Our Kids Play Hockey
Our Kids Play Hockey is a podcast that focuses on youth hockey, offering insights, stories, and interviews from the hockey community. It provides valuable advice for parents, coaches, and players, covering various aspects of the game, including skill development, sportsmanship, teamwork, and creating a positive experience for young athletes. The show frequently features guests who share their expertise and personal experiences in youth hockey, both on and off the ice.
The show features three hockey parents, who all work in the game at high levels:
- Christie Casciano-Burns - USA Hockey Columnist, Author, and WSYR Anchor
- Mike Bonelli - USA Hockey Coach and Organizational Consultant
- Lee M.J. Elias - Hockey Entrepreneur, Author, and Team Strategist
In addition to the main podcast, there are several spin-off series that dive into specific aspects of youth hockey:
1.Our Girls Play Hockey – This series highlights the growing presence of girls in hockey, addressing the unique challenges they face while celebrating their accomplishments and contributions to the sport. Each episode of Our Girls Play Hockey is also hosted by Sheri Hudspeth who is the Director, Youth Hockey Programs and Fan Development for the Vegas Golden Knights.
2.The Ride to The Rink – A shorter, motivational series designed to be listened to on the way to the rink, offering quick, inspirational tips and advice to help players and parents get into the right mindset before a game or practice.
3.Our Kids Play Goalie – This series is dedicated to young goalies and the unique challenges they face. It provides advice for players, parents, and coaches on how to support and develop young goaltenders, focusing on the mental and physical demands of the position.
Together, these shows provide a comprehensive platform for parents, players, and coaches involved in youth hockey, offering insights for all aspects of the sport, from parenting, playing, or coaching to specialized positions like goaltending.
Our Kids Play Hockey
Inside the Flyers' Impact on Youth Hockey, Warrior Hockey, And The Community with Rob Baer
In this week's episode of "Our Kids Play Hockey," Lee Elias speaks with Rob Baer, the Director of Youth Hockey and Amateur Programs for the Philadelphia Flyers. Rob has dedicated over two decades to the sport, significantly impacting both youth and amateur hockey through various programs and initiatives. Notably, he's a key figure in the Flyers' Learn to Play program and an assistant coach for the Flyers Warriors.
Discussion Highlights:
- Rob Baer's Hockey Journey:
- From playing at Archbishop Carroll High School to engaging with the Philadelphia Phantoms, Rob's deep-rooted connection with hockey shaped his career and passion for the game.
- His transition from playing to a pivotal role in fan development and youth engagement with the Flyers.
- Learn to Play Program:
- An examination of the Flyers' successful Learn to Play initiative, which has significantly reduced barriers for new entrants into the sport by providing equipment and accessible opportunities.
- Expanding the Game Beyond Playing:
- Rob discusses various ways individuals can engage with hockey outside traditional play, highlighting the administrative and developmental roles that contribute to the sport's ecosystem.
- Veterans in Hockey – Flyers Warriors:
- A heartwarming look at the Flyers Warriors, a team that offers veterans a sense of community and purpose through hockey. Rob shares inspiring stories of transformation and camaraderie among the team members.
- Youth Hockey Initiatives and Future Plans:
- Insights into upcoming initiatives aimed at further fostering the growth of hockey in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Rob expresses a strong desire to include more girls and diverse groups in the sport.
- Personal Reflections and Hockey Philosophy:
- Rob reflects on the intrinsic values of hockey, such as teamwork, dedication, and the pure joy of the game. He emphasizes the importance of these values in nurturing a lifelong passion for hockey among young players.
Rob’s interview not only highlights his profound impact on hockey through his roles with the Philadelphia Flyers and community initiatives but also paints a broader picture of how sports can serve as powerful platforms for community building and personal development. His stories are a testament to the life-changing power of hockey and its ability to connect and inspire individuals from all walks of life.
