Youth Rec Blog

Scott Wallace wasn’t born on ice skates, but pretty close. Scott’s parents are Canadian, and as most know, hockey is as important to Canadians as NFL football is here. Scott Wallace is Chair of the Bend Park and Recreation District Board, and we interviewed him recently about his involvement with ice hockey. Scott is coaching our new junior hockey program at the Sunriver Village Ice Rink.

Scott and his family moved to Bend in 1969. Many longtime Central Oregonians will remember the winters of the 60s and 70s were colder than present times, and Vince Genna, Wally Wallace (Scott’s father), and other volunteers flooded the old concrete slab at Juniper Park for ice skating and pickup hockey games. That’s where Scott and many others learned to skate. Some of you may remember in the early 1990’s when the slab was converted to a roller hockey rink and there was ice skating in that location for one season before the deteriorating slab was removed to make way for the expansion of the Juniper Swim and Fitness Center. In the early 70s the ice rink at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain opened and his father began youth hockey and adult broom hockey programs which he continued for over 35 years.

While Scott was pursuing his education and career elsewhere after his 1980 graduation from Bend High, his father continued to coach youngsters at the Seventh Mountain rink and subsequently at the Sunriver Village Ice Rink. By the time Scott and his family returned to Bend in 1997, both youth and adults had gotten into the fun. Thanks to a BPRD sponsored roller hockey rink at the old Juniper Park slab, Bend developed a very active youth and adult roller hockey program in the early to mid 1990s which led to the formation of the Bend Frontiers adult ice hockey club in the winters. The Frontiers group has evolved into the Bend Steelheaders Hockey Club and now includes 20-25 men who play on Monday nights from November through April at the Sunriver Village rink. Scott manages the team which typically plays 3 to 4 tournaments around the Pacific Northwest each year. Needless the say, without a full-size rink in Bend, all their games are away.

Ryan Smith, who manages the Sunriver Village Ice Rink, approached Scott and BPRD Enrichment Program Coordinator Sue Boettner about putting together a hockey program. The first session of Junior Hockey started in January and ran through February 7. The second session began in February and will continue through mid-March.

Scott says the first session included 10-12 participants, some of whom have skated before, while others were beginners. The first half of the 1.5 hour class is for skating drills and puck handling, and the second half is for scrimmage. Scott says there is a lot of “learn through doing”, and the kids are having loads of fun. Participants must have their own helmets, shin pads, gloves and elbow pads, but Scott says some donated equipment is available. Classes are on Sunday from 4:30 to 6:00pm for kids 6 to 14 years of age.

For anyone interested in playing or just watching ice hockey, the Bend Steelheaders practice from 7:30 – 9:00 Monday evenings at Sunriver. Broom hockey is on Wednesday evenings, same hours. Scott says there are two other loosely organized adult hockey groups that take to the ice on Thursday and Sunday evenings.

So how do we make our youth sport programs fun for kids?

Everyone Plays: We want all kids to participate. Sitting on the bench watching others play is not fun. So we make sure that every player on every team who is attending practices on a regular basis and who is not a discipline problem plays at least half of every game.

Trained Coaches: We require all of our youth sport coaches to attend training where we discuss program rules and regulations, policies and philosophy. We encourage our coaches to make the extra effort to understand and offer positive help to the kids. We ask coaches to praise the things their players do right and help them understand, in a positive way, the things they need to improve.

Supportive Parents: Parents should encourage, but not force their children to play sports. Participating along with your child will increase motivation. You can help make sports a positive and fun experience. The love for the game can only come from within and therefore, the best thing a parent can do is make sure their child is enjoying the sport.

Don’t put too much pressure on your child. Set limits on your child’s participation. Don’t make sport everything in your child’s life, make it part of life. Focusing on only one sport at an early age and playing that one sport year ‘round, pushing your child to try to make the high school team, the college team, and the pros, can lead to emotional burnout and overuse injuries. However, encouraging kids to play a variety of different sports at an early age will keep things exciting and new. They can learn new skills, meet different friends and stay energized and motivated throughout the year and hopefully the rest of their lives.

Learn the fundamentals: We realize that the inability to perform a skill often frustrates children to the point that they want to stop trying. Therefore, we provide resources that help our coaches carefully plan practices and conduct age appropriate drills so that kids progress and learn new skills at a fun and safe pace.

Avoid the Win-at-All-Cost Attitude: Our focus is not on winning, it is on having fun and improving skills. We are trying to prevent the win-at-all-cost attitude that is becoming too prevalent in many youth sport programs today. We want coaches, parents and players to judge a season by standards other than the team’s win/loss record. Sports are competitive and there is no getting around that. There will be winners and losers. We aren’t trying to take the competition out of sport. But it’s how you deliver that spirit of competition that makes the difference. An obsession with winning often produces fear of failure, resulting in below-average performances and upset children, and this can carry over to other aspects of their lives.

During games we want players to compete against the opposing team and try to raise their level of play week to week. However, we don’t make winning and losing our focus. We don’t keep league standings or hand out championship trophies, and in many of our younger aged leagues, we don’t even keep score. The main intent of our programs is to have every child play all season to develop playing and social skills and to make the season an experience the kids look forward to regardless of whether or not their team is winning.

A successful youth sports season is one where the players have fun, improve their skills, develop positive attitudes and want to play again next year

Participating in youth sports has a positive impact on the growth and maturity of a child and teaches values and lifelong skills such as teamwork, social skills, leadership, responsibility, how to handle success and disappointment, fair play and sportsmanship and respect for others. Being physically active and participating in sports can lead children down the path to a happy healthy lifestyle.

