Great interview with one third of the holy trinity

[forty_three]

Bobby Orr: How we?re killing hockey - Blog Central, The Interview, Uncategorized - Macleans.ca

Mr Orr, seriously. Thank you for everything.

 

[puckhead]

Q: I remember your skating, scoring and defence, but you were a fighter, too, when you had to. From your book I see mixed messages: you think fighting is wrong at the early stages but a necessary evil at higher levels.

A: I don’t think there’s any place in the [minor hockey] game. When you get to the pro level I think it changes a little bit. It’s like in the old days of [Montreal Canadiens captain Jean] Béliveau. If you took liberties with him it was understood Fergie [Canadiens enforcer John Ferguson] was going to be there. That fear of getting beat up is a great deterrent.

We don’t need fighting in the game to survive. But we do need that fear of getting beat up if you don’t behave yourself, or if you’re trying to take liberties with a player who doesn’t play like that. Do you want to see Sidney Crosby sitting, fighting, hurt in the penalty box, or do you want to see him playing? And Sid has to help, too, he can’t be poking guys and can’t be chatting guys. I was a pain in the butt; I hit guys and I expected it. But on the fighting, there’s no place for it in minor hockey.

that's very well said

 

[RangersReds03]

Q: Was it all worth it?

A: Absolutely. I’d do it all over again. We’re a tough game. We get these big bodies flying—sticks and blades and pucks—we’re going to have injuries. I don’t mind the physical part of the game; it’s the stupidity, that’s what hurts it. People love a good clean hit. We’re a tough game at the NHL level, the pro level, and we should play like that.

 

[pixburgher66]

I loved everything he had to say about kids and youth sports. Kids SHOULDN'T play one sport all year. Kids need a break just like adults do...in fact, moreso. Also about entitlement, that's right on. I won't touch the fighting thing. I think fighting today is vastly different than it was in his time...he mentioned it though with Ferguson. He's just so darn savvy. Heck of an interview.

 

[DragonfromTO]

I loved everything he had to say about kids and youth sports. Kids SHOULDN'T play one sport all year. Kids need a break just like adults do...in fact, moreso. Also about entitlement, that's right on. I won't touch the fighting thing. I think fighting today is vastly different than it was in his time...he mentioned it though with Ferguson. He's just so darn savvy. Heck of an interview.

I was talking to Brad Park a couple of years ago and he talked about the same thing, I had mentioned that I played with his nephew briefly when we were younger and he said that he was good but he probably played too much hockey when he was really young and got burnt out on the sport. He told me that he had just been at one of the big minor hockey tournaments in the GTA and a mother was asking him about how to get her kid ahead and saying that he plays all the time, but that her and his father don't push him, that he just really wants to play hockey all the time. And Brad looked her right in the eye and said "well, if he wanted to stay up until 2 am every night would you let him do that?"

 

[pixburgher66]

I was talking to Brad Park a couple of years ago and he talked about the same thing, I had mentioned that I played with his nephew briefly when we were younger and he said that he was good but he probably played too much hockey when he was really young and got burnt out on the sport. He told me that he had just been at one of the big minor hockey tournaments in the GTA and a mother was asking him about how to get her kid ahead and saying that he plays all the time, but that her and his father don't push him, that he just really wants to play hockey all the time. And Brad looked her right in the eye and said "well, if he wanted to stay up until 2 am every night would you let him do that?"

See, that's how I approach my athletes too...sort of like kids. Sounds weird, but when you know better you have to make decisions for people. That's a great quote though. You have to make the best decisions for your kids, that OFTEN means decisions they don't like.

 

[forty_three]

I loved everything he had to say about kids and youth sports. Kids SHOULDN'T play one sport all year. Kids need a break just like adults do...in fact, moreso. Also about entitlement, that's right on. I won't touch the fighting thing. I think fighting today is vastly different than it was in his time...he mentioned it though with Ferguson. He's just so darn savvy. Heck of an interview.

I wish I had the nerve to copy and paste that part into an email to the parents in my son's league.

There's this one guy whose kid is squirt age. Was mite last year and he wants to be a goalie. Kid tried out for the select squirt team and didn't make it (because there are two really good goalies already). The dad pulled me aside and asked what the boy should be working on and if I was available as a private coach for him.

I said "He's 9. All he should be doing right now is learning to not be afraid of the puck. Just get some body part in front of it, get comfortable and learn how the play develops in front of him. Everything else will come."

A private goalie coach for a 9 year old...

 

[pixburgher66]

I wish I had the nerve to copy and paste that part into an email to the parents in my son's league.

There's this one guy whose kid is squirt age. Was mite last year and he wants to be a goalie. Kid tried out for the select squirt team and didn't make it (because there are two really good goalies already). The dad pulled me aside and asked what the boy should be working on and if I was available as a private coach for him.

I said "He's 9. All he should be doing right now is learning to not be afraid of the puck. Just get some body part in front of it, get comfortable and learn how the play develops in front of him. Everything else will come."

A private goalie coach for a 9 year old...

I'm in a performance class right now (online masters classes...soooo chhhallennnginng...), and our discussion question last week was whether or not we agreed that plyometric exercises were okay for children. Plyos are okay if they're fun (like hopscotch or something), but plyo workouts are high intensity, flipping tires, box jumps, sprints with weighted jackets type junk. All I could think writing my discussion was "LET THEM BE KIDS PLEASE FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY!"
I'm no professional athlete, but I have a freaking awesome childhood because I PLAYED everyday. I didn't practice everyday, or workout, I played. We played wiffleball, kickball, street hockey, knockout, etc. There's peer-reviewed literature about overtraining in youth...tons of it. Play multiple sports, not only will it help develop more skills, but it will help prevent injuries from doing the same movements over and over.

 

[Jared]

I'm in a performance class right now (online masters classes...soooo chhhallennnginng...), and our discussion question last week was whether or not we agreed that plyometric exercises were okay for children. Plyos are okay if they're fun (like hopscotch or something), but plyo workouts are high intensity, flipping tires, box jumps, sprints with weighted jackets type junk. All I could think writing my discussion was "LET THEM BE KIDS PLEASE FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY!"
I'm no professional athlete, but I have a freaking awesome childhood because I PLAYED everyday. I didn't practice everyday, or workout, I played. We played wiffleball, kickball, street hockey, knockout, etc. There's peer-reviewed literature about overtraining in youth...tons of it. Play multiple sports, not only will it help develop more skills, but it will help prevent injuries from doing the same movements over and over.

I have zero medical knowledge or training, but this seems to make so much logical sense.

When I was a kid every kid I played with or against thought they were going to be a pro athlete. We were kids, 11 or 12, and that's normal and natural. Nowadays, it seems that every PARENT thinks their kid is going to be pro athlete. Leaves me shaking my head.

 

[dash]

Kids get burnt out and will quit the sport if that's all they do, you need a variety of activities to keep things fresh. Nobody played hockey year round when I was growing up, once hockey season season ended (usually in April), it was time for baseball, soccer, tennis, golf etc. You wouldn't put the skates on again until mid-September at the earliest.