We got a letter from a reader that rang pretty true. We put it to video today, hope you like it.
Would love your thoughts on this topic.
http://youthhockeyhub.com/
Enjoy,
TS
Our top 5 AAA team video should be up live by Friday.
Sports Specialization
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
While it doesn't say in the video how old the kid is, I think everyone can agree that specialization isn't a good thing overall for any kid. Study after study points out the benefits of playing other sports and the benefits they will all have mentally and physically to the overall health and skill of the player.
My follow up question is this, how do we handle when the kid is the one who wants to quit a certain activity to pursue one sport? At what age do we feel kids are qualified to make decisions that they may not see the long term affects of?
It hasn't been an issue in our personal situation but I don't really know how I would handle it if my son said he wanted to play one sport year round at the expense of another that I know he loves.
My follow up question is this, how do we handle when the kid is the one who wants to quit a certain activity to pursue one sport? At what age do we feel kids are qualified to make decisions that they may not see the long term affects of?
It hasn't been an issue in our personal situation but I don't really know how I would handle it if my son said he wanted to play one sport year round at the expense of another that I know he loves.
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greybeard58
- Posts: 2512
- Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 11:40 pm
An Article posted in the Sun Herald Biloxi, Miss.
By Playing One Sport Athletes Face Higher Injury Risk
Posted on Wed, Mar. 21, 2012
By SAM SPIEGELMAN
A growing number of young athletes are focusing on playing a single sport,
putting themselves at greater risk of serious injuries, physicians said.
"When athletes that play one sport and one sport alone, there's probably
more hours of competition in that one sport than there were competing if
they had two or three other sports," Maryland Terrapins team physician and
assistant orthopaedics professor Dr. James Dreese said. "It's the hours of
competition that puts them most at risk for having those problems."
Some parents believe that specialization can help their children become
stars, earning a college scholarship or even a pro career. Over the past
decade, sports performance scientist Dr. Chris Stankovich said he has
noticed more and more children beginning to specialize in one sport.
"Culturally speaking, more and more kids are seeing that a friend of theirs
or a schoolmate is doing one sport year-round, so it kind of normalizes it,"
Stankovich said.
More than 44 million children in the United States participate in youth
sports, according a 2008 survey by the National Council of Youth Sports.
But only about 6 percent of high school athletes go on to play football,
baseball or soccer in college, according to the NCAA. About 3 percent play
college basketball.
Specialization at a young age, however, can set young athletes up for
serious injuries.
For example, the throwing arm of a young baseball player who specializes
in pitching too early can undergo major structural changes.
"There are some pretty significant adaptive changes that take place in the
throwing shoulder with regards to the way it rotates and the way in which
it's orientated that is most related to the hours of which the athlete is
throwing. The younger they are, the more that adaptive change tends to
be," Dreese said.
Reggie Zayas, the commissioner of the Marlboro Boys & Girls Club and a
travel league in Upper Marlboro, Md., said that about 40 percent of his kids
specialize in baseball, usually by ages 9 or 10.
"(Kids on travel-select leagues are) falling behind the curve if they play
multiple sports," Zayas said. "If you try to play (football, basketball and
baseball) ... you're falling behind the curve because there are so many kids
just concentrating on one sport."
Harry Hudson, the president of Henlopen Pop Warner and coach of the
Cape Vikings pee-wee team in Lewes, Del., tells his players the same
thing.
Hudson and his fellow coaches encourage kids under 12 to stay active and
to participate in as many different sports as possible. But when they
become teenagers, he advises them to consider specializing.
"When you move on to that middle school or that high school level, you
need to start looking at your future," Hudson said.
Some parents, like Hudson, view sport sampling as more dangerous than
focusing on one sport.
"In football, you're using your shoulders by hitting people. You're using your
legs also. You go into wrestling, and you're not giving your body enough
time to heal. Now you're going right back into another sport that has to do
with possible shoulder injuries," Hudson said.
But doctors argue that playing only one sport is more dangerous.
The movement toward specialization may produce more successful
athletes, but it also results in more injuries. More than 3.5 million children
14 and younger were treated for sports injuries in 2010, according to the
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. In contrast, 1.9 million were
treated in 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Researchers at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine found
in 2011 that single-sport athletes were almost twice as likely to injure
themselves as multi-sport athletes.
