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Sharing Stats

A question from Clifford:

I'm I have a question for you.

I went to my son's hockey website to check out the new schedule and then looked at the statistics on the kid's performance through the season. We are currently about a third of the way through the season and my son is second to last in scoring (goals and assists) out of 13 kids.

My questions are:
1) Do I share this information with my son?
2) Do I use this as a tool to motivate him? (I am afraid it could obviously blow up, where he thinks I am doing my best, and my dad thinks my best isn't good enough.)
3) Or, do I get over it, shut my mouth, and let the kid enjoy himself?

My son enjoys playing hockey.  He has fun every at practice and game. First and foremost, I don't want to do anything to mess that up. I am interested in your thoughts on the subject.

Thanks you in advance for your help!

Answer: As I am sure you have guessed already, my recommendation is Option 3.

Let your son enjoy his participation.

You should encourage him to always do his best and help him understand that his primary reason for playing hockey is for his enjoyment.

From what you have said he is indeed enjoying the sport playing at the level at which he is able. With his enthusiasm and your encouragement, improvement is sure to come and with it even more enthusiasm. Statistics can be misleading, especially to a fledgling player and any emphasis you or the coach put on statistics as a performance measure can be detrimental to his enjoyment and ultimately his development. Obviously scoring stats are skewed by position, especially at the youth level. Forget the stats and let him continue to have fun playing the game.