More Stats in Youth Sports

One of our first debate topics in this class was on eliminating scorekeeping in youth sports. It came at an interesting time for me as I had just started a new job where a large part of my responsibility was acting as the commissioner of a youth hockey league (ages 6-10).

The league has 8 teams and is divided between two rinks; one in Artesia and one in Ontario. 

One of the most interesting aspects of the league is the rather in-depth statistics we keep for the kids. In a world where we seem to be moving away from stats and scorekeeping in the younger age groups, this league appeared to be heading in the opposite direction. The league has a dedicated stats site, similar to that of the NHL, where standings, records, schedules, scoring leaders, and a multitude of other stats are kept for each team and each individual player.  A child can select his or her team, click on their name, and see his/her very own page, with a picture if they choose, that includes their overall stats including goals, assists, penalty minutes and even a breakdown of each per game.

In terms of scores, there are a lot of blowouts in the league. The Artesia teams are quite a bit better than the Ontario teams and that is very apparent in the scores when teams from the different rinks meet. Every week when I'm faxed gamesheets showing scores of 10-0, 11-1, 12-3, I expect a barrage of angry e-mails from parents regarding the lopsided scores...but it never happens.

In fact, the only e-mails I do get are complimentary and focus on how excited the kids are to have their very own online stats page. I'm not entirely convinced any kid could even tell you the score of the game 15 minutes after it's finished; they're more excited about racing home and checking out their updates stats page. I think the benefit of this is that rather than just having a big "L" show up next to their team after a loss, kids can focus on other areas of the game where they may have excelled. Perhaps they had particularly high number of shots that game, or their team was perfect on the penalty kill.

If the idea of eliminating scorekeeping is to take pressure off of simply winning and losing, I think a more advanced method of keeping stats is a good way of doing the same thing, while still allowing the kids to see what areas of the game they excel at and perhaps where they need to improve.

A. Tibaldi

LT 24

KIN 577