Beginners: Is it necessary for a six year old to play summer hockey

DannyGallivan

Your world frightens and confuses me
Aug 25, 2017
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My son played his first season this past winter at five years old. He already knew how to skate (not expertly, of course, but well enough to play) and did very, very well. He was one of only two five year olds on a five and six year old team, and may have been the third best player (forgive me, proud papa here).

The question is, he has a chance to play three on three hockey once a week this summer. On one hand, I'd love to put him into it, as you can really see the difference in the rare six year old who has had more training/playing time than his peers. On the other hand, I want him to play other things this summer like baseball and golf.

Am I missing an opportunity by not having him play hockey once a week in July and August, or is it just silly to discuss this for a kid so young?
 

kij

Registered User
Jan 31, 2016
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Let him do it if he wants to but be careful not to burn him out on hockey all too fast. Maybe instead of 3 on 3 get him into some small group skating classes once a week. Definitely get him into other sports for the summer and let hockey take a backseat though.
 

puckpilot

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Oct 23, 2016
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I read somewhere that when a kid specializes too early, it increases the chance of injuries.

IMHO, when they're that young, it's better to expose them to a variety of sports. I mean, maybe long term they're not a hockey player. Maybe they're a baseball player instead. But if they don't get a shot at baseball, they'll never know. And playing other sports helps them develop other skills and muscles that may help them in hockey in the long run, more so than just playing hockey.

In addition, there's the old argument about burning them out. Now, if they tell you all they want to do is play hockey, then it's a different story. But if it's always hockey-hockey-hockey, they might become bored of it. If that happens, it won't matter if they're on the ice 24/7. It's going to be an uphill battle getting any skills to stick. But give them a chance to miss hockey and when they get back to it, they'll be more engaged, and suddenly, they're a sponge.

For example, my nephew is 10ish now. When he was the same age as your kid, he was one of the top 2-3 kids on his team, too, for at least a couple of seasons. His skating and break away speed was always head and shoulders above.

In the summers he played baseball. Now, he's on the rep team for hockey and the all-star team for baseball. His baseball team almost made the little league world series last year.

But honestly, he's a middle of the pack player now in both sports, but that's IMHO because he just doesn't have the fire. He in it more for the friends, so nobody is giving him anything more than a nudge in this way or that. He's in the driver's seat in what he wants.

So for the most part, other than a few things here and there, my nephew doesn't practice things out of season. But compare that to some of his contemporaries, who's parents put them on ice year round for 3-on-3 and for private skills sessions, he's still better than probably half of them, and that's not including the members on the B team below him.

Why?

Like I mentioned, fire. Half of the kids want it, and the other half doesn't. I mean the parents say their kid want to be on the ice, but I can tell from their body language, not really. They may execute a drill, but there's no enthusiasm to it when compared to the other kids. It's like watching someone at work who doesn't want to be there compared to someone who just loves their job.

My 2 cents. It's worth what you paid.
 
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cynicalcitizen

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Feb 6, 2014
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Competition is what's important to development. The least competition you will find is in summer hockey. Skills development activities would beat summer 3 on 3.
 

Porter Stoutheart

We Got Wood
Jun 14, 2017
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"Necessary"... no of course not. It's not necessary at any age or level. I have a 10-year old who just can't get enough of hockey. He wants it all year, all the time, and he doesn't have any passion or interest for any other sport. So I indulge him and let him play in the spring and summer. I have an older AAA kid who has never done any hockey in the spring or summer, he loves his hockey season when it comes around but is great at a lot of sports and shifts focus onto other things in the spring and summer, and that's fine too. Both ways I am really only indulging their individual interests, it's not "necessary" to follow any particular path or philosophy. They aren't going to make it or fail to make it based on anything you choose to do in the spring and summer in the early years. Whatever your kid wants to do and whatever you can comfortably afford, just go with that and the rest will sort itself out something like 10+ years down the road if your kid is just 5.
 
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ChuckLefley

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Jan 5, 2016
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We don’t have our son do spring hockey but he does do once a week skill work in the summer. After a couple of months off he is fired up to get on the ice in the summer and it’s just enough to make sure he is fired up when tryouts start. I’ve coached his team the last three seasons and every year I see three or four kids who are tired of hockey when tryouts come around as they went straight into spring hockey and then summer hockey. Our son plays other sports and does other non-sports camps/lessons in the summer.
 
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BogsDiamond

Anybody get 2 U yet?
Mar 16, 2008
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My son played his first season this past winter at five years old. He already knew how to skate (not expertly, of course, but well enough to play) and did very, very well. He was one of only two five year olds on a five and six year old team, and may have been the third best player (forgive me, proud papa here).

The question is, he has a chance to play three on three hockey once a week this summer. On one hand, I'd love to put him into it, as you can really see the difference in the rare six year old who has had more training/playing time than his peers. On the other hand, I want him to play other things this summer like baseball and golf.