We’ve all seen the disturbing statistics that point to a current epidemic of youth inactivity, poor eating habits, and childhood obesity among children in the United States. No matter the causes – school funding cuts, lack of physical education programs, shortage of sports and play facilities, the pull of internet, television and video games, or the win-at-all-cost attitude from parents and coaches – the bottom line is that too many kids today aren’t physically active enough to achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles.

Unfortunately, kids are dropping out of sports at an alarming rate. According to a study by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, 50% of the kids participating in sports stop doing so by the age of 12 and 70% drop out by the age of 14. The top 5 reasons kids stop playing sports are: lack of fun, too much criticism from coaches, overemphasis on winning, lack of playing time, and lack of success. Basically, sports stop being fun for kids. Children don’t have fun when they stand around in practice or sit on the bench during games, when they feel pressured to win and when they don’t improve or learn new skills.

As the leading youth sport program provider in Central Oregon, Bend Park and Recreation District in an excellent position to tackle all these issues. Our mission is to help kids become more physically active and create lifestyle changes that will lead to healthier, happier lives.

Having fun is the most important part of our youth sport programs. As long as sports are fun for kids, then they will want to keep playing. They will get up from the television or computer and go out and play. Fun is the energy that kids use to motivate themselves. Fun makes kids want to improve their skills and stay competitive with their friends. Fun leads to skill which leads to accomplishment which leads to confidence. When sports are no longer fun, kids quit playing and turn to other activities.

So how do we make youth sport programs fun for kids? Add in your comments and stay tuned for part two where we talk about solutions.

Did you notice in the events list on our website that a new youth archery program is scheduled for spring break? Here is a little more information. Young archers from 10-14 will be introduced to archery equipment and learn the terminology and safety rules of the sport. All equipment is provided, and no previous archery experience is required. All you need to do is be ready to try a fun new activity. Plenty of hands-on time with bows and arrows awaits you at the Bend Bowman indoor range on SE 27th Street. A small group setting ensures you will have plenty of time and attention from the NADA certified instructors.

We were able to set up this program with the help of the National Alliance for the Development of Archery (NADA) and the folks at the Bend Bowman Range. The District was presented with a $500 grant from NADA together with the National Park and Recreation Association (NPRA).

Archery has been around for thousands of years, used for hunting and warfare. Firearms replaced bows and arrows for a long time, but archery has enjoyed a modern resurgence as a recreational sport and once again for hunting. Did you know that the popularity of modern archery might have started with Ishi, a primitive Yahi Indian who came out of hiding in California in 1911? There is a documentary film about Ishi and the scientists who sheltered and taught him, called “Ishi, The Last Yahi”, and an interesting book called “Ishi in Two Worlds”.

The class runs from March 22-26, Monday – Friday. There are two sessions, one from 9:00 – 10:15 a.m. and another from 10:30 – 11:45 a.m. Space is limited, so sign up soon.

It’s less than a month until spring break. While school children are probably counting the days already, these things can sneak up on us adults. What are you planning to do over spring break? March is a wonderful time to escape to a warmer location, or to embrace the weather and head for the slopes. If a family vacation isn’t in the cards, there’s plenty to do here at home.

Parents, if you have to work while the kids enjoy spring break, there is an abundance of activities to keep them busy and having fun. Here at Bend Park and Recreation District we have camps for kids to experience skateboarding, working with clay, creating art, and learning to be a broadcaster. Operation Recreation will have their program for ages 5-11 from March 17 – March 26. We have a special Youth Archery program running during spring break for ages 10-14, as well as Lacrosse camps for grades 1-4 and 5-8. Our All Sports Camps during spring break include kickball, soccer, tag, dodgeball and other favorite P.E. games. There’s also a special Bend Elk’s Baseball Training Camp on March 17-19 for ages 7-11. It’s easy to sign up online.

Plan some special family outings. Try something new or different. Go on a gallery walk and discuss the works of art. If you have a handheld GPS device, try geocaching. Take a guided snowshoe or lava cave tour, go cross-country skiing together or visit the observatory at Sunriver Nature Center. There are always family-oriented events taking place around the region. This spring break, create new memories of fun times together.

Since lacrosse season is coming soon (deadline for Youth Lacrosse signups is March 5), we thought you’d be interested in learning something about the origins of this sport. Did you know that lacrosse is the probably the oldest team sport in the Americas? Lacrosse has been played for centuries.

It is the work of archaeologists and historians to piece together our past using ancient physical evidence and historical writings. According to the evidence, some version of lacrosse may have been played in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) as early as the 12th century, or some 900 years ago. Tribes in the Great Lakes and Northeastern Woodlands of what is now Canada and the U.S. were the first North Americans to play lacrosse, but the activity spread to other regions and tribes. Each tribe had its own name for the sport. Some of them translate as “men hit a rounded object”, “little war”, “little brother of war”, and “bump hips”. A French missionary who observed the game in 1636 gave it the name by which the sport is known today.

Lacrosse was not merely a game. As you can guess from some of the native names, lacrosse was excellent training for warriors and was sometimes used to settle disputes between neighboring groups. A lacrosse game often was part of a larger festival. There were religious overtones as well. Lacrosse was sometimes called the “Creator’s game”, or was played “for the pleasure of the Creator”. A lacrosse game would be accompanied by dancing and feasting, rituals from the shaman or medicine man, much ceremony, and betting.

Imagine a lacrosse field with goals anywhere from 500 yards to several miles apart and teams of anywhere from 100 to 1000 players from opposing tribes or villages. The period of play was from sunup to sundown and games often continued for two or three days. There was no protective equipment. Aren’t you glad we don’t play lacrosse that way now?

The Western Europeans who came to America became interested in the sport, especially in Canada. A dentist in Montreal, named William Beers, codified the game in 1867 into a form that became modern lacrosse. The sport has always been extremely popular in Canada and in some regions of the U.S., and in recent years, lacrosse has increased in popularity throughout the states.