Youth Hockey Can Strengthen Local Communities

Hockey can encourage physical activity during even the coldest days of winter. And in many ways, hockey is one of the most challenging sports. It requires attention to both skating on ice and the action involved in the game. The difficulties, however, can teach young athletes about the concept of facing and overcoming challenges rather than avoiding them.

There are many strategies and lessons involved with the game itself that can be quite beneficial for youngsters. However, an indirect variable could be just as important. Hockey has a way of strengthening communities. Parents have to rally together to get a full team on the ice, sometimes at very early hours. There are lots of costs involved, including travel, gear and time. But when a community fully commits to youth hockey, it can be better off for it. Team websites can be a great place to highlight the importance of these values.

Youth hockey in the sunshine state

Few would confuse the hockey scene in Florida with that of Minnesota, Michigan and other northern states. However, the Florida Alliance AAA Hockey Club is doing its best to narrow the gap, according to The News-Press.

The organizers of the program, Brian Rafalski, Ryan Brindley, Jim Brown and Karl Masnjak, lead the top-ranked 10-year-old AAA team in the country. But direct competition isn’t the only goal of the alliance. It hopes to change the entire perception of youth hockey in Florida.

It’s quite common for talented hockey players from warmer states to move to colder, more traditional hockey states, the news source noted. The Florida Alliance AAA Hockey Club wants to gradually change that trend and keep its top talent in-state.

“There are nationally respected programs in Detroit, Boston, Toronto and Chicago,” Brindley told the news source. “We’d love to keep kids here in Florida. We’ve already been talking about kids having to go and leaving their parents. We don’t know if this is right, a kid leaving to go to Detroit. All those qualities, staying at home with parents, are so important.”

Youth hockey growing in Illinois

The Northwest Herald said that youth hockey is gaining popularity in Illinois. The Yellowjackets hockey club and five high school teams play at the Ice House just outside of Chicago. Pat Rainey, vice president of the club’s hockey operations advisory board, told the news source that he’s seen more sign-ups this year. This means that more young athletes will be exposed to some of hockey’s greatest virtues.

“Hockey is focused on team play,” Rainey told the news source. “The individual player is good, but a team is way better if all the players are playing as one unit.”