hs sports can begin mini camps tomorrow

My son starts goalie training this week (hockey). Seven goalies and three coaches. No contact and dress as much as they can outside and then one at a time in the locker room. No sitting on the bench. No parents. 15 minutes in the building before and after ice time only. We will learn more on Tuesday with an outdoor socially distanced parent meeting. .

My other son starts golf lessons. One coach and up to nine kids. The course is set up for no contact and no entering the clubhouse already.

I’m a little nervous. We’ve been pretty good about social distancing and quarantine, but my DH works with 150 people (using social distancing), and my kids are pretty good about doing what I tell them when it comes to this. Showers and wash close and clean gear after each practice. Hand sanitizer and continue to limit all other outside contact for now.

Baseball & softball are summer sports for high schools in Iowa--this is the only time I have been happy about it. Today schools can start practice & games will start in 2 weeks. Districts could opt out of playing if desired & some are doing varsity only. There are a ton of safety protocols in place by both the state & individually by the districts. My only complaints are the no concessions stands rule (it get freaking hot & humid in IA & sometimes you run out of drinks) and our district is requiring face masks for spectators during games...outside...while also social distancing...in the previously mentioned hot & humid IA weather. But if it means DS can play baseball (and get off the Xbox & other screens) then I'll deal with it.

As our principal put it, it's going to be a good test (on a small scale) for not only fall sports, but the fall semester.

That’s awesome that they can start up again. Our little league finally cancelled, HS spring sports cancelled awhile ago. At this point even football can’t start summer conditioning since we’re still on lockdown till the 12th 🙄. I’d be in total support of mini camps, with common sense rules, right now.

That sucks that your coaches are such jackasses that you don’t trust them with your kids. Is that common in hockey? I have no experience with that sport but in other sports around here by 10 parents usually just drop off kids for practice and don’t stay unless it’s an out of the way location.

To be clear, it is only a couple of coaches we don’t trust. Most are very kind and really want all the kids to play and do their best. There’s one coach who just gives me the creeps. I have nothing to base it on other than my gut. Another is an old school coach who thinks coaching should involve screaming and belittling kids and breaking them and then either building them back up his way or will just refuse to play them. That style of coaching 1. Isn’t effective (per sports literature) and 2. Won’t work with my kids, esp our kid with autism. And again, I’m not paying to have them sit all season. 😉. The 3rd is the goalie coach who doesnt seem to like female players. There is another goalie coach that works with our daughter, but sometimes they switch and then she doesn’t play. This guy also has a step kid who wants to be a goalie and if left unchecked he will give his kid special treatment and ignore the rest. 🙄.

We are very good friends with the rink owner and head coach, and he works very hard to squash this sort of behavior from these coaches. But the way practices are run at our rink is in stations. And he runs one station and often doesn’t see what’s happening at the stations that are farther away from him. If we tell him what we’re observing with the other coaches he handles it. But there’s only so many approved coaches in the area that also work with this group of kids vs the high schoolers and the local competitive team. So, we just stay on top of it and for the most part it works out.

Oh and also, we are working with our own kids in how to handle and react to these situations on their own. How to not react or react appropriately to peer bullying as well as coach bullying. Or to stand up for themselves and say “hey, I’m here! I need to practice this stuff too!”

Trust your gut! Ds once had a scout leader who gave me that feeling.....12 years later he’s awaiting a parole hearing after disappearing his 3 kids!