The Perpetual Motion Child

I gave birth to perpetual motion; he shot out of me and never stopped moving. He took slapshots at 18 months, he jumped, climbed, ran and was impossible to exhaust. He couldn’t wait to walk. So he didn’t wait to walk.  I went online and ordered “walking wings”, a contraption that fits like a life jacket with handles and allows you to “marionette” your child around town. Not even old enough to wear shoes he burned through three pair of new leather Robees in a matter of months, while still a baby – walking on his tippy toes.

This is the child for whom I found a soccer program for at 18 months old, this is the child who jumped on someone else’s two-wheel bike at the playground and simply rode past me at four years old. This is the child who started ice hockey at five years old. This is the child that showed me the real value of sport.  Having a perpetual motion child is one of the right reasons to seek out sport. For starters, it makes the endeavor inherently child led. Self preservation is another excellent reason to seek out sport – I do not have the same amount of energy as my child, only an Australian Blue Heeler has that much energy.  I take that back, he has once exhausted a Blue Heeler – named Jeffy. 

What I have learned:

Don’t deliberate. It is much less expensive to “try” different sports the younger the child.

Some sports require development phases and can be started as early as 2 and 3 years old with very little cost and time investment. (Okay I’m talking about hockey)

Very young children have the ability to shape likes and dislikes when exposed to multiple sports.

It’s helpful to determine if you have perpetual motion child that thrives in competition or one who prefers to compete against themselves.

Right now in Pittsburgh it’s baseball and soccer season, but the season I am most familiar (obsessed) with is hockey season. What?! You say… What is this madness? Don’t you know we are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? It’s a wrap lady!

Yes I do! That is precisely why I wanted to share that April is when most Pittsburgh hockey organizations have their try outs for the next season. Meaning try outs are happening now for the 2018/2019 season.

Try outs? For 5 to 9 year old children? “What is this madness”, you may ask?  Try outs at these ages are for placement purposes, most hockey organizations share the idea that the more kids playing the better for everyone.

Who would think that in order to play hockey in October 2018 you would need to be thinking about it in April?  Well, it’s true. There are lots of other hockey options but we can talk about those after try-outs. 

I encourage you to check out the youth hockey programs in and around Pittsburgh and get a taste of what it is all about. 

Some of the major players in Pittsburgh holding try-outs now are:

The Mt. Lebanon Hornets  (Mt. Lebanon) http://www.mlhahornets.com/post-284/

Steel City Ice Renegades (Harmer) https://www.scirhockey.org/page/show/1116840-2018-tryout-information

Pittsburgh Predators (Castle Shannon) https://www.pittsburghpredators.com/page/show/450991-tryouts-and-information

South Hills Panthers (Bethel Park) https://shaha.sportngin.com/register/form/682777811

Southpointe Rink Rats (McMurray) http://www.southpointehockey.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1170368

Allegheny Badgers (Delmont) https://www.ahabadgers.com/

Artic Foxes (Neville Island) https://tryouts2018.arcticfoxeshockey.org/

North Pittsburgh Wildcats https://www.wildcatshockey.net/page/show/2394075-tryouts-and-evaluations

Pittsburgh Aviators http://pittsburghaviators.teamsnapsites.com/tryout-information/

Pittsburgh Huskies (New Kensington) http://pittsburghaviators.teamsnapsites.com/tryout-information/

Pittsburgh Vipers https://www.pittsburghvipers.com/tryouts

Beaver County Badgers http://beaverhockey.teamsnapsites.com/

Butler Valley Dawgs https://www.bvdawgshockey.com/tryout2017

Mon Valley Thunder (8 and under players evaluated in Fall 2018) http://www.mvthunder.com/2018-19-tryouts.html