When our son was about 9, in Courtenay he was on the Rep team...........Pee Wee I believe and they had excellent coaches as far as hockey strategy was concerned and they won more than their share of games, but I thought it was a little too intense for 9 year olds. I personally believe at that age th
what i have found from years of experience with kids, is that many kids are very competetive and want
the intense conpetition, and need that level of play, while others are not, so parents must be in charge
of what level they want their kids to play, and they have to deal with their own kids and know just how
competetive their kid is, and between the parent and the child, decide at what level their child will
play.
there is nothing wrong with rep teams, that level is there for the highest achievement of competition,
and so on down the line.
some children won't feel comfortable at that level till they are older, some don't want anything to do with
rep teams, and some love it, 'let' the child fit in where he/she feels happiest and most comfortable.
some parents try to shove their child into a rep level when they are not ready, and some parents will not allow their child to play rep level, it just take all kinds, thats life.
i have known parents who keep their child from playing rep level because'they themselves' are not competetive, but
the child is, and very talented, so that child is put into house league, and made to play at a level he
finds ok, does not have to try his best, as he is allready the best on the team, so he becomes either bored,
or if he wants, he helps others, nothing wrong with that, but the child will not improve much, as he
doesn't have any challenge from others.
parents must know their own child and see 'what' he/she is really like, what he/she really wants, and really
doesn't matter how intense others parents are at games, it is the coaches and players who are important, and
parents who act like idiots only make themselves look bad, and sometimes embarrass their own kids.
i remember one parent of a 10 year old girl on our team, who got so wrapped up in what he thought was
a bad call, that he began climbing up the wire fencing around the rink, till he was right at the
top, then he calmed down looked around, and his friend down on the floor was calmly urging him to
climb back down, which he did. he wasn't even 'that' type of parent, just got caught up in the moment,
and didn't seem to realize what he did, he climbed back down and went back into his old self, and the
game went on.
