M4KHockey officially launches

THE BEGINNING 

The idea for this training program began when our oldest child was finishing his first season of hockey at age 6. He was one of the smallest players on the team and when the season started he was the only player that could not skate. His teammates had played the year before and he had not played because hockey registration fees were more than we could afford. His grit and tenacity showed through at that young age so that over just a few months he went from needing two teammates to hold him up to being able to skate on his own and score a goal. He had incredible teammates and an amazing set of coaches. He was in tears when the season ended. We said his hockey teammates were going to play community soccer or baseball and he could choose one of those to play. In the determined voice that only a 6 year old has, he said he was only ever going to play hockey and he didn’t want to do anything else. We said okay but you’ll have to wait until September for hockey. He spent that summer dragging his hockey net on and off the road for every passing car and neighbours started parking further away from our house – a 6 year old shot might not have the force of an NHL player but they are wildly inaccurate. (We spent the summer hoping we wouldn’t have to replace the neigbours windows!) When September came, he was back on the ice and so incredibly happy with his coaches and teammates again. This time when the season ended we told him again that he could play baseball or soccer but again we were told very strongly “NO! I ONLY PLAY HOCKEY!” At the end of the regular season there were spring teams available to play on but unfortunately that was something that we could not afford. He had big plans for the next season – he wanted to try out for the competitive team. He said he wanted to do summer hockey and spring hockey so he could be ready for tryouts. We had to explain to him that we could not afford that. What we could do to help him was to make an exercise program for the summer to train off ice at home like his NHL heroes. He agreed to this and we were able to purchase a pair of inline skates from a big box store. He spent all summer skating around the neighbourhood while we jogged along with him. We tired out on those long jogs well before he did, he would go for hours at a time and in all weather conditions. We gave him a simple workout plan of a few basic moves and some stickhandling and shooting drills. That was his whole summer – inline skating, off ice workouts at home, and firing pucks in the driveway. When September came and tryouts happened, he had to face the first of many disappointments. He didn’t make the competitive team but he had a great recreational league hockey season with his dad as the head coach and the team ended up winning their division. He was still as determined as ever to make the competitive team so he spent the entire summer inline skating, following a basic child friendly workout program at home, and shooting pucks. There just wasn’t room in the family budget for extra hockey or training. With three children and all the costs of raising a family it was hard enough to afford regular season hockey registration and equipment and there certainly wasn’t any money for more than that. This time when September came, he was successful at tryouts and made the competitive team. This is how our program came to be. We lived in a small rural community without easy access to training facilities or skills coaches, we had a very tight family budget, and a kid that really wanted to improve his skills. Coach Dave had the ability to help him with his hockey skills and Coach Elizabeth had the ability to help him with off ice training. Not every family is able to provide that for their child and we want to help families and players like ours. Every kid deserves a chance to improve and with a little guidance and grit who knows how far they can go?