I would say consistent ice times (even once every week or two) over blocks (1-2 camps) of ice time.SCBlueLiner wrote:What is the popular consensus as to the "magic number" of hours of summer ice that is considered adequate to keep pace with peers? Obviously this will be based on age. For squirts? For PeeWees? For bantams? For High School?barry_mcconnell wrote:My favorite are the parents that fib about how much their kids are playing during the summer. "Oh little Timmy? He's mostly just going to relax and maybe do a clinic or something." Then you find out little Timmy is playing on three AAA teams and skating full-day camps all summer long.
In most of the metro associations if your kid isn't skating significant summer ice hours he'll fall behind. As a parent you feel like you are letting your kid down if you don't get him those hours. And that feeling is what drives the money into AAA/summer hockey.
Not saying it's right or wrong. But, all things equal, if one kid gets 200 hours of ice over the summer and one doesn't, you'll see a difference in the fall. There are some rare naturally-gifted athletes that are an exception to this of course.
Just curious.
Scale back when your kid doesn't look forward to having practice or a game. THEY need to have the passion for it.