New study on injury rates due body checking

[oldman 1]

I don't put much value in the study as a dad who has a kid who started check hockey this spring but was wondering what the group thought about this. Body checking changes the game significantly and I only have 10 games of my son’s team to watch the end of most of the end to end rushes and the dangles at the 10yr old Atom level. I am not too worried about my son as he is one of the bigger, more aggressive kids but in the fall when he starts community hockey again he will be facing the top kids in the city of Calgary who are a year older and have played check hockey for the whole previous season.

The article made pause and think a bit but I still believe the current system with checking starting at the Peewee level (11 & 12 yr olds) is likely the best compromise. Checking is part of the game and body contact will cause increased injuries.

Any thoughts

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/06/08/...ey-pee-wee.html

[chk hrd 164]

I have always thought TEACHING checking should start when they were younger and not old. I emphasize teaching because many kids are naught taught how to do it correctly and learn by thier own trial and error or from a parent who has no idea and just likes to yell "hit him". I think at the younge ages when they do not move as fast or can hit as hard it is safer for them and there is, in my opinion less size differences. At PeeWee and Bantam levels the kids are growing and learning at different rates. They also have that extra attitude going and sometimes less brain to control it.

But regardless of what age they start they need the propper training.

[goblue9280 33]

At PeeWee and Bantam levels the kids are growing and learning at different rates. They also have that extra attitude going and sometimes less brain to control it.

That's my main issue with starting checking at a later age. If you move it to peewee/bantam, you're right in the middle of the puberty ages where you see the biggest disparities in sizes between players. I think you want the kids to know how to give/take a hit by the time they reach those ages.

[Captain Sane 2]

I honestly can't remember what age checking was allowed when I was a kid (I think it was PeeWee, so around 12 I think) but I think that kids should be allowed to check at the squirt level in the U.S. and whatever the equivalent is in Canada. Like the above posters have said, if you start later you have bigger kids hitting which will increase the risk of a serious injury. Also, those bigger kids will be hitting each other with bad form so the risk goes up even more. Start them younger and that's not as much of an issue.

But you have to teach kids how to hit. I remember when I got to that level I just had to figure it out by myself. Luckily I figured it out and always used the correct technique, and guess what? I never suffered a major injury. I'm sure it varies widely by region and even by coaches but if you teach kids to check properly the risk of injury would drop significantly. I didn't read that entire article but I'm sure much of the risk of injury comes from "bad" hits (forearms, elbows, shots to the head, etc).

[chippa13 1844]

I'm of the mind that you should start checking later rather than earlier. I started hitting when I was 13 (first year of Bantams in the States). I think if you have kids start hitting any earlier than that then hitting will get in the way of the other skill development. Plus, when kids are a little older then they are less apt to want to quit after the first time they get laid out. A 13/14 year old is more likely to get up and keep going than a 10/11 year old. Regardless of when kids start hitting, you're going to have the puberty, testesterone and size discrepency issues of the early teens.

[chk hrd 164]

I have to disagree. When you have a 13 year old who is 5-0, 100lbs get wrecked by a kid who is 6-0 160lbs it puts alot of doubt in thier head if they want to keep doing that, especially if they haven't experienced alot of contact before. When you start them younger you make it part of thier development, like skating and stick handling. If they are taught propperly they learn how and when to hit and how to receive a hit. If you have been getting hit since you are 7-8 it is nothing new when you are 13-14.

Receiving a hit has it's own techniques that you need to learn. They need to know to get on the boards if they see it coming and not to back off of them. They need to learn how to move out of a hit or how to receive an open ice hit to make it a more glancing blow that straight on. They need to learn when not to look down to receive a pass because it is behind them and at thier feet.

To me this is alot easier to learn when things are happening slowly. Think of all the squirt and mite practices where the kids bump into each other and get up laughing because it was to slow and didn't hurt. Then think of the older kids that were turned into a yardsale by a bigger kid.