Want your kid to play minor hockey next year? Get ready for your respectful behaviour course
Parents of minor hockey players of all ages, right down to the youngest house league players, will be required to take a course on respectful behaviour before their child steps on the ice next season, according to a new policy of the Ontario Hockey Federation.
The program, called Respect in Sport, is to be enforced for the start of the 2016-17 season. It follows the adoption of similar requirements in minor hockey leagues in other provinces, following Alberta, which was the first to implement it provincewide.
It is a response to the growing realization that “unacceptable parent behaviour” is a major and common reason people cite for leaving organized sport. The program is already mandatory for coaches and officials.
Phillip McKee, executive director of the Ontario Hockey Federation, said in an interview that these issues of anti-social behaviour by a “small percentage” of parents have risen in prominence in recent years.
“I don’t believe this is going to be the silver bullet. This isn’t going to fix every problem,” he said. “This is just another opportunity to educate parents on core values.”
The program was developed by Sheldon Kennedy, the former NHL star turned anti-abuse advocate, in partnership with the Canadian Red Cross.
It is an online course that is said to take about 90 minutes to complete, and aims to prevent bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination by fostering a “global culture of respect.” It involves video and animation, with questions about appropriate behaviour. It is not a pass/fail test, but rather aims to take people through scenarios again if they answer incorrectly.
It focuses on negative behaviours such as using guilt on a child and “misplaced enthusiasm.” It also discusses issues such as handling the emotions associated with winning and losing, progression to more elite leagues, managing injuries and burnout, and relationships with coaches and officials.
At least one parent of every player will have to take the course, which costs $12. There is no requirement for parents to take the test each year, although some parents might be asked to take the course again if conflict arises.
The OHF is the largest branch of Hockey Canada, the country’s governing body for amateur hockey, and one of three branches in Ontario.
Anti-social behaviour by parents in minor hockey, from petty insults to physical abuse, is a perennial concern across the country.
At one extreme are crimes such as those committed against Patrick O’Sulivan, the former NHL star, who has just published a book, Breaking Away: A Harrowing True Story of Resilience, Courage and Triumph, in which he details horrific physical and emotional abuse by his father, a failed hockey player who never made it past the minor leagues.
He described the appalling responses of other parents, who might ask if he was okay, but seemed to imagine — according to a twisted logic — that this abuse was what made him so good.
“You know why I made it to the NHL?” he wrote. “Because on the weekends, I’d get as far away from him as I could. I would stay out of the house all day by myself, with nothing but a hockey stick and a ball.”
At the other extreme are the moments of frustration that sometimes boil over at the rink into ugly scenes of conflict, often making the rounds of the media if they result in criminal charges or viral videos.
Earlier this year, for example, Vermont dropped assault charges against an Ottawa couple who got into a punching and kicking fight with supporters of an opposing hockey team at a tournament. And in British Columbia, a man was banned from an arena and investigated for criminal threats after he followed a referee into the parking lot.
The man’s son, whose game the referee had just officiated, had to hold him back as he punched the referee’s car.