Is it too late for 9 y. old boy to learn hockey? (Eden Prairie: camps, moving)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by golfgal

-odds are NOT stacked against you in "mega" programs. They are LARGE programs and have opportunities for many, many kids. ...

Go tell that to the 150-180 boys that got cut from Wayzata. Their ARE more opportunities for more Kid's. That's because they have 2 B1 and 2 B2 teams. But the majority of kid's got cut. They keep 70 skaters and they cut 180. Those B1 and B2 Squirts already have been in camps. Do you really think that the OP's 9 year old (probability speaking) can jump on the ice in Wayzata? You keep on talking in theory and examples of other sports. I'm asking you to supply any MN hockey examples because hockey is different especially for mega associations.

The Kid's who make a B1 Peewee team in Wayzata can beat most A teams. In fact, a few years ago Wayzata's two B1 teams were the top contenders in the State. You really need to see the difference in speed from house, B2, B1, and A. The pace is completely different. You are at a competitive disadvantage if you are not playing at a high level by age 15. But you think you can put skates on for the 1st time at age 15.
All of your supplied late bloomer hockey athletes turned out to be inaccurate. I'm still waiting for some examples. Like I said, there are HUNDREDS of late bloomer examples for other MN boys sports.

Originally Posted by golfgal

-If you don't have the natural ability to be a top player it won't matter if you start at 2 months old or 15, you aren't going to be a top player, period.

The point in bold should go without saying.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by golfgal

You do realize that the age span between 6-16 is about the same as 9-19 right. \

And the span of 60-69 is also the same. Don't you see a difference?

Originally Posted by golfgal

Again, the skill set in hockey is NO harder to learn than it is in any other sport.

Right. You really could have shorten up this ESPN article see http://cobb.typepad.com/files/toughest-sport.pdf there went into a detailed analysis of rating a sport on it's complexity.

There are over 60 sports listed and hockey was listed as number 2. But in your world, Billiard (next to the last) and fishing (last) are equally difficult to learn.

[intelfan11315]

I started hockey when I was 12 years old, ended up flying circles around all the other kids. Some people are good at sports, some aren't. Whether your kid starts at 9 or 5 isn't going to make a difference, what is going to make a difference is his athletic ability. If he's gonna suck he's gonna suck, if he's gonna be good he's gonna be good.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by burgler09

I started hockey when I was 12 years old, ended up flying circles around all the other kids. Some people are good at sports, some aren't. Whether your kid starts at 9 or 5 isn't going to make a difference, what is going to make a difference is his athletic ability. If he's gonna suck he's gonna suck, if he's gonna be good he's gonna be good.

impossible! you could not have been any good or have any fun if your over-bearing parents did not start you in a serious hockey regiment by the time you were 5.

[audadvnc]

Sports are for fun. You don't have to get on the varsity team to enjoy knocking a puck around the ice. Besides, by the time you get to that competitive level, the players are really nasty; my daughter's best friend is a classmate of that Benilde boy that got his back broken in rough play - he'll never walk again.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by burgler09

I started hockey when I was 12 years old, ended up flying circles around all the other kids. Some people are good at sports, some aren't. Whether your kid starts at 9 or 5 isn't going to make a difference, what is going to make a difference is his athletic ability. If he's gonna suck he's gonna suck, if he's gonna be good he's gonna be good.

We agree. Some Kids are better at hockey while others are better at swimming. There are sports that are related while others are not. In fact, some kids are God given athletes in their sport while others have a significant disadvantage.

Address this very specific point. Do you really think you can jump into a system at age 12 where nearly all of the remaining players in a association like Wayzata either have been at it for 6 or more years? Don't you think that all of the remaining 70 Kid's that play have a good deal of athleticism specifically related to hockey?

Let's talk about all of those Kid's you "flying circles around": How many Kid's tried out for your high school? Since you are a God given athlete, at what level of play did you end up (D1 or pro or)?? What State? Just wondering..

[Laggard]

Why would it ever be too late? There are adults who even if they don't have much of a high-school career still play the game the rest of their lives. You can learn at the age of 20 if you want and continue to play the rest of your life.

[1stpontiac]

Seems like there is a difference between whether you want to play the game and be good enough to enjoy it for the rest of your life, or if you want to excel at it and make a livelihood (or at least pay for college) with it.

It also seems like there is a difference between being physically able to develop the skills to match other people who started earlier, and being "in the system" so the right coaches put you in the right place to be noticed by other coaches and scouts.

I've never played a moment of hockey in my life, and in fact, have never even seen a game, but I grew up in MN and live here again now, so I'm fully qualified to participate in this discussion. Right??

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Go tell that to the 150-180 boys that got cut from Wayzata. Their ARE more opportunities for more Kid's. That's because they have 2 B1 and 2 B2 teams. But the majority of kid's got cut. They keep 70 skaters and they cut 180. Those B1 and B2 Squirts already have been in camps. Do you really think that the OP's 9 year old (probability speaking) can jump on the ice in Wayzata? You keep on talking in theory and examples of other sports. I'm asking you to supply any MN hockey examples because hockey is different especially for mega associations.

The Kid's who make a B1 Peewee team in Wayzata can beat most A teams. In fact, a few years ago Wayzata's two B1 teams were the top contenders in the State. You really need to see the difference in speed from house, B2, B1, and A. The pace is completely different. You are at a competitive disadvantage if you are not playing at a high level by age 15. But you think you can put skates on for the 1st time at age 15.
All of your supplied late bloomer hockey athletes turned out to be inaccurate. I'm still waiting for some examples. Like I said, there are HUNDREDS of late bloomer examples for other MN boys sports.



The point in bold should go without saying.

And the 100 kids that get cut from the Apple Valley wrestling program and the 1000 kids that get cut from the Apple Valley soccer program and the 400 kids that get cut from the Stillwater football program and the 800 kids that get cut from every sport except football at Eden Prairie. The only sports you don't usually find cuts are cross country and track--which is why we love those sports. Not getting cut and playing, however, are two very different things (except in Cross Country).

When our oldest was 4 we had him in a little soccer program in our town. There were 1500 kids in that program from ages 4-14, the roster at that high school for boys soccer carried 20 kids on the varsity team. What do you think happened to the rest of those kids??

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by 1stpontiac

Seems like there is a difference between whether you want to play the game and be good enough to enjoy it for the rest of your life, or if you want to excel at it and make a livelihood (or at least pay for college) with it.

It also seems like there is a difference between being physically able to develop the skills to match other people who started earlier, and being "in the system" so the right coaches put you in the right place to be noticed by other coaches and scouts.

I've never played a moment of hockey in my life, and in fact, have never even seen a game, but I grew up in MN and live here again now, so I'm fully qualified to participate in this discussion. Right??

works for me.

For sure there is opportunity to play hockey at various levels. Fair to say the sport is unique in some ways that present challenges. Gear is expensive, ice time is hard to get unless you are in a program, and many programs are very competitive.

9 year old kid that wants to give it a go. I say awesome - go for it, but keep expectations in reality. Worse thing likely to happen is you end up with a few hundred bucks of gear sitting in the closet that won't fit in 6 months.

Maybe the kid falls in love with the game and has a lot of potential. Maybe he figures out he does not want to play in 2 weeks, maybe he ends up playing pickup games on ponds and outdoor rinks.

Hockey is to Minnesota like surfing is to Hawaii. This omnipresent and almost inexplicable thing that says you must try it if only to gain some perspective of what the vibe is all about.