Why can't we just play for FUN?

Hockey is a great game. It's a fantastic game. It's exhilarating. It defies logic where we can move around on 1/8" wide pieces of steel at speeds exceeding 20 miles per hour, while miraculously negotiating with a 4-5' stick to move, pass and shoot a 3" piece of rubber to and fro at speeds that can exceed 100 miles per hour. If you haven't played the game - let me tell you it's an addicting thrill, that even at 50 years old - I can't even get enough of. And for the young, (and young at heart), it's really the only game I know of that can bring 15-20 kids and their families together for no less than 6 months sharing commutes to rinks, dressing rooms, ice time and all kinds of genuinely profound life lessons. Few sports or activities compare.

Now - do we really have to only play this great game in hopes of making it to the National Hockey League and get some huge, lucrative seven figure contract, do we? Most kids just want to have FUN!

So why do some folks actually take out loans, 2nd mortgages, skip payments on student loan obligations even - just so they can join travel teams, buy $200 one piece hockey sticks, $500 pair of skates, or even $90 worth of undergarments? Really? Most kids just want to have FUN!

HAVING FUN CAN BE SIMPLE - It does not have to cost so much -- really. Firstly you don't HAVE to play on those expensive travel teams - with all the extra fees for extra ice, jerseys, suit bags, matching everything - not to mention all the expenses to travel!  Why not just play REC (recreation) hockey?   THE FUN IN JUST PLAYING THE GAME IS STILL THERE. You can carpool to keep expenses down. You can do "stick times or open skates" for $5 a session for some extra less structured FUN practice time.  Most of the practices run by minor hockey coaches are so structured and strict - there is hardly any FUN in them anyway. Rec hockey is usually only a few hundred dollars for a whole season and you can usually fund raise to offset some of that even.  It's up to those in the know to quit putting this big DREAM of making it to the show up so high. There are only 600 + players in the NHL, and most stay in it year after year... there are very few new jobs in any given year - do the math! The odds are really, really, really slim.  If you have the money available anyway, you could take all that you'd put into extra hockey schooling, equipment, jackets, apparel, travel, etc., use some of it for just simple "be-with-the-kids-time" and invest the rest in gold, silver, savings or mutual funds.  After about 10-12 years of this upper level "dream" hockey - you will probably have more than enough to give your child a full ride scholarship at almost any College or University in the US!  Most kids just want to have FUN!

And did you know that there is already all kinds of "used" hockey equipment all over North America - and possibly even all over the world?   And most of it is just doing absolutely nothing in most people's garages or closets. I moved into a new home last year and emptied out several storage closets. We had nearly 10 years of youth hockey gear scattered all over the place! Most of it still in great shape! We put some of it for sale on eBay (which sold within days) and passed out some to neighbors and family with young players. All the equipment is now being USED again! It has new life...  what a gift!

Would you say it's time to raise consciousness of recycle, reuse, restore about anything and everything we own or have owned - even with our used, outgrown, hockey gear...?  Did you know that most of the reasonably priced, used hockey gear listed on eBay sells quickly...  Kids REALLY want to play. And many will actually shop around on Internet, looking through EBAY listings themselves, just to help encourage mom and dad to, at the very least, get the gear they needto play. So it's up to those in the "know", coaches, players, managers, association directors, referees, to promote the passing on of the "older - pre-owned" gear and downplay the need for all the HIGH TECH super light weight stuff out there. Let's face it - most kids just want to have fun playing. You don't need that high end equipment to enjoy the game!! 

FOCUS ON FUN - We really must encourage and focus on the FUN of playing. We really don't need the top of the line equipment to do that. We don't need to travel hundreds of miles to find other kids of same age and similar skill to play. PLAYING THE GAME FOR FUN is a mindset. If we as parents, coaches, managers, role models can focus on the FUN aspects and NOT the score or WINNING/LOSING... why you could even mix talent and even ages and teach the kids about team work, respect, fun, compassion, collaboration, cooperation and many of the great virtues that make up the BEST parts of our HUMAN RACE.

It used to be, not too long ago, as kids, we could just walk out to a nearby frozen pond, without parents, without coaches, without adults - ages from 5 to 15, skills from beginner to elite - and we could play - for hours, in total FUN, up and down the ice, skating with cool breeze in our face, cold air in our lungs, little kids chasing the big ones, and bigger kids toying with the little ones, but always eventually letting them have the puck too. It was pure, it was innocent it was FREE - we were free and IT WAS FUN!

Cheers,

Martial