"Certainly, if you're throwing a baseball 10, 11, 12 months a year, you're
going to have a much higher risk of injury than if you're throwing four, five
months a year and maybe throwing a football a few months a year," Dreese
said.
Dreese said he understands why some young athletes specialize, but he
doesn't recommend it.
Chronic overuse injuries account for approximately half of new injuries in
pediatric sports medicine practices, according to the International Youth
Conditioning Association.
Children who specialize can develop Osgood Schlatter's syndrome - which
causes knee pain - and os calcis apophysitis - which causes heel pain.
In adolescents and young adults, there's a risk of shin splints, and
patellofemoral syndrome, also known as "runner's knee."
By playing a multitude of sports, kids are more likely to develop better
coordination and muscle balance, doctors said.
"Children participating in a variety of different sports develop a lot of
different skill-sets in terms of coordination and muscle development.
Playing a variety of sports that require a variety of skills helps to develop
that better than playing one single sport that focuses on just a few of those
factors," Dreese said.
Stankovich warned that kids who specialize face psychological risks. They
begin to look at their sport more like a job and run the risk of burnout.
"It doesn't take a doctor or an expert to tell you that when sports become so
intense that they're day in, day out, it's not going to be as much fun for
most kids," Stankovich said. "There's an apex that a person hits when
they're performing a skill. You hit a point where it's no longer productive to
put that kind of time and energy in it."
Most parents aren't tuned in to looking for signs of burnout, Stankovich
said, which includes loss of intrinsic motivation to play the sport, difficulty
sleeping, irritability and lethargy. Instead, parents become intoxicated with
their child's success.
"When you see kids who are not enjoying it anymore, but mom and dad are
still foot on the accelerator ... then maybe (the child) bottles that all up,"
Stankovich said. "At some point ... with all that cumulative stress, that's
where they either explode and engage in drinking, drug use, reckless
behavior."
Burnout itself can also lead to injuries. If a kid is mentally tuned out, they
can lose their focus on the field or court.
"If you're not ready," Stankovich said, "that can be a torn ACL right there."
Burnout can be prevented, ironically, by participating in a variety of different
activities.
In addition to injury, sport specialization can take away from the youth
sports experience. Forget Gatorade baths and trophies. Sports can cease
to be fun, the main reason why kids play.
Zayas, a father of two, played baseball and football throughout high school.
His son, 11, did the same until he decided to concentrate on football last
year.
"If the specialization occurs after several years of playing youth sports, I
don't see anything wrong with it," Zayas said. "If they only concentrate on
one sport since they've been 5 or 6, and they've been playing that sport
until the end of their youth days, I think the kid is losing out on some
different environments they could be in, and there may be potential
somewhere else."
2012 Capital News Service
By Playing One Sport Athletes Face Higher Injury Risk
Posted on Wed, Mar. 21, 2012
By SAM SPIEGELMAN
A growing number of young athletes are focusing on playing a single sport,
putting themselves at greater risk of serious injuries, physicians said.
"When athletes that play one sport and one sport alone, there's probably
more hours of competition in that one sport than there were competing if
they had two or three other sports," Maryland Terrapins team physician and
assistant orthopaedics professor Dr. James Dreese said. "It's the hours of
competition that puts them most at risk for having those problems."
Some parents believe that specialization can help their children become
stars, earning a college scholarship or even a pro career. Over the past
decade, sports performance scientist Dr. Chris Stankovich said he has
noticed more and more children beginning to specialize in one sport.
"Culturally speaking, more and more kids are seeing that a friend of theirs
or a schoolmate is doing one sport year-round, so it kind of normalizes it,"
Stankovich said.
More than 44 million children in the United States participate in youth
sports, according a 2008 survey by the National Council of Youth Sports.
But only about 6 percent of high school athletes go on to play football,
baseball or soccer in college, according to the NCAA. About 3 percent play
college basketball.
Specialization at a young age, however, can set young athletes up for
serious injuries.
For example, the throwing arm of a young baseball player who specializes
in pitching too early can undergo major structural changes.
"There are some pretty significant adaptive changes that take place in the
throwing shoulder with regards to the way it rotates and the way in which
it's orientated that is most related to the hours of which the athlete is
throwing. The younger they are, the more that adaptive change tends to
be," Dreese said.
