What off-season?
No, now is the special time of year that you have the freedom to make your own plans, but not really. To start, this free planning starts months in advance. Your player wants to attend a specific camp on a set timetable, good luck. You need to know the dates the camp runs, what hour of the day registration opens and be ready to bust out the Benjamin’s to make it happen.
You might think, as I did, that planning for July camps in March is crazy, but by then you are already too late anyway. Some camps in some areas of the country are like big city elite preschools, I should have signed up my pre-teen daughter for this year’s camp when she was still in utero because its full with a waitlist seven years deep (looking at you Minnesota). In my naiveite I was looking to combine her yearly trip to see her aunt and uncle with an additional week at hockey camp. The delusions I lived under.
Plus, you might make the mistake (as I have done) that you are waiting on the results of other tryouts before making camp plans. Depending on the team and level – does the team have any required camps? Tried out for districts or nationals – gotta wait till those results come in because those camp dates are set, you just have no idea if you are open or not that week.
Family travel plans – now that’s just silly. As a hockey parents you travel all the time and spending actual time with the family in above average temperatures is just weird. This coming from the perspective of a military that knows the joys of “make plans and see how many ways they will get thwarted” lifestyle. Sure, there will be trips, but most consist of excursions to Lower Slabovia for a clinic, tournament or something else hockey related; not exactly the excitement factor of Disney world for the little ones, but such is hockey life!
How does your off-season shape up?
