Hockey Isn’t Ruled By Gender #WeAllPlay

As a little girl we lived in Toronto and I remember my Dad taking my sister and I out to the local outdoor rinks for a skate. He did this each year and for some reason I was always so choppy on the ice. The pick was in the way, my figure skating skates were always so stiff and hard. I never enjoyed skating as a child, even though my Dad tried his best to make me love it. As a child my father never thought of introducing me to hockey skates, boys played hockey and he had 2 girls.

Fast forward to today, and I only own a pair of Hockey skates and I very much enjoy lacing them up and playing with the kids on our backyard rink. The skate you wear on your feet isn’t ruled by gender, girls can play hockey too! 

Why My Kids Don’t Play Competitive Hockey.

With 4 children who love to watch and play hockey one would think we have them in competitive Hockey. That was a dream we had long before we knew the depths of commitment that would mean for a big family like ours. Personally, we do not put our children in competitive sports, here is why:

• Each week you have, practice + practice + game x 4 children = not enough time in a week for a big family.  
• We know the limit we can juggle as a family and running between arenas, all while dividing to conquer, is separating our family not bringing us together. 
• Eating a healthy dinner together at our dinner table is very important to us and something I am not willing to give up just yet. 
• We don’t ask for help. I have had many people say, ask grandparents to help, friends will help. I don’t want to miss those first goals, or be there to wipe the tears. If I ask for help I will be missing out on those moments in one child and seeing them in another. Call me selfish but they are only small once and these are important matters to me today at this stage in our children’s lives.
• Let’s not forget the cost: gas + travel time + minor Hockey fees + Hockey gear x 4 children = a lot of money.  
• You have to do to each child, as you would do to the other children. All 4 of our children want to play hockey, that includes our daughter. 

Those are just a few points off the top of my head why we don’t put our 4 children into competitive Hockey. I am not saying we never will, our kids continue to ask to play Hockey on their friends teams. Maybe as they get older we will find a balance that will work for our family in competitive Hockey, but for right now we play on our own backyard rink and that works for us. 

A Family That Plays Together, Stays Together. 

For over 14 years my husband has been building a backyard Hockey rink, if you do that math, that was long before we had kids. Our backyard ice hockey rink has been a space where all four of our children have learnt to skate, how to stick handle, a space where we play a family game of shinny a few times a week, this is where we redefine family night each week. 

Each winter we invite friends and family over for a great Canadian backyard ice rink party. We build memories all based around a good old fashion game of hockey.  

As you can see there is no shortage of girls in this game of backyard shinny. Our daughter and her friends all play hockey and they even give the boys a run for their money.

#WeAllPlay Twitter Party Alert

Canadian Tire is presenting sponsor for the upcoming Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival and will be hosting a twitter party to help launch the event.

November 25th, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. EST. Follow the hashtag: #WeAllPlay

Your host is @CanadianTire and special guests are: Hayley Wickenheiser @Wick_22 and Meaghan Mikkelson @Mikkelson12

NO RSVP but they have been very generous with prizing, which includes: 10 x $100 @CanadianTire gift cards to be won.

For more #WeAllPlay details, look here: http://twubs.com/weallplay

* Prizing Canada only with the exception of the province of Quebec

Learn more about Wickenheiser Female World Hockey Festival here and like #Wickfest on Facebook here.

Do you know a female that plays hockey? 

Thanks for reading In R Dream!

Although this post has been sponsored by Canadian Tire, the opinions and language are my own, and in no way do they reflect CTC.