Question: My son needs to start tying his own skates but he has trouble getting them tight enough. Is there anything that can help? Answer: In my experience, the No. 1 thing your son needs is experience. Practice makes perfect when it comes to skate tying. Why do you think all those Mite coaches are Read More…
Some pro football stadiums have “family sections” where swearing isn’t allowed. You’d think that at a youth hockey game, where the whole rink is pretty much a family section, that wouldn’t be necessary. But sometimes it is. A couple weeks ago a few Mite parents hung around the rink to watch a Squirt game. After Read More…
Size isn’t everything, but in sports it certainly comes into play. Those who mature early and experience almost immediate success can become frustrated as their peers catch. Those who mature late not only experience more failure at early ages—regardless of how hard they try—but they have trouble getting attention even as they mature. Take a Read More…
Whether your team finished first or eighth in the regular season, the playoffs are a whole new ballgame. Some major upsets will occur and a number of higher-seeded teams will be eliminated if they are not physically and mentally prepared for the increased speed and intensity of the playoffs. The good news is that coaches Read More…
I used to hate those bowling alley/laser tag/pool parties that masqueraded as end-of-season hockey parties. (In case you can’t tell from Fido with the Frisbee, I prefer a park.) Hectic, noisy and expensive events, pool parties and the like are designed for the pleasure of the players—not the parents who spent all that time and Read More…
“Fights desecrate hockey. They distort the essence of the sport as a noble competition in ingenuity, speed, skills, and shrewdness” —Anatoly Tarasov, world-famous coach and father of Russian Hockey Research on hockey violence has shown that coaches and parents strongly influence youngsters who play minor hockey by instilling aggressive attitudes. The closer a youth advances Read More…
In recent years sports scientists have spoken out emphatically about the harmful effects of premature and over-intense athletic training of young children. Many complain that hockey programs for youngsters are too intense, competitions too many, seasons too long, emphasis on winning too great. Young children are pushed by parents and coaches to choose and specialize Read More…
Hockey parents may rely on the legal, addictive stimulant of caffeine to get through their jobs, carpools and house chores—not to mention hockey practices, games and tournaments. But that doesn’t mean it’s OK for kids and teens to have copious amounts of caffeine in either coffee or energy drinks. Two recent studies review caffeine and Read More…
The hockey season is a marathon of games, full of sprints that can be broken down into individual shifts. Every game is an important two points, but sometimes because of travel, injuries, mental fatigue and any number of other factors, your intensity level just isn’t there. That’s why pregame rituals and preparation is so important. Read More…
I recently read a book about the top mountaineer in the United States. He has climbed all 14 mountains taller than 8,000 meters (that’s 26,246 feet to you Americans) in the world. What absolutely amazed me is that these expeditions take one to three months—and at least three times he got within as little as Read More…
