Hockey parents being told to behave

There’s a new rule coming to minor hockey in Ontario — and this one is being imposed on parents. It’s aimed at tackling unsportsmanlike behaviour — not on the ice, but in the stands.

It takes effect this August. The Ontario Minor Hockey association will now require parents to take a course on respect, or they can’t register their kids for hockey. It covers things like using guilt on your child, misplaced enthusiasm, losing perspective, and how to handle winning and losing.

Most hockey parents agree there could be more decorum in the stands.

“If you’ve been to an arena you’ve seen it. I don’t know the people know they’re doing it, it’s passion. Canadian culture, old time hockey, you mouth off to the referees, and the kids hear it.”

“All the parents seem to know everything about everything, it’s taken out of the kids’ hands.”

You can take the respect course online at the OMHA website. It costs $12 dollars and it will take you an hour to complete.

Ian Taylor says the OMHA hopes to create a standard of good behaviour in arenas, and maybe give arena staff more clout. “They’ll be able to say, there’s a level of behaviour that we’re going to expect going forward.”

“It’s not punitive. The goal is for it to be positive. In the end we want the players to have a great experience.”

Many hockey parents think the course is a good idea, but wonder if it will be effective.

Don Robertson of the Dundas Real McCoys says “trying to take care of parents in minor hockey is like trying to herd cats. It’s never going to be easy. This is one of the things that I think maybe will help.”

“I don’t think it can hurt. I don’t think a $12 course taken online will fix stupid. There’s an awful lot of parents out there that should be ashamed of themselves of how they act.”

It is already a requirement in other provinces like Alberta and it’s being considered in other sports like soccer in Ontario. But the good news is that it’s a one-time requirement so you can transfer it between sports, between years, you just have to do it once and then you have a registration code to say that you know what good behaviour is in the arena.