Ayla Feia, 10, of Menomonie, Wis. Photo: John Zweber/Thunder Hill Speedway
Last Updated on Thursday, 10 July 2014 10:19
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Fourth of July night I was out with my friend, John Zweber. John is an attorney by trade. This night, however, he was performing his second job. Well, it’s not so much a job as it is a hobby. He was the “flag-man” at Thunder Hill raceway just outside of Menomonie, Wis. I could not have been at a better venue for a night synonymous for the celebrating of the gaining of our independence as a nation.
Thunder Hill is a go-kart track. Some of the go-karts look much like the ones you and I ride when we go to the amusement park. Some look like miniature versions of the real adult sprint car. Some of these “go-karts” go amazingly fast. It is a professionally-run track where people go to get racing experience.
The racers participating on this night and most nights are aged five to 65, and while boys/men are in the majority, there is also a good percentage of female racers. Some of the younger racers may take this sport more seriously, but to most, especially the adults, I suspect it is simply a fun hobby. In the near future, the track organizers will have a night of electric-very slow moving beginner carts for 3 and 4 year olds only! This is a fun place, but it is also a developing ground for some. Many of the car racers we see on television today get their start doing what some of these younger drivers are doing this night: racing go-karts.
What makes this hobby so fun in my perspective is that in most cases it is totally a family affair. Moms and dads race and so do their kids. Together they wear team clothes, work on karts together and provide a team of emotional support for one other. Families race various karts in various divisions, some sorted by speed of the karts, others by age group and speed.
I saw girls participating as young as 6-7 years old. When these young girls took their race helmets off after a race, one could see their smiles of joy. It made me want to “melt” when I saw their youthful enthusiasm for what they were doing. The few times I have been lucky enough to instruct girls in hockey, I experienced the same.
I was talking to a grandma of one of these young girls. We talked about how when this grandma was young, girls never had such opportunities like they do today in racing, hockey and many other sports with the exception of maybe track and field. Well, they have these opportunities today! Interestingly enough, this woman’s husband of 60-plus years also participated as a racer. He has been racing at the track along with the grand-kids, be it in different classes of go-karts for a number of years. It is a family affair!
I saw what I thought was a great driving performance in the first winged-kart class. These karts have wings just like sprint cars and look like miniature models of a real sprint car. These miniature models can move amazingly fast around the dirt track.
In this first winged race, I watched a young driver who looked like a pro in my eyes. I was quite impressed with his driving skills. He was fast and aggressive, attacking more than one “racing line.” And fast he was. He won his heat race. I watched him drive off the track and to the scale for the car/driver to be weighed.
Then he was off to his pit area to get out of his car. His parents were waiting for him and greeted him with some high fives. I walked over to say “nice race” to the young lad. As he removed his helmet I couldn’t believe what I saw. The young man had sky blue eyes and a boyish face true to his age. I had to ask him how old he was. “I am 10,” he told me with a big smile. I was “wowed.”
Thunder Hill is a place where 10 year olds can go to develop driving skills and even careers. They do this with a lot of adults around them. Some adults they race with and against. Some, like their parents, are there to work with them and support them and hold them accountable to act like good young people. They learn about the work involved to prepare their equipment. It is teamwork at its finest. I could not have been anywhere I could have enjoyed myself better on this 4th of July night. It was a real piece of “American Pie” on the anniversary of our nation’s independence.
This professionally-run track is a hobby for some, but make no mistake, it can be a developing ground for young talent like this 10 year old. This got me to thinking about hockey and how we are developing our youth. Much is often written about the good and not so good with our developing grounds for our young hockey players.
My first thought is that USA Hockey and our counterpart in Canada have overall done a great job of stressing the right concepts of skill development for our game. These organizations get criticized a lot on a number of fronts. But one front you cannot fault them is in their recognition that skills and fun need to be stressed at the youngest of ages. I would argue that we are seeing the fruits of their labors throughout the many levels of hockey. Ten year olds in hockey, like this young kart driver, are continually in environments where skills and fun are stressed as well as positive parental involvement. In most cases I think USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have gotten it correct with their messaging.
Whether you are watching a PeeWee game, a high school game or the amazingly skilled game of the NHL, you are seeing a sport that continues to be played better and better and with better skill. I cannot think of a sport in the past decade where the level of play has improved like it has in hockey. And say what you want, USA Hockey has had a great impact on this. The European players used to be the “skilled” players. In today’s game, the European skilled players are joined by greatly skilled players of both the U.S. and Canada.
The crowning jewel of the hard work of these national governing bodies is, in my opinion, this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. I don’t know if I have ever seen better hockey. Maybe the best series I have ever seen was this year’s Kings/Blackhawks series. The Finals were great too. Hockey is going in a great direction.
My second thought is this: If I was in charge of any hockey association or club, I would find my most skilled teachers of skating and put them in front of my youngest skaters at least once a week. These skilled teachers of skating don’t need to coach the game. We need to utilize their talents to teach skating.
Then I would take my overall best teachers of the game of hockey and put them in front of my talented 10-12 year olds. These are the coaches who can teach the important skills like how to saucer the puck, how to defend/protect the puck, how to compete for pucks, how to use and position their stick, how to execute 2-on-1’s, how to defend 1-on-1 and so on.
Just like the fine young driver I talked about earlier, I want my best coaches with our young talent. These coaches don’t need to spend their time coaching the games – they can help there, too, of course – but skills are developed in great practices with the right amount of structure and encouraged freedom to express creativity. This requires teachers and mentors who truly know how to teach. Give a teacher young kids who are learning to skate properly and a desire to enjoy the game of hockey, and their skills will exponentially improve at this young age.
Lastly, we all need to take a good look when our kids take their helmets off. The young girls racing on this night, as well as the 10-year-old racer, reminded me of how good a positive competitive environment can be for our youth. This night reminded me of the positive impact of a family.
We should not forget the great lessons our children are getting from hockey and our various team sports and activities. Our children are striving for goals, experiencing set-backs and challenges, learning what it means to prepare and at times having great successes. What more can we ask for in an experience for our children?
We all need to remind ourselves that all of this is good, including the family time together, even when it can be a little cumbersome. We need to look at our children collectively, especially when they take their helmets off at the end of a good practice or game. Their faces should tell us everything. We are fortunate to live in this great country where our kids can take on challenges of their liking.
Kevin Hartzell is the head coach of Lillehammer in Norway’s GET-Ligaen. A St. Paul native and forward for the University of Minnesota from 1978-82, Hartzell coached in the USHL from 1983-89 with the St. Paul Vulcans and from 2005-12 with the Sioux Falls Stampede. His column have appeared in Let’s Play Hockey since the late 1980s.
