OT: Jets Lounge: The Dog Days of Summer

[puck stoppa]

Easier for parents to buy some shin pads and shoes than a full set of hockey equipment. Let's just say I won't be entirely heartbroken if my future children decide to do something other than hockey.

Here is the thing, my kids are very active, the problem is that they make kids specialize way too young now a days. 4-5-6 year olds play soccer two times per week for 8 weeks, the same age group also plays hockey 2-3 times per week all winter, usually Jan Feb is 3 times per week. I really think it's too much at that age. My son wants to play basketball, baseball and tennis, but where do you fit it in? If you put your kid in swimming lessons that's running around 3-4 days per week with one kid. I have two sons so I can't put them in many other things (this year soccer was opposite days for them so Mon-Thurs for 8 weeks in May June).
My solution: At the young ages of 4-6 soccer should be once a week then you can put your kid in a few other things once per week like basketball, dance, lacrosse, baseball, swimming, etc. After a few years kids can pick which sport they like best and stick with that, as they get older the amount of time per week goes up. But by having things go so many times a week that young, it forces kids to specialize/pick for too early. It's very frustrating.

 

[Daximus]

Easier for parents to buy some shin pads and shoes than a full set of hockey equipment. Let's just say I won't be entirely heartbroken if my future children decide to do something other than hockey.

It definitely is but parents should realize that if you are putting your kid in soccer they probably have no future in it unless your kid is a girl. And even then it's pretty tough.
I grew up playing all sports and know and played with people that went on to have careers in hockey, baseball, football and heck even volleyball. But I don't know a single person that has ever made a career out of playing soccer. It's kind of a dead end sport. Cheap but one of those things where you likely won't get back what you put into it.

Rumour has it that he's thinking of retiring anyway, and joining The Tenors.

 

[puck stoppa]

Rumour has it that he's thinking of retiring anyway, and joining The Tenors.

Latest is the police will not work 49er games unless something is done with Kapernick by the team. 70 cops work Levi stadium and they may refuse to do so.

 

[puck stoppa]

It definitely is but parents should realize that if you are putting your kid in soccer they probably have no future in it unless your kid is a girl. And even then it's pretty tough.
I grew up playing all sports and know and played with people that went on to have careers in hockey, baseball, football and heck even volleyball. But I don't know a single person that has ever made a career out of playing soccer. It's kind of a dead end sport. Cheap but one of those things where you likely won't get back what you put into it.

Maybe they play in cause it's good exercise? I think my kid is backing outve soccer to try basketball or baseball next year. I don't expect him to make it anywhere in anything so not worried about the dead end sport just want him to play many and ones he likes. Just want him to play sports and enjoy them, I played many and made many friends because of that and in hockey even made friends around the world.

 

[HannuJ]

Latest is the police will not work 49er games unless something is done with Kapernick by the team. 70 cops work Levi stadium and they may refuse to do so.

good.
suspend the cops.
it just shows that Kapernick hit the nail ever so perfectly on the head.

 

[Daximus]

Here is the thing, my kids are very active, the problem is that they make kids specialize way too young now a days. 4-5-6 year olds play soccer two times per week for 8 weeks, the same age group also plays hockey 2-3 times per week all winter, usually Jan Feb is 3 times per week. I really think it's too much at that age. My son wants to play basketball, baseball and tennis, but where do you fit it in? If you put your kid in swimming lessons that's running around 3-4 days per week with one kid. I have two sons so I can't put them in many other things (this year soccer was opposite days for them so Mon-Thurs for 8 weeks in May June).
My solution: At the young ages of 4-6 soccer should be once a week then you can put your kid in a few other things once per week like basketball, dance, lacrosse, baseball, swimming, etc. After a few years kids can pick which sport they like best and stick with that, as they get older the amount of time per week goes up. But by having things go so many times a week that young, it forces kids to specialize/pick for too early. It's very frustrating.

