Hockey Camp

Brendan has been asking to play hockey practically since he could walk. Since there are about 300 soccer teams in Pleasanton and maybe 1 hockey team in the valley, we decided to push soccer and ignore the hockey pleas. I liked the idea of driving to the local field for soccer games vs. driving all over the state for hockey games. Plus, we heard ice time is limited and you don't have fun practice times. Well, now that we are in hockey country and Brendan's new good friend plays (and loves) hockey, it was getting hard to ignore the pleas. We took the advice of Brendan's friend's mom (they're Austrian), and we signed both boys up for camp during their break from school this week.

They started off the week looking like this:

And ended the week each scoring hat tricks during scrimmages.

I was really impressed with the camp. They went on Monday and came home with a bag full of equipment -- helmets, neck guards, shoulder pads, elbow pads, jersey, gloves, shin/knee pads, pants, padded shorts, sports cup, skates, a stick, and a bag to carry it all. Who knew the real reason I should prefer soccer. Compare the previous list (plus long underwear and socks provided by mom) with soccer's equipment list: jersey, shorts, socks, shinguard, cleats, ball. Which set of gear is less likely to come home sopping wet? Which set produces more laundry? But, I digress. Besides providing a lot of gear, the camp was well organized. They split the ice into three sections and had the 6 and under crowd in the center, Brendan's group on one side, and C.J.'s group on the other side. Everyone spoke German. The boys quickly learned to listen, watch what the other kids did when the coach stopped speaking, and then go copy them. The kids weren't the only smart ones. By the end of the week, the coaches figured out that the boys didn't understand a word they said and, if necessary, spoke to them in English. Oh, the camp even provided a snack every day.

Regardless of my taunts during the week, "Wow, that bag sure seems heavy!" "Hmm. Are you ever going to be able to put ALL that gear on?" "Sure looks cold out on that ice!" the boys loved camp. They want to join the team. Will this get me out of being a soccer (oops, football) mom? Noooo. Now, they want to discuss the possibility of playing both sports. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood.

Here are some more pictures of hockey. Boys playing hockey.

Brendan is #63. Blue jersey, red helmet. C.J. is #15. White jersey, blue helmet.