Dave Hendrickson wrote:
 
>  John,
>
> I think you do a disservice to parents like Vicki and players like Jason
> with these comments.  You overlook the staggering amounts
> of time and money that hockey parents must put into their children's
> hockey, without ever having good odds on a payoff.  Vicki probably
> put in even more than most because of her family's early years in
> California (I think it was) before they headed to Minnesota, but I
> would have to say that the typical bill for a kid playing
> super-serious hockey (the only kind to get him to D-I) is several
> thousand dollars a year, at least.  My best guess would be about
> $5,000 a year if a kid plays year round, but that could vary.
> You do that from the years of five (or so) to 18 or 19, not to mention
> the need for big-ticket prep schools in most parts of the country.
>
> And what is the result?  The typical kid never makes D-I, so he never
> gets a penny of athletic scholarship money.  And even those who make
> it and are contributors are almost always on only a partial scholarship.
>
> (Personally, I consider the NCAA's limit of 18 scholarships an outrage
> and would like to see it go back to the levels back in the 60's and
> 70's -- off the top of my head I'd say it was at 24 -- when if you
> were good enough to play for a school, you were good enough to get
> a scholarship.)
>
> Hockey as a monetary investment ranks even worse than junk bonds.
>
> Sure, there's the hope for a scholarship and maybe even more at
> the end of the rainbow, but any parent who goes to the rink with
> his or her calculator in tow, tapping in the eventual payoff in
> dollars, is an idiot.
>
> They also have to sacrifice enormous amounts of time.  Whatever
> studying a typical student does, the athlete has to do while
> also working on his game.
>
> These kids, and these parents, are driven overwhelmingly by one thing:
> the love of the game.
>
> Anything they get in terms of athletic scholarships is well-deserved.
> They deserve nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for all
> the sacrifices they have made to get this far.
>
> Dave Hendrickson
>
> P.S. And the rate of concussions is getting mighty scary at all levels.
 
  I agree it takes a substantial amount of time and money to be an
accomplished athlete.  I along with my parents spent alot of time and money
and got nothing except incredible enjoyment for our efforts.  I guess my
point here is that parents of scholarship athletetes, all athletes for that
matter,  need to realize what they have and enjoy it.  If this is the
highest level at which your child will play you need to realize this and
savor every moment.  You also need to realize that there are many of us who
aspired to play at their level and just weren't good enough.  Does that mean
that our efforts are less important than the efforts of those who
succeeded?  Parents (yes I am a parent)  need to be thankful that they are
receiving not only enjoment, but also some, though it may be small,
financial reward.
 
John Duffill
An original Friend of Maine Hockey