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hello hockey friends and families around the world and welcome back to another edition of our kids play hockey, powered by nhl censorina. I'm lee elias, mike benelli and christy casciano on assignment tonight, so I'm going to be doing this one solo, and our guest today is the director of youth hockey and amateur programs for the ph Flyers and oversees all Flyers affiliated youth and amateur programs, including the immensely popular learn to play program. He is also a full-time assistant coach for the Flyers Warriors, a USA hockey affiliated team for veterans, where he handles much of the X and O, instruction and explanation of hockey system basics, especially for the less experienced players, in addition to his 20 plus year career with the Flyers. As you can guess, he also comes from a hockey family where he and his four brothers all played hockey, and his three children, jackson, mckenzie and Harper, are all athletes, with his youngest daughter finishing learn to play this past week. He is one of us people he understands. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Rob Baer to the show, rob welcome to Our Kids Play Hockey my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. Great intro and, yes, I live that hockey life, like so many of your listeners do, and I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think you got to live a hockey life, to work in hockey, at least you should, right? I've been in organizations before where there are employees. Let's just say that it's a job to them, that it's a job to them. That always freaked me out a little bit, right? Because there's this great saying I'm sure you've heard it. You know, hockey is not something you do, it's something you are, and I always love to surround people in the game with other hockey people. Not that I don't want outside perspectives, right, I think that that's important to get, but you know, when you're a hockey lifer, you're a hockey lifer.
Speaker 2:Right, and I'm a hockey lifer, yeah, I mean I played from whatever.
Speaker 2:It was age five or six.
Speaker 2:I grew up playing at Wissick and Skating Club, played at Archbishop Carroll in high school, went and played at Westchester University and I was fortunate enough that while I was in college I spent a lot of time working with the Philadelphia Phantoms when they played at the Spectrum. So I was there all the game nights, I helped them out in the summertime with their camps and I just I got to know people in the hockey world. I knew that a playing career wasn't necessarily going to happen for me after college, but I wanted to stay involved in the sport and by staying involved with the Phantoms I got to know a lot of people there. And it just so happened that sort of, as I was graduating from Westchester, a position was opening up in fan development with the Flyers and the Phantoms and I guess I had a leg up on the competition because they already knew me from the last four years that I had spent kind of working with them part-time. And 22 years later here I am still here. They can't get rid of me.
Speaker 1:No, I love it, man, I'll tell you this. You know we get we get a lot of emails from guests all the time and typically it's hockey parents asking for advice and they ask great questions. But one of the ones that trickles in kind of consistently is that postgraduate, 22, 23, 24 year old that says hey, I just, I want to get involved in the game. How do I get involved in the game? And I always tell them let the passion guide you. But you got to do the work right, you got to get involved, you got to be there and then I've seen so many careers evolved from that passion. It's also a good point. I usually save this for the end of the show, but since we're talking about it, there's so many ways to be involved in our game besides just playing. And I think that when you can open that kind of kaleidoscope into the hockey world, you start to see how amazing it is. And again we're going to talk about today some of the initiatives that Flyers have created, because the game in this area has grown so much.
Speaker 1:And again, I grew up here, we'll just say in the early to mid 90s was kind of when I was falling into the game. You know the Eric Lindros era and I remember the expanse of hockey. I mean, rinks were going up everywhere, hockey was going everywhere and the Flyers have been so committed as an organization to the area, right, you really can't go in a 50-mile radius without seeing some form of Flyers. Learn to play Flyers ball hockey, flyers-affiliated hockey. Talk to me a little bit again about being involved in the game. I had a question. I'm just going to read it too. You've been in 20-plus years with an international club. It's just not a joke. You told us how you got initially involved.
Speaker 2:How did that expand and how many people have you helped over that time? How many people have I helped? I couldn't tell you that, but probably millions. Yeah, I'm very humble, it's been multiple. I'll say it for you, buddy. That's it. Yeah, thank you, it's evolved over the years.
