Travel Hockey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Play lacrosse instead. DCUM is a hockey desert, and no one from here goes on to play NCAA, whereas DCUM is a hotbed for developing college lax players. Or play hockey for fun and pick the team that is closest to home, regardless of what anyone says about the coaches or the organization. Make it easy on yourself. If your kid isn't at least a second-line player, play on a lower team where they will play more and have more fun. I'm at the end of the road with my hockey player - did the full gambit from AAA to settling for being a good high school varsity player and focusing on school and college (BTW, high school hockey is fun). The last thing we wanted was for him to take 2 years off to play juniors and then go play at whatever D1 or D3 school would take him, with not enough time to focus on academics and a real career. Cynical, yes, but I wish someone had given it to me straight back when we had an 8U "star, and we kept chasing the next best thing to what end?

Agree with this—my kids are 15 and 17 now and both played AAA and made the USA hockey camps and both scrapped it to just play HS because the development pipeline above AAA is so fraught that even getting into a D3 college program is becoming a long shot and takes years of juniors.

Meanwhile ding dong kids we know who play lax are going to top ranked colleges on full rides right out of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What a silly statement. Like most youth travel hockey in the northern Virginia area, most of the coaches with Ashburn are dad's with sons or daughters on the team they are coaching. There are only two "higher ups" at Ashburn - and there is no yelling about winning at all costs. I know this from personal experience having had my kids play there for years. Your kid's development will be better at Ashburn then it will be at St J at any age. The dad is doing the coaching because they love the game and they want their kid to love it to - not someone at an average tier2 club where it's just something they are doing until something better comes along. And by the way, coaches yelling at refs happens at every age group and every team.

Okay, I get it. Your kid played at Ashburn and you're butthurt because YOU liked the experience (likely living vicariously through your child) and your kid enjoyed the experience of winning a few CBHL team banners. Good for your kid, shameful for you. Sounds like you are a meager assistant coach too, so you are all rah rah and 100% bought in and willing to defend the shield.

All things considered, Ashburn is not desirable for most people because of reasons already stated. Justifying yelling at and berating referees because everyone does it it where you will 100% lose any sensible person, and you do. Why not be a shining example for the kids and not yell at the referee and completely embarrass yourself in front of the entire crowd? Can't you calmly ask the ref to come over to the bench to discuss the call as the ADM specifically teaches?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wasted too much of my and my kids' lives on travel hockey. The money was fine for us, but the wasted time is real. I wish we'd taken more bucket-list family trips instead and stuck with rec sports. Hockey is such a time suck, from tournament travel to early morning and late night practices. Between my kids' activities, I spent a decade of my life sleeping less than five hours most nights, and for what? Had we never introduced hockey, they could've played town soccer or baseball and been just as happy.

I didn’t find travel hockey that crazy. Granted my son was only on a B travel team with MYHA, but aside from 5-6 weekends away btw August and March, it wasn’t that bad. My son also loved it, so that was worth it.