Some Have Moved On From MN Hockey
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
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nickel slots
- Posts: 348
- Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 10:24 pm
- Location: Northern Southern Minnesota
Discussion in America means dissent - James Thurber
Too often the people who run youth sports can't see the forest through the trees. In other words they only see the immediate, not the whole picture. To make matters worse they are a self perpetuating group, they elect themselves or those of like views. A dissenting opinion is not welcomed and often run out or made to feel utterly unwelcome. Their elections resemble the old Soviet Politburo, where there may be more than one candidate, but only one with a chance to win, the Communist.
Over the years I've been involved in one way or another with 3 different youth sports association boards and the only one that actually worked effectively was a football board, we would have arguments that nearly went to fist fights but at the end of the day everyone had two goals; getting more kids to participate and making sure as many kids as possible had fun. At the state level Rochester hasn't had as much success (due to a variety of factors outside our control) as we would like but there is no denying that our participation levels are high through the high school level, and no kid who wants to play is ever turned away. The same can't be said for other sports and that's not only sad but a joke - the boards can't see the forest through the trees. They look at their kids and the rest be damned, or their kids school and screw the other 3.
Mn Hockey is in trouble, too many like minded individuals make bad decisions. Whether you agree with them or don't isn't the point, the point is dissent is not tolorated. That should trouble us, these are the people entrusted to make good decisions for all kids, those who play AAA hockey, those who play A hockey, those who play House hockey, and those who haven't yet played but may want to someday. You can't please everybody but you also can't try to. The recession, gas prices, etc. are going to be major hurdles for USA Hockey, MN Hockey and each individual association to overcome in the upcoming year(s), from my local association up I see no plan - heck my association wants raise fees and increase travel, talk about your head in the sand - to address this.
Elliot, Gen. Eisenhower once said "Here in America we are decended in blood and spirit from revolutionists and rebels, men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs we must never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion." You always seemed to bring an everymans train of thought to MN Hockey, that will be missed.
Too often the people who run youth sports can't see the forest through the trees. In other words they only see the immediate, not the whole picture. To make matters worse they are a self perpetuating group, they elect themselves or those of like views. A dissenting opinion is not welcomed and often run out or made to feel utterly unwelcome. Their elections resemble the old Soviet Politburo, where there may be more than one candidate, but only one with a chance to win, the Communist.
Over the years I've been involved in one way or another with 3 different youth sports association boards and the only one that actually worked effectively was a football board, we would have arguments that nearly went to fist fights but at the end of the day everyone had two goals; getting more kids to participate and making sure as many kids as possible had fun. At the state level Rochester hasn't had as much success (due to a variety of factors outside our control) as we would like but there is no denying that our participation levels are high through the high school level, and no kid who wants to play is ever turned away. The same can't be said for other sports and that's not only sad but a joke - the boards can't see the forest through the trees. They look at their kids and the rest be damned, or their kids school and screw the other 3.
Mn Hockey is in trouble, too many like minded individuals make bad decisions. Whether you agree with them or don't isn't the point, the point is dissent is not tolorated. That should trouble us, these are the people entrusted to make good decisions for all kids, those who play AAA hockey, those who play A hockey, those who play House hockey, and those who haven't yet played but may want to someday. You can't please everybody but you also can't try to. The recession, gas prices, etc. are going to be major hurdles for USA Hockey, MN Hockey and each individual association to overcome in the upcoming year(s), from my local association up I see no plan - heck my association wants raise fees and increase travel, talk about your head in the sand - to address this.
Elliot, Gen. Eisenhower once said "Here in America we are decended in blood and spirit from revolutionists and rebels, men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs we must never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion." You always seemed to bring an everymans train of thought to MN Hockey, that will be missed.
Goldy, I can't believe that you pointed to the RYFA board as a good role model. You can't be on that board unless you are a coach and one of their buddies. You can't coach unless you are blessed by the board. That a pretty inbred group. They have the most convoluted team boundaries to allow guys like Penz to hand pick the best kids for his teams. Its been a few years since my sons were youth football aged but unless things have drastically changed I hope hockey doesn't try to pattern themselves after a group like that.
Goldy, why do you say that your local association wants to raise fees and increase travel. Are you Rochester? If so, you should know that the current proposal for Rochester peewees is to have an in-house peewee B2 program involving 4 teams. Add the 4-5 peewee house team and you will have 8-9 teams that will play the majority of their games in town with only 2 teams on a full travel schedule. Fees will have to go up since the ice cost increases $10 per hour every year. The majority of the squirts do not particpate in the district 8 league either. All of this is being done to help families control costs and spend more time on the ice and less time looking through a windshield.
Reagarding travel, D16 is meeting to establish a method of playing games at one-site, playing both games on the road in alternate years, and any other formula we can devise to reduce travel cost.
With a lot of help from Hal Tearse, we got the wait time for the second game reduced from 4 to 3 hours (and the over-night down from 12 to 11).
With a lot of help from Hal Tearse, we got the wait time for the second game reduced from 4 to 3 hours (and the over-night down from 12 to 11).
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Can't Never Tried
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punchinbag
- Posts: 83
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