Mamma Anna: how much time and planning a child's start in hockey takes

In a diary series published by the Latvian sports portal Sportacentrs, a working mother named Anna shares her experience of her child's hockey training. Her son started playing five years ago at the age of four and is now nine. The first entry is about how much time and planning a seemingly simple decision to try hockey demands from a family. The series will continue.

How it began

Before hockey, the boy attended 45-minute general physical fitness classes twice a week near home. Anna suggested hockey because her younger brother played it and had taken his first steps on the ice at the Akropole shopping centre rink in Riga. She phoned the brother's former coach, who replied: "Come on over!"

At the first session the family was handed a large bag of equipment, and the brother helped dress the child. On the ice the boy fell straight away and cried a little, but the coach was patient and pulled him along. Equipment was first lent for a month. After two months, when the child said he wanted to continue, it was bought. Right after that, the son announced he no longer wanted to go. His mother decided he would keep skating until he outgrew the gear.

Time and logistics

Training had to be fitted around work, a kindergarten in Jugla and Riga's traffic jams. Anna concluded that a one-hour practice is never just one hour for a parent, because travel, dressing and waiting must be counted. After the first months the family therefore switched to a club in Ogre, where the club fee was also lower than at Akropole.

Conclusion

Anna says she missed a short conversation with someone on day one explaining what starting hockey means: how to dress the child, how much time to set aside and what costs to expect. She suggests clubs treat the first session as a whole family's introduction to a new routine.