Midgets

Question
Hello,

I have a son who is a 98 birthday. He does make the spelled out age limit for Midget level. I am told that as long as the player is in high school they are able to play at the midget level. My son enters 9th grade next season and will likely play on the JV team as he is playing on it now in 8th grade. It does not make sense for me to sign him up for bantams so that he will miss almost half the season once high school starts.  I am having a hard time with a response from my program.
Thanks for your time.

Answer
Theresa,

Thank you for writing. Well, lets look at this a little.  How tall is he?  What position does he play?  If he was my son, if he can play JV then let him.  By this time, he has already made friends and high school days are very important to a kid at his age.

In fact, at this age, his friends opinions mean more to him then anyone else's opinion.  In fact, the majority of the kids at this age, would rather have parents stay at home rather then come to watch them play.

Well, you have to look at it this way. In a 24 hour period, 8 hours sleeping, and 8 hours of school.  2 hours for home work, 2 hours for chores,and that mean 4 hours of quality time with you.  Where he has double the amount of time with his friends at school.

Now, depending on where you live, high school hockey is more important then travel hockey.  In some places across the country, only the best players make the high school team and all the rest (has-been) play travel.  Why?

Because everyone wants to play for their school and there are only so many spots available.  Kids (boys) would rather play for their school because of what?  Girls!

Hope this helps.

Rob Lopez - Commissioner
University Ice Hockey League - Mexico
www.passthepuck.net