Hey brothers,
There are lots of athletes here so let me run this by you gents. You may know my boy is an elite athlete. He plays hockey and had a hell of a year last year. I don't want to be too specific on his team finish last year just to keep things DL but let me say that his team was a top 30 in the Nation. Many on his team and him included got offered Prep School scholarships He is 16 and a second year Midget and going to be a Junior next fall. He got an invite to a NA3HL camp. That is a tier 3 Juniors camp for those not familiar with hockey and he got asked to come skate for a Junior A team as well. A month ago he was offered a AAA spot. He turned all this stuff down and I thought he just wanted some time away from training 6 days a week for years and didn't want to play away from home and billet someplace half a country away from Dad.
Last week he tells me he doesn't think he wants to play hockey anymore. Wow! Aside from my own disappointment because I love it, it really bothered me for him too. I don't want him to regret his decision a year from now when the train has left the station. He needs to commit very soon or he will never play elite level hockey again.
What do you say to him to make sure he is doing a gut check not making a mistake? I don't want him to play if he really doesn't want to but I don't know how to make him realize what he is passing up and how he might regret this someday. I think anything I say is going to sound like Dad likes to live vicariously through him and I will be missing out not him. How do you make a teenager grasp what a big decision he is really making?
Athletics is so high level now that you can't take a year of and come back and compete. It just isn't like that anymore.
There are lots of athletes here so let me run this by you gents. You may know my boy is an elite athlete. He plays hockey and had a hell of a year last year. I don't want to be too specific on his team finish last year just to keep things DL but let me say that his team was a top 30 in the Nation. Many on his team and him included got offered Prep School scholarships He is 16 and a second year Midget and going to be a Junior next fall. He got an invite to a NA3HL camp. That is a tier 3 Juniors camp for those not familiar with hockey and he got asked to come skate for a Junior A team as well. A month ago he was offered a AAA spot. He turned all this stuff down and I thought he just wanted some time away from training 6 days a week for years and didn't want to play away from home and billet someplace half a country away from Dad.
Last week he tells me he doesn't think he wants to play hockey anymore. Wow! Aside from my own disappointment because I love it, it really bothered me for him too. I don't want him to regret his decision a year from now when the train has left the station. He needs to commit very soon or he will never play elite level hockey again.
What do you say to him to make sure he is doing a gut check not making a mistake? I don't want him to play if he really doesn't want to but I don't know how to make him realize what he is passing up and how he might regret this someday. I think anything I say is going to sound like Dad likes to live vicariously through him and I will be missing out not him. How do you make a teenager grasp what a big decision he is really making?
Athletics is so high level now that you can't take a year of and come back and compete. It just isn't like that anymore.
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