Reggie Zayas, the commissioner of the Marlboro Boys & Girls Club and a
travel league in Upper Marlboro, Md., said that about 40 percent of his kids
specialize in baseball, usually by ages 9 or 10.
"(Kids on travel-select leagues are) falling behind the curve if they play
multiple sports," Zayas said. "If you try to play (football, basketball and
baseball) ... you're falling behind the curve because there are so many kids
just concentrating on one sport."
Harry Hudson, the president of Henlopen Pop Warner and coach of the
Cape Vikings pee-wee team in Lewes, Del., tells his players the same
thing.
Hudson and his fellow coaches encourage kids under 12 to stay active and
to participate in as many different sports as possible. But when they
become teenagers, he advises them to consider specializing.
"When you move on to that middle school or that high school level, you
need to start looking at your future," Hudson said.
Some parents, like Hudson, view sport sampling as more dangerous than
focusing on one sport.
"In football, you're using your shoulders by hitting people. You're using your
legs also. You go into wrestling, and you're not giving your body enough
time to heal. Now you're going right back into another sport that has to do
with possible shoulder injuries," Hudson said.
But doctors argue that playing only one sport is more dangerous.
The movement toward specialization may produce more successful
athletes, but it also results in more injuries. More than 3.5 million children
14 and younger were treated for sports injuries in 2010, according to the
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. In contrast, 1.9 million were
treated in 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Researchers at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine found
in 2011 that single-sport athletes were almost twice as likely to injure
themselves as multi-sport athletes.
"Certainly, if you're throwing a baseball 10, 11, 12 months a year, you're
going to have a much higher risk of injury than if you're throwing four, five
months a year and maybe throwing a football a few months a year," Dreese
said.
Dreese said he understands why some young athletes specialize, but he
doesn't recommend it.
Chronic overuse injuries account for approximately half of new injuries in
pediatric sports medicine practices, according to the International Youth
Conditioning Association.
Children who specialize can develop Osgood Schlatter's syndrome - which
causes knee pain - and os calcis apophysitis - which causes heel pain.
In adolescents and young adults, there's a risk of shin splints, and
patellofemoral syndrome, also known as "runner's knee."
By playing a multitude of sports, kids are more likely to develop better
coordination and muscle balance, doctors said.
"Children participating in a variety of different sports develop a lot of
different skill-sets in terms of coordination and muscle development.
Playing a variety of sports that require a variety of skills helps to develop
that better than playing one single sport that focuses on just a few of those
factors," Dreese said.
Stankovich warned that kids who specialize face psychological risks. They
begin to look at their sport more like a job and run the risk of burnout.
"It doesn't take a doctor or an expert to tell you that when sports become so
intense that they're day in, day out, it's not going to be as much fun for
most kids," Stankovich said. "There's an apex that a person hits when
they're performing a skill. You hit a point where it's no longer productive to
put that kind of time and energy in it."
Most parents aren't tuned in to looking for signs of burnout, Stankovich
said, which includes loss of intrinsic motivation to play the sport, difficulty
sleeping, irritability and lethargy. Instead, parents become intoxicated with
their child's success.
"When you see kids who are not enjoying it anymore, but mom and dad are
still foot on the accelerator ... then maybe (the child) bottles that all up,"
Stankovich said. "At some point ... with all that cumulative stress, that's
where they either explode and engage in drinking, drug use, reckless
behavior."
Burnout itself can also lead to injuries. If a kid is mentally tuned out, they
can lose their focus on the field or court.
"If you're not ready," Stankovich said, "that can be a torn ACL right there."
Burnout can be prevented, ironically, by participating in a variety of different
activities.
In addition to injury, sport specialization can take away from the youth
sports experience. Forget Gatorade baths and trophies. Sports can cease
to be fun, the main reason why kids play.
Zayas, a father of two, played baseball and football throughout high school.
His son, 11, did the same until he decided to concentrate on football last
year.
"If the specialization occurs after several years of playing youth sports, I
don't see anything wrong with it," Zayas said. "If they only concentrate on
one sport since they've been 5 or 6, and they've been playing that sport
until the end of their youth days, I think the kid is losing out on some
different environments they could be in, and there may be potential
somewhere else."
2012 Capital News Service
-
O-townClown
- Posts: 4357
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:22 pm
- Location: Typical homeboy from the O-Town
Tony, thanks for posting that. Appropriate topic, nice response, and thanks for letting me put a face with the name.
