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8U Q-and-A: How skill development affects safety

11/14/2016, 4:15pm MST
By Kevin Margarucci, USA Hockey manager of player safety

Q: How does skill development keep our kids safe on the ice?

A: Hockey is not a sport in which kids should just be thrown into a game. They need to first learn on-ice awareness, body control, how to maneuver on skates and how to do so with their eyes up, not to mention how to handle the puck and be responsible for their sticks. It’s a gradual progression of skill development, critical not only for improved performance, but also for safety. If we teach our players these foundational skills, it makes our sport safer.

USA Hockey views body-checking as a foundational skill and our American Development Model, with its checking progression, gradually introduces players to the skills necessary for safe body contact and body-checking. At the 8U and 10U level, players are building their base of skills including skating, positioning/angling, and stick-checking. This skill-development progression allows players to learn body control and on-ice awareness, which become key safety elements once legal body-checking is introduced at the older age levels.

But the most important part in this progression, and one that coaches and parents must not overlook, is the base of the pyramid focusing on attitude, ethics and respect. These traits are critical to making it a safer game and they absolutely should be taught and emphasized by coaches and parents. Making the learning environment fun for young kids and not over-emphasizing game outcomes allows them to develop all the skills – physical and mental – in a way where winning isn’t the only goal. Everybody wins when skills are developed and the kids enjoy what they are doing at this age.

Along with teaching physical skills, it’s teaching sportsmanship and mutual respect that helps make our game safer. And teaching those traits is something that begins at home. We want to shape our athletes into responsible citizens who have a sense of sportsmanship while having a respect for the game, their coaches, teammates, officials and opponents.

Everyone involved in hockey has a role. If coaches and parents stay educated and vigilant about age-appropriate progressions and the players are given proper instruction, the sport will remain not only fun and competitive, but also safe.

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