Spring Hockey Just Around the Corner: Food for Thought

[scorekeeper]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports ... 87451.html
(warning: long, looooong read. but VERY interesting)

[barry_mcconnell]

Excellent writing. One of the most interesting and scariest articles I've read in quite a while.

"This is capitalism at its best... and worst".

Well said.

[SCBlueLiner]

Holy smokes. My kid plays spring/summer hockey but nothing like that. No international tournaments. No airplanes. No personal instructors.

He'll get roughly 55-60 hrs of practice ice this spring and summer and 3-4 tournaments over the 5 month period. The team will take a break starting in mid-May, June, and mid-July for baseball season and restart late July for some August tournaments. As of now, fall is for football. When he gets older, if he wants to, I'll spring for him to go to a week long residence hockey camp like I used to do when I was a kid (F-U-N).

Between that and winter hockey, if that isn't enough ice time and "skill" instruction to develop the talents to play juniors, or college, or beyond then it isn't ever going to happen.

Right now, I just hope he has fun doing it and the farthest he'll probably go is high school. He's an athletic kid and has good size to him, so you never know, but I'm not about to drop $15k a year and put the whole family's financial future in jeopardy to chase the insanity.

What they discussed in that article is madness. I guess to each their own and it is their money to spend but their are much more cost effective ways to produce hockey players. I shouldn't have a problem with the way people spend their money but the problem is it gives the sport a stigma that keeps other parents from putting their kids in hockey. "It costs too much money" is the retort I always here. Reading that article it is hard to argue with them. So I guess when someone says it's not your money so it's not your problem, well, it is my problem because the types of things going on in that article creates the stigma and keeps athletes out of our sport.


P.S. I fully understand that someone could read what I wrote, read what I do for my own kid and how he plays summer hockey, and say that I too am the problem. Honestly, I see what we do in the summer as the bare minimum it takes to compete. Maybe therein lies the problem.

[SCBlueLiner]

I'll also add,

Barry, you said scary. Perfect word. Reading that article I actually got scared, and nervous that I wasn't doing enough for my kid. Is that what it's gonna take? Is that the financial price I'll have to pay for my kid to realize his dream? I'm not willing to pay that price.

Then I relaxed and remembered that if my kid truly has the talent it takes he is getting plenty of ice time to develop those talents. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. Let's just have some fun along the way, no matter how it turns out.

[karl(east)]

"This is capitalism at its best... and worst".

Well said.

That line jumped out at me, too...I've been thinking for some time now that summer youth hockey is one of the greatest experiments in free market economics we'll ever see. It's a pretty clear dilemma: we all want more development for perfectly sensible reasons, competition ensues, an arms race arises, wallets drain, we go further and further to seek out an edge...and when we stop to ask where it all stops, we realize it can't stop, because stopping would mean admitting a limit on development.

On a less grandiose plane, it's interesting to see how similar Manitoba's hockey situation seems to be to Minnesota's. We're all in the same boat, really.

[barry_mcconnell]

Every time I read Manitoba I just replaced it with Minnesota in my head. There are so many parallels. You could even go through that article and replace that cast of characters, one for one, with personalities in the twin cities.

I think the next big thing could be coaching for hockey dads. Maybe run it like a breakfast club? Teach dads the best place to stand in a rink, the most effective things to yell at refs, and what to say to boy on the car ride home. Also how to convince coach to move boy wonder up to first line.

I'm going to write up a business plan.

[old goalie85]

I like the comment "the pros play Sept -June." "the 10 yr olds play all year round" !!! I'm glad my youngest is a squirt. This is getting nuts.

[Juggernaut]

I loved the part of the story that talked about how Brian Frykas "retired" early, sitting in his easy chair, by investing well. He must of followed that old investing axiom that there is a sucker born every minute.

[O-townClown]

I really enjoyed this article, as well as the video. It is also interesting to read the comments. Somehow most people commenting on the newspaper's message board characterize every parent as having NHL aspirations for their child.

What if it is the opposite?

Kid likes hockey, parents see it as a positive activity and want to support his participation.

I think a broad-brush generalization about Spring hockey is dangerous. Some of these kids mentioned are going to other provinces for supposedly elite tournaments. That's a great deal different than joining a one-off team for a few local games over one weekend.

It's hot in the summer just about everywhere. Cooling off in an ice rink isn't a whole lot different than a movie theater, is it?

[bestpopcorn]

My kid played some AAA hockey because it was a hoot. My family had a good time. We considered the 3 or 4 weekends away as our summer vacation. I miss it.

As for development, I think some time in the weight room and other activities to build agility and strength can achieve as much, if not more, than summer ice. This would be for teens.