Now about specialization...
Over and over I read about the injury risk from overuse injuries. Too much play, inadequate recovery, and all. It seems to be one of the two justifications for why kids shouldn't play just one sport all the time. (The other being the nebulous "burnout".)
Could someone please tell me what the specific injury risk is from playing too much hockey?
Girls that play too many soccer games and don't rest their bodies enough are susceptible to ligament tears.
Pitchers in baseball can simply wear out their arm.
Golfers and tennis players can have problems with joints.
Is there really an overuse risk in hockey? Skater's achilles? Full recovery chafe? Smelly hands?
I think hockey unfairly gets lumped in with other sports.
Now about specialization...
Over and over I read about the injury risk from overuse injuries. Too much play, inadequate recovery, and all. It seems to be one of the two justifications for why kids shouldn't play just one sport all the time. (The other being the nebulous "burnout".)
Could someone please tell me what the specific injury risk is from playing too much hockey?
Girls that play too many soccer games and don't rest their bodies enough are susceptible to ligament tears.
Pitchers in baseball can simply wear out their arm.
Golfers and tennis players can have problems with joints.
Is there really an overuse risk in hockey? Skater's achilles? Full recovery chafe? Smelly hands?
I think hockey unfairly gets lumped in with other sports.
Be kind. Rewind.
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This is nuts!
- Posts: 168
- Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:05 pm
Ok, I ll listen to any argument about how kids shouldn't specialize in a sport at a young age. I even agree with it. Although the risk of injury is not one of them.. The average kid who plays hockey year round skates like 3-4 days a weeks for maybe 4-5hrs a week. I hardly think that is so extreme to say that the kids are risking injury.
It's like telling my kid to come inside and play video games and stop playing in the yard because he has put in too many hours of playing and might tweak an ankle.
Runners ruin their joints because they run 50 miles per week. Hockey's players don't train that many hours, although, knowing hockey players they probably would if the ice was available.
It's like telling my kid to come inside and play video games and stop playing in the yard because he has put in too many hours of playing and might tweak an ankle.
Runners ruin their joints because they run 50 miles per week. Hockey's players don't train that many hours, although, knowing hockey players they probably would if the ice was available.
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SCBlueLiner
- Posts: 661
- Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:11 pm
Agree with Nuts, there simply isn't enough icetime available for a 10 or 12 year old to overtrain. If the kid was with his buddies playing baseball or soccer in the backyard every summer afternoon for 4 hours would there be articles writtten warning us of the risks of kids playing with their friends outside? No, probably not.
The issues with specialization are two fold. One, if one kid decides to specialize early there is a better chance he will be more skilled in a sport at a younger age. Most likely, this child will make the "A" team, get selected for all-star teams and such at an earlier age than the child who decides to play multiple sports. This is a problem for the multi-sport athlete, in the short run, as they get the feeling they are being left behind.
Secondly, in smaller communities (read non-metro area) it is a necessity to have multi-sport athletes. The same kids on the hockey team are the same ones needed to field a baseball, football, or soccer team. Without kids doing multiple sports all the town teams suffer due to lack of participation.
In the long run I think kids are better off playing multiple sports. Personally, I played all sports growing up. By the time I got to high school the best players on our hockey team were the multi-sport athletes, especially those who played football due to the overall physicality and weight training that sport requires. Simply put, those kids were bigger, faster, and stronger. With that said, I have no idea how far I could have gone in hockey if I would have specialized as there was no such thing as specialization back in those days.
I totally understand where USA Hockey is coming from in trying to steer their young players into multiple sports. I think they are simultaneously trying to appease the multi sport parent's concerns and grow their numbers. I, however, have the same fear that my child is going to be left behind if he plays hockey only in the winter. It's tryout season now and you can definitely tell the difference between those that played on a summer team and those who did not.
My son still plays multiple sports, hockey, baseball, and football. There is some overlap in the seasons playing summer hockey but he seems to enjoy it. Summer vacation during the day then either hockey or baseball at night. I'm the one who is feeling it as I have to work all day and run here or there every night. Ahh, it's worth it. I'll quite complaining.
The issues with specialization are two fold. One, if one kid decides to specialize early there is a better chance he will be more skilled in a sport at a younger age. Most likely, this child will make the "A" team, get selected for all-star teams and such at an earlier age than the child who decides to play multiple sports. This is a problem for the multi-sport athlete, in the short run, as they get the feeling they are being left behind.
