Excerpt from Mark Messier in the New York Post
October 28, 2009
Hello everyone, the following is an excerpt from a New York post article in which Mark Messier comments on the state of minor hockey:
New York Post
Messier, who coaches pee-wees while apprenticing in the Rangers front office, used a 1940s quote from Patrick about the purity of children "learning to play by loving to play, unfettered, uncontaminated by adults" to further that message 70 years later.
"Growing up, I don't ever remember leaving Edmonton to play any games," Messier said. "Tournaments have gone from a weekend to every weekend and you have to be there Thursday.
"More nights in the hotels, more money spent. It's not going to make a difference in a kids' career to disrupt a family life. By putting too much emphasis at too young an age, we are losing players who get cast out too soon, so we have a pool of [fewer] players.
"At what age do we put them the fast track? At 7? Nine? I don't think so."
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