Since my oldest boy (a goaltender) was five, we've purposely avoided overdoing summer hockey activities. When other families were going nuts with camp after camp and tournament after tournament, we chose to either have him play another sport in a less competitive environment (which, ironically, was where he was most nervous) or just enjoy time at home reading or playing with the family.

I'm not here to put down camps as we soon head to a goalie camp for two weeks this summer. I think the work that is done there is amazing and perhaps the best investment in his development we'll make all year. However, a sports season is like a good story, it needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. Stretching the hockey (or any other sports season) out to be all year, particularly before high school age, takes the chance of turning a joy into monotony.

I hear from parents all the time "he loves it. I keep asking him if he wants to do more and says there's nothing he'd like to do more." I get it. For me (and more directly, my wife), it's important to keep balance in our lives and sometimes that means keeping interests fresh by pursuing more than one. My sense is that a nine year old has no feeling for long term interests and does not understand the concept of burning out on something (yet).

Something we've enjoyed over the last week preparing for camp is Tyler has participated in Stick-N-Shoot at the local rink. As a goalie, it's free which doesn't hurt but, more importantly, it gives him time to just enjoy playing against other kids. It's the closest thing to pond hockey they get around here, especially during the summer. He's facing older kids and five year olds too. He's just having fun and increasing his endurance.

We did reach out to a local development program but they wanted to charge $50/hour session. It's a group practice! It's not all about money but...wow. Particularly as a goalie, I'm not sure it would be worth the money to go.