Secondly, in smaller communities (read non-metro area) it is a necessity to have multi-sport athletes. The same kids on the hockey team are the same ones needed to field a baseball, football, or soccer team. Without kids doing multiple sports all the town teams suffer due to lack of participation.
In the long run I think kids are better off playing multiple sports. Personally, I played all sports growing up. By the time I got to high school the best players on our hockey team were the multi-sport athletes, especially those who played football due to the overall physicality and weight training that sport requires. Simply put, those kids were bigger, faster, and stronger. With that said, I have no idea how far I could have gone in hockey if I would have specialized as there was no such thing as specialization back in those days.
I totally understand where USA Hockey is coming from in trying to steer their young players into multiple sports. I think they are simultaneously trying to appease the multi sport parent's concerns and grow their numbers. I, however, have the same fear that my child is going to be left behind if he plays hockey only in the winter. It's tryout season now and you can definitely tell the difference between those that played on a summer team and those who did not.
My son still plays multiple sports, hockey, baseball, and football. There is some overlap in the seasons playing summer hockey but he seems to enjoy it. Summer vacation during the day then either hockey or baseball at night. I'm the one who is feeling it as I have to work all day and run here or there every night. Ahh, it's worth it. I'll quite complaining.
Relative to injuries, another thing worth mentioning is off ice training and diet. These two things become more and more important as kids get older. Off ice training strengthens the "hockey" muscles, tendons and joints but also those muscles around the hockey muscles which supports the overall body and helps prevent injury much like, and probably better, than what simply playing multi-sports will do. Whether specialized or not, too many athletes practice, play, play, play and don't dedicate an adequate amount of time to warm-ups, strength, agility, flexibility training and diet which leads to more injuries than any other cause. For a specialist, the right off ice training program is much more of a factor to prevent injuries than playing multiple sports.
Hip injuries and lower back injuries are huge overuse and overtraining issues in young hockey players. Here is an article specifically on the hip injury epidemic in youg hockey players:O-townClown wrote:Tony, thanks for posting that. Appropriate topic, nice response, and thanks for letting me put a face with the name.
Now about specialization...
Over and over I read about the injury risk from overuse injuries. Too much play, inadequate recovery, and all. It seems to be one of the two justifications for why kids shouldn't play just one sport all the time. (The other being the nebulous "burnout".)
Could someone please tell me what the specific injury risk is from playing too much hockey?
Girls that play too many soccer games and don't rest their bodies enough are susceptible to ligament tears.
Pitchers in baseball can simply wear out their arm.
Golfers and tennis players can have problems with joints.
Is there really an overuse risk in hockey? Skater's achilles? Full recovery chafe? Smelly hands?
I think hockey unfairly gets lumped in with other sports.
http://drmarcphilipponmd.com/dr-philipp ... y-players/
I also disagree that there isn't enough ice time for really young hockey players to get overuse injuries, especially the ones skating year round even if it is for only 5 to 7 hours per week, that is a ton for a non-natural movement like skating.
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old goalie85
- Posts: 3696
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:37 pm
In most cases I think,[ and I've seen my oldest freshmen in college ] multi-sport kids seem to stay "fresh" both mental/physical vs the kids that live/eat/ breath hockey. Ive also "heard" that the kids that are 29/30 yrs old are the first group who skated year round. These "kids" are having hip replacement @ an alarming rate. Mine all play three sports. Not so much for them, it's a good way to get away from hockey parents for awhile!! 
It becomes more and more difficult each year. When they're young they practice and play 3-4 days a week. As they get older that increases to 5-6 days a week. A schedule you could juggle when they're in 4th grade becomes significantly more difficult when they get to 8th grade. I remember September and May being two of the most packed months while filling out the calendar with 3 sports intersecting. Frankly, playing more that 2 sports at the highest level is very rare in the metro. About 9th grade playing more than 1 at the highest level, if hockey is one of them, is hard to accomplish. One will almost always take a back seat to another. The top metro high school hockey teams have very few, to zero, athletes playing anything other than hockey. And if they are, other than the most gifted few, they are falling behind. No question you can see who's been working on their game at tryouts. It can be shocking the improvement some show during 8th, 9th and 10th grade as maturity, and year round training, shows.My son still plays multiple sports, hockey, baseball, and football.
