Therefore, Hockey Quebec is planning to introduce training in good manners to parents in order to reduce overflows in the bleachers. This program could even be compulsory. Has the situation gotten that bad?
Jocelyn Thibault, general manager of the federation responsible for overseeing hockey in the province, responds by saying that he does not have precise figures. But he knows one thing.
“It’s not new,” he says.
“People sent me newspaper articles last winter about the issue that are 20, 30 or 40 years old. Stories of parents putting pressure on their youngsters are not two years old. It happened in my time, it happened before and it still exists.
“There are several reasons why the phenomenon is amplified these days. Among these, salaries in the National League and social networks give an explosive cocktail. Moreover, everything is publicized now.
“How do we refocus sport in all of this?
Five to eight years to change
This is the mandate that Thibault gave himself when he arrived at Hockey Quebec in October 2021.
“We have a culture to change, we have things to say to each other,” he said during his first press briefing.
A year and a half later, Thibault says it’s not always easy. “But at least, he adds, we talk to each other.”
Leaders of regional associations will see him in the arenas to tell him that they like his speech and that they want to contribute to change.
However, mentalities do not change overnight when they have been embedded in an organization since time immemorial.
Thibault learned it from teachers of Hautes Etudes Commerciales with whom he often works on Hockey Quebec projects.
“It takes five to eight years, it’s documented,” he says.
It takes time, but it is doable.
The example of the fight file
We currently see it in the case of fights.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has decided to abolish them starting next season.
This decision may encourage the OHL and the WHL to do the same.
Thibault points out, moreover, that the OHL was ahead of the QMJHL in terms of sanctions related to fights before the Quebec circuit decided to kill the evil at the root.
Fighting has been banned for a long time, if not forever, in the NCAA. The European circuits have always thought that this is not part of hockey.
Serious faults
If it’s no longer accepted on the ice, needless to say it never had its place in the stands.
It’s not normal for parents to come to blows, to see them bawling the officials and grumbling about anything.
When a coach goes so far as to attack referees and even opposing players, as we saw last January at the Côte-de-Beaupré arena, it’s serious.
Former NHL player and Sports Network analyst Bruno Gervais has joined forces with Groupe Respect, which offers interactive training on the prevention of bullying, abuse, bullying, discrimination and respect.
When the fun is gone
Thibault took the lessons.
“It is mentioned that 70% per cent of young athletes in Canada – all sports combined – give up sport for lack of pleasure, he says.
“Parents and administrators of sports associations must ask themselves the necessary questions.”
But can we force fathers and mothers to follow training courses on good conduct at sporting events?
Parents are not members of the sports federations in which their children evolve. However, they have a responsibility to support their children in the right way, not to harm them.
“There are provinces where this training is mandatory, underlines Thibault.
“Unfortunately, we can never prevent any lack of respect. But we have a responsibility to see and act.”
Dear parents, instead of humiliating your children with acts of misconduct, attacking the officials and punching you in the face, go to the arena for the pleasure of cheering them on.
Take your equal gas!
Your children will thank you.
Example to follow
Here is another message for parents of young hockey players.
“A very large majority of players who have reached the National League and players who have played on the international scene will tell you that they have never been pressured by their parents in their learning process, says Jocelyn Thibault.
“These parents kept a distance. Of course, they supported their young people on the family and financial levels, but they saw first that their children derived pleasure from practicing their sport.
“That said, we have no control over what parents say to their children in the car on the way home. But one of the messages that I have conveyed the most since joining Hockey Quebec is to tell parents not to put their children under stress.
Cases of abuse
In addition, Hockey Canada implemented a Code of Abuse Cases for Homophobia, Bullying and Discrimination last year.
“The offenders receive a five-game suspension and must appear before a disciplinary committee, says Thibault.
“We are also starting to take into account the cases of allegations. These cases are hard to prove when the officials or other people did not hear what was said. But we’ll report them anyway.
“This is how we will start to measure whether there is an improvement or deterioration in the rules we want to establish.”