Among the good things young hockey players learn on the ice are how to play by the rules and the importance of sportsmanship. Those lessons can be greatly diminished by parents behaving badly.
The Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association has had enough of boorish parents.
It now requires parents and guardians to take an online course called Respect in Sports or their children won鈥檛 be allowed on the ice.
Parents and coaches must also sign a code of conduct in which they agree to behave at games. If they don鈥檛, there will be immediate consequences, such as being banned for a certain number of games.
鈥淏e good,鈥� parents used to say to their children as they went out the door. Roles have been reversed, it seems. Now the parents have to be cautioned to be good.
It鈥檚 too bad it has come to this, but perhaps the hockey association鈥檚 rules will help bring some civility to the game, and restore to amateur sports the focus on the good conduct that is as important as athletic skills.
While the majority of hockey parents and coaches appear to be well-behaved, the unruly few threaten everyone鈥檚 enjoyment.
The objectionable behaviour includes swearing and yelling abusively at coaches, players and referees, as well as fighting and arguing in the stands.
Dan Payne of the hockey association says referee abuse, in particular, threatens the game.
鈥淪o if parents continually yell at referees, they鈥檙e going to quit and then we won鈥檛 have any more games. There won鈥檛 be any more hockey,鈥� he said.
The association warned in January it would clear the stands if parents were abusive. In February, five Greater Victoria parents were banned from attending their children鈥檚 hockey games after yelling at officials and members of the opposing team.
The situation is not unique to hockey or Vancouver Island. According to a 2013 Ipsos Reid survey, 53 per cent of Canadian parents said they had witnessed verbal or physical abuse of coaches or officials at a children鈥檚 sporting event.
There are multiple causes of rink rage, but no excuses. Your kid didn鈥檛 get enough ice time? That鈥檚 life. A bad call by a referee? That鈥檚 usually a fairly subjective evaluation, but it happens sometimes. Get over it. No amount of swearing and yelling will change the call, and the sun will still come up tomorrow.
The aim in any sport is to win the game, but if winning is everything, if you hurl abuse at players and referees, you have already lost. Worse, you have deprived your child of an opportunity to develop important skills and attitudes.
Most important, you spoil the fun for the players.
But you only want what鈥檚 best for your kid, right? Especially if that means a career in the NHL.
The statistics are against it. Half a million Canadian kids register for minor hockey each year. Twice as many sign up for minor soccer.
The tiniest fraction of those kids will play their sports beyond adolescence, and only a fraction of that fraction will make it to the professionals.
So if that鈥檚 the payoff you鈥檙e looking for, forget it. Your chances are better with a lottery ticket.
Kids involved in sports benefit in many ways 鈥� physically, socially and mentally.
But abusive, controlling, entitled parents can ruin the experience, not just for the children of the truculent parents, but for everyone else.
Codes of conduct and online courses will not immediately remedy the psychological flaws that turn some hockey parents into raging demons in the stands, but the measures send a message that such behaviour won鈥檛 be tolerated.
While the kids are learning life lessons on the ice, parents can be learning similar lessons in the bleachers.
