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Does anyone have any recommendations on programs to help weak (not absolute beginner) mite skaters strengthen then skating skills so they can better participate in mite hockey teams?

My son is has two seasons mite level but has fallen far behind other players that he started with. He had never so much as seen snow, much less put feet on ice until we moved back to MN for him to start kindergarten.

He seemed to pick things up quickly his first season, though he was already among the weaker skaters on his team, especially for his age and height.

This past winter, I thought I would help him by putting him a new learn-to-skate program that the local hockey association organized. That only seemed to make matters worse. Not only was I very underwhelmed with the quality of the instruction (the hockey parents for the mites team did a better job than this new specialized program IMHO). It was also too rudimentary for him and he didn't get much out of it. I asked the coach of the mites team if he could join for the second half and he said that was no problem so I put him back in the mites team after he finished the learn-to-skate course.

It was immediately obvious how far he had fallen behind. He couldn't keep up with the other kids in the drills and was weak in scrimmages. Soon he started getting picked on. Boys rough-house, and its hockey, so I mainly encouraged him to stand up for himself. Well, that led to an urgent care visit and an incensed wife. I spoke spoke with one the dad of one of the kids and the coach and they were cool about it and some of the sticking and tripping and other roughhousing was controlled, but by this time my son loathed going to practice.

After the season ended, I put him in a regular skating course (not hockey specific) at the Super Rink, which was well organized, but didn't have the intensity of hockey drills. Still, he at least enjoyed it and passed out of the first level.

This week, I started him on a 3-week intensive speed clinic with Minnesota Made. While I think it is an excellent program for already accomplished mite skaters, my son is just no where near strong enough to keep up. They are pretty good about it and give him individual attention, but again, I'm not sure how much he can get out of it when he has so much to catch up on.

At this point, he's given it a good try for two seasons and I would be happy to let him give up hockey and focus on on downhill skiing and take some non-hockey skating lessons for his winter activities. But he says he still likes hockey, just not this class.

We are giving hockey and ice skating a break after this Minnesota Made clinic is done, but if he is still interested when hockey season starts up again, I'm not sure where I should put him. Would appreciate any suggestions.

Outdoors in the winter on a daily basis in addition to the normal Mite programming.

O-townClown wrote:Outdoors in the winter on a daily basis in addition to the normal Mite programming.

That's exactly what I was going to say. Lots of rink-ratting. If you can work it out so he's there with a few friends it's a lot better. Sometimes it's tougher to keep them interested if they're by themselves. No structure, no pressure, no drills, just skating and having fun. Doesn't really matter what he's doing as long as he's on the ice. I believe that this is where you see the most improvement at that age. Also, try to find unique ways to get him interested in watching hockey with you at home. If you're excited about it, a lot of times they will be. Get him a net and let him shoot a ball and stickhandle in the basement or garage. Bottom line, if he's having fun and wants to be out there, he will improve. Also, keep in mind that a lot of times it's the third year when they turn a corner. That's when my son got a lot better. Good Luck!

My advice...Back off...He will be fine...As the earlier posts said, pond hockey is the best way for your kid to enjoy the game and get better. No need to throw good money around yet. You can see if there are any 3x3 tourney's in your area he and his friends can play in. They get lots of touches of the pucks and win/lose they will have a blast. One other thing you can do is make sure he doesn't have to stiff of boot. Sometime parents think the $500 pair of skates will solve all problems when in fact the $100 pair will actually work better until he is much much much older

I can sympathize with your concern because I have been there myself. My son wasn't very good up into his first and even second years of squirt hockey. He got a late start (age 7) and was a straight up ankle bender. When you have experienced that you understand the struggles. Hockey is way more fun when you are able to be competitive. If you are out on the ice always getting dominated, never able to carry the puck or get a shot off the game can get very frustrating in a hurry for a young kid. There were often tears and really down faces during that time. Something happened at the end of that second squirt year and over that summer, my kid got good, then he started to get real good, now he is one of the best players on his team. Totally changed his love of the game and his passion to play. Sometimes it just takes time for things to click.

I'll echo those on here who just say icetime and a positive, fun environment will be the best thing for him. Pond hockey, open skate, stick & puck, 3on3 are things you should be looking into. Parents often point right at the coaching, but coaching can only do so much, often times either the kid's a player or he isn't. The point of that line is that no matter how much money you throw at this game with coaching and camps and such it will only do so much. You can't buy a hockey player.

MNBlockhead,

if you are from the north metro (Blaine - Fogerty Arena), I run a 3 on 3 Camp in the Fall for Mites --> HS players...

http://WWW.Fisher3on3.com

it's an option.

for Mites we will run drills for 20-30 minutes and then play 3 on 3 cross ice games for the rest.

fisher3on3 wrote:MNBlockhead,

if you are from the north metro (Blaine - Fogerty Arena), I run a 3 on 3 Camp in the Fall for Mites --> HS players...

http://WWW.Fisher3on3.com

it's an option.

for Mites we will run drills for 20-30 minutes and then play 3 on 3 cross ice games for the rest.

There's always soccer.

fisher3on3 wrote:MNBlockhead,

if you are from the north metro (Blaine - Fogerty Arena), I run a 3 on 3 Camp in the Fall for Mites --> HS players...

http://WWW.Fisher3on3.com

it's an option.

for Mites we will run drills for 20-30 minutes and then play 3 on 3 cross ice games for the rest.

Also, bring your check book.

I agree with a lot of the thoughts put forward above. My situation with my son mirrors SCBlueliners comments. One thing that I think you can do is some general athletic training. My son did 2 summers of camps, AAA, etc that helped a little but cost a lot. One summer we did only one hockey camp and spent the money on athletic training sessions at the local gym all summer. That fall he made his first "A" team.

So, with my 2 kids now, we do some off-season ice work but not much. We invest in intense, monitored, safe workouts, paired with other sport activities. A good tune-up clinic in the fall (which our association offers prior to tryouts) gets them back on their skates for tryouts.

A. What, if anything, does he want to do ?

B. He's a mite. If he puts his skates on the wrong feet, it doesn't even matter.

1) From my experience as it has been mentioned before take him to the park in the winter as much as possible. Skate with him and or have friends of his there. Open skating at any rink year round, same thing.

2) There is no magic clinic that is going to leap frog him not matter how cool it sounds, "Speed Academy etc.".

3) He needs to be having fun or else it's a waste of time. What's your end game for him? Thinking D1 scholarship or do you want him to look back when he's 18 and he enjoyed the journey with a dad that didn't grind on him every day driving home from the rink. I cringe for the kids with the dads that holler "move your feet, blah blah blah" from the stands.

He's going to be the player ultimately that he was meant to be.