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SCBlueLiner
- Posts: 661
- Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:11 pm
If hockey specialization/overtraining is a problem, and too much skating at a young age can lead to injuries, then how do we explain all the old timers who spent sunrise to sunset at the local outdoor rink/pond? Isn't that the epitome of overtraining and all that skating (an unnatural movement) should have led to all sorts of injuries. Instead that is looked back on as how hockey should be and we all lament the way things have changed and how they used to be.
I believe the issue is "organized" sports, and the $$ cost associated with them, being frowned upon. Money being a factor in how successful a kid can be in this sport. Those parents who can afford to send their kids to all the camps, buy ice time, play in choice leagues, pay $15k a year to ship a kid off to play AAA, etc, etc. Not saying I agree with it, just saying the perception is out there.
All that and the fear of being left behind on the ice if a kid chooses to play multiple sports.
I don't have any answers, just playing devil's advocate and trying to look at this from all sides. As for me and mine, we'll do what we think as right and fun. If it stops being fun for him then we'll do something else.
I believe the issue is "organized" sports, and the $$ cost associated with them, being frowned upon. Money being a factor in how successful a kid can be in this sport. Those parents who can afford to send their kids to all the camps, buy ice time, play in choice leagues, pay $15k a year to ship a kid off to play AAA, etc, etc. Not saying I agree with it, just saying the perception is out there.
All that and the fear of being left behind on the ice if a kid chooses to play multiple sports.
I don't have any answers, just playing devil's advocate and trying to look at this from all sides. As for me and mine, we'll do what we think as right and fun. If it stops being fun for him then we'll do something else.
I think you dramatize and over romanticize the idea of the "sunrise to sunset" old timers on the ponds. I think it's sort of an old wives tale along the lines of walking to school up hill both ways in the snow. Did kids used to skate ont he pond more than now a days, maybe, probably, did they do it everyday surise to sunset, no way no how and even if they were outside I bet they weren't on their skates the whole time. Honestly, I think kids are on their skates (pond or no pond) WAY more today than they ever were in the past and the skating and training on ice is by far more intense and advanced. How else do you explain how much better the product is now than it was then. That is how I explain it, it's a false romanticized premise to begin withSCBlueLiner wrote:If hockey specialization/overtraining is a problem, and too much skating at a young age can lead to injuries, then how do we explain all the old timers who spent sunrise to sunset at the local outdoor rink/pond? Isn't that the epitome of overtraining and all that skating (an unnatural movement) should have led to all sorts of injuries. Instead that is looked back on as how hockey should be and we all lament the way things have changed and how they used to be.
I believe the issue is "organized" sports, and the $$ cost associated with them, being frowned upon. Money being a factor in how successful a kid can be in this sport. Those parents who can afford to send their kids to all the camps, buy ice time, play in choice leagues, pay $15k a year to ship a kid off to play AAA, etc, etc. Not saying I agree with it, just saying the perception is out there.
All that and the fear of being left behind on the ice if a kid chooses to play multiple sports.
I don't have any answers, just playing devil's advocate and trying to look at this from all sides. As for me and mine, we'll do what we think as right and fun. If it stops being fun for him then we'll do something else.
Last edited by JSR on Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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This is nuts!
- Posts: 168
- Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:05 pm
A pulled froin muscle is not an overuse/overtraining injury caused by and determined by long term activities with log term effects. It's an acute injury usually individualized by improper warmups, stretching or conditioning (or all three). The two aren't even equatableThis is nuts! wrote:I ll bet my house that when tryouts come around the first kid to pull a groin muscle, will be the kid that did NOT skate over the summer. Not he kid who did skate.. How do the experts explain that?
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SCBlueLiner
- Posts: 661
- Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:11 pm
I know, I romanticized it on purpose to make a point. How would I know, I wasn't one of those kids. I am just posting about the interviews I see every year on Hockey Day on FSN. How the game was played outside and the kid's toes were frozen but the only way they'd come inside is if mom made some hot chocolate. Then after they thawed out they'd go back outside for more.
I think those days "happened" I just don't think they happened with the frequency some think they did. Like I can see someone remembering doing that but I bet it happened 3 or 4 times a winter not 3 or 4 times a week. Especially back then, people worked harder and longer at chores and jobs, they didn't have time to spend waisting all day on a pond somewhere every day. I like the pond, I think it's a fun place to go but I do think the "glory" days are overstated to a degree in some respects.SCBlueLiner wrote:I know, I romanticized it on purpose to make a point. How would I know, I wasn't one of those kids. I am just posting about the interviews I see every year on Hockey Day on FSN. How the game was played outside and the kid's toes were frozen but the only way they'd come inside is if mom made some hot chocolate. Then after they thawed out they'd go back outside for more.
I don't know. Watch the movie pond hockey. Those those guys were on the ice a ton. Gretzky was on the out door ice hours almost every day ice was available for hours at a time. It happened then and it still happens now for many kids. I know a lot of kids that are out on the rink 2-4 times a week for hours on end.JSR wrote:I think those days "happened" I just don't think they happened with the frequency some think they did. Like I can see someone remembering doing that but I bet it happened 3 or 4 times a winter not 3 or 4 times a week. Especially back then, people worked harder and longer at chores and jobs, they didn't have time to spend waisting all day on a pond somewhere every day. I like the pond, I think it's a fun place to go but I do think the "glory" days are overstated to a degree in some respects.SCBlueLiner wrote:I know, I romanticized it on purpose to make a point. How would I know, I wasn't one of those kids. I am just posting about the interviews I see every year on Hockey Day on FSN. How the game was played outside and the kid's toes were frozen but the only way they'd come inside is if mom made some hot chocolate. Then after they thawed out they'd go back outside for more.
I do think that Blue has a point about people frowning on something people aren't willing are wanting to do. That we can see in every sport and activity that our kids are involved with and stems from parent character not a danger to the kids.
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HockeyDad41
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This is nuts!
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I see your point,, but an injury is an injury, a bad groin tear can keep a player out for long time... Ask gaborik...JSR wrote:A pulled froin muscle is not an overuse/overtraining injury caused by and determined by long term activities with log term effects. It's an acute injury usually individualized by improper warmups, stretching or conditioning (or all three). The two aren't even equatableThis is nuts! wrote:I ll bet my house that when tryouts come around the first kid to pull a groin muscle, will be the kid that did NOT skate over the summer. Not he kid who did skate.. How do the experts explain that?
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InThePipes
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I don't disagree with the fact that there is alot of parental judgment out there.SnowedIn wrote:I don't know. Watch the movie pond hockey. Those those guys were on the ice a ton. Gretzky was on the out door ice hours almost every day ice was available for hours at a time. It happened then and it still happens now for many kids. I know a lot of kids that are out on the rink 2-4 times a week for hours on end.JSR wrote:I think those days "happened" I just don't think they happened with the frequency some think they did. Like I can see someone remembering doing that but I bet it happened 3 or 4 times a winter not 3 or 4 times a week. Especially back then, people worked harder and longer at chores and jobs, they didn't have time to spend waisting all day on a pond somewhere every day. I like the pond, I think it's a fun place to go but I do think the "glory" days are overstated to a degree in some respects.SCBlueLiner wrote:I know, I romanticized it on purpose to make a point. How would I know, I wasn't one of those kids. I am just posting about the interviews I see every year on Hockey Day on FSN. How the game was played outside and the kid's toes were frozen but the only way they'd come inside is if mom made some hot chocolate. Then after they thawed out they'd go back outside for more.
I do think that Blue has a point about people frowning on something people aren't willing are wanting to do. That we can see in every sport and activity that our kids are involved with and stems from parent character not a danger to the kids.
I also think there are exceptions to every rule and there are probably some kids who skate a ton on the pond back then and now. I merely think that it's overstated that the masses did this all the time. I still think that the masses skate way more now than they did then, pond or no pond, and that the skating is harder, more purposeful and more intense than it was then. And as OG pointed out, the pond wasn't frozen in July and to my knowledge of reading his biographies etc.. Gretzky played outdoor sports in the summer (baseball and lacrosse to my knowledge)..... just taking summers off has a great deal of healing power toward overuse injuries, doctors say just 2 months off is huge recovery wise
Also, You say you know alot of kids out on the rink 4 times per week for hours on end..... when are they going to school, doing homework and going to their association practices? My boys skate in the winter about as much as I think a a boy who goes to school and plays for a team can skate and there isn't much time left after homework and practice and games to play on the ponds much more than maybe 1 day per week......
Last edited by JSR on Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.