This is a story about parental abuse...it's a tough read about an abusive youth hockey Dad. Contains strong language, written by Patrick himself.
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Very sad and true story that I am sure happens in every sport across the country. I would like to think that if any rational adult saw a kid being pummeled in a parking lot by their parent they would alert someone who could help the kid, but I get the idea of where is the line between abuse and training a young athlete.
I think the line is when the parent thinks they have more control over their child succeeding in sports than the child does, they "want it" more than the child does. I did like this quote from the article:
"Either you have it or you don’t. Screaming at your kid in the car on the way to a hockey game isn’t going to get them to the next level. Having a 12-year-old kid run six miles after practice isn’t going to turn them into Jonathan Toews. You know when you actually get good at sports? When you’re having fun and being creative. When you’re being a kid. When you don’t even realize you’re getting better, that’s when you’re getting better. If you’re not engaged in what you’re doing, it’s as helpful as taking the trash out. It’s just another chore."
This quote from the story is one of the truest thing I have ever read regarding youth sports. I've seen it with my own eyes....
"True story: I played with Drew Doughty his rookie year in Los Angeles. He came into camp and he could barely do one rep on the bench press. He’ll laugh about it now. He was not in shape at all, at least in the way these “Old Time Hockey” blowhards talk about it. Then we’d go out for practice and he’d be the best player on the ice. Doughty was just a pure, natural hockey player with incredible vision and a brain for the game.
He was in hockey shape. He could think circles around you.
Either you have it or you don’t. All this hardass training stuff is just fluff, and it enables the same culture that allowed my father to treat me like an animal in front of other adults for so many years. It started right in the parking lot. People saw it. They just didn’t have the courage to say anything. "