The documentary film Pond Hockey and the book Hockey Dad: True Confessions from a (crazy) hockey parent are something all hockey parents should check out

Pond Hockey and Bob McKenzie's book Hockey Dad: True Confessions from a (crazy) Hockey Parent

The documentary Pond Hockey and book Hockey Dad: True Confessions from a (crazy) Hockey Parent are something all hockey parents should watch and read

Written by Derek Felska
Friday, 30 July 2010 12:45

In my last article where I discussed how to introduce new fans to the game of hockey, and how it is a tangible way to grow the game. I also discussed how people learn some of their most basic skills in life; like riding a bike, fishing, etc but how are parents supposed to learn how to go about instilling some of these most basic lessons in their children? Most parents probably find out through trial and error, or simply attempting to repeat and refine what they used for that lesson with a previous child. Yet not all parents wish to struggle as much, and at times they can find themselves unwilling to leave a certain comfort zone and their approach can detract from the fun involved or make their child lose the desire to want to use that skill altogether. Parenting magazines, websites dispense all kinds of advice of how to teach your kids. How push their children to achieve their best, how to not kill the fun of being a kid, etc. As a school teacher I see parenting in action all of the time; the hands-off style, the "I want to be their friend" style, the strict controlling style and many other hybrid styles in between. Each one has their benefits and for some kids the style of parenting works very well but for others it can do a child a huge disservice.

I realize that in the grand scheme of things that athletics are really a secondary lesson parents often teach in comparison to being respectful, good manners and other behavioral values. However, how many of us can name a psycho sports parent? The parent that may be living their athletic dreams through their child and pushes them mercilessly, who often is quick to criticise coaching and a small reduction in their child's playing time suddenly becomes a giant confrontation between psycho parent and coach? I think its safe to say you can name at least one parent like that and probably more. That brings me to two different hockey sources I had a chance to watch and read this winter. The hockey documentary film Pond Hockey and Bob McKenzie's (yes, the former editor of the Hockey News, and current TSN analyst) book Hockey Dad: True Confessions from a (crazy) Hockey Parent. Both the film and book have a different level of focus but there are some basic truths that I think is important to share to those of you who are hockey parents out there. In a very basic level I think there is some good parenting advice embedded in both, and sadly both sources point out how society seems to be losing on what used to be a basic tennant of childhood. As an educator and coach I will offer up some of my own candid observations as well.

First, I'll start with the documentary film Pond Hockey, released in 2008 by Northland Films. The documentary features interviews with many past and present NHL stars like Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Lou Nanne, Neal Broten, Phil Housley, and Jonathan Toews who all talk about how they spent hundreds (if not thousands of hours) playing pond hockey as kids. They gave numerous examples of how the little tricks and skills they tried in an unstructured environment have played a significant role in their development. The film then covers the annual U.S. Pond Hockey Championships played on Lake Nokomis near Minneapolis, Minnesota. This attracts teams from all over the world, as they like to challenge for the coveted golden shovel, and the film covers a few local (Minnesota-based) pond hockey teams competing in the tournament. The Federal League All Stars led by pond hockey phenom Jeff Sorem (whose team included former college hockey players like Tyler Hirsch, and Matt Henderson) and Sofa King Lazy led by Mark Kovacich. In Sorem's case his hockey pedigree is pretty impressive as he played four years of Division 1 hockey at Yale, while Kovacich never even advanced to finish out playing high school hockey. The footage from the tournament is very impressive demonstrating that even though officially this is an amateur event the level of play is quite high. However all of the players, pro's or non-pro's note how pond hockey really is all about having fun in an unstructured setting. (click on the link for the rest of the article)

Enjoy!