Girls Participating on Youth or Girls Teams

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A major topic that I have had numerous questions on at the beginning of this hockey season is girls being allowed to try out and participate on youth (mixed boy and girl) teams. USA Hockey and Minnesota Hockey rules allow girls the opportunity to make a decision on whether they want to participate on a youth team or a girls team. USA Hockey rules allow participation on more than one team.

Minnesota Hockey rules, however, do not allow players to register on more than one team, with two exceptions:
1) players of a city house team may play with both their team and a city traveling team; and
2) female youth age players may register on both a youth C or House team and also register with a girl's A or B team for the purpose of practice, exhibition games, league games and tournament competition including the USA Hockey National Women's
Tournament.
                                                                                                                   In the formative years of the girls' programs at USA Hockey, the age classifications of 12 and Under, 15 and Under and 19 and Under were established to provide a non-checking atmosphere where a girl of any size could participate.At the youngest age levels, girls still participated with boys on youth teams.

USA Hockey has now added the 10 and Under age classification for girls. Rules written at the USA Hockey level are written for the entire United States and not every part of the country has developed programs at the same rate.

Minnesota registers the largest number of female players in the United States, but every Association in Minnesota does not provide a team at all four age classifications. As an example, there will be
approximately 32 girls teams at 10 and Under for the 2000-2001 season. Considering the fact that there are a little more than 160 Associations in Minnesota with hockey programs, that means less than 25 percent of the Associations in Minnesota provide a 10 and Under program for girls. Girls must participate on youth teams in areas where not enough girls are available to comprise a team. Some girls also still desire to participate on a youth team, which is allowed by USA Hockey and Minnesota Hockey rules. Even if Associations have both girls and youth teams, they cannot require the girls to play on a girls team according to the rules. If a girl wishes to play on a youth team, she must be afforded the equal competitive opportunity to do so at any age level. There are some girls who are skilled and physically able to continue playing with the youth teams at the checking level.

Some reasons the girls have expressed to me to remain with the youth program include: opportunity for better coaching, more ice time, more evenly skilled players on a team because of enough numbers for try outs, and a better competitive opportunity to excel. Not every Association in Minnesota may have a girl's program to offer to a female player that is comparable to her skill level. If the girl feels she is physically able to handle checking hockey and wants to try out for that level, the rules require she be given the opportunity.

The complaint I hear most often when a girl makes a youth team is, "she is taking the place of a boy who could have made the team." Girls today have just as many (and due to numbers probably more) opportunities as boys to play at the high school and collegiate level. The girls are not taking anything away from a boy who does not make a team, they are earning a spot that they deserve by their athletic ability. Let's face the facts, how many of the boys and girls on these teams will ever make a Division I college team or an NHL team. We all need to look at the bigger picture and agree that our objective should be to try to provide an activity for boys and girls for developing physical fitness, teaching them leadership and team skills, and most of all for fun and enjoyment.

Allowing the girls to remain in the youth program has been shown to be advantageous. Every player who participated on the Gold Medal winning 1998 Women's Olympic Team played with boys at some point in her hockey career. They learned the valuable skills needed to participate at a higher level.

None of this should be misconstrued to say that the girls' programs are all inadequate. There are Associations that provide what is necessary for a girl to excel in their programs. But areas of Minnesota are still in their infancy in regard to establishing girls' programs. If you have a girls' program and players are still opting not to participate with the girls' teams, maybe you need to ask the hard question, "Are we providing enough to keep the girls interested in our girls' program?"

To look at it another way, is the girl talented enough to help a youth team? If a player is skilled enough to make it through a try out process and be selected, do you deny that individual the opportunity based on gender? I sincerely hope not in today's world.

I hear the rumblings from parents and other individuals who think boys should be allowed to participate on girls' teams if girls are allowed to play on youth teams. What are the reasons for wanting to participate on a girls' team? Do they have a better coach? Do they have enough A and B levels that the player could participate at a skill level commensurate with their ability? Is their child small in stature and they want a non-checking game? These questions can also be asked as to why a girl wants to participate on a youth team.

USA Hockey has also instituted non-checking programs at the youth level. Because of such requests from members for non-checking leagues,
rules were voted in to recognize and allow youth age groups to provide this type of program . The local Affiliates can institute this program at their discretion. USA Hockey's mission through their local Affiliates, such as Minnkota (Minnesota, North and South Dakota), is to provide an opportunity for anyone to participate who is interested in playing hockey and they have developed rules to accommodate most situations for girls, boys, men and women.

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