Question #124:
Dear Dan: My son was involved in a district playoff game (Midgets). First the score got lop-sided, then the game got hacky, and then it became ugly. Ended with shoving match during the hand shake and a Misconduct Major.
Next bring in a very angry and upset father....
Now bring in the County Sheriff...
Here's my question. In an era where some parents believe that confrontation escalating to physical violence is acceptable, would it be advantageous to put a uniformed deputy sheriff on patrol in hockey rinks? Concerned Father
Dan Replies:
Dear C.F.: We have repeatedly said and written unless youth hockey gets youth hockey under control, society will either do it for youth hockey or will outlaw youth hockey. Here's evidence that it's happening already. When a community votes down the expansion of an ice rink because of too much trouble (Michigan), when you have to call the police (your game), no more high school hockey (Denver), people are arrested (Toronto), and tried for manslaughter (Mass), that's society getting youth hockey under control. If that doesn't work or it cost society too much money (i.e. a police officer for every game) society will ban the sport. This isn't rocket science.
But some people in youth hockey don't seem to get it. Why? We're beginning to think it's a language problem. When we say, "Everybody needs to relax, these are children playing games", we use "children" in the sense of kids who want to have fun and who will forget the score of this game or whether they won or lost in two weeks (do you remember the score of any youth sporting event you ever played in?). "Game" is a child's pastime - subsets of "game" are Kick The Can, Tag, hockey, Old Maid, baseball, etc. "Play" is a child engaging in games, as in, "What are you going to do tonight, Johnnie?" "Play Kick the Can."
However, to some people, if your child plays hockey, "play" no longer means a child's pastime; it has come to mean a striving, an endeavor, a quest, a pursuit. And hockey has become a subset of "Career Path", "Scholarship Track, or "Holy Grail". And hockey doesn't have a monopoly on this problem.
Here's what has to happen for this to change - a huge change in parental attitudes. The game doesn't have to change, the kids don't have to change... it's the parents. And youth hockey either doesn't care, doesn't know what to do, or doesn't have the resources do police itself all over the continent.
But this may be a start. Click on the IT PAYS Initiative link on the web site. Take 15 minutes and read over the materials including the pre-game announcement and the pamphlets. This is an attempt at attitude adjustment that will begin with Mites next year in several Associations around the country and we hope will continue through their careers in youth hockey. To start this in PeeWees or older is futile - most parents in the older age groups have the different vocabulary and are hockey hardened.
Will this work? Here are the results of a similar program to IT PAYS in New Brunswick, Canada: Less injuries; more participants (only prov. in Canada where numbers are up); more referees; kids stay in hockey longer; parents of opposing teams sit together; need to turn sponsors away where before they couldn't get enough; discipline committee rarely needs to meet; no ugly headlines; and read this twice - their rep. teams do better in provincial tournaments since the IT PAYS type program has been introduced, i.e. they're producing better players (skilled players stay in, goon attitude is out, and, equal ice time produces more and better players).
We're hoping IT PAYS it will be introduced in your Association in the fall of 2002. It could use your support.
