California Heat Hockey

New to Hockey

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Why hockey?

Hockey is fantastic exercise - it is one of the best cardiovascular games your child could play.  Players alternate between skating and rest at very rapid rates which makes hockey one of the best cardiovascular interval training sports. Hockey requires a high level of coordination; regular play can develop a child's gross motor skills, which leads to improvement with the more difficult fine motor skills, and improves eye-hand coordination, which can translate to a better understanding of spatial relationships.

Hockey builds character - Since hockey is a team sport, children learn the value of working with others.  Very quickly, they will learn to rely on teammates and understand that cooperation is the key to success.  Children on hockey teams experience a team spirit that encourages trust, responsibility, sportsmanship and a strong sense of accomplishment.  These skills are essential as teammates turn into colleagues.

Hockey improves mental agility—Hockey is an extremely fast sport in which children have to cope with changes in split-seconds.  Plays develop, momentum shifts and opportunities open and close in a blink of an eye.  A child in this sport will quickly adapt their mental agility to be able to recognize these opportunities and their concentration will improve.  In addition, hockey players will quickly begin to project mental imagery of not just what is going to happen, but what will happen next leading towards greater mental agility as well.

While the reasons above talk about why your child should play hockey, we as an organization are dedicated to the cause of improving our youth and making them feel excited to play a sport that they will love.  

 

 

 

 

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

 

It's never too late to start your child in hockey, but we do recommend an earlier than later start. Third grade and younger is ideal.  Previous skating experience helps, but is not required. All of our players ages 8 and under will be registered in our Mite Hockey program. There are no "tryouts" or "cuts", everyone is welcome! It couldn't be easier to give your players the chance to play hockey!