Developing skilled hockey players is an area the National Hockey Training Centre excels at, but in addition to skill – we also aim for player development in other areas, keeping our athletes engaged in the game and in life.
On top of our passion for training kids keen on the sport of hockey, we also want to help parents guard against dissolving this passion in their child through ways they may not have known they were doing. Which is why we want to offer these ‘Top Reasons Kids Lose Interest in Hockey & How To Avoid Them’!
Overkill Kills Interest Level in Kids
Sometimes the simple reality is that your child may be playing too much hockey. Saturating their interest with clinics, camps and picking up as many games as you can wherever you can, may actually be causing them to want to drop the puck for good. So if you are finding your child’s interest in lagging in a sport they once loved, ease up on the lessons and get back to the simple game.
Knowing When to Level Up or Level Down
Perhaps your child is boxed into an age category that isn’t working for them, and they have discovered that their skill level is either more advanced than where they have been placed – making practice boring for them. Alternately, perhaps they feel out-skilled and insecure on the ice, in which case some private hockey lessons at our Langley training centre may be a great way to boost their confidence, and get them where they need to be to play with their peers.
Hockey With Friends, Not Just Teammates
Having friends on your team always makes any game more enjoyable, and ensuring your child is with the right group that meshes well together will help to improve their experience, while keeping them engaged and interested in hockey training.
The Importance of Talent Recognition
A good coach will work to find a variety of skill-sets within a child, not only relating to the sport at hand, but in a wide-range of areas. Which is why finding the right coach that works well with your child’s personality, is also an important part of the process in ensuring they enjoy learning how to play hockey. Although there is a lot to be said for challenging a child, there is also much to be said for motivating them as well – and a good coach will help to balance that.
Lastly, be sure to check in with your child to see if hockey is still their sport of choice, because it is those who truly have a love for the game that will excel, and if they feel forced into the sport, it will become drudgery quickly.
At NHTC, we train our players on how to acquire unique skills, and prepare them to do what others are not prepared to do through our quarterly group mental training sessions. Within this, we use goal setting and visualization techniques to encourage positive thinking, which is yet another way to help your child through perhaps some difficult mental obstacles they may be encountering playing the competitive sport of hockey or enjoying ringette, and keep them happily in the game!