If you have not yet heard, the USAH has issued a new set of guidelines (http://bit.ly/jS6LvV) that eliminate checking from PeeWee hockey – U12 for the uninitiated. I know a lot of parents were upset about this decision, but as the father of an 11 year old female hockey player, I was ecstatic when I heard the news.
In most places, there just are not enough girls playing hockey to support a girls program. Even where there are enough girls to form an all girls team, the team often can’t find age and talent appropriate competition. This means that girls have to either play on boys teams or against boys teams. Don’t get me wrong, I think playing with the boys is great. At any given age, the boys tend to be more aggressive and a little faster than the girls.
Josie loves playing with and against boys, but she also likes playing with her girls team against other girls and until she turned 11, I encouraged both as much as possible. There is no checking in girls hockey at any level, so there is really no reason for girls to ever learn to play wih checking. Some girls certainly want and like to do so, but is also discourages many girls from either playing at all or playing with and against the boys teams. As a parent, the presense of checking makes my decision much harder. Is playing with the boys worth the risk of a concussion from a 12 year boy barreling into my daughter who is half his size? It might be for some, but it certainly is not for others, and at the end of the day, we need as many girls playing as much hockey as possible.
