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5 Suggestions for a Safe and Successful Season

By Minnesota Hockey, 09/29/14, 11:30AM CDT

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Every parent wants their child to experience success. On and off the ice, kids should have the chance to have fun, to taste victory, to enjoy being around their friends and to feel their confidence grow as their skills improve. Those things are often the focal point of hockey season for parents and coaches, and rightfully so. After all, those are the reason most kids enjoy playing sports.

However, we occasionally take for granted the one thing that is more important and has to happen before kids can have success – ensuring their safety. Here are five simple suggestions that will increase the likelihood of your player having a safe and healthy season so that you can focus on helping them have success.

Buy a Water Bottle

One of the first lessons kids are taught at a young age is how to share.  That isn’t always the best idea when it comes to staying healthy though, especially for athletes.  One of the top recommendations for preventing the flu is that each player should have his/her own water bottle.  Sharing water bottles has been shown to increase the likelihood of catching and spreading the flu.

Cover Your Coconut

The first step to protecting your child from potential head injuries is having a helmet and mouth guard that fit properly.  If you aren’t sure about sizing, visit a local hockey store or ask one of your association’s experienced coaches.

In addition, each child over the age of 10 should be taken in for a baseline concussion test. The only way to effectively diagnose and treat a concussion is to compare post-injury results to your child’s brain performance before the injury. Even if it doesn’t seem necessary now, you will be grateful you have it if your child does incur a concussion. Plus, you can get a baseline test for free this November at our Concussion Clinics.

Heads Up, Don’t Duck!

For those of you that have played hockey, this one may seem obvious, but we aren’t just worried about seeing your opponent coming or noticing where your teammates are. The primary cause of neck injuries in hockey is when players hit the boards with their head down.  Continuously teaching and reminding players to pick their head up, especially around the boards, is critical to their safety. 

Watch as Jenny Potter and Ryan Suter show how keeping your head up helps prevent potential neck and spinal injuries.

Don’t Shy Away From Contact

It may seem contrary to the ultimate goal of player safety, but teaching players at younger ages how to be confident and comfortable with body contact plays a crucial role in their safety at higher levels. Players at the Mite/8U level should be put in situations where contact occurs so that they get used to how to position their body.  Then, players should be taught a progression of body contact skills as they grow older and stronger.

Concepts such as awareness, positioning, checking technique and angling should be stressed as players develop.  By placing a larger emphasis on these skills during practice, coaches can enhance the safety of not only their players but of all players throughout the season.

Eliminate the Off-Ice Issues

If you ask coaches, including those at the higher levels of sports, many will say the most difficult part of their job is handling the off-ice issues. The same goes with safety.

Just mentioning the words of hazing, harassment or abuse is enough to send chills down people’s spines when talking about youth sports. Yet, they need to be discussed in order to prevent them from happening. USA Hockey’s SafeSport program has developed a top notch way of preventing and responding to these issues. Everyone involved in youth hockey should take the time to educate themselves on SafeSport and how its policies can make areas such as locker rooms, digital media and travel safer for kids.  

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Every parent wants their child to experience success. On and off the ice, kids should have the chance to have fun, to taste victory, to enjoy being around their friends and to feel their confidence grow as their skills improve. Those things are often the focal point of hockey season for parents and coaches, and rightfully so. After all, those are the reason most kids enjoy playing sports.

However, we occasionally take for granted the one thing that is more important and has to happen before kids can have success – ensuring their safety. Here are five simple suggestions that will increase the likelihood of your player having a safe and healthy season so that you can focus on helping them have success.

Buy a Water Bottle

One of the first lessons kids are taught at a young age is how to share.  That isn’t always the best idea when it comes to staying healthy though, especially for athletes.  One of the top recommendations for preventing the flu is that each player should have his/her own water bottle.  Sharing water bottles has been shown to increase the likelihood of catching and spreading the flu.

Cover Your Coconut

The first step to protecting your child from potential head injuries is having a helmet and mouth guard that fit properly.  If you aren’t sure about sizing, visit a local hockey store or ask one of your association’s experienced coaches.

In addition, each child over the age of 10 should be taken in for a baseline concussion test. The only way to effectively diagnose and treat a concussion is to compare post-injury results to your child’s brain performance before the injury. Even if it doesn’t seem necessary now, you will be grateful you have it if your child does incur a concussion. Plus, you can get a baseline test for free this November at our Concussion Clinics.

Heads Up, Don’t Duck!

For those of you that have played hockey, this one may seem obvious, but we aren’t just worried about seeing your opponent coming or noticing where your teammates are. The primary cause of neck injuries in hockey is when players hit the boards with their head down.  Continuously teaching and reminding players to pick their head up, especially around the boards, is critical to their safety. 

Watch as Jenny Potter and Ryan Suter show how keeping your head up helps prevent potential neck and spinal injuries.

Don’t Shy Away From Contact

It may seem contrary to the ultimate goal of player safety, but teaching players at younger ages how to be confident and comfortable with body contact plays a crucial role in their safety at higher levels. Players at the Mite/8U level should be put in situations where contact occurs so that they get used to how to position their body.  Then, players should be taught a progression of body contact skills as they grow older and stronger.

Concepts such as awareness, positioning, checking technique and angling should be stressed as players develop.  By placing a larger emphasis on these skills during practice, coaches can enhance the safety of not only their players but of all players throughout the season.

Eliminate the Off-Ice Issues

If you ask coaches, including those at the higher levels of sports, many will say the most difficult part of their job is handling the off-ice issues. The same goes with safety.

Just mentioning the words of hazing, harassment or abuse is enough to send chills down people’s spines when talking about youth sports. Yet, they need to be discussed in order to prevent them from happening. USA Hockey’s SafeSport program has developed a top notch way of preventing and responding to these issues. Everyone involved in youth hockey should take the time to educate themselves on SafeSport and how its policies can make areas such as locker rooms, digital media and travel safer for kids.  

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