I'm not sure what it's like where you live but where I'm from there was house league and development league for soccer.
House league practiced and played once a week. So essentially two nights. D-league practiced at minimum 3-4 times a week with weekend games.
I know a lot of people that liked to play 2 sports so they played house league soccer and baseball. Or house league indoor soccer and hockey. It got them to multiple sports a week without the massive commitment. But at the sacrifice of playing more competitively.

 

[Daximus]

Maybe they play in cause it's good exercise? I think my kid is backing outve soccer to try basketball or baseball next year. I don't expect him to make it anywhere in anything so not worried about the dead end sport just want him to play many and ones he likes. Just want him to play sports and enjoy them, I played many and made many friends because of that and in hockey even made friends around the world.

Yeah I do understand that but and I may not speak for all kids but most typically have a dream of becoming pro in at least one sport or maybe even all of them. I mean who doesn't want to make a career out of a game even at a young age?
By the time I was in grade 9 I knew I'd never had a career in basketball or football so I dropped them to focus on the rest. I also knew where my passion was and stuck with those sports. It really sucks to try and force you kids into something so I think the best route is to let them do it themselves. By the time they hit high school they should know where their strengths and talents lie and then they can focus on that. Sometimes that may not even be sports by then. Though I think it's always a good thing to remain in at least one.

 

[puck stoppa]

good.
suspend the cops.
it just shows that Kapernick hit the nail ever so perfectly on the head.

Just shows how divided people are in that country.

 

[Daximus]

good.
suspend the cops.
it just shows that Kapernick hit the nail ever so perfectly on the head.

Just shows how divided people are in that country.

It's getting bad. Did you hear Wayne Simmonds on that talk show? He was saying how radically different it is to play hockey in Canada and then play there. The racism is strong in Philly. It's strong everywhere in the US.

 

[HannuJ]

Just shows how divided people are in that country.

won't get into politics, but this election cycle's been a great reminder as to what makes Canadians and Americans different

 

[sully1410]

Latest is the police will not work 49er games unless something is done with Kapernick by the team. 70 cops work Levi stadium and they may refuse to do so.

That's ridiculous. Police don't get to pick and choose who they help or what beat they walk. It's the job. They aren't there for the team, they are there to protect the people that go to the games...what does that have to do with the 49ers or Colin Kaepernick? Nothing. Parting being a cop is that you don't get to discriminate just because someone doesn't like the job you do or stands for something other than yourself.

If they do that and something bad happens...it won't be on the team. It will be on the department and the 70 officers that decided not to do their job.

 

[Daximus]

won't get into politics, but this election cycle's been a great reminder as to what makes Canadians and Americans different

Did you see that recent video of the guy yelling racial slurs at an actor in Edmonton?
Those kinds of people exist here in droves they just stay more underground than they do in the US.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-man-targeted-by-racial-slurs-captures-disgusting-exchange-on-video-1.3744853

 

[YWGinYYZ]

Careful, y'all. We're trending towards topics of a political nature.

 

[tbcwpg]

Why is the women's team so good then?

The women's team is good because the focus on women's soccer in the traditionally strong soccer countries is far far below what's put into the men's program. I love what our women's team accomplishes but it's certainly relative to the rest of the world in the level of competition they face. Our level of development in women's soccer matches or exceeds what other FAs put into their women's programs, and we've got a talented generation of women playing right now.

 

[ps241]

Got a few sideways looks when I told some people, not all guys are into a day at the spa and massage.

The day spa for guys hasn't really caught on yet in the Peg. I will say that place is amazing, I purchase GC's to the place and gift them to people and it always goes over well after folks visit.

 

[ps241]

Maybe they play in cause it's good exercise? I think my kid is backing outve soccer to try basketball or baseball next year. I don't expect him to make it anywhere in anything so not worried about the dead end sport just want him to play many and ones he likes. Just want him to play sports and enjoy them, I played many and made many friends because of that and in hockey even made friends around the world.

