It’s the middle of the week, and I’m just beginning to recover from a weekend away at a Spring Hockey tournament. Our suitcases are unpacked, my kids have caught up on their sleep, and slowly but surely I am getting caught up on the work I missed Friday so I could drive my kids to a tournament in Toronto.
A couple years ago I posted about “Why I love Spring Hockey”. I thought it would be a good time to revisit the Spring Hockey experience, especially now that I have TWO children playing in these Spring tournaments. With two playing in different divisions on the same day what this means for me is that on the Friday, I generally end up running around between rinks carting my sons to two games each in different arenas that could be half an hour apart. Add in a four year old daughter in tow, and it can be pretty chaotic.
I re-read my previous post about “Why I love Spring Hockey”, and I have to say that despite the chaos, every word still rings true. I still love the chance it gives for my boy(s) to socialize, I still enjoy watching the talented players that I have not been watching all season, I enjoy witnessing the kids mesh as a team, and of course, I cherish spending time with my family. But as I thought about what is really fun for ME at these tournaments, I realized that I REALLY enjoy hanging out with the parents, some I’ve known forever it seems, and some new parents as well!
This year, spring hockey is a little different since my younger son has a team to call his own. This means getting to know a whole new set of hockey parents from other teams, some of whom my son competes against during the regular season. Somehow we’ve completely lucked out, because the parents on this team are equally as awesome as the parents on my older son’s teams (note: I hate to say it, but maybe this is one reason spring hockey is so enjoyable? You often get to pick the parents. Already we are getting to know each other, having a few laughs, and appreciating the skill that each of the other kids brings to the team. It amazes me how quickly friendships bloom, between the players, and the families.
I have talked before about the Importance of the Hockey Family, and this past weekend I was reminded of how important the “hockey family” has been in my own family’s lives. Again this weekend, my family had a blast to the point that we didn’t want the weekend to end. It probably didn’t hurt that there were so many hockey teams with families we know staying at the same hotel. I think there were at least six teams with players from our home centre staying there, plus I bumped into a good friend from high school who coincidentally was there with his family and son playing on a different team. There were lots of opportunities to socialize, and several parents were bleary eyed in the mornings after having just a little bit too good a time the night before.
It takes a lot of work to organize a spring team, and I appreciate everyone who has done so much on behalf of my children’s’ teams behalf. Thanks to them, and here’s to ALL the families of the 2002, 2004, and 2005 Quinte Spitfires! We have one tournament left this summer, and if the past two weekends we’ve spent together are any indication, we are in for a blast!
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