skip navigation

8U Q-and-A: Thoughts on Safety

09/10/2015, 11:45am MDT
By Roger Grillo, USA Hockey ADM Regional Manager

Q: With all of this talk about sports injuries and head injuries, is my 8-year-old safe playing ice hockey?
 
A: Dr. Michael Stuart, who is USA Hockey’s chief medical officer and also co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, says that hockey is a very safe game at the youth level, and while there’s risk in every sport, the statistics back Dr. Stuart. According to analysis by Safe Kids Worldwide, a lower percentage of hockey players suffered injuries that brought them to emergency rooms than kids who played football, soccer, basketball or wrestled.
 
Here’s the unfortunate reality: far too many adults look at the professional hockey they see on television and associate it with what their young child might experience in youth hockey. The truth is that youth hockey is nothing like professional hockey in terms of body-checking, high-speed collisions or fighting.
 
The focus for youth hockey, especially since the advent of USA Hockey’s American Development Model, has been on delivering age-appropriate, age-specific training and competition. As part of that, there is some bumping and low-level body contact in the 8U, 10U and 12U levels, but nothing more than what is allowed in soccer or basketball and far less than what is allowed in football. And the body contact we do allow through the ADM is progressive and trained, like any other skill, helping kids learn how to use their bodies safely and skillfully.
 
Some of the negative stories we occasionally hear come from situations when adults try to put young kids in an adult world with adult hockey rules and adult culture. When this happens, then the risk increases. That’s why USA Hockey is so resolute about helping parents, coaches and administrators understand that kids need to be trained, coached and played in an environment that is appropriate for kids. And it’s why we developed a progression of body contact at the various levels of play, so that when the game does become more physical, our players are prepared and able to handle the physicality of the sport properly. This progression goes hand-in-hand with USA Hockey’s Coaching Education Program, which provides coaches nationwide with the training and resources necessary to teach these skills effectively.


The author, Roger Grillo, has coached for more than 20 years at the high school and college levels. He spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Brown University and was a Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year finalist in 1997-98.

Recent News

Tag(s): Q&A Articles