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:54 am

InigoMontoya wrote:
Yes. We try to find the right "mix"
Don't let yeahyeahyeah catch wind of that, it's one of those MNH rules that some association have to follow.

Not biting.

InigoMontoya · Post by **InigoMontoya** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:59 am

Why not? It's OK for a B team to play an A team as long as it's not their 36th game? What happened to 'rules are rules'?

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:02 am

InigoMontoya wrote:
Yes. We try to find the right "mix"
Don't let yeahyeahyeah catch wind of that, it's one of those MNH rules that some association have to follow.

I apologize IM, I thought it was very well known on the board here that I am over the border here in Wisconsin, so MNH rules don't apply to us. While I know that not alot of what we do here equates to MN hockey, my point I was trying to make was just that at the squirt level it's tough for one player to lift a team, I have seen enough squirt hockey heree and in MN (lots of relatives in and around the cities) that I think its valid regarldess of which state we play in. I generally try and keep my opinions on this board to generic concepts etc... like this as I know MN specific things are different than what we do here.

yeahyeahyeah · Post by **yeahyeahyeah** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:14 am

JSR wrote:
InigoMontoya wrote:
Yes. We try to find the right "mix"
Don't let yeahyeahyeah catch wind of that, it's one of those MNH rules that some association have to follow.
I apologize IM, I thought it was very well known on the board here that I am over the border here in Wisconsin, so MNH rules don't apply to us. While I know that not alot of what we do here equates to MN hockey, my point I was trying to make was just that at the squirt level it's tough for one player to lift a team, I have seen enough squirt hockey heree and in MN (lots of relatives in and around the cities) that I think its valid regarldess of which state we play in. I generally try and keep my opinions on this board to generic concepts etc... like this as I know MN specific things are different than what we do here.

Whew. IM am I off the hook?

InigoMontoya · Post by **InigoMontoya** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:19 am

I thought it was very well known on the board here that I am over the border here in Wisconsin,

Sorry, I didn't realize that. If I had, I would have used smaller words.

MrBoDangles · Post by **MrBoDangles** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:25 am

InigoMontoya wrote:
I thought it was very well known on the board here that I am over the border here in Wisconsin,
Sorry, I didn't realize that. If I had, I would have used smaller words.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:14 pm

InigoMontoya wrote:
I thought it was very well known on the board here that I am over the border here in Wisconsin,
Sorry, I didn't realize that. If I had, I would have used smaller words.

I forgive you. I know how emotionally devastated Minnesota fans are right now. The Vikes are out, the Gophs are lingering in hockey abyss and the Badgers are #2 in the nation now and are closing in on the WCHA title and a top seed in teh NCAA's. Those things really get to a fan, make him/her not think stright, so I won't rub any salt in any wounds, I know you just need time to heal.

dogeatdog1 · Post by **dogeatdog1** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:58 pm

JSR wrote:
InigoMontoya wrote:
I thought it was very well known on the board here that I am over the border here in Wisconsin,
Sorry, I didn't realize that. If I had, I would have used smaller words.
I forgive you. I know how emotionally devastated Minnesota fans are right now. The Vikes are out, the Gophs are lingering in hockey abyss and the Badgers are #2 in the nation now and are closing in on the WCHA title and a top seed in teh NCAA's. Those things really get to a fan, make him/her not think stright, so I won't rub any salt in any wounds, I know you just need time to heal.

I bet you were busy drinking Point beer while the Pack was on bye last week to notice that the vikes were playing.

JSR · Post by **JSR** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:04 pm

dogeatdog1 wrote:
JSR wrote:
InigoMontoya wrote: Sorry, I didn't realize that. If I had, I would have used smaller words.
I forgive you. I know how emotionally devastated Minnesota fans are right now. The Vikes are out, the Gophs are lingering in hockey abyss and the Badgers are #2 in the nation now and are closing in on the WCHA title and a top seed in teh NCAA's. Those things really get to a fan, make him/her not think stright, so I won't rub any salt in any wounds, I know you just need time to heal.
I bet you were busy drinking Point beer while the Pack was on bye last week to notice that the vikes were playing.

Nah, I was cheering for Favre, I'm not a hater