The professionalizating of kids sports is a sad offshoot of today's society. Talk to Gretz, Messier, or even Wheeler and they rant against this. Sports now compete for the best baby athletes and you need to lock them up....then once you do that the for profit camp mongers get their claws in and start sucking the blood out of the parents. Not only that they run tournaments starting on weekdays and take priority over school. Same goes for girls dance etc.....not sure where it all started but it's a shame....only the crappy athelets get to muti sport.

In the States it's just as bad, my friends kid is good at hockey and they moved to Dallas and at 9 they had to sign a contract to commit to only hockey for 10 months. His daughter got good at dance and she actually commits more time to her passion than the son and his commitment is bananas.

Starting to think hanging out at seven eleven and smoking may be less dysfunctional

 

[puck stoppa]

The day spa for guys hasn't really caught on yet in the Peg. I will say that place is amazing, I purchase GC's to the place and gift them to people and it always goes over well after folks visit.

It's a great place to spend a day, real great addition to the city.

 

[puck stoppa]

The professionalizating of kids sports is a sad offshoot of today's society. Talk to Gretz, Messier, or even Wheeler and they rant against this. Sports now compete for the best baby athletes and you need to lock them up....then once you do that the for profit camp mongers get their claws in and start sucking the blood out of the parents. Not only that they run tournaments starting on weekdays and take priority over school. Same goes for girls dance etc.....not sure where it all started but it's a shame....only the crappy athelets get to muti sport.

In the States it's just as bad, my friends kid is good at hockey and they moved to Dallas and at 9 they had to sign a contract to commit to only hockey for 10 months. His daughter got good at dance and she actually commits more time to her passion than the son and his commitment is bananas.

Starting to think hanging out at seven eleven and smoking may be less dysfunctional

It really is sad isn't it. I agree with Gretzky and Steph Curry (both speak about transferable skills) about playing many different sports and really hope my kid grows up playing as many sports as I did. I had the opportunity of playing Golf, Baseball, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Rugby and still made it to a high level of hockey and I loved that I had an opportunity to play all those sports. I never once played spring or summer hockey tho, I refused to and luckily my parents never pushed (spring starts at 7 years old now ) me to play it. Unfortunately, as you stated, It's tough for kids to do lots of sports if they want to succeed in one but I did it (not NHL tho of course, woudlve probably had to quit all other sports lol) and hope my kids can do the same.

 

[Puckatron 3000]

Starting to think hanging out at seven eleven and smoking may be less dysfunctional

*phew* Happy to hear my teenage years were spent doing something worthwhile.

I'm not a parent, and this is kinda anecdotal. But I did get to watch a lot of neighborhood sporty kids growing up, with seriously overbearing parents. Lots of them abandoned the sport completely once they were old enough to get out from under their parent's control. Whereas kids who more organically found what they were interested in doing (and pursued it of their own conviction) were much more likely to keep up with that sport/activity/whatever for life.

Just my $0.02.

 

[puck stoppa]

*phew* Happy to hear my teenage years were spent doing something worthwhile.

I'm not a parent, and this is kinda anecdotal. But I did get to watch a lot of neighborhood sporty kids growing up, with seriously overbearing parents. Lots of them abandoned the sport completely once they were old enough to get out from under their parent's control. Whereas kids who more organically found what they were interested in doing (and pursued it of their own conviction) were much more likely to keep up with that sport/activity/whatever for life.

Just my $0.02.

Bang on, parents can be quite awful out there in pushing kids. (Ive seen so many quit or resent parents) So many burn out young. Making lifelong friendships and playing sports you can enjoy into adulthood should be the focus as chances of kids making it big is very slim.

 

[buggs]

It really is sad isn't it. I agree with Gretzky and Steph Curry (both speak about transferable skills) about playing many different sports and really hope my kid grows up playing as many sports as I did. I had the opportunity of playing Golf, Baseball, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Rugby and still made it to a high level of hockey and I loved that I had an opportunity to play all those sports. I never once played spring or summer hockey tho, I refused to and luckily my parents never pushed (spring starts at 7 years old now ) me to play it. Unfortunately, as you stated, It's tough for kids to do lots of sports if they want to succeed in one but I did it (not NHL tho of course, woudlve probably had to quit all other sports lol) and hope my kids can do the same.