Am I missing an opportunity by not having him play hockey once a week in July and August, or is it just silly to discuss this for a kid so young?

DON'T FALL INTO THIS TRAP!!!
Especially at 6 years old!!!

Let kids be kids. He should be having fun in the Summer and not on the ice.

I am dead-set against allowing kids to play any sport 12-months a year. There are literally hundreds of books written on the negatives to allowing this.
Gretzky, Crosby, Ted Williams, etc, etc all played multiple sports.

The Hockey Powers want you to be paranoid and engage in the arms-race that is youth hockey. They'd love nothing more than to collect $$$ 12-months a year.
Don't give in.
 

Oak

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Apr 22, 2012
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MA
It's not necessary at all but 1x a week 3v3 is not a big deal in my opinion. However, now that my son plays travel hockey I am very strict about him having the whole summer off from hockey. Either way you should be ok for now.

Good luck and have fun.
 

Derek Sanborn

Registered User
Jun 10, 2018
5
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I couldn't agree more with the posts. As someone who played hockey 365 in Michigan as a kid, I was burnt out by 18. I literally hated playing hockey and I quit. Full rides available. As soon as I was out of the scope of my parents, I was done.

The American Development Model, which is what USA hockey has adopted, promotes playing other sports. Not only will it help with the kids getting burnt out on hockey, it helps create a better athletes.
 
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Porter Stoutheart

We Got Wood
Jun 14, 2017
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DON'T FALL INTO THIS TRAP!!!
Especially at 6 years old!!!

Let kids be kids. He should be having fun in the Summer and not on the ice.

I am dead-set against allowing kids to play any sport 12-months a year. There are literally hundreds of books written on the negatives to allowing this.
Gretzky, Crosby, Ted Williams, etc, etc all played multiple sports.

The Hockey Powers want you to be paranoid and engage in the arms-race that is youth hockey. They'd love nothing more than to collect $$$ 12-months a year.
Don't give in.
So the only caveat to this I'd add is that it depends on what you want your kid to do with hockey. To me, my 10-year old plays some hockey 12-months a year. But I don't care. He's in house league, absolutely loves hockey to the exclusion of all else in his life, but let's face it - he's not a very athletic or gifted kid. I don't care if he ever makes it anywhere, burns himself out, "develops", or anything else. I just want him to smile and have fun. The whole argument against 12-months a year hockey is fine and great and all for kids who are getting a major dose of hockey all year long and who are on a competitive track with a lot of ice all year long. But there are other cases out there.

No issue with the arguments presented for those competitive kids. But at the same time, not all kids are in that category, and for my kid "he should be having fun in the Summer" means: playing hockey. I really don't care if he gets sick of it or becomes a better all-round athlete or anything, because I know at the end of the day he's going to be a computer nerd like me. :)
 

DannyGallivan

Your world frightens and confuses me
Aug 25, 2017
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Update: I opted out of the 3 on 3 hockey this summer. I'm hoping that he can join me and his mom for golf during those days (we went for the first time this summer yesterday) and I bought him his first baseball glove recently. He's got to work on catching, but his arm is great.

He has the personality where he loves doing anything. He'd love summer hockey, but at this point I don't see a downside to him waiting another year to master cross-overs or raise the puck on the wrist shot.
 

HansonBro

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May 3, 2006
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My best winter season, came after my first summer season. But at 6? Nah do something else (like you already chose)

You'll know how much he wants to hockey when he's the one dragging out the net. That's what we did anyways...before phones n crap
 
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puckpilot

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Oct 23, 2016
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This video came up on my feed today on this subject. They guy in the video is a coach that trains kids and pros like Ekblad.

 
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Andrei79

Registered User
Jan 25, 2013
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Ask yourself why you want him to play summer hockey. That's pretty much what will give you the answer.

If your son absolutely wants to do it because, for example, he's passionate about it well that's a different thing than if its because his dad figures its a missed opportunity.

In any case, what's a missed opportunity at 6 years old ? Are you expecting that he's going to be an NHLer and that missing summer hockey one year will prevent him from doing so ?

At that age, you want to feed his mind and his interests. Let him have fun, let him try new things (or not, if he'd rather just play and think hockey all the time. He's not going to get better through competing at that age, he'll get better through nourrishing his passion, become more athletic through other sports and bettering his skills. You still have years before this becomes important... and that's if he wants to hockey to be serious at that point (around adolescence).
 

BogsDiamond

Anybody get 2 U yet?
Mar 16, 2008
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So the only caveat to this I'd add is that it depends on what you want your kid to do with hockey. To me, my 10-year old plays some hockey 12-months a year. But I don't care. He's in house league, absolutely loves hockey to the exclusion of all else in his life, but let's face it - he's not a very athletic or gifted kid. I don't care if he ever makes it anywhere, burns himself out, "develops", or anything else. I just want him to smile and have fun. The whole argument against 12-months a year hockey is fine and great and all for kids who are getting a major dose of hockey all year long and who are on a competitive track with a lot of ice all year long. But there are other cases out there.

