Sports Camp: Hockey

I am behind on blogging again and have a lot to write about, but since Dakota’s having a rough night, I’m just going to have to try to get some posts up tomorrow. For tonight though, I’ve got Harper’s latest sports experience…

So, as I’m sure you gathered from the title of this post, today’s sport was hockey. Harper had no idea what hockey was when we got there but he was eager to give it a try nonetheless.

At the beginning of the class they taught them how to hold the stick and told them to “sweep” the floor with it. Then, they had to try to keep the ball close to the stick with light touches. Next up was running with the stick and ball and attempting to score on the goals at either end of the gym.

Even though Harper was excited to try hockey, he was very hesitant after his coach showed him what to do. He couldn’t remember how to hold the stick and I think that was the biggest issue. Once they were all given the go ahead to start Harper came to me for help. I adjusted his hands and showed him how to touch the ball lightly back and forth and he was good to go after that.

After the basics, the coach had them pair off so that they could try passing to one another. One kid would hit the ball and attempt to get it through the other kids legs…and that really didn’t go very well. The kids had no idea what they were supposed to be doing no matter how many times the coach tried to explain it! It was amusing to watch to say the least.

When the first game was over they tried another one where most of the kids stayed on the outside on a circle while about 4 kids went to the inside. The kids in the circle didn’t have a stick or ball while the kids on the outside of the circle did. The outside kids were to hit their ball into the circle trying to touch the insiders feet. (I hope that makes sense! It does in my head!) As you may imagine, this little game didn’t go very well either. It was basically just mayhem, kids running all over chasing stray balls. Some of the kids were just bored of the whole thing by then and were playing with a bucket which they were taking turns placing on their heads. It was hilarious!

I didn’t have high hopes for hockey, but Harper had a great time and really enjoyed playing. I think I’ll look into some hockey sticks for the kids to play with outside once the weather is nice.