May Day 10
Registered User
My child is a 2013, going to be a squirt minor, 9u, etc or what have-you.
He essentially has been in an instructional/half-ice program since he was 4. This season I moved him to a team and league that jumps to full-ice because I sensed he had out-grown half-ice and would have been bored (and frankly would have ruined the instructional mite house games there).
He did very well. Was near the top of the league in scoring, was successful in making some elite Spring tournament teams, and also was sought after to play on a AAA team for '22-23 (actually had a choice of a few teams which was nice). It is young/early... but at this point, he is probably around the 15th to 25th best skater in his age group in the area.
However.
So he has had a taste of tournament play this past year. He starts off playing very well in the first day, 2 days of the tournament. By the 4th game-5th game and certainly by the Championship, he bonks out and is visibly running on fumes. He doesn't hustle at all for the puck, very lackluster, one hand on the stick, falls down with a stiff breeze, etc. All the other kids are still flying around like they were in game 1 (most/all of them are seasoned tournament Vets). After a particularly bad game this weekend, he was in tears in the lockerroom because he knew how poorly he played. It cant be enjoyable for him, its frustrating to watch, the coach spoke with him on the bench, and it is a liability for the kids who are competing.
Does anyone else have experience with anything like this? Do I have to feed him orange slices or something? He loves playing, he only wants to play hockey (he plays travel and house baseball but he wants to quit so he can play more hockey but I am going to mandate he participates in something else if not baseball).
He essentially has been in an instructional/half-ice program since he was 4. This season I moved him to a team and league that jumps to full-ice because I sensed he had out-grown half-ice and would have been bored (and frankly would have ruined the instructional mite house games there).
He did very well. Was near the top of the league in scoring, was successful in making some elite Spring tournament teams, and also was sought after to play on a AAA team for '22-23 (actually had a choice of a few teams which was nice). It is young/early... but at this point, he is probably around the 15th to 25th best skater in his age group in the area.
However.
So he has had a taste of tournament play this past year. He starts off playing very well in the first day, 2 days of the tournament. By the 4th game-5th game and certainly by the Championship, he bonks out and is visibly running on fumes. He doesn't hustle at all for the puck, very lackluster, one hand on the stick, falls down with a stiff breeze, etc. All the other kids are still flying around like they were in game 1 (most/all of them are seasoned tournament Vets). After a particularly bad game this weekend, he was in tears in the lockerroom because he knew how poorly he played. It cant be enjoyable for him, its frustrating to watch, the coach spoke with him on the bench, and it is a liability for the kids who are competing.
Does anyone else have experience with anything like this? Do I have to feed him orange slices or something? He loves playing, he only wants to play hockey (he plays travel and house baseball but he wants to quit so he can play more hockey but I am going to mandate he participates in something else if not baseball).