Hockey Camp

I heard and wrote about the Little Rookies FREE hockey camp for Dallas Moms Blog last year.  The gist of the program is: we live in the South where hockey isn't as big as it is for our friends who live closer to Canada.  The Dallas Stars and Mike Modano created a way for parents and young children to try out the sport for free.  

Palmer has been attending his cousin's hockey games for the last few years and has recently shown an interest in playing.  So, we've enrolled him in the camp.  It's a great way to trial the ice, the sport, and all of the gear without investing any money.  

And then if Palmer is really interested, we can consider all of the 36 pieces of protective equipment (plus skates and a stick) needed for hockey....

Before his first lesson, I took him on the ice a skating lesson.  

Checking out the ice:

Rick and I have told Palmer a lot recently that he can't play hockey if he doesn't learn how to skate first.  My goodness, Palmer was so focused and determined when we skated.

 Not bad for Palmer's second time ever on the ice:

Next stop: gear fitting.  I wasn't joking about so many pieces for hockey.  We spent an entire hour the night before practice getting fitted for all of the pads, skates, etc.  Some sweet volunteer high school players helped us figure out how to get dressed.  Palmer had three high school boys helping and we still spent nearly 30 minutes getting dressed.

I kept taking photos of Palmer and Grace was sitting over in the corner going, "cheese!!".  Oh my.  Is someone not getting attention, little one?

Rule number one of hockey: You gotta carry your own stuff.

It is laughable to see all of these children at the rink carrying gigantic bags.  Always ones to take the burden off of ourselves, Rick and I made it clear to Palmer that he had to carry his own stuff if he wanted to play.  Palmer happily rose to the challenge.

Palmer has watched Coleton play hockey many times.  Now, the tables were turned.

Sweet Coleton was so eager to come help Palmer get dressed and cheered him on during the first practice.

The tiny kids were so cute on the ice and I think Palmer forgot that he didn't know how to skate very well.  He did his best to get over to the pucks as fast as possible and took an aim at the goal immediately.

I found a creeper dad...

Three more weeks of the camp and then we'll make some decisions on if we continue the sport (or transition to tee-ball or soccer or tennis.  So much to choose...)

Of course, Palmer tells us he wants to play every sport.  Um, this mama says one at a time!

-Bethany