Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/81890
THEY DON'T THINK LIKE WE DO OR LOOK AT THE SPORT LIKE WE DO. THEY DON'T WE HAVE TO MAKE CERTAIN WE'RE NOT SPOILING THEIR EXPERIENCE. HAVE TO ADJUST TO US, WE HAVE TO ADJUST TO THEM. I hung up the phone and began to wonder how this happened and who would play goal the next day when I decided to call back. "Can I talk to him?" I asked the father. The goalie came on the phone. "I don't want to play anymore," "He won't tell me," the father said. he said "But you know what tomorrow is, don't you? Are you nervous?" "No." "Our guys. They jump on me after the game. It hurts me and scares me." "Is that it?" "Yea." "Then what? You can tell me." "I don't like it anymore." "Don't like playing goal?" "They hurt me," he said. "Who hurts you?" "The guys," he said. "What guys?" "What if I told you they won't jump on you and hurt you any- more. Would you play then?" "Are you sure?" "I'm sure." "Do you trust me?" "Yea." 26 SEPTEMBER.2012 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM And that was the end of the goalie crisis. The kid was scared and wouldn't tell his parents. The kid loved playing but didn't love being jumped on after winning games. You can't anticipate anything like that as a coach. You can't anticipate what's in their minds. It's their game. We have to remember that. It's not our game. They don't think like we do or look at the sport like we do. They "Then I'll play." don't have to adjust to us, we have to adjust to them. We have to make certain we're not spoiling their experience. Our experience is important too, but the game is for the children and not for the adults. We can say that over and over again, but the message seems to get lost every year. Lost in too many coaches who lose perspective and who think nothing of blaming and yelling and bullying. Lost by parents who think their son or daughter is the next this or the next that and they are already spending the millions their little one will be earning by the time they finish hockey in the winter, 3-on-3 in the summer, power skating over winter break, special les- sons over March break, pre-tryout camp before the AAA tryouts in May and a couple weeks of hockey school, just to make certain they don't go rusty. I have asked many NHL players how they grew up in the game. My favorite answer came from Trevor Linden, who has captained more than one team. He said he played hockey until April and then put his skates away. He played baseball all summer until the last week of August. He went to hockey camp for one week then began his season midway through September with tryouts. No summer hockey. No special schools. No skating 12 months a year. "I think the kids today are playing way too much hockey, and all you have to do is look at the development to see it really isn't producing any better players. We have to let the kids be kids." When, I asked Gary Roberts, did he think he had a future in "I didn't even see my skates for about five months a year," he said. hockey. "When I got a call from an agent before the OHL draft," he said. "Before that, it was just a game we played." Do me a favor: Until the agent comes knocking on your teen- ager's door, let's keep it that way. A game for kids. And one reminder, I don't care what the age: Don't forget the snacks. N Steve Simmons writes a sports column for the Toronto Sun when he isn't coaching youth hockey. (Reprinted with permission.) PHOTOS BY USA Hockey