Speaker 2:When I first started I was primarily focused on Phantoms initiatives. Early in my career was when we had that canceled NHL season 0-4-0-5, the season that wasn't, and luckily we still had the Phantoms to kind of focus our energy on and they ended up winning the Calder Cup that year. So that was a really cool year. Without the Flyers, we still managed to have fun and pack the Wells Fargo Center for hockey games, even though it was at the American League level, and I've just sort of grown and adapted and adjusted as time has gone on and done whatever it was that needed to be done.
Speaker 2:There was a time when they needed me to sell tickets. So I got involved with selling tickets and booking all the lights on ice and the pre and post game ice slots and wasn't necessarily my passion or what I wanted to do, but it's what they needed me to do and so I did it and I think that that flexibility is super important as you stay involved in the game. You don't always control your own destiny. You're not always the one driving the bus. You have to do what's what's needed and I feel like I'm in a pretty good place now with just having the ability to share my passion for the sport and get sticks in hands and get kids involved, and we love the game and we just try and share it with as many people as we can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, being part of a hockey team at an executive level or however you want to say it, it's not much different being on an actual team. Right, you have to have a role, you have to do the job. You're not always going to love the role, but if you do the job, things tend to pay out. Um, I want to dump into some of these initiatives the Flyers are doing in a moment. But uh, you tapped on your hockey journey. I said it in the opening. You and your siblings Tell me a little bit about your youth hockey journey. You said you started around five years old. Was there a moment that it clicked? Was it the first time you stepped on the ice? Was it a little later? Where you went? Man, I love this. Tell the people at home a little bit about your journey in that game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think it was when I first stepped on the ice, because when I first started it was at you remember, the old, uh, old York road rink. It was partially outdoors and it was like a learn to play type of thing that I did, and it was five o'clock, six o'clock in the morning. It was like still dark when we got off the ice.
Speaker 1:Everybody loves that time so what are we doing?
Speaker 2:Um, but after a couple of weeks, I think my parents didn't have to like shake me awake anymore. It was like I was up and I was ready to go and just super excited about being involved with the sport. And so, yeah, I fell in love with it pretty, pretty early and pretty quickly and spent my might through midget years at Wissahickon, and I love Wissahickon. After I graduated college I went back there and coached the 18? U level and then, when my son was old enough to start playing, we went to Wissahickon and that was just. That was always home and I love that place and I always will.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for those of you listening, not in this area, wissahickon is this amazing skating club in Philadelphia. It's been here forever. It seems like Mike Richter is probably the most notable player that came out of there. Many of you will know him in New York. You love him in New York. Went through heavy renovations what 20 years ago maybe? Now it seems like it's an amazing, beautiful one-sheet rink. There's not many of those left. I'll put it that way it's an amazing place to play the game.
Speaker 2:Great old barn In 1956, it was built. So anyway, that rink and that club helped shape me as a kid and a hockey player I'd be remiss if. I didn't mention Wissahickon and all the great things that it's done.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, I always love saying the word Wissahickon to people who aren't from here, because it's a nice one to say.
Speaker 2:We just call it Wiss usually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true. All right, let's dive into some of the stuff the Flyers are doing, because I'm excited about your initiatives. Look, learn to Play has become a real staple in the game as an entry point for new families and players. I love that program for so many different ways, not just the on-ice stuff, but the cost of entry is way down. You can really get to experience the game. My kids went through this and I know the Flyers also host a Learn to Play ball hockey or play ball hockey initiative, which is also awesome. What, what has made it so successful in this area and is it going to expand in the future? Do you have other plans to kind of grow the game in the area beyond that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we would like to grow it. We're in 15 rinks now and I could I could easily see that number jumping up to 20 in the years ahead. But I think what makes it so appealing to parents is the fact that all the equipment is included. So this is a league-wide initiative through the NHL and the Players Association and USA Hockey and Hockey Canada, and it eliminates that upfront hurdle right.
