When VJ Stanley was growing up, there were few things he could do that were as fun as playing hockey with his friends. Stanley continued to pursue his passion after his playing career ended, working has a head coach, scout and broadcaster throughout the country.
In that time, Stanley saw plenty of hockey games on every level. What he saw on the youth level didn’t please him though.
“The idea that our sense of community is tied to winning has devalued us,” said Stanley, who is currently the president and founder of Frozen Shorts, an organization devoted to changing the culture of youth sports. “We are trying to change a mindset.”
Stanley, who played scholastically for McQuaid and coached the University of Rochester hockey team for 21 years, recently finished his first book “Stop the Tsunami in Youth Sports: Achieving Balanced Excellence and Health While Embracing the Value of Play for Fun.”
The book will be released later this month in E-Book form and will be out in MP3 form in September. The book will come out in hard copy form in 2013.
Among the many topics discussed, Stanley looks at how specialization can damage athletes mentally and physically. Stanley hopes to create a movement where athletes not only try a variety of sports, but coaches play everyone on their team.
“What I watched is as this one sport mantra took over, it seemed to be very profitable for some people at the expense of others,” Stanley said. “We are sending kids into an arena where they have false expectations and hopes, we are telling them how great they are and they are not.”
With the help of former players, current coaches and doctors, Stanley conducted interviews and studies in an effort to reverse what he called “a national problem.” He found that 70 percent of all children who start youth sports at the age of 10 quit by the time they are 13.
Overuse injuries are on a steep rise with 3.5 million children being treated for sports related overuse injuries. In his book, Stanley also discusses how muscles benefit from adequate rest and playing different sports.
“Stop all this up and down stuff, and be on a more even keel, not only will you have more fun are you will play better,” Stanley said. “The health benefits are massive to what we are doing.”
Stanley has visited with dozens of local organizations and met with many local coaches, and while some have been opened to the concept, a few resist his ideas. Many change their minds when they see a game played by his rules.
Stanley will often conduct games run by the players, where there is no coaching and referees will stop play to spot the ball or get from out of bounds. He hopes this will help players learn to play together and be creative, and of course, have fun.
“The whole idea is for me to be able to get kids to learn on their own. How smart can they be if we treat them like joy sticks and remote controls? More people realizing that the way we have been doing things is broken.”
When VJ Stanley was growing up, there were few things he could do that were as fun as playing hockey with his friends. Stanley continued to pursue his passion after his playing career ended, working has a head coach, scout and broadcaster throughout the country.
In that time, Stanley saw plenty of hockey games on every level. What he saw on the youth level didn’t please him though.
“The idea that our sense of community is tied to winning has devalued us,” said Stanley, who is currently the president and founder of Frozen Shorts, an organization devoted to changing the culture of youth sports. “We are trying to change a mindset.”
Stanley, who played scholastically for McQuaid and coached the University of Rochester hockey team for 21 years, recently finished his first book “Stop the Tsunami in Youth Sports: Achieving Balanced Excellence and Health While Embracing the Value of Play for Fun.”
The book will be released later this month in E-Book form and will be out in MP3 form in September. The book will come out in hard copy form in 2013.
Among the many topics discussed, Stanley looks at how specialization can damage athletes mentally and physically. Stanley hopes to create a movement where athletes not only try a variety of sports, but coaches play everyone on their team.
“What I watched is as this one sport mantra took over, it seemed to be very profitable for some people at the expense of others,” Stanley said. “We are sending kids into an arena where they have false expectations and hopes, we are telling them how great they are and they are not.”
With the help of former players, current coaches and doctors, Stanley conducted interviews and studies in an effort to reverse what he called “a national problem.” He found that 70 percent of all children who start youth sports at the age of 10 quit by the time they are 13.
Overuse injuries are on a steep rise with 3.5 million children being treated for sports related overuse injuries. In his book, Stanley also discusses how muscles benefit from adequate rest and playing different sports.
“Stop all this up and down stuff, and be on a more even keel, not only will you have more fun are you will play better,” Stanley said. “The health benefits are massive to what we are doing.”
Stanley has visited with dozens of local organizations and met with many local coaches, and while some have been opened to the concept, a few resist his ideas. Many change their minds when they see a game played by his rules.
Stanley will often conduct games run by the players, where there is no coaching and referees will stop play to spot the ball or get from out of bounds. He hopes this will help players learn to play together and be creative, and of course, have fun.
“The whole idea is for me to be able to get kids to learn on their own. How smart can they be if we treat them like joy sticks and remote controls? More people realizing that the way we have been doing things is broken.”
