Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
It's not just money thing per se. One thing hockey lacks, at least in Canada, is casual play. You're either all in, or what's the point. If you don't have the opportunity to start skating and learning the game at a really young age, there is almost no way to get involved later because you will be so far behind. I think the pressure and time commitments are just as daunting as the financial costs. With other sports, you can usually find a casual community drop-in thing and let them test it out to see if they like it, but that doesn't exist with hockey so much.
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With hockey these days, kids have more options that we did in the past.
- For the younger kids, there are lots of Try Hockey options like Flames First Shift, and many Intro to Hockey programs put on at places like the South Fish Creek, Seton YMCA, or Trico, etc. Once a week for a month or two.
- Most associations have a house league option, which is cheaper and more recreational than regular hockey. Its a set # of days per week with practices and games on the same days. No tournaments and no fundraising. I think they have this for U9 (novice), U11( Atom) and maybe U13 (Peewee)?
- In Calgary, you have RHC. Recreational Hockey Calgary which goes up to U18. I think you can request to be on friends teams in this league as there are no residential boundaries.
- I think the biggest positive change is also the ability to choose the NBC (Non-Body Contact) stream. Kids no longer have to worrying about getting murdered by a big kid wanting to run a kid for the laughs. When I played, hitting started in peewee for everyone at all levels with no training what so ever. Many kids got hurt.
In addition, there are many financial supports which families can apply for.
Not diminishing the financial and time commitment aspect as it is truly a massive barrier, but things are better now than when I played in the 90's.