Longtime lurker. First post. Transplant to Norcal. 1 kid playing for Jr Sharks for a few years, not a bantam so too soon to say what the hockey future holds for the boy.
Reality Check nails it: if your kid is that good, he’ll get noticed. Wherever he is.
Lots of kids are good players, but the one who can make a career out of it will be the self-motivated one who practices, practices, practices all on their own without dad making spreadsheets or cramming extra lessons. You know the kid: always at sticktime/Gretzky running his own circuit. This kid gets along with coaches and teammates, doesn’t rest on his superior laurels, and understands that there is always a next level. He has to be lucky, uninjured, and hopefully dad doesn’t screw it up for him. So that describes the tiny percent of kids where the discussion of leaving Norcal even matters at all.
Population demographics and geography/infrastructure play a huge role in the AAA struggle for Norcal. The pool of players actually is pretty small, and they are spread out. Norcal is isolated, and the roads are jammed. Despite Silicon Valley, plenty of people aren’t swimming in extra $ to drop on sports. A lot of families do make the trek to SJ for the Sharks, but for several it is simply impossible with traffic patterns. There are probably a few AAA caliber players at each birth year up northwards in Santa Rosa/Vacaville/Roseville, and another few eastwards in Stockton/Tahoe/Fresno. Those families thank their lucky stars that they have proven sires like LC and DE to guide their kids. Driving 2hrs+ for practice in SJ is out of the question, but they have great coaching closer to home, even if they don’t have enough other talented kids around to form AAA teams. They do what they can, and those guys help their kids get where they eventually need to be. But for those families within an hour drive to SJ, other factors must come into play.
The Jr Sharks seem to take a lot of heat here. I’m not sure why. There may be the assumption that because they are NHL club affiliated, they should automatically be world class at the top of the charts. Give ‘em a break. They are working on it. Hockey is a growing sport in the bay area, but it isn’t huge yet. If the big boy Sharks manage to pull off a cup this year, we can expect an explosion of 07/08/09/10 kids to pick up sticks. Let’s also give the program some credit: there was a big shakeup in the Tier coaching for this coming year. The coaches and administrators are approachable. Biannual surveys, public hockey council meetings, and an open-door policy to speak your mind to the administration allows anyone with ideas to be heard. Is it perfect? Of course not. But what is? I’d imagine personalities and intrigues of parents and coaches are a big factor for those who decide they can’t abide the Jr Sharks for AAA. If there are parents on here who have spoken up and been denied assistance for their kid, that would be interesting. I plan to keep my kid in the program as long as he’s happy. Every year has improved a bit. However, the factors that will determine whether or not the boy Makes it Big in hockey are not ones that depend on the club or any one specific coach. They are either within him or they aren’t.
Topic: Bantam AAA (Read 50886 times)