Hockey season switcheroo

I’ve written this post and scrapped it several times over the past few weeks, because I didn’t know how I felt about all of this. I wasn’t sure.

We started the season in our regular league, in the program we moved Isaac down from last year. Since I went back to working, I didn’t see much (admittedly) of what was going on. I only heard that he was doing well, with shades of being a monster. Hey-that’s par for our course.

Then, the email came. The coach “wanted to talk” about how Isaac was doing.

This is never, ever a good email.

So, we chatted over email. Reason? I knew I couldn’t be sure to keep my tongue in check through the entire process.

We agreed (after me doing a ton of homework) to test out a move to the “special hockey” league in the area.

I made some phone calls to the league people and they said they would be thrilled to have us.

I took a deep breath, swallowed a lot of pride and a lot of nerves, and sent Doug and Isaac to practice on the first day. I demanded that Doug take the camera and take video of the practice so I could see it in action, as with a Special Hockey League, you can have kids ages 5-18 on the ice. I was dying to know how my pee wee 8 year old was going to fare with the big guys.

Wait-why didn’t I go myself the first week?

WORK.

I saw the video and decided to take  the jump and STAY. It was interesting, and Isaac didn’t get run over. In fact, he’s one of the stronger skaters among the younger kids.

It’s interesting to see the difference.

On the SYHA ice, he was one of the least focused. On this ice, he’s one of the MOST focused.

BUT, this isn’t all the sweet story of a perfect switcheroo.

As a parent, this has been brutal.

When I called SYHA when Isaac asked to play hockey, I was assured that he could at least hang through mites. That this would be JUST FINE for him.

Well, I don’t think tha twas the case, and I don’t think the coaches tried hard enough. I think that they didn’t want the challenge of a kid with ADHD.

There were a lot of favorites being played. A promise to let Isaac try goalie was never kept.

But again, that’s under the bridge.

We’re happy now…and as always, I’m finding little things.

But, we’re on a new team, Isaac’s happy and he’s actually impressing people with his skills.

So, we’re now a member of a new team. And a new lease on hockey.