Thoughts on moving outside of the Assn. for a year?

[WildFan]

Here's my situation I'll be facing next season. My son still has one more year of Mite elgibilty left next Fall. This season he's one of the more advanced players in our Mite program.
I don't want to be blackballed for moving my kid outside the assocation for the year. Our Mite program isn't really geared towards the upper tier Mites and have no Mite D program. My gut feeling is another year of Mites may not benefit him.

[iseepalms]

You probably should leave South St Paul it would help!!!!

[tunavichy]

I think a good checking school would be good to get him ready for Bantams and above. Put him up to "C" Pee Wee's this year.

[O-townClown]

Yikes, that's a toughie.

Can you play in the community Mite program in-season and work on something more ambitious out of season?

Little League is community-based and each area can field an all-star team to compete in tournaments leading to the LLWS. When you see a Sun Belt team the kids are also playing Fall and Spring ball on uber-competitive AAU clubs. Their 'in-season' team is actually a break and they face much lower competition until that all-star team is fielded at the end.

I can tell you don't want to leave the association as a first choice. If your kid really loves it the 'off' season can provide the challenge.

[spin-o-rama]

This might be of interest to you.

http://www.ushsho.com/forums/viewtopic. ... light=fire

I would hope that there would be no negative repurcussions when you return.

Good luck!

[WildFan]

Thanks for the info. and input!

[egf hockey1]

Let your kid stay in the association and play mites. Even though he may be good enough to play Squirts, the social aspect is a big difference. The squirt kids are a grade or two older than your kid, they have their friends on the team, your kid wouldn't. Alot of parents want to move their kid up so early, but don't think about the reprecussions on their kid. Let your kid play with his age and be the big fish. He will gain leadership skills that will help him later on in hockey and in life, and give his teammates a skill level to shoot for.

Just my opinion.

[nhl'er]

It's ultimately comes down to a personal decision, every child is different and what is good for one may not be good for the next. I have two boys, one played up early into Squirts and had a great experience, most of his friends were the Adv Mites that were moving up to Squirts, so it made sense for him, he would have been bored silly playing another year of Adv Mites. My 2nd son will be playing up next season if he meets the criteria to move up during evals, but again he will likely develop better in an environement where he has to push himself harder. Hi spersonality is where he tends to take it easy when he knows he isn't being pushed.

I also agree wish the previous posts about devloping leadership skills, but I personally believe that that is better dealt with in their 2 and 3 year of Squirts where they have more experience to draw from.

[My_Kid_Loves_Hockey]

I too had a mite move up to Squirts and it was nothing but a positive experience for HIM. We are from a small enough community where basically all the kids know each other.

From the development side of it, playing against bigger, stronger better competition taught him he had to work hard to keep up.

If you feel your player can handle the move, go for it.

[Bronc]

I too had a mite move up to Squirts and it was nothing but a positive experience for HIM. We are from a small enough community where basically all the kids know each other.

From the development side of it, playing against bigger, stronger better competition taught him he had to work hard to keep up.

If you feel your player can handle the move, go for it.

If your assoc does not have a D mite program, I could not agree with this statement more. For the exceptional player Squirts (I don't think more than 1/3 of the team can be move ups) is a nice challenge. Depending on your association they may only let them play the lowest level of Squirts unless he is a top A player. The ability to handle the mental part and social interaction is key especially if they make a top travel team (Squirts will have some 6th graders on the team and more mature than the avg mite).

I know some think it is good to leave your assoc during the winter, but if you can find a right place/adequate one for your player I think you will find the interacation and acceptance from top to bottom will be greater staying within rather than leaving and re-entering. Many times the players that stayed in the association, the parents of those players or some coaches have a tough time dealing with the re-entry right, wrong or indifferent.

The odds of becoming a college player, Nhl or even a HS player (depending on the size of your community) is slight, but kids learning to interact and part of a society and community is a guaranteed part of life.

[My_Kid_Loves_Hockey]

If your assoc does not have a D mite program, I could not agree with this statement more. For the exceptional player Squirts (I don't think more than 1/3 of the team can be move ups) is a nice challenge. Depending on your association they may only let them play the lowest level of Squirts unless he is a top A player

You are right on, our association only allows you to move up kids to the lowest level and just to fill out teams. The 1/3 rule is correct too.

Having seen the mental and physical differences between the mite move ups and the true squirt age players, there is no comparison (always one exception to every rule though someplace).

[Lowstickside]

Wait! You have a good thing going. You recognize that the team might not be the right fit, however, you are a coach in good standing with the association. Just be a great coach! Steal drills from everyone possible and run a well organized, skill development based and fun team for your kid and his friends. Everyone wins!

[tomASS]

Wait! You have a good thing going. You recognize that the team might not be the right fit, however, you are a coach in good standing with the association. Just be a great coach! Steal drills from everyone possible and run a well organized, skill development based and fun team for your kid and his friends. Everyone wins!

