Young Hockey Body Contact

  Hockey is a contact sport.  Want kids to stay uninjured?  Put them in a different sport.  It is the only way you can keep them from getting injuries.  Without hitting, kids will not have the knowledge, the skills, the experience, and they will have less experience than others.  They are going to get hurt. That is hockey.

   There is 8 year olds playing full contact football, and hockey associations cannot think to put body contact back into 10 + year old hockey?  Why?  People who are 10 years and older are smart enough to know how to, and when make a hit.  There will be injuries, no doubt.  But there are even injuries in the professional leagues.  That is one risk when you play hockey.
   No one wants to see a player get hurt, but they need practice with body contact.  If there is no contact until bantam (13-14 year olds at the start of the year) they will not have adequate knowledge in how to hit safely, and when to make a hit.
   The Bantam draft is after the player's second year of bantam.  This is where players get drafted to the WHL.  2 years is not long enough for an individual to learn the speed, the technique to give a receive a hit, and when to make one.
   I have been talking about Regina, Saskatchewan in this blog.  There are different rules in different places, which makes it extra unfair for those living here.  Others will have more experience and more skill with it, kids from here will just be getting introduced to hitting.

An unsafe young hockey hit.

   Yes I know, "we can't have the kids getting hurt". Going through hockey, you are going to get hurt even if there is no hitting.  So why take away their chance to learn, and improve, just to make sure they do not get a couple bruieses?