Make Your Child a Good Hockey Player

This is for parents who would like their child to become a good hockey player. These guidelines apply to both roller and ice hockey.

Steps

Starting young

  1. Bear in mind that the main point of this is for your child to have fun. Don't expect him or her to go pro, as very few do. Encouraging your child to get better is because it's fun to be good at what you do. It's not for trying to get your child pro.
    • Make sure that your kid knows that hockey isn't always going to be fun and easy. You have to be the one to make sure that when it gets hard and miserable for your child, he/ she can count on you to make it fun again.
  2. Start at a young age. The younger, the better. There's a definite pattern — the better hockey players are the ones who started earlier.[citation needed] Take your child to open skates, learn to play programs, and stick and pucks. Emphasize practicing stick handling.
  3. Enroll your child in a club early. This will give your child a huge advantage with selection for school teams. Enroll your child in a house league.
    • When you enroll in a club, try to get them to join with a group of friends - this will make it much more enjoyable.
  4. Get them good kit. This will raise their morale and see that you treat their participation in the sport seriously.
    • Make sure their kit is not what you want, but what they want.
    • Don't spend too much, as they will be needing new kit all the time. Also make sure that their kit isn't way better/ way more expensive than the other kids at their club, as it will be embarrassing for them. However, if the child becomes the best player in a school club later on, then it's okay for them to have the best kit.
  5. Encourage their interest by taking them to see national hockey games and other game plays. Treat these as fun occasions out for the whole family.

Perfecting style

  1. Practice a lot. Encourage your child to practice. If he or she likes to play video games or go on the computer, limit it to either an hour a day or one day a week. Get your child to practice instead.
    • This is roller hockey's big advantage over ice, your street is a practice place. But roller hockey is also excellent training for ice hockey, so make use of both.
  2. Encourage good sportsmanship from an early age. This is key to being a good team player and having the support of other team members.
  3. Encourage passing. Even if your child is one of the best, always encourage him/her to pass. Why? For one, everyone will like your child as a team player more. Also, unselfish players are much more valuable to a travel team than selfish ones. Passing is one of the most important skills.
    • Recognizing if someone is open or not is one skill, as is making the passes hard and accurate. Passing is how hockey is played. In the NHL, you rarely see someone hold onto the puck for more than 2 seconds. Teach your child to keep his or her head up.
  4. Show an interest. This means watching their matches. Cheer, but don't get super competitive and embarrass them.

Advancing

  1. Travel. If your child is good, it may be a good idea to put her or him in travel, when she or he qualifies for 10u (8u travel is frankly a waste of money for the travelling and tournament fees).
  2. Continue advancing if it's warranted. As your child moves up the age groups in travel, keep encouraging him/her, but don't put too much pressure on your child.

Tips

  • Never yell at a ref or coach. It's embarrassing to your child.
  • If you don't play hockey, don't give you child pointers on his technique if you don't know what you are talking about. They will listen to you, and might be making a mistake. Even if it makes perfect sense to you, it might be a big misconception. Leave that to the coaches.
  • Rent some ice time and private lessons.
  • Don't yell at your child when she or he is playing, unless it's positive encouragement. Maybe just a "Go [child's name]" will suffice. But don't overdo it, it gets annoying to other parents. Try not to tell your child what to do. Usually, she or he can't hear you, and it embarrasses you.
  • Through your eyes, your child always looks better than he or she really is. Be conscious of this reality. A fairly common sight is the worst kid on a house league team's mom putting her child in travel because she thinks he or she is the best. Make a good decision. If you don't think that your child is ready, encourage her or him to practice more, and keep her or him in house.
  • Make sure your child is a player for themselves and their teammates, not because you want them to.
  • Never bring company to watch your child play if you know they will get distracted.

Warnings

  • Don't be pushy with your child. Listen to your child––if they aren't enjoying it, change clubs or find other ways to make it more enjoyable. If it does end up being hated, then hockey isn't for your child.
  • Your child will most likely not make a pro league. There are about 1000 players in the NHL, and about a million kids who are looking to make it.[citation needed] The odds are not stacked in your favor, so the real aim needs to be love of the sport, playing it for the sake of enjoying it and doing well personally.
  • Your child may get injured.

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