No issue with the arguments presented for those competitive kids. But at the same time, not all kids are in that category, and for my kid "he should be having fun in the Summer" means: playing hockey. I really don't care if he gets sick of it or becomes a better all-round athlete or anything, because I know at the end of the day he's going to be a computer nerd like me. :)

Excellent counter argument.
TBH, I've yet to see or hear of anyone in this spectrum, so this totally changed my view on the subject.
Every kid in my area that plays hockey 12-months a year is in a super competitive stream.
Recently, we had to cancel two travel baseball games because we were missing a handful of kids who were powerskating instead.
Not even a game. Just.Powerskating.
I asked their parents if they would ever miss a travel hockey game to attend a pitching clinic. They looked at me like I had three heads. Three handsome heads I might add. Oh yeah.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

Registered User
Jan 29, 2004
34,243
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My daughter was on skates at four, and started in hockey last January in a learn to play program at 6. Her first real competitive hockey was last summer in a girls only development league and she was getting crapped all over by the more experienced players... I mean it was bad...

Now a full year later, she is playing agt kids 2-3 years older than her in a mostly boys only league and doing well. It’s actually pretty remarkable how far she has come in just a year.

After last summer, she played a full winter season, then spring hockey, and asked to play summer hockey again.

She loves being on the ice and is constantly asking when her next game is. She also is a soccer player as well, and there is enough time for both.

If she’s having fun and wants to keep playing 11 months out of the year, then I have no problems with it, TBTH.
 
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Neutrinos

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Sep 23, 2016
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I'm surprised this is even a thread

If your son wants to play hockey in the summer, sign him up

It's great exercise, and if he's enjoying himself, what's the problem?
 
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Cams

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May 27, 2008
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I think everyone above covered my thoughts on it. I did coach a competitive (Travel) summer hockey league for kids one year (not my kid). These kids were probably 10-12 years old and like one person mentioned, you could tell the ones that wanted to be there, and those you really didn't care. Being so young, if the kids want to play, they will probably let you know if they want to play through the summer. Let it be the child's decision and not Dad/Mom pushing them into it. I've seen too many parents pushing their kids too hard into hockey and then it becomes a chore, not fun. At 5/6 years old let them try different things/sports - they might want to bowl even. They most important thing is they have to enjoy doing it - it has be "fun".
 
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kilowatt

the vibes are not immaculate
Jan 1, 2009
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It’s once a week. If he likes playing hockey, ask him if he’d like to play once a week. He’s six, don’t overthink this.
 

Huck Cheever

Registered User
Sep 27, 2018
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He needs personal power skating trainer 2x/week, nutritionist, 3on3, sports psychologist once a week.

I've seen summer leagues burn kids out at that age, be careful.
 

slozo

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Aug 28, 2011
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Newmarket, ON
If hockey one hour (or 45 minutes usually) a week during the summer can...
- burn out your kid
- screw up your schedule for other sports

...then your kid should probably just skip hockey.

As always, every kid is different. If he loves it/wants it, let him play of course!

And those quoting mythical Gretzky lines about how he did other sports and wasn't just a one sport guy...look up how much he played hockey per week at 5 and 6 yrs of age. Burned out indeed.
 

Huck Cheever

Registered User
Sep 27, 2018
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If hockey one hour (or 45 minutes usually) a week during the summer can...
- burn out your kid
- screw up your schedule for other sports

...then your kid should probably just skip hockey.

As always, every kid is different. If he loves it/wants it, let him play of course!

And those quoting mythical Gretzky lines about how he did other sports and wasn't just a one sport guy...look up how much he played hockey per week at 5 and 6 yrs of age. Burned out indeed.

Your kid must be in the NHL...

I watch lots of bantam AAA and the most creative / skilled players are the multi sport athletes who did other stuff at 6 yrs old too.

Playing lots of pond hockey is different than the structured 3on3 leagues. Pond hockey is essential to develop skill but at 6 yrs old, 3on3 leagues don't develop players as they turn kids off of hockey.
 
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slozo

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Aug 28, 2011
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Newmarket, ON
Your kid must be in the NHL...

I watch lots of bantam AAA and the most creative / skilled players are the multi sport athletes who did other stuff at 6 yrs old too.

Playing lots of pond hockey is different than the structured 3on3 leagues. Pond hockey is essential to develop skill but at 6 yrs old, 3on3 leagues don't develop players as they turn kids off of hockey.

Totally disagree.
3 on 3 IS, essentially, pond hockey, just an organized form in a much fairer format.

And almost every young kid who's good does other sports...ju ju depends on the degree and commitment.
 

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