Son's first travel team practice

[M-Cohen 0]

Coming from the standpoint of being the "rookie". Working hard always has better results then not working. If I don't work hard in practice, I won't work as hard as I can in the game. Most likely messing up, therefore having my teammates mad at me and my coach noticing my declining work and hustle. Though, if I work hard. I tend to play well and have my teammates happy, my coaches happy and best of all I'm happy because I play well.

I'm 16 FYI and I'm not sure if it helped, but if it did, excellent! :D

[gman 0]

I think your kid was just getting hosed!

But understand this, if he skates as slowly as the goalie a couple more practices, he will be cut. So get that foolishness out of his head. He is a rookie, and needs to work twice as hard as the others to earn his ice time!!!

That is what I have come to the conclusion of. I have also been working on that second paragraph to present to him. I am going to keep harping on him till he gets it.

You know, I think a point is being missed here, if any kid on a travel team..or any team tells another player to dog it in practice maybe this isn't the team to be on. What kind of winning attitude is that. If it were my team I would be dissapointed to hear "slow down" from a senior guy. If this kid was REALLY a leader, he'd be along side him saying "You're here now...keep up because here we do it FULL speed, do your best and give it your all, thats all we ask." No leader worth his weight is going to say "dog it" and no winning team is going to have an attitude of let the slow guy keep up...That makes everone slow. MAKE the slow guy CATCH UP..or go home.

Unfortunately we live in podunk, so there is only one real travel team. This kid does not have a "C", he is just a taller, older, faster, "cooler" kid. My son swore he did not listen to him and just got tired... Then I lectured him that even if he were dying, he could still keep his legs moving. Watching him coast just drives me nuts!! Fortunately the coach seemed to be involved with watching the times of someof the faster kids so he may not have seen it. Though my boy was at the back of the pack on each drill.

I have a feeling we will have a better next practice.

[kurtandshan 0]

I can totally relate on the podunk...our nearest "travel" ie AA is 70 miles away and we are a Michigan "B" club. Also watching a kid coast when you know he's got more is another thing I can totally relate to. It is frustrating but I keep telling myself, he's nine(mine) or 11(my peewee)they'll learn, if not, oh well hope they have fun.

its hard though when you know they what they can do and that practicing hard can bring a whole other level...they just have to figure it out too.

[biff44 0]

" I have also been working on that second paragraph to present to him. I am going to keep harping on him till he gets it."

Yeah, it might take some time to get through! My experience is something like 2-3 months of reminding before it sinks in. But you can not be obnoxious about it, just a quick reminder every once in a while, like "wow, you really did a good job dekeing the goalie in practice, but remember to keep working hard during the skating..even if you are dead tired do not let it show....."

[jon93 0]

think of this, if he keeps giving his best effort he'll be the kid with the C and the kid to look up to in his senior year

[gman 0]

We had a much better practice this time. Afterwards he said "you know, the better you do at the ladders the more the guys respect you"... I think we've turned a corner.. HOOOAHHH!!!! :D