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Checks and Basketball

So, my almost 12 year-old plays travel ice hockey.  He's been playing the game for five years.  It's a fairly rough sport, lots of aggressive plays and skating and all that.  When you reach age 11, you are considered a "Pee Wee Minor." What that means is, you are allowed and expected - to "check" opposing players, when you see fit.

Usually, the checking is for purposes of regaining possession of the puck (although sometimes the checks are gratuitous).  It can be brutal, but if it's a clean "check" then you're okay with the refs.  Kids get hit, shoved, pushed down, crushed even, and it's all just part of the game.  You can sometimes even hear some of the parents yelling, "Hit him!!!" from the stands.  Or, "That's a great hit!!!"

Barbaric sounding, I know.  And it is - to an extent.  Especially when you see kids who have not hit puberty take a nasty hit from another 12 year-old twice their size.

So, my almost 12 year-old is now in his second year of checking, took his first penalty of the season last week, and injures his thumb at an intramural BASKETBALL practice.  We were dumbfounded, to say the least.  People said things like, "These things happen," "Without equipment on, kids get injured," stuff like that.

He's out for three weeks.

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