Minor Hockey Talks - Hockey Forum

Guest wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:46 pm So it’s our first year on a A level team, previously played at a higher level squad but was cut as the team was blown up. Now your kid is clearly playing at the proper level and a solid player on a good team. How do you explain to your kid that “he is just not a good fit”. Coach says he’s a strong player and has progressed well throughout the season but he’s just not a good fit. There a two players who are clearly less talented at the same position that are coming back. Both players new to the team as well. Both parents with generational type wealth, where I’m just a blue collar working stiff. I think it’s our family that’s not the right fit. How’s he going to react? I think he will just realize that this is just a bunch of bulls$it and who needs it. I always thought playing in the gthl would mean athletic talent superseded money or cliques. So he has four other offers to play in the division but his heart is so hugely invested in this team. Should I wait to the end of the playoffs to tell him or tell him now?

Guest wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 6:28 pm Easy answer;

1) Tell him now and tell him that it's important that he learns that sometimes things aren't permanent and that's why you always need to be getting better.
2) Tell him he has offers and ask him which of the four teams he wants to play for then both of you make the decision.
3) Tell him to give his best effort in the playoffs for HIM not for the coach. Because he should want to challenge himself.
4) End of season, tell him to look the coach dead in the eye, shake his hand and say ' take care of yourself coach '. He doesn't need to thank a coach who cit him due "fit".
5) Walk out with his head high , move on to greener pastures and let that experience drive him to be better.

minor hockey is for the kids. To make friends and to learn to push themselves so they dont accept failure. This experience could be a positive in the long term.

Guest wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:59 pm ^^^ you're such a tool and you're advice is awful

1) nothing in life is permanent and it has nothing to do with "needing" to get better.
2) parent can give the lay of the land, but in the end the kid decides and learns to own his decision. full stop.
3) playing for himself only validates the coaches decision and maybe even turn his friends and teammates against him. the worst advice anyone can give a kid in a team sport. play hard and play right til its over.
4) clearly was a good year, as the kid wants to stay. teach the kid to appreciate the positives and to take the hight road. he's not thanking him for cutting him, duh.
5) drive him to be better? it's single A.

Tons of kids get cut every year, it's part of minor hockey and has nothing to do with failure.

Guest wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:27 am you can tell it is a parent cut. you probably got pissed off and mentioned your son played a higher level multiple times or complained about ice time or your son is actually trash.

no coach cuts a good player. he may be equal with other players, but because his dad is a peasant they told you to beat it.

Guest wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 8:24 am

Guest wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:27 am you can tell it is a parent cut. you probably got pissed off and mentioned your son played a higher level multiple times or complained about ice time or your son is actually trash.

no coach cuts a good player. he may be equal with other players, but because his dad is a peasant they told you to beat it.

Most insightful take on this whole sob story. Tons of kids get cut every season. And 99% of the time it’s about skill. Only two reasons a coach would say it’s about fit:
1. The kid has behavioral issues on or off the ice.
2. The parent is jerk.
The part about other kids being from rich families tells me it’s #2. No team is made up of 16 super wealthy families and one that’s blue collar. Guaranteed there are other not-so-wealthy kids on the team who will be back next year.

Guest wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:58 am

Guest wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:59 pm ^^^ you're such a tool and you're advice is awful

1) nothing in life is permanent and it has nothing to do with "needing" to get better.
2) parent can give the lay of the land, but in the end the kid decides and learns to own his decision. full stop.
3) playing for himself only validates the coaches decision and maybe even turn his friends and teammates against him. the worst advice anyone can give a kid in a team sport. play hard and play right til its over.
4) clearly was a good year, as the kid wants to stay. teach the kid to appreciate the positives and to take the hight road. he's not thanking him for cutting him, duh.
5) drive him to be better? it's single A.

Tons of kids get cut every year, it's part of minor hockey and has nothing to do with failure.

I'm going to be 3rd man in here but, what in heck are you talking about? You think kids in Single A, especially at his age don't care and should not be trying to get better? What kind of a fool tells a kid not to try and get better?

Guest wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 9:57 am

Guest wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:58 am

Guest wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:59 pm ^^^ you're such a tool and you're advice is awful

1) nothing in life is permanent and it has nothing to do with "needing" to get better.
2) parent can give the lay of the land, but in the end the kid decides and learns to own his decision. full stop.
3) playing for himself only validates the coaches decision and maybe even turn his friends and teammates against him. the worst advice anyone can give a kid in a team sport. play hard and play right til its over.
4) clearly was a good year, as the kid wants to stay. teach the kid to appreciate the positives and to take the hight road. he's not thanking him for cutting him, duh.
5) drive him to be better? it's single A.

Tons of kids get cut every year, it's part of minor hockey and has nothing to do with failure.

I'm going to be 3rd man in here but, what in heck are you talking about? You think kids in Single A, especially at his age don't care and should not be trying to get better? What kind of a fool tells a kid not to try and get better?

We are talking about this experience as a teaching moment. Most kids these days are bubble wrapped and pampered well into their teens and lack the ability cope with adversity or in this case being handed a shit sandwich. There's a good life lesson here, and it has nothing to do with "getting better" at hockey.

But okay, you want the kid to believe that if he gets better, he won't get cut next year. So how does the "tool" help this 11 year old single A player get better, so that he doesn't get cut from his next team? Power Skating Lessons, Shooting Lessons, Private Skills Sessions, Dryland Training, Road Work, Sports Psychologist, Nutritionist, Performance Enhancing Supplements, 10 weeks of summer hockey camp, spring hockey?

Every kid in rep hockey (all levels) should be striving to improve, whether they are the best player on a first place team or the 10th forward on a last place team. It has nothing to do with getting cut.