A lot of people complain about and are fearful about the
dangers involved in sports, including youth hockey. In fact, next to football,
this is a sport where more and more parents are starting to worry about
concussions and other long-term concerns.
The good news for these people, parents especially, is that
hockey is getting safer and safer for kids. It’s not perfect yet, but
improvements are being made.
What Types of
Improvements are Happening?
So, you may be wondering, what exactly is happening to make
the sport safer? Well, for starters, researchers are regularly looking into
hockey safety policies and making changes based on what they learn.
A recent change, for example, is that Hockey Canada, after
research, decided to ban body checking in Pee Wee leagues, since the activity
was found to be a common cause of injury. Other places around the globe have
followed suit with similar rules, including Finland, the United States, and the
Czech Republic.
Even better yet, hockey organizations are regularly looking
into what they can do and change to make the sport safer.
The Surprising
Benefits of the Changes
Obviously, the whole reason changes like the one above get
made is to make the sport safer, but surprisingly, other benefits often get
discovered as well.
When the checking age was raised, for example, hockey
coaches reported that players improved more in terms of their hand skills,
passing ability, stickhandling ability, shooting ability, and overall skating
ability, perhaps because they weren’t so fearful of getting hurt or focusing
all their attention on avoiding being checked.
Seeing so many benefits from changing up the rules makes
organizations even more receptive to necessary changes, which is a great thing
for the sport as a whole and a major reason why it will likely continue to make
changes and further improve the safety of the sport.
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