Anonymous
Post 02/12/2026 08:00     Subject: Re:Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
That org only cares about winning not development. So the higher ups yell at the coaches to win at all costs, so the coaches yell at the players to win at all costs and lose their minds on refs and 11 year old players.


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.


Nearly every time my kids have played Ashburn teams over the years they have given unequal playing time to kids, rolling out their top line every second shift when they have 3 lines of kids on the bench. Keep in mind, these were in regular season CBHL games. That is the definition of trying to win over developing players, especially at 10U and 12U.
Anonymous
Post 02/11/2026 20:57     Subject: Re:Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
That org only cares about winning not development. So the higher ups yell at the coaches to win at all costs, so the coaches yell at the players to win at all costs and lose their minds on refs and 11 year old players.


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.


So it makes it better when it's dads yelling like lunatics at 11 year olds? Every experience I've had with Ashburn is that they would rather win a 12U game at all costs rather than make their kids better players. Your mileage may vary.
Anonymous
Post 02/11/2026 17:52     Subject: Re:Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
That org only cares about winning not development. So the higher ups yell at the coaches to win at all costs, so the coaches yell at the players to win at all costs and lose their minds on refs and 11 year old players.


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.
Anonymous
Post 02/05/2026 13:36     Subject: Re:Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Forgot Ashburn - go with them if you want a win at all costs environment. They do extremely well but it’s very intense and many teams have drama, based on parents we’ve talked to and observations during games.


I was at Ashburn on 2/1. My kid had a game and I watched the beginning of the next game while waiting. It was 12U. During the first period the Ashburn head coach got tossed after yelling at the ref non-stop for almost 10 minutes after a questionable goal call. Between the players on ice and the families in the stand there were probably 100 people there. Extremely awkward. It was silent except for this coach just relentlessly screaming at the ref and refusing to leave.

Another fine example of a self-obsessed adult ruining youth sports.


That org only cares about winning not development. So the higher ups yell at the coaches to win at all costs, so the coaches yell at the players to win at all costs and lose their minds on refs and 11 year old players.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2026 20:57     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:Hockey is the wirst


Its all in the wrist
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2026 17:10     Subject: Travel Hockey
Hockey is the wirst
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2026 14:30     Subject: Travel Hockey
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.



Anonymous wrote:Rec hockey would've been better than travel, and high school hockey is essentially rec hockey, which is where we ended, and it was fine, in part because he could drive himself to the 10 pm or 6 am practices. But I still wish we hadn't introduced the sport in the first place. I spent too much of my life sitting in a freezing cold ice rink around nutty hockey parents.


You are filled with regret apparently. Isn't it supposed to be about your child? If your child had a lot of fun playing hockey (or any other sport/activity), made friends, enjoyed competing and improving, perhaps dreamed of being the next Ovechkin, isn't that the point? Your child's activities are not about YOU and what YOU want. What you feel was a waste of your time and a sacrifice is a large part of parenting. Spending your time doing things for your child is what you signed up for when you decided to become a parent, or at least a decent parent.

Seriously, you should feel good that you in many ways supported your child playing a sport at a travel level that we assume they enjoyed. Let the regret go.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2026 13:23     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Why didnt you stick with rec hockey? Its slightly more demanding due to ice time and lack of local teams, but my one son's rec hockey schedule is less demanding than my other sons travel soccer schedule. I dont think its about hockey, its about travel.


Rec hockey would've been better than travel, and high school hockey is essentially rec hockey, which is where we ended, and it was fine, in part because he could drive himself to the 10 pm or 6 am practices. But I still wish we hadn't introduced the sport in the first place. I spent too much of my life sitting in a freezing cold ice rink around nutty hockey parents.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2026 11:26     Subject: Travel Hockey
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.


Why didnt you stick with rec hockey? Its slightly more demanding due to ice time and lack of local teams, but my one son's rec hockey schedule is less demanding than my other sons travel soccer schedule. I dont think its about hockey, its about travel.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2026 08:17     Subject: Re:Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:

Forgot Ashburn - go with them if you want a win at all costs environment. They do extremely well but it’s very intense and many teams have drama, based on parents we’ve talked to and observations during games.


I was at Ashburn on 2/1. My kid had a game and I watched the beginning of the next game while waiting. It was 12U. During the first period the Ashburn head coach got tossed after yelling at the ref non-stop for almost 10 minutes after a questionable goal call. Between the players on ice and the families in the stand there were probably 100 people there. Extremely awkward. It was silent except for this coach just relentlessly screaming at the ref and refusing to leave.

Another fine example of a self-obsessed adult ruining youth sports.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 19:17     Subject: Travel Hockey
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.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 19:13     Subject: Re:Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:What does it mean to "dual roster"?


Girls who play on both a coed team and on a girls team.

It’s hard to be on two teams at once, so one is usually secondary.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 16:55     Subject: Re:Travel Hockey
What does it mean to "dual roster"?
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 11:22     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:Good for CHA to finally begin a girls program.

A 10/12U team is a great way to bring girls over from house to travel, as coed travel can be intimidating and less fun for some girls.

It also seems likely CHA will allow coed girls to dual roster, something more established girls programs (STJ) do not allow.

Reston has a 10/12U team in CBHL 12U Silver and many of the 12U CBHL Bronze teams are combined.

I hope this leads to more girls teams at CHA in the next few years!


It's a shame about the dual rostering. We were at Reston and the biggest complaint we always heard from the girls side was that the younger girls teams were always dual roster heavy so it led to a very weird environment with dual roster girls thinking they were better than others, lack of commitment, lack of team bonding. I think that's why MYHA and St James were always against it and why they tend to have better teams.
Anonymous
Post 02/03/2026 07:55     Subject: Travel Hockey
Good for CHA to finally begin a girls program.

A 10/12U team is a great way to bring girls over from house to travel, as coed travel can be intimidating and less fun for some girls.

It also seems likely CHA will allow coed girls to dual roster, something more established girls programs (STJ) do not allow.

Reston has a 10/12U team in CBHL 12U Silver and many of the 12U CBHL Bronze teams are combined.

I hope this leads to more girls teams at CHA in the next few years!