Well, the last few days saw a pause in the blogosphere and that was a direct result of the Joe. Never heard of The Joe? The Joe Lamontagne Hockey Tournament is Cole Harbour Minor Hockey's biggest tournament. This year was a great one in that it was the first one that any of our boys were permitted to attend since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The kids had a blast!
I saw some great things and some not so great things that happen in kids sport over the course of the week. Some of the greatest were the kids all coming together to truly become a team and go for the gold, the volunteers that put in such a vast effort to pull out all the stops and the kids that got to work as runners in their first ever "job".
My guys were lucky enough to have made it to the semi-final and the final in each of their age groups only to be eliminated by overtime in one case, and a shoot out in another. Still...an awesome showing and something they will remember.
Unfortunately, the ugly side of kids sport came out as well. In one game, a local teams parents went over the top crucifying the officials, yelling at 14 and 15 year old kids from the stands, and even going so far as to wait for them at the end of the hall to make them walk through a gauntlet of jeers and sneers on the way out of the building. Why? Because they didn't agree with the officials calls in a kids "B" level hockey game. I was actually sickened over it. I led one of my kids through that line of hostility after the game and was embarrassed for them even the next morning. I can't imagine being so hostile over a kids hockey game that security would have to be called in to monitor parents behaviour so players could exit the building safely. As someone watching it unfold from the bench, it was deplorable behaviour and to be honest as depressing as a downtown bar with the lights on at the end of the night. Shame on them.
A huge shout out has to go to the officials as well. I know that coaches and parents don't always agree with their calls, but they are a huge part of the game. One kid, who couldn't have been more than 17 or 18 told me he was scheduled to referee over 26 games this week. I have referee'd for a few seasons, and let me tell you that multiple games in a night in a cold arena does not feel good on the hands or the feet. Both are numb and in pain. Some of these kids are out there for 6 hours a day pulling these games off so that we can have our kids play in tournaments. Tell me you would be on point making every right call in those conditions. A little forgiveness and a lot of gratitude must go out to the zebras this week.
Finally, we were presented on one team (oddly enough the same day as the deplorable behaviour from the parents) the Constable Heidi Stevenson Memorial Award for team spirit. The team had no idea that the things that they did all season, sending cards to seniors and to troops overseas; doing community clean ups; sending their support to a player who experienced a disgusting incident of racism in PEI, would result in an award in honour of a fallen RCMP officer from the local area. It just added one more element of teachable to the lessons learned over the course of the week.
I am a huge believer in sport, both individual and team sport. I truly believe that kids should compete in both types growing up so that they realize the lessons that each can provide. It's interesting how many opportunities to learn some of those valuable lessons that showed themselves this past week. This week of sport taught lessons in resiliency, sportsmanship, work ethic, patience, adaptability, and so much more.
Who knows...It may have taught the kids a few things too.