Bang on, parents can be quite awful out there in pushing kids. (Ive seen so many quit or resent parents) So many burn out young. Making lifelong friendships and playing sports you can enjoy into adulthood should be the focus as chances of kids making it big is very slim.

My kid is 16 now, going on 17. She is good at sports, very good.

Your childhood was like mine - I played everything and loved everything. But the notion of single sport specialization isn't new, at least if you consider hockey. I was playing Saints back in 1979 (ok, waaaaaaaaay back) and missed a practice for school volleyball (a league game). Coach called me over at start of hockey practice asking me where I was the previous day; I told him with the rationale that a game was a higher priority than a practice so I chose volleyball. He told me I had to make a choice between dumb sports and hockey. I asked him if he meant choose right now between hockey and volleyball/basketball/cross country/track & field/tennis/squash/racquetball/badminton and football? He said yup and I said see ya, skated off the ice and I never played organized hockey again after the age of 15.

Going back around to my kid she was in the high performance program for basketball in this province. She played lots of sports right up until the start of grade 10. In grade 9 though she got a ton of grief for missing basketball practices for club volleyball. For those that don't know, club sport is much higher level than school sport. The coach dropped her from the starting lineup (fair enough, she was missing practices) and actually berated her for opting into volleyball over basketball. The school team was good, they won grade 9 provincials. But volleyball was better, they won western Canadian nationals.

Come grade 10 she made the high school basketball team and her club volleyball team again. Seasons overlapped and they both practiced four times per week. She didn't get a choice really, she had to play only one because of the practice schedules and she wasn't going to get **** upon again by a coach for missing practices. She chose volleyball. High school team won JV provincials, club volleyball won provincials and finished second nationally. Of note though this basketball coach insisted he understood and was happy to have her on the team for as much as she could make - a dramatic improvement over the previous year's coach.

The point of the rambling above is that it's not always parents that force a situation, sometimes it's the coaching that can ruin it for the kids. Otherwise I will point out that the caliber of the play is so much dramatically higher than it was back in the old days when I was a kid. The scheduling with club sports, be it basketball, volleyball, swimming or whatever forces kids to specialize. My kid chose volleyball and now between school, club, beach and provincial team practices for all but six weeks out of the year. That's without attending any camps at all. Too much. I wish it would go back to the ways of multi-sport because I honestly believe the cross training and more importantly the break from a single sport is what matters.

Philosophically we've tried to impart the notion that while winning is indeed great (1st, 4th, 2nd place finishes nationally in club volleyball) what is more important is learning teamwork and seeing if you're interested in something so that you can employ it for fitness later in life. So few get to compete at the next level, never mind make it to the point of doing it professionally. Not enough intramural stuff done in schools just for fun for the kids that aren't committed to the competitive stuff IMO.

 

[KCjetsfan]

won't get into politics, but this election cycle's been a great reminder as to what makes Canadians and Americans different

My american wife wants us to move to Canada, and she HATES anything below freezing... I'd do it too if it weren't for the grandkids and not being to see them often.

 

[HannuJ]

My american wife wants us to move to Canada, and she HATES anything below freezing... I'd do it too if it weren't for the grandkids and not being to see them often.

define freezing. i mean, we don't get close to absolute zero, if that's what you mean.

 

[KCjetsfan]

0 celcius and she probably won't want to leave the house lol.. To be fair 30 celcius and I don't want to either

 

[CorgisPer60]

It's getting bad. Did you hear Wayne Simmonds on that talk show? He was saying how radically different it is to play hockey in Canada and then play there. The racism is strong in Philly. It's strong everywhere in the US.

Link to show or transcript?