Starting your child in Hockey

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

I’m going to disagree a bit with this. There is a difference between hockey and skating. If I’m coaching I’m not spending an hour every week picking kids up off the ice. And by you’re putting your kid behind from the start if you’re dropping them into hockey without having skated.

Signing your kid up for skating/ power skating lessons would be the best option. If it is a time/ commitment/ financial concerns, you are better off skipping hockey for the first year or two or more, and focusing on skating. If your child cannot skate, hockey is simply a waste of time.

My sons first time on skates was his very first Timbit skate. Once he learned to get up by himself he hasn't looked back. Has played Team 1/2 every since and is entering is second year at U18. Good coaches are what really make the difference.

[me_dennis]

our hockey association had a "learn to skate" program, which ran from Sept to March, with full hockey gear. It was a pre-requisite to timbits and taught kids how to skate for 75% of the program, with 25% of the program geared towards basic hockey skills and mini scrimmages. It was a parent and tot program. It was great because it was set times (Saturdays, and every other Sunday)

My younger son did that when he was 4.5 and it was a struggle for most weeks, but by the end, he was a much better skater than my older son, who basically started timbits only knowing how to skate forwards (kind of.. he was pushing off of one skate, like he was on a skateboard).

My older son started timbits at 5, but because he was born in 2015, and because of covid, he only played 1 year in U7 (timbits) and made the jump to U9 in his 2nd year. By the time he was finished his first year in timbits, he was able to skate forwards, backwards, stop, crossover, and transition from front to back and back to front.
I also put him in a spring hockey program, where it was mostly power skating for the first spring, and a tucker hockey program more on stickhandling/puck control.

Both boys have shown interest in rollerblading, so we've been going to the outdoor rinks in the summertime evenings to practice that. They are both in hockey camps in the last week of August to prepare them for evaluations in September.

Good point about getting skate blades profiled. I bought my older son a new pair of skates and need to get them profiled, as I feel like he's not the fastest kid out there, so hopefully the skates/blade profile can help him a bit.

[dubc80]

Originally Posted by the-rasta-masta

I have a 5 year old son, and while I have suggested getting him started in skating lessons for the last few years, a few trips with some skates to the outdoor rink over the last few winters hadn't resulted in much desire from him so we've been focusing on swimming and golf instead.

All of a sudden he has taken some interest in the game while playing street hockey with his cousins this summer, and I'm curious if there are any recommendations on the best way to introduce him to the game. His cousins live in Cochrane and they took some skating lessons where they wore full hockey equipment, and I've thought that made a lot of sense and have been looking for something similar in Calgary.

Any recommendations on best approaches would be helpful since I figure he needs to get comfortable on skates before signing up for Timbits or anything like that?

My son was your kid's age when we did an "Intro to Hockey" program at South Fish Creek. It was full equipment, once a week on Saturday mornings. Pretty sure other rinks, YMCA, City of Calgary run similar programs.

It was not "real" hockey, but who cares at that age. They still did drills, scrimmages with the group, etc.

The best part was the initial commitment was only 6 or 7 weeks and they ran consecutive sessions through the winter. So, you could enroll in one, then see how it went, then enroll into the next one, etc. We ended up doing that one whole winter until Covid happened.

I feel like that was a really good move before we enrolled him the next year into Timbits, but that was just personal family preference.

I coached Timbits and U9 the last few years and there certainly are kids who are taking the price tags off their gear and just learning to skate at the first practice, so dont be discouraged if you just sign him up cold turkey.

My main comment is to follow your kids lead and dont get caught up in all the hubbub which you will likely experience. Its crazy what the "elite" families are into, but hey, thats their life.

They will all end up playing at 10:30pm in Chestermere and have parking lot beers together afterwards anyways.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by troutman

My only advice - they should want to play more than you want them to play.

I don’t think this is good advice for this age group. Most 5 year olds have no idea what they want to play or not play, they need to try a whole bunch of new things to figure that out. Hockey in particular really sucks to learn - few kids that age want to get out of bed at 530 in the morning, put on a bunch of uncomfortable gear, go out in the cold and fall all over the place.

If you have a passion and want them to play hockey - you may have to force it for a season or two until they actually learn and can decide for themselves. Within reason of course. I have lots of friends whose kids hated it at first and are now obsessed with it at 7 or 8, all their friends are from hockey, etc.

[habernac]

They don’t need to know how to skate. My kid fell 100 times his first practice. He learned how to get up. If you do take them skating early, make sure they have hockey pants and shin pads on to cushion the falls.

