Nine Year Old Kelowna Boy Explains Leaving Hockey Team

[Deegee]

I am so happy my son plays on a spring team where everyone gets equal ice time and the fees are the same for everyone. All the parents are awesome and nobody thinks their kid is making the NHL. Everyone wants the kids having fun.

I am also the programming is mostly weekends only and he also gets lots of time for bike riding, horsing around in general, and time at the golf course.

Reading the posts and comments here tells me.there are a lot of weirdos in some other programs out there.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Hanna Sniper

Not as much as you think, let me guess, rolling those lines I bet the 3rd line is on for shorter shift on average then that first line... I doubt the 3rd line also starts the game or periods much

Rolling the lines doesn't equal fair ice time either

Having equal ice time is a very hard task, and even one that is 100% committed to it you will find that something's are just out of your control

it's a bs word

Late reply, but my son's team rotates the lines to start every game as well. So each forward line and defensive pair will start every third game. They also rotate though the periods. The next players in line at the end of the period will start the next period, unless that line had only been on the ice for like 15 seconds.

I know equal ice time is pretty much impossible to regulate, especially without anyone actually tracking it with a watch. But it is as fair as fair can be. For one game I actually tried to keep track of the defensemen. Some kids are a lot better at changing on the fly at 8 years old than others. And I thought maybe one pair in particular was getting longer shifts (worried about fatigue and giving up goals, not concerned about how much ice time each player was getting). Well after a couple periods I gave up, since all six defenseman where pretty much within 10 - 15 seconds of each other.

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

Late reply, but my son's team rotates the lines to start every game as well. So each forward line and defensive pair will start every third game. They also rotate though the periods. The next players in line at the end of the period will start the next period, unless that line had only been on the ice for like 15 seconds.

I know equal ice time is pretty much impossible to regulate, especially without anyone actually tracking it with a watch. But it is as fair as fair can be. For one game I actually tried to keep track of the defensemen. Some kids are a lot better at changing on the fly at 8 years old than others. And I thought maybe one pair in particular was getting longer shifts (worried about fatigue and giving up goals, not concerned about how much ice time each player was getting). Well after a couple periods I gave up, since all six defenseman where pretty much within 10 - 15 seconds of each other.

So since you watched it for two periods and it was equal then (you would need 3 periods for 3 defence lines to equal out) then the full season was equal ice time for everyone. I highly doubt you were tracking the earlier changers and the late changers of each line and the 1 defenceman was within 15 seconds of the 6th deference

I have no doubt your sons team was fair then a mojorty that happen and I no doubt also a great effort was made to be fair but to say that every kid got equal ice time is a bold statement that isn't true because it is imposable as too many variables that you can't control in a change o the fly game like hockey...

[AcGold]

Too bad coaches don't bench the players that won't change more often. When I played the lack of ice time was rarely the coaches doing and mostly to do with our teammates being selfish and taking really long shifts.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Originally Posted by Hanna Sniper

So since you watched it for two periods and it was equal then (you would need 3 periods for 3 defence lines to equal out) then the full season was equal ice time for everyone. I highly doubt you were tracking the earlier changers and the late changers of each line and the 1 defenceman was within 15 seconds of the 6th deference

I have no doubt your sons team was fair then a mojorty that happen and I no doubt also a great effort was made to be fair but to say that every kid got equal ice time is a bold statement that isn't true because it is imposable as too many variables that you can't control in a change o the fly game like hockey...

Oh man, the fact that you keep talking about "first lines" and "6th defenceman" shows that you are completely unable to grasp the basic concept that people are trying to communicate to you.

And your fixed notion of "treating kids equally is complete BS unless their icetime is exactly identical down to quantum uncertainty levels of precision" is absolutely maddening.

[ThisIsAnOutrage]

For anyone wondering about the benefits of extra playing and practice in terms of skill development in any field, read this: The Sports Gene, by David Epstein. (Points below come from the book)



In a nutshell, there are natural athletes, and there are people who have genetic advantages when it comes to certain types of physical activities. For example, a world-class marathon runner will have long achilles tendons and slender calves. Conversely, there also those who are naturally less athletic, and particularly poorly suited for certain physical activities. For example having long legs and a short torso makes for a worse swimmer. Fun fact: The best sled-dogs in the world today aren’t descended from the fastest or fittest breeds of sled-dogs, they are descended from sled-dogs that really liked to run without rest.

Further, even among those with the right genes and the potential for elite level skill, training works differently. Some people start low with the potential to improve greatly with training, some people start high with very limited potential for improvement with training. The old maximum that it takes 10,000 hours of supervised training to become a master of something actually originated from a study of violin playing prodigies (the elite of the violin-playing world, not just your average person) looking at how long each violinist had to practice to reach the elite level. 10,000 hours was only the average. Some did it in 2000-3000 some took 18000, even though they were all gifted to begin with.

On Spring Hockey: Sitting players in development leagues isn’t going to do anything for those with elite potential who need the training. Similarly, over-playing players with a high starting point is not necessarily indicative of good-coaching or development. If Spring hockey is actually developing players instead of showcasing ones that are already good, they should be able to point to players who started out demonstrably worse and got demonstrably better. Just sitting a player at age 9 before puberty has even happened screams, “I don’t know how to coach a player who needs coaching!” to me.