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Extending Body Checking Ban To Age 14 and Stricter Rules Enforcement: The Wrong Approach?

Just a couple years ago USA Hockey banned body checking at the Pee Wee (12 and under) level, based in part on evidence that the risks of concussion and other serious injury resulting from body checking was simply unacceptable.  The primary reason USA Hockey made the change, however, was to promote skill development at an age where kids are still developing, and because that development was being hindered by aggressive play intended to intimidate opponents and a winning-at-all-costs mentality.  In making the rule change, USA Hockey assumed that all kids play because they want to develop their skills.  I think that the majority simply want to play.

Will extending the ban on body checking in hockey to age 14 and better rules enforcement make the game safer? Perhaps we need to take a different approach, argues a longtime youth hockey official.

2011-2012 Ice Hockey Rules Revisions Focus on Concussion Prevention and Flow of Game

No contact with an opposing player's head or neck area will be allowed at any time in high school ice hockey, effective with the 2011-12 school year, under a rule approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Ice Hockey Rules Committee and the NFHS Board of Directors. Any contact of that kind could result in a stand-alone minor or major penalty, or even a disqualification.

Body Checking Banned At Pee Wee Level

In June 2011, USA Hockey approved a rule banning body checking in youth hockey until the Bantam level (13-14 year olds) first proposed at the organization's winter meeting January 22-23) in Colorado Springs, Colorado..

Increase in Ice Hockey Injuries Outpaces Participation Growth

According to new research, the doubling of the number of ice hockey players in the United States between 1990 and 2006 has come at a cost: a dramatic increase in the number of injuries serious enough to require a visit to a hospital emergency room, with the number of injuries outpacing participation growth.

Concussion Risk in Youth Ice Hockey Triples When Body-Checking Allowed

A Canadian study finding that the risk of concussion  in youth ice hockey leagues that allow body-checking is triple that in leagues that do not, is likely to fuel calls to extend the ban on body-checking to 11- and 12-year-olds playing at the Pee Wee level
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