The hockey schedule this year has a “good news and bad news” dynamic to it. The good news is we don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn to make sure the kids are at the rink for practice. The bad news is that our weekend days are going to be messed up severely for the next few months because the practices are later in the morning. In fact, we didn’t get back from the boy’s practice until almost 2 o’clock both yesterday and today. Tough to schedule things to be done around that.
One of the fun things about the practices is the social aspect. Not for the kids, rather for the parents. It would seem nothing brings a community together more than trucking their kids to a hockey rink on cold Fall and Winter mornings. We buy each other coffee and donuts and share stories of frustration, amusement and everything else involving the kids and other aspects of our lives.
When the kids aren’t on the ice, they’re running around with their pals. In some ways, it’s like a giant day care center for a couple of hours with the coaches playing the part of the staff.
That comparison doesn’t do the coaches justice, though. It’s an all-volunteer staff that gives up a large part of their weekends to teach the kids how to play hockey. Many of them clearly love being out there. It’s hard not to appreciate their generosity considering the amount of effort they give.
It’s just the first weekend though and, by comparison to what I know is coming, it was a mild one. Some of the ice was melting yesterday and, even though it was much cooler today, it really wasn’t too bad out there. Plus, the kids are still enthusiastic about it. The mornings are coming where they’ll “hate hockey” and don’t want to play. Heck, there will be days coming where I won’t really want to take them.
So it goes with hockey season.