Should My Child Be Playing Up
This is a good piece from USA Hockey on playing up. I must confess my daughter had always played up. One piece of advice from my friend Kevin Kneeld. ” if your son or daughter is not one of the five best players on their team, they do not need to play up”. This makes a lot of sense to me. If your child plays up and is a very strong offensive player at the higher levels from a hockey standpoint it can be beneficial to play up. If your child plays up and struggles to score move them back down. The key is to be able to be an offensive player at any level you play at. Players who play up and suddenly become grinders, dumping pucks in, are going backward not forward in development. My son is a late December birthday and struggles a bit at his age level in the first year of each level as he plays against kids almost two years older in some cases. He really can’t play up.
The other issue to deal with in playing up is the psycho-social aspect of being around older kids and being in the dressing room and hearing conversations they don’t need to hear. You need to consider that aspect also as you chase “development”.
Michael Boyle's Strengthcoach.com Blog 