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5 r4 AAALAC ER AT Ma PSN ES Saad tr Sr AE A CR a? A SV AAR d LAL ARES MEEACDEAR CAS, 10a GEA TR TEAR 16 -- PORT PERRY STAR --.Wednesday, April 30, 1980 Problems facing local hockey (From page 15) It's a ticklish problem, one that I'm sure the PPMHA will wrestle with for some time to come over the summer months. It may turn out that the only alternative will be to locate or build another ice ' surface, which if it happens, would be absolutely fantastic for hockey in Port Perry. If this isn't the answer then quite frankly I don't know what is. Like I " said I'm no economist. One answer which I think I do have is to the problem of the body checking in the house leagues at the Novice and Atom level. A couple of months'ago I wrote in this space that I felt body checking in these two youngest age brackets of the PPMHA should be banned. At the general meeting this was brought to a vote by Novice A coach Gary McConnell. It came as the biggest surprise of the meeting that the non-contact proposal was voted down by four votes. The non-contact motion was the only issue that I - felt knowledgeable enough to vote upon. I coached a . novice house league team this past season and came away with the opinion, shared by what seemed to be the majority of coaches in these two levels, that body checking was harmful to the development of the individuals as hockey players. Let me explain my position. I believe that the reason that the youngsters at the lower levels are not good enough to make the competitive teams is because they are not polished skaters. The Port Perry Mens Curling League has con- row: Ed Hobbs, Ted Culbert, Jack Nottingham, John I reason that if a seven or eight year old player cluded another season of play and trophies to the Larmer and Ron Parish. back from left: Terry cannot skate then he probably can't hit people. PIR . . Haves, Murra i; Therefore 1 spent most of the practice time alloted to winning team members in the various schedules were Howsam, Scott Howey, Gary Hayes, y Em Ps SRN cle 4 - i : & r my team this year on skating drills, and a couple of the handed wu 3 the annual pe past week: Wot pringham and Eric Donnelly. other fundamentals such as passing and positional onday schedule winners are from left to right fron play. Often what will happen is that the better skaters il in the HL hit the other kids who are tripping over the blue lines. I honestly believe that we were extremely fortunate that there were no serious injuries last year. The party line against my argument is that the players who could eventually move up to the travelling teams could be hurt if they are hit without knowing how to check back. I don't blame anybody for voicing this thought. The only thing I want to know is what about the kids who aren't likely to make the big teams? Should they be hurt by the bigger, faster skaters? Nor do I criticize the people who voted against theMcConnell amendment. Obviously they are doing what they believe is best for the game. The people I criticize are the house league coaches who didn't show up at the meeting. It would be their players who would be affected but for some reason or other they couldn't find the Old Town Hall last Sunday evening. I don't know if there were any Atom HL skippers there but I was the only Novice coach present. So the coaches who could have enlightened the rest of the meeting weren't even there. So the fate of the Novice and Atom House League players was decided by four votes from the people who coach the competi- tive teams, executives or parents who may not have seen these games played at all this year. There is a chance that the Ontario Hockey Council, which is looking into this area, may come out with a ruling forbidding each Association from hitting in the lower] levels. But don't bet on it. § 9 L 2 - Ei Pe $ 4 A ry) 2 £3 = 4 . Hrd wt The winners of the Wednesday and Thursday Alex Williamson, Terry Howsam, Harold Kyte and schedule are front row from left: lan Griffen, Bill David Williamson. [Absent from picture are Larry | Cornish, Bob Storry and Gerry Nelson. At back are Doble and Steve Foster.] DURHAM ROAD *8, R.R.*1, PORT PERRY, ONT. 985-7890 J.R.L. STORAGE LTD. UNITS ARE RENTING SPACE TO SMALL BUSINESSES. TURN YOUR HOBBY OR WORKSHOP INTO PROFITS BY RENT- ING UNIT SPACE AT JUST A FRACTION OF RENTAL COSTS THESE DAYS. PORT PERRY MINOR SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION PRACTISE TIMES SQUIRT BOYS - 8 to 11 Years - NEW DIAMOND Wednesday. April 30th - 6:30 P.M. Saturday, May 3rd - 10 A.M. Wednesday. May 7th - 6:30 P.M. PEE WEE BOYS - 12 to 13 Years - NEW DIAMOND Saturday. May 3rd - 12 noon - 2:00 P.M. Monday. May 5th - 6:30 P.M. BANTAM BOYS - 14 to 15 Years - NEW DIAMOND Saturday, May 3rd - 2200 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. 1d Tuesday. May 6th - 6:30 P.M. ry ALL GIRLS - 8 Years and Up - NEW DIAMOND i ] Thursday, May 8th - 6:30 P.M. 1 T-BALL - 5 to 7 Years - May 25th CONTACT: Port Perry & District Minor Softball Association The Thursday afternoon schedule winners ar [0 e. Rob Cooper, President 985-8153. front from left: John Mann, Oscar Beare, Jim Hopkins. At back are Joe Forsythe, Ralph Larmer, & 8 & LJ Jerry Hunter, and Don Hunter. [Absent from picture are Mark Howsam, Elmo Gibson, Len Sommerville, Rick Little, Paul Pearsell, and Steve Middleton.]