OffThePost.org

You should be proud, sounds fun.

It is fun! It's great to watch a kid go from super timid, hiding beyond the play perimeter, to being the player with the puck...

And by the way- she scored! Playing vs bantams.

I started old-man league last night. I'm going to make some sort of season long points bet with her. Just to make it fun.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Got the 2 year old her first skates! Size Youth 6. Didn't know they made them that small!

Skate size order: 2 yo, 8 yo, wife, mine. Just realized my kids are a combined 10 years, and my skates are 12.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Hells yeah! Not a figure skate to be found!

Nice!

Every person I know who buys Grafs absolutely swears by them.

_________________
Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

I had to buy Grafs- back then they were the only company making wide skates. I've got fat feet. I loved them for a long time, but compared to today's skates they are super heavy! But they fit well and I've gotten 12 years or so out of them so far. Replaced the blades last year, and they're good as new. I also got them at like half price due to a store going out of business.

And no Av- no figure skates in this house! But if my girls decided to figure skate instead of playing hockey, I'd support them. I'd cry and rage on the inside, but I'd visibly support... However, both girls are currently hockey obsessed, so no worries.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

A girl on my daughter's all girls team got a Gordie Howe Hat Trick vs a boys team. Needless to say, I was extremely impressed.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

My son who turned four this month has suddenly been asking about playing hockey. So formulating a plan to get him started as I did not play as a kid myself so not sure about the whole path of hockey dad. My plan is to sign him up for the all winter weekly skating lessons that the figure skating association does for kids three to five this year. Then next year he can join the tyke(5-6) house league and he will also join the five and up power skating course we have locally.

Any time he sees this year with a Hockey stick will be just us goofing around.

So any other advice or tips for the early ages starting out?

Backyard rink!

_________________
Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Are you considering having him do double skating duty and take figure skating as well as power skating?

_________________
Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

My plan is to double duty him next season with hockey and power skating.

Sounds like a good plan.

Any open skating sessions locally? We take our kids to those and just skate around with them. Gives a great opportunity to teach them while having fun.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Oh yeah lots of open skating around here to be found, will be doing some of that as well the in-laws make an outdoor rink at their place we go to.

My only tips for being a hockey dad:

1. Try to instill in your son his first instinct with a puck shouldn't be to start firing shots off the boards. I read once the reason more often than not that Europe produces better stickhandlers because the first thing kids do there is learn how to handle the puck--not shoot it.

2. Don't be a dick to your son's coaches.

Glad he's at least giving it a start. If Hudson Hounsham isn't a hockey player's name, I don't know what is.

F that, if my kid isn't crushing it in house league the volunteer coach will feel my wrath!

All sounds great!

Be sure to put lots of pressure on him too. Yell & Scream all the time at games, and even practice. Never let the opportunity of a closed up car in winter keep you from using your full volume to let him know you are more than disappointed with a single play in the 2nd period, and that there are scholarships out there.....

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Examples, please. What constitutes being a dick to your son's coaches?

The reason I ask is that I am currently club-shopping at the moment. I'm looking to move my sons to another swim club and I wondered if I am obliged in any way to inform our current club head coach that I am (I don't believe so). I haven't told him yet, since we've not made any decisions but I was wondering as a coach, should I inform you that I am shopping around if I am (because I may still opt to not change)?

Reasons for considering changing clubs:

• My oldest would have other swimmers with whom he can swim; in the current club, he's already faster than all but one swimmer around his age (and Harrison is a full year older). Other clubs have ten-year-olds who I think can help push my son to be a better swimmer.
• My son has been with this club for nearly five years and they still haven't effectively taught him this one stroke (skill) that other kids his age have mastered. Perhaps another coach can be better at addressing that deficiency.
• And most importantly, with one of the other clubs, the entire team practices together; no more dropping one kid off at one venue at one time, and the younger one at another facility 45 minutes later...

No, I don't think that's being a dick...however if a parent took his/her child off a team I coached, yes, I would be upset. But I would also hope that I'd look at the situation, learn from it, and move on. My advice to you is that if you have a problem with the way your son is being coached, you need to take the coach aside and talk to him, and give him a chance to address it. If you've already done this, and nothing has changed, then yeah, no problem taking your kid elsewhere. I realize there are other reasons for wanting to take him to another club--I guess when the time comes you might want to lay out those concerns as well. Make sure you DO NOT do this over the phone. Face-to-face conversations have a far lesser chance of turning into shouting matches. There is probably no way to completely avoid drama, but if you took those steps, you could mitigate it and the coach won't feel like he's being blindsided. If you're at the "shopping" stage, that's not a problem either, no reason to tell him that...yet.

I have plenty of examples of bad hockey parents, most of which stem from one very bad season in which I was nearly "fired" from the team (the team got killed in the one game I was relegated to spectator status and they promptly shut their mouths about me) and the head coach quit in anger right before the final game of the season. I haven't coached since and it's been nearly 20 years. I might again someday, especially if we ever have kids and they're interested, but right now I just don't have the stomach for it.

The very worst example was this kid, Colin, who was a tad flighty (but certainly not moreso than any other 11/12-year-old) but was by all accounts a really good kid. Suddenly he started running kids over during games after the whistle. Mind you, this is still non-contact hockey at this age group. He of course earned multiple penalties. He continued to do this despite my very clear requests that he stop. I think I actually had to bench him for this, but I can't recall. Later, after the season, we found out why--his father was telling him to do this, though I think he ceased once he realized how fucking moronic he was. He also wrote a scathing letter after the season to the head coach which probably eviscerated me and the other assistants.

Now...THAT'S being a dick. What you're doing is nowhere near that. There's nothing wrong with taking an active interest in your son's athletic enjoyment/development and taking steps if you feel the coach is not doing an optimal job in that regard. Coaches can certainly make big mistakes as well. This sounds cliche, but if you communicate clearly with your son's coaches, then really there should be no problem, even if you ultimately choose to take him elsewhere.

I agree with Av. Never leave something like that without explaining why to the person. If they need to teach more advanced techniques at the older ages, they need to be aware that kids that age can handle it- at least for future kids. If it's because your son has no competition there- then that's a great reason to leave and they may even point you to a different team with better competition.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Thinking of getting this for my younger daughter: http://madbrothers.com/catalog/index.ph ... movie.html

I was considering getting her a custom jersey that says "Future Enforcer". But I kind of like the Ogilthorpe idea.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.