At this age, the most important thing is for them to be moving most of the time they are on the ice. They should be active and not standing in lines for long periods of time. Most coaches understand this and focus on small area games and drills, splitting the kids up into several stations. If you’re new to a rec program, keep in mind you can attend their “evaluations/tryouts” for free or a small fee prior to committing for the season. Go directly to our rink profile pages below to learn more about the programs closest to you.
Also called Mites, most 8U programs use the American Development Model (ADM) or some hybrid version of this. The ADM model at this age focuses a lot of their drills on engaging the kids and making it fun while learning basic skating, stick handling and shooting skills. The main goal is for the kids to have fun so they want to come back and keep playing the game. Every program and coach has a different way they try to accomplish this and some frankly do a better job than others.
While we don’t endorse any specific programs here at HockeyFLO, we encourage you to ask around on our socials or through our links to some great local forums to find the right fit for your kid.