[Vox]

I'm late to the thread, hopefully not too late. My son at 5-6 liked to watch hockey and go to games, but he didn't want to play because he was nervous to skate. We put him in ball hockey one year and he absolutely loved it. The passion kicked in the first day. At the end of ball hockey he told us the he would like to learn to skate after all, and he has never looked back. The ball hockey was tons of fun, btw.

[loob job]

Originally Posted by billybob123

Just put him straight in timbits. Neither of my kids could skate when they started, it took about two weeks and they were skating far better. By the end of the first season, they could skate forwards, backwards, stop, and turn.

If you still want to get out to get used to standing up on skates, there usually are public skate times at the rinks that still have ice in. Might cost a dollar or five but it's something.

Both kids have finally quit hockey, I really miss the timbits days.

Do This, he'll improve everytime he goes on the ice, skating lessons at that age are useless, I did the lessons and then went to hockey after a year with my son and he was way behind.

[woob]

Hey all - Bumping this thread. My son is 9 and he wants to try hockey. He's a beginner skater for sure, but can skate around a rink and mostly stop/turn.

We just started to look at options this past week, and realize we're a bit late for some of the Try Hockey programs. He's on the Bow River Bruins waiting list. We see the NWWarriors as a later in the year option as well. I've mostly been using Google search and the Calgary Flames Try Hockey webpage, but wondering if anyone has any other suggestions we could look at?

If we do decide to go with NWW, is there anything we can get him into skating wise until then? I know there's a wealth of hockey people on here, so appreciate the help/advice.

[fotze2]

Don't. But do. I've probably spent $400k on this. Pm me please. I would love to talk, because i tyoe poorly. He will learn about heartbreak multiple times but will become awesome and ready for the real world.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by woob

Hey all - Bumping this thread. My son is 9 and he wants to try hockey. He's a beginner skater for sure, but can skate around a rink and mostly stop/turn.

We just started to look at options this past week, and realize we're a bit late for some of the Try Hockey programs. He's on the Bow River Bruins waiting list. We see the NWWarriors as a later in the year option as well. I've mostly been using Google search and the Calgary Flames Try Hockey webpage, but wondering if anyone has any other suggestions we could look at?

If we do decide to go with NWW, is there anything we can get him into skating wise until then? I know there's a wealth of hockey people on here, so appreciate the help/advice.

i have no clue about stuff in calgary but being that your son is 9 and a beginner skater i would really suggest to also add in power skating. my son is 10 (turning 11 this summer) and does power skating in the summers. it helps a TON and he is usually one of the strongest skaters on his team every year.

[habernac]

Ice time, ice time, ice time. If he’s open to power skating, do it. Trips to the oval, free skate, all of that. If he doesn’t already, net in front if the garage so he can practice shooting, too.

[Flaming Choy]

If you wait till your kid is 6 (and hasn't done Timbits or other organized hockey) you can register them in the First Shift program. Less time commitment and free set of gear to get started and have your kid try.

https://www.hockeycalgary.ca/page/index/id/642/

[socktape]

In my experience, both my boys could barely skate at all when we started with Timbits. We had geared them up and taken them to the oval and olympic plaza a couple times each to at least get their feet under them.

The coaches in Timbits are supposed to focus on skating and basic skills all season. Your kid will improve immensely from Oct to Dec. It is still the best and possibly the most rewarding time as a coach to see these kids improve even when you are on the ice only 2 times a week.

The best way to improve is just time on ice. Go to the outdoor rink as well... go to public skates. You can do the power skating etc. if they really want to do it. Some kids just can't get enough. Make skating fun, play games etc. Some kids even at this age are on the ice 4-6 times a week... even at 5-6 years old.(not that I am recommending this)

The biggest thing is.... they have to want to do it. It is a good lesson in commitment and keeping your word to stick it out. But, if they're hating life and fighting you to go... it isn't worth it.

[spetch]

If there is a first shift program going on before the season i would highly recommend that first. Such a reasonable and easy way to see if your son wants to continue. I put my 9 year old in it a couple years ago and while he had lots of fun and he decided hockey wasn’t for him. Think it was like 399 for all the gear/bag plus 6 1 hour lessons. The only downside is we had to go to red deer for ours and it was an oiler one the bag/jersey were quickly burned before the stench got a hold of the garage.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by woob

Hey all - Bumping this thread. My son is 9 and he wants to try hockey. He's a beginner skater for sure, but can skate around a rink and mostly stop/turn.

