Two minutes for Body Checking

Recently the Ontario Hockey Federation announced that it was banning body checking from all house league and select hockey starting in the 2011-12 season. This is a move that will have plenty of insiders and outsiders taking a stance on whichever side of the fence they believe in.

When I first read of this I wondered about youth football, particularly in the United States where football is held as high any religion or political view amongst a large section of their population. What would the backlash be if Pop Warner Football announced that starting in the fall all youth leagues would know be played with either two hand touch or under the same rules used in Flag Football? Contact is an element of the game that most would call sacred and altering it would ruffle more than a few sets of feathers.

If you ask me, taking body checking completely out of youth hockey is not the right move or message to send. Body checking is a skill that should be taught and used properly no differently than a player learning to take a slap shot at the same age. If the player is taught how and when to use body checking properly during a game he/she will be a better player for it, at the same time players should be taught how to protect and look after themselves when they are playing the game.  This scenario can also be used as mentioned when teaching a youngster how to shoot and how to protect themselves when defending a shot. There is a skill and a technique that is needed to be taught and ingrained in the players head in order for these fascist of the game to be played as properly as one can expect in minor hockey.

There has always been alternative leagues available to those players and families whom would prefer to play without body checking, one that comes to mind was the Cedar Hill Minor Hockey Association. The quality of hockey was comparable to the other house leagues in the area and select programs were as competitive as any in all age groups represented. That being said, there would come a time when some players or select teams from Cedar Hill would find themselves having to participate in games with body checking.  In most cases these players were aware and instructed how to handle themselves in these situations. It was an eliminate of the game which would be there and the players would be prepared to face.

Injuries are going to happen, unfortunately it is a part of all sports, no matter what you participate in and we all have our fare share of stories to tell. There is only so far the rules and guidelines can be stretched to protect athletes on all levels, it is those experiences that will help one understand the nature of the game that wish to play and how they will play it moving forward, if they decide they want to.