Hockey

Hockey is one of thost activities/sports about which people often attribute love.

Even if you are not a fan of hockey yourself, as a Canadian, one would have to lead an extremely sheltered life to not realise that hockey, for many, is a true passion, a love. For some, it is a religion.

I am not condoning the kind of madness that brought us to witness the riots in Vancouver last year, that is not love, that is obsession, which is not healthy in any case, much like stalking is not love, either.

We have two boys playing hockey this year, which means two teams.
For our family, hockey season is drawing to a close, and we are in the midst of the playoffs.

Our younger son's team has already been eliminated after their second loss on Saturday. Our older hockey player's team suffered their first loss, which was heart-breaking for him, but they played a good game, and should hold their heads up high in spite of the loss.

For our teenaged son, hockey is life itself. He loves to play the game, he follows his favourite NHL teams, and will spend his free time shooting a puck with a friend ... in the off-season, he participates in dryland training with a former coach- they meet two to three times a week all through the spring and summer, and while he comes home exhausted and sore, he looks forward to going back for his next session.

Hockey is not without its costs, but it is often unfairly labelled as "too expensive". Because many Canadians worship at Our Lady of the Hockey Stick, there are many organizations out there which are dedicated to making, not just hockey, but other sports as well, more affordable for families.

KidSport, for example, offers free or low-cost equipment for kids whose families might not otherwise be able to pay for them. We're talking *new* equipment, folks.

You can also buy used equipment, as many of the smaller sporting goods not only accept used equipment for trade-in, but they will re-sell older equipment, too, so long as it is in good working order.

As well, GCWCC offers subsidies to qualifying families to help cover the cost of registering for a variety of sports, not just hockey. To learn more about subsidies, contact your community centre. Not sure to which community centre you belong?  Click Here

Yes, it can take up a fair bit of your time. But most of the activities we can choose to put our kids into tend to take up time ... It's a familiar line I've heard from friends when I've mentioned my boys have hockey on a particular evening or weekend- "Oh, I'm so glad James/Jane didn't want to play hockey! It takes up way too much time!" or even "It's way too much money!"

Oftentimes, this statement is followed by another statement about gymnastics tournaments, dance competitions, classes, costumes, etc. Believe me, I am not disparaging these activies nor making fun of my friends, either. I just find it ironic that they think hockey is too much of a time & money suck, when the activities their children are pursuing are equally as involved ...

But hey, to each their own, right? I admit, I get a little defensive when people are slamming my family's religion ;-)