We just started to look at options this past week, and realize we're a bit late for some of the Try Hockey programs. He's on the Bow River Bruins waiting list. We see the NWWarriors as a later in the year option as well. I've mostly been using Google search and the Calgary Flames Try Hockey webpage, but wondering if anyone has any other suggestions we could look at?

If we do decide to go with NWW, is there anything we can get him into skating wise until then? I know there's a wealth of hockey people on here, so appreciate the help/advice.

I highly recommend the Flames First Shift Program.

https://www.firstshift.ca/

Amazing program. Includes your equipment. Ice times are once a week at a set time and location, and you can continue on to Jr. Flames during the same winter. My girls did it last year and we loved it. I also coached in it.

[Nancy]

Speaking as someone who started their kid late in hockey, if he is 9, you will want to start him in a program that has both skating and hockey skills and, ideally, some positional training as well. If he were a lot younger, I would tell you to have him learn to skate before he ever touches a stick.

My kid started at second year Novice (8?), barely knowing how to skate, on a bottom level team, had lots of fun, became a phenomenal skater by the end of the first year, but learned minimal positional play. Second year, at 9, he made a mid level Atom team, coaches had no patience to catch him up, he never got to play anything but D, and one coach in particular just yelled at him on the ice all season. I am embarrassed now that I didn't speak up or do anything about it.

[MacDaddy77]

Ice time! That's all. If he has older friends/cousins try and get them together on ODR or skating surface as much as possible and he will have fun chasing them around and trying to keep up. You don't need lessons to start but if he really takes to it I'd start him in edge work fairly early, wear shin pads and let him burn up the ice and spray you with the snow etc chasing you and encouraging cross overs etc.

Gaudreau started by eating skittles crawling on the ice, if he's having fun he'll improve without knowing it. As said by others, as long as he wants it more than you it'll be a fun journey. My son quit this year and I really miss watching him out there having fun, I coached him till U15 then would watch every practice in the stands.

[Doctorfever]

One of my kids started later, I think 9 or 10, maybe 11. I helped out coaching because they were nervous, but I had 4 or 5 years coaching experience by then, it was more about making them comfortable.

Ice time is good, like lots of people mentioned. But I would say the more you can get on ice with them the better.

Enjoy it!!!
And hopefully your kid enjoys it as well. If they are having fun (and you as well) it will be an awesome experience. They will improve with time on the ice, but they will improve more if they are having fun.

Take it in, these can be some of the funnest years of their lives! Try not to put any pressure on them. Every kid is different, and will learn and progress at a different pace. My kid who started late is now playing at the highest level of hockey. But it really is just about having fun, meeting lifelong friends, and getting some good exercise and great experiences.

Best of luck!!

[GFG#1]

Lot's of kids can't skate when they start hockey especially at 5 years old. I used to Coach my kids and do evaluations and I would say even up to Peewee there were kids that were jsut starting out that couldn't really skate.

Skating lessons are like once a week for 8 weeks. will be better after eight weeks then when he started. Hockey is 2-4 times a week I think at timbits. More ice time is better. Within 4 weeks kids in hockey will be surpassed any 8 week skating class.

If you delay starting hockey until they learn how to skate, then they will jsut be a year olde rand have lost a lot of ice time. There will still be lots of kids who can't skate though. between 5-10.

I would say I would wait until Minor hockey in September, likely any spring leagues that you enter would have more of the hardcore kids and likely all can skate.

I would also recommend starting him in Lacross, I never played and didn't start my son in it until he was like 12 and really wish I had of started it earlier.

[fotze2]

Earlier the better. I know there are the JOVO stories. They just don't happen any more. What 10 year olds can do is insane.

Scarf under the arms so you can just lift them without killing your back.

Spring hockey is unfortunately a must do. I know we like to bullcrap ourselves, but you have to do it. It is not up for debate. Someone's singular anecdote is horsecrap.

They always say multiple sports, which is fine, they have a lot of time when not in school. But do you know what is the best to get better at hockey, it's hockey.

You will make lifelong friends and your kid will instantly get cred even if not deserved. I hate and love it all at the same time. My kid is going to U of A. All his best friends now were on lower teams and they just adore him. I was a loser, but he doesn't have to worry about that.

I think I will write a book when my kid is done. There is so much drama, just take it in and enjoy it. Moms are the worst.