Speaker 2:A lot of parents that maybe aren't hockey people. They're hesitant to put their kid in the game because they know of all those upfront costs that exist to buy $500 worth of gear and what happens after a couple of weeks if your kid doesn't like it and doesn't want to play. Well, you're out quite a bit of money. So this eliminates that risk and that upfront hurdle and I think that has allowed us to attract a lot of new families that maybe wouldn't have considered hockey.
Speaker 2:And look, we've put 4,000 new hockey players on the ice over the last half a dozen years and we like to think that a lot of these kids are staying involved in the game. I don't know the exact retention numbers coming out of Learn to Play, but I know that it's helped feed a lot of the next step programmings at all of these rinks that are hosting Learn to Play. So we're filling the funnel for these rinks, we're bringing new families to their doorstep and it's sort of on them to take the ball and run with it, and these folks are going to be in their rinks for the next 10 to 12 years, right in their, in their rinks for the next 10 to 12 years, right um and and we want to make sure they have a really good um first experience with the sport yeah, you know it's funny.
Speaker 1:When we talk to nhl teams, I always mention that. You know the lifetime value of a fan is is always a metric that the teams look at. But when teams look at that metric it's so much deeper than just tickets being sold. Right, it's you got to create a hockey person to become a hockey fan because, look, we can get everybody to go to a game one time, right. But falling in love with the sport is a deeper initiative and I always like to say that to our audience, because it can be very easy to get lost in the business or the money side of professional sports of others trying to get me to go business or the money side of professional sports of others trying to get me to go.
Speaker 1:The truth is this that the Flyers and really every NHL team I've spoken to, are completely committed to making you love this game. Right, because they understand there's a value to that. Right, and obviously playing is the ultimate entry point, right? I do want to ask you this you know it is an affordable entry point. This is not. No NHL team is to blame for this. Obviously, the costs go up as you go in the game. I know in our area we have. We have Snyder hockey and another organizations to help alleviate that. Do you have any thoughts on how we can alleviate costs in the game? I think this is more directed towards the youth organizations than any NHL team, but you know, costs can get ridiculous at some point. So from a hockey journey point, I just love your thoughts of a professional game on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wish there was something that we could do to help alleviate some of that. I haven't figured it out yet. If there is, but it is a concern.
Speaker 2:It's an expensive sport and I mentioned you know we're finding a way to alleviate some of those upfront costs, but down the road you're still going to be facing those high registration fees to play hockey and all the traveling that they're doing. One of the things we've looked at and a few NHL teams have done is bringing back like rec league hockey, house league hockey. There isn't too much of it, um, at least in our market. Like a lot of the rinks, they're pushing the kids right into travel hockey and that's fine, but not everybody wants to be playing hockey four days a week for eight months.
Speaker 1:What are you talking about, rob? Of course they don't. I'm just kidding. I mean, we do. But like.
Speaker 2:not everybody does, we have to think about those people. So, right, is there a way to provide a, an opportunity for kids to continue playing the game? But maybe not with such a high price tag and a high commitment level, and that's that's the formula. We haven't found yet, but we want to see it get there, because you just you never want to see people priced out of us.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, you don't want to see people priced out. There's always the question of are we getting the best athletes we can get? You know, if Mike Benelli was here, my co-host, uh, he would be singing your praises right now because we agree with you 100% about rec hockey and house hockey. Um, I can say, as a coach right now, I've coached every level imaginable at the youth level.
Speaker 1:The questions I get about things like and I'm not kidding seven, eight years old, about division one hockey or playing alphabet soup, as Christy always says my other co-host of triple A, double A I used to joke I'm going to make the first triple B team. Right, we're going to sell t-shirts and everything you know. There needs to be a place where these kids can just be kids and enjoy the game. And I always tell parents all the time there's nothing wrong with the house league. If you want to play other sports, tell parents all the time. There's nothing wrong with the house league. If you want to play other sports, if