By JEFF Z. KLEIN
Published: October 20, 2010
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A conference on reducing concussions in hockey recommended prohibiting contact to the head at every level of the game, including the N.H.L., and banning body checking by 11- and 12-year-olds to reduce the high rate of concussions among youth players.
The above information is to provide some basic background. In order to change the youth ice hockey culture, we must over come one main simple barrier. That barrier is us. Change is inherently difficult. However, once done, we adapt quickly to change and accept change. Change in this case will reduce the risk of harm to our children. That reason, in itself, should motivate us and cause immediate change. But even with our children's well being in mind, we are slow to change. We are dragging our feet as a hockey culture. Here are the steps to make change happen by next year.
The first three steps are about redefining youth ice hockey and finding a new paradigm. We need to look at youth ice hockey from an new angle, we need a new set of success concepts, a new framework of safety and a modern purpose. We need, my favorite college phrase, a paradigmatic shift to cause change. This is were resistance sits. Change is inevitable. Do it now.
Steps One through Three
STEP ONE: Empower Ourselves to Make Change
Formally make a statement that the old standards and rules must be changed to reduce harm to our children. Formally state and recognize, that as adults, we can change what we choose to change without delay. If we don't believe these two statements, we are barriers to change and need to step aside.
STEP TWO: Redefine Both Purpose and Mission
Redefine the purpose of youth ice hockey, in our minds, as through the eyes of a child playing on the ice. Stop defining youth ice hockey through adult eyes. What does that mean? It means it is not the NHL and winning is insignificant. A child wants to compete, play and feel as though they are valuable and important. Winning is secondary. Adults thinks every game must end in a victory. Children want to go on the ice and play. Youth ice hockey must be about teaching and playing within the highest safety standards to protect the children. We want to teach our children. We want our children to play the game. We don't want our children to be hurt while playing.
Youth ice hockey must be about the experience of the single child not the victories. It must be about teaching skating, stick skills, respectful play and safe play. It has to be about positioning, team play, the stretch pass and the bang-bang group goal that ends in a loss. It has to be about teaching the child the mental aspects of the game and how to anticipate a developing play. Notice none of those aspects of a great sport have anything to do with checking. Every child would still play hockey without checking. Every child would still play hockey with modified mandatory rules. Why? They want to enjoy the greater pieces of the sport and feel valuable to the team. We adults are keeping checking in hockey and we adults are failing to improve safety standards by not instituting mandatory protective rules and other changes.
No child wants to be hit in the neck, head or back as part of their hockey experience. It is there because we allow it to remain there. The purpose and mission of youth ice hockey must be redefined. What is the experience you want for the child, teen and young adult players?
STEP THREE: Redefine Success
To use a sports metaphor (sort of), redefine winning and victories. Redefine success. A win and a victory is when no child is harmed and the game was fun and competitive for them. Not us... them. The winning team gets to celebrate and the losing team learns how to manage losing. These are character moments for children, coaches and parents. Winning and victories are when the coaches bring a child to the next level and pulls a skill out of the child, he or she didn't know they had. It is the smile on their face when they can hockey stop. It is the smile on their face when they lift a puck top shelf. It is the fist pump and celebration of scoring a goal and being part of the goal when no one is keeping score.
To a child and young player, it is about the moment. To the adult it is about the outcome. Redefine it. We need to focus youth ice hockey on the moments and experience of the young players. Let these collection of moments build and lead a team to a winning season. Let these moments dictate what youth ice hockey should become. This change (redefining success) will still lead, for us adults, to victories and tournament trophies. Change the road to the destination. Success is the momentary smile, not the victory mile.
Steps Four through Seven
The first three steps were about shifting views. The final steps are about identifying and overcoming barriers. To overcome a barrier, we must identify it, address it and walk around it, if we want to make a cultural change in youth ice hockey.
STEP FOUR: Use the Available Data and End Endless Committees
Use the information that is available. We have become more educated about the impact of concussions on our children. We have had enough committees, panels and professionals say that concussions and head trauma are bad. They have told us what is needed. They have define safety standards. They have scientific proof and studies to back the fact something significant must be done to change checking and head contact in youth ice hockey. Any delay, this is my opinion, is criminal.
The barrier in Step Four is to delay change by putting change out into the endless retirement green fields of committees. Committees are both a conscious and unconscious tactic to delay change. It provides us with a feeling we are doing something while delaying the actual change. We send the cows out to graze and wait and wait and wait. End the committees and evaluation panels now. The proof is there. Move to implementing the changes.
STEP FIVE: Remove the Old Excuses, Accept Blame and Make Changes
Change barriers are always specific to the involved institutions although themes are common place. For example take the old argument that the rule is there to protect the players but the referees have discretion. This is great for the NHL but it is horrific for youth ice hockey leagues. This type of argument is what often delays change. We argue the safety rule is there but except why it is not used. We fail to address the inherent problem. The idea is that the safety rules are there in the rule books (we got it covered) but they just are not called (it's not our fault). The worst type of penalties you can have for children, teens and young adults are penalties that are inconsistently called and punishment that varies.
The barriers in Step Five are making excuses that sound logical and deflecting blame. In this case the statement may be true but in the mean time children are being harmed. It is the logic of illogic. You have to drop the old "illogical barriers" and move forward. The move forward is addressing training for the referees and telling them what is a mandatory, in this case example. The move forward is achieved by making a change (like) by adding an additional referee to the ice, called "the big cheese commish", who is responsible for calling mandatory penalties such as head, neck and back hits. They would be responsible for other mandatory penalties such as cursing and stick slamming by penalized players... Yeah, the 2 minute mandatory penalties that are part of USA Hockey Zero Tolerance policy that aren't called consistantly.
STEP SIX: Stop Using Blame Between Invested Institutions as a Delay Tactic
The institutions in youth ice hockey are the clubs, leagues, referee associations, USA Hockey, coaches, players and parents. And probably the ice rinks. Consider these groups as components that build a car. They all can't have driving privileges. There must be one voice and one driver that steers the car to the most efficient and safest path. The club can't say the league won't do it. The league can't say some clubs won't agree to do it. USA Hockey can't blame the referee associations for not following the rules. The players can't say the coaches didn't tell me. The parent can't say parents should teach their children the difference between right and wrong.
The barrier in Step Six is the tactic of blame shifting or blame delay. It is a tactic anti-change uses to delay having to implement change or to delay even looking into making change. It sounds confusing but it a way to prolong the status quo. It is basically saying, like in Step Five, "we want to do something but the other institution has to deal with the issue." Change in youth ice hockey can no longer be prevented or delayed because the parts of its total sum use blame shifting as a delay tactic. This is the point where people need to believe they can step forward as leaders and change the culture. In this case, the youth ice hockey culture.
STEP SEVEN: A Leader(s) Needs to Step Forward
People aren't just roles or positions within the institutions of youth ice hockey. They are the institution. The institution exist because of the people. Not the reverse. Anyone with a foot in the door, can step up and lead the culture change in youth ice hockey. Individuals need to step up a say, "This is the way it will be. These are the changes. We will protect the children."
This is a short step. Steps one through six are the most difficult steps. The barrier in step seven is missing the ripe fruit on the tree. For youth ice hockey... everything is there. Someone or some group needs to step forward. It can be a club, a league, USA hockey or anyone. The barrier here is also a failure to act when the time is right. The time is right.
No comments:
Post a Comment