Quote:
Originally Posted by undercoverbrother
I can't comment on spring hockey in Calgary, but up here I don't think it is a good thing. It has no governing body, it is not sanctioned by Hockey Alberta. There is a coach for a spring hockey team that is banned from coaching in his local association. So the association has deemed him unworthy of coaching kids, yet, he can coach spring hockey because it falls outside of Hockey Alberta. I think it is dangerous and unsafe.
I believe it preys on parent's belief that their kids are "going to the show". In reality minor hockey's job is to produce the best crop of beer league players. Again, I can not speak for Calgary, but locally they are kids making the spring teams that played B level hockey. The programs present themselves as "cream of the crop" but pick players who's parents have means. Up here we have dynamite level spring hockey, born 2006, I think it's nuts.
It is interesting that when scouts ask about a kid one of the things they ask is does he/she play other sports, not does he/she play spring hockey. I think kids are well served to play other sports, my boy is playing lacrosse (and would pick it over hockey) and my girl is playing rugby.
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All of this may be perfectly true, but you made a blanket statement above based upon what appears to be pretty scant support. There are plenty of things that drive spring hockey, some of it is certainly parents with a desire to live through their kids, but plenty of it is kids who want to play hockey year round and a host of other potential reasons. You can't paint everyone with a brush simply because some people have the wrong motivations.
Would you take the same view of parents of kids in Australia or South Africa who play rugby year round?