Oh come on! That's too easy, practical, and sensible. Surely there is something more complicated to this than you're leading us to believe??

[Lowstickside]

I'll take that as a compliment.

[WayOutWest]

Wait! You have a good thing going. You recognize that the team might not be the right fit, however, you are a coach in good standing with the association. Just be a great coach! Steal drills from everyone possible and run a well organized, skill development based and fun team for your kid and his friends. Everyone wins!

Eggs-ZACK-ed-leeeee....

What the heck? We're talking about a MITE, here. A MITE!!!!!! For gawd's sake, when you start pushing for your MITE to play up, for competition's sake, you just MAY be a TAD bit overzealous.
To pull your kid away from his age group at such an early age is a bit ludicrous. Sure, your kid may be "advanced" in comparison to the rest of the mites in your association, but at the mite level, all of those kids have SO much development to go. Your kid could very easily turn out to be a run of the mill bantam, and the weakest kid on your kid's team this year, could be a D1 prospect. Is it worth rocking the boat, at all, at this stage? Really?

[tomASS]

I'll take that as a compliment.

As you should

[WildFan]

All logical points. Thanks for the input.

[32HockeyFan]

When my son was a final year mite, the top 8 "super mites" that were final years moved up to squirts.

Now, these kids just finished their first year of Bantams.

Of the 8 "super mites"
2 quit hockey altogether
2 moved away
2 made Bantam A
2 made Bantam B

Of the players that didn't make the "move up" super mite list:
3 made Bantam A this year.

The mites that didn't make squirts went about 16-3 that season. The mites that moved up to squirts went about 8-12.

My point? It doesn't really matter at this age. Play the kid where he'll have the most fun.

[0904]

Do what you think is best and pay no mind to what others say or think. This is Minnesota! the last thing that most poeple want is for your kid to step out and try and be better than the next guy.

You can say all you want about the Brian Bochenskis, but can you name 5 more kids that played B hockey all the way up B that went on anywhere? can you name even one? If you look at the the players from Minnesota drafted in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 NHL draft. Almost everyone of them moved up to squirts early and every one of them play AAA Hockey in the summer, alot of AAA Hockey.

Move him up or get him in another program if your goal is to play at the highest level. Burn out? You got Nick Larson but again who else? The poeple that burnout are the parents of the kids that can quite make it. Then they are just mad because they got serious about it too late. You just don't see top players quiting because they "burnned out". These are the guys having the most fun because they are the best.

It's Mite hockey and you will hear that again and again, but if you don't start now then went? Like every body say's each player is on a different learning curve. Some time the best thing is to take the road less traveled.

[WayOutWest]

Do what you think is best and pay no mind to what others say or think. This is Minnesota! the last thing that most poeple want is for your kid to step out and try and be better than the next guy.

You can say all you want about the Brian Bochenskis, but can you name 5 more kids that played B hockey all the way up B that went on anywhere? can you name even one? If you look at the the players from Minnesota drafted in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 NHL draft. Almost everyone of them moved up to squirts early and every one of them play AAA Hockey in the summer, alot of AAA Hockey.

Move him up or get him in another program if your goal is to play at the highest level. Burn out? You got Nick Larson but again who else? The poeple that burnout are the parents of the kids that can quite make it. Then they are just mad because they got serious about it too late. You just don't see top players quiting because they "burnned out". These are the guys having the most fun because they are the best.

It's Mite hockey and you will hear that again and again, but if you don't start now then went? Like every body say's each player is on a different learning curve. Some time the best thing is to take the road less traveled.

"This is Minnesota! the last thing that most poeple want is for your kid to step out and try and be better than the next guy. "

LOL.........wow........a pretty cynical view of Minnesotan's, eh, Skippy.

"If you look at the the players from Minnesota drafted in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 NHL draft. Almost everyone of them moved up to squirts early..."

What? Do you have any specific data to go with that statement?

"The poeple that burnout are the parents of the kids that can quite make it. "

Again with the useless conjecture? This is a ludicrous statement, you know that, right?

"It's Mite hockey and you will hear that again and again, but if you don't start now then went?"

You're right. Heck, why not even start earlier? Strap those skates onto your two year old and have him play "UP" to Mites. The kid has natural talent, right................wayyyyyy more than the other two year olds in the 'hood.

Let a kid be a kid, for crying out loud, at least through the Mite years. The "living vicariously through your child" thing starts at a VERY early age, apparently. Very sad, indeed.

[kidd]

I think if your association allows you to move up to squirts that is great as long as he plays in the correct talent pool some associations do not allow this, then I would go to the Choice program do what is best for your kid and don't worry about what others say. as a parent you should give your child every oppurtunity that you can and I am sure the association will take you back