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Amateur Season

Another youth hockey season is upon us - schedules are done, the kids are on the ice, we’re looking around to see who put on a few more inches and pounds (the kids; the adults always put on a few more pounds) and once again, Labor Day demarcates the summer from the next seven months of driving to rinks. I’m not complaining; it’s the best early indicator of winter fun and games around.

At the USA Hockey Continuing Education Program clinic today, one of the instructors asked our room full of bleary-eyed, caffeine-denied students why we coach youth hockey (or in my case, why we get up at 7:00 AM on a Sunday morning to learn about coaching hockey). The fact that the room was that full at that hour should be answer enough, but I had my list — not so much of why I participate as an adult volunteer with our program, but what I hope for each time the Zamboni fires up for the fall:

Have fun. If you’re not having fun, you shouldn’t be playing the sport. The corrollary to this rule is that kids should play for themselves, and parents need to remember that their time in the spotlight is either over or at 10:45 PM weekend nights during adult leagues. If you’re not having fun, you have missed the entire point. Hockey is something you can enjoy for a good six decades — not too many other things thrill you as a kid and an adult, but a new roll of tape, a new stick and shinguards that smell like the last locker room you were in tend to do it.

Improve your skills. Not every player will be the superstar; only one player can lead in each statistical category. But each and every practice, game or talk from the coach should develop some part of your game. Again, true for youth and adult recreational players. I think the main difference is that as adults, we get slower year to year; as kids they get bigger and faster as seasons progress.

Come back next season. If our youth players have fun, learn something and enjoy hockey, the actual season results matter less than how the players developed as individuals and a team. If they all come back for another season, or move up to high school, college, or junior teams, and continue playing, then we’ve done a good job as a hockey organization.

Hockey, like tennis, rollberblading, and Texas Hold’em, is a life sport. You can play it until the complaints coming from your cartilage override your desire to strap on the helmet one more time. In Judaism, we have a prayer called the shehechayanu, which is said the first time you do something each year - celebrate a holiday, visit Jerusalem, enjoy a family milestone. It loosely translates as “thanks for bringing us to this season of joy.” For amateurs all over the Garden State — travel youth hockey, house leagues, middle school, high school, adult leagues, learn to skate teams, and the guys who partiicpate in the weekly hockey revival late on Friday nights, another season of joy has arrived with the first instance of every event contained within just around the corner.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Amateur Season”

Bev Stern Says:
September 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Well said and necessary. Sports help young and old to grow and learn, only if the tenets you set forth are followed. Have a great season.
Tom Chatt Says:
September 11th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
The shehecheyanu is a beautiful custom, to be grateful to have been given life, sustained, and brought to a new season. You also say it over first of each kind of fruit in its season (we’ve been enjoying figs from our fig tree lately), and when you first wear a new suit. I think “shehecheyanu” has the same root as “chai”, life. Some translate it as “who has kept us alive”, but I like to think of it more as “who has enlivened us”, who continues to cause us to *live* life, “live” being a more active verb.

Speaking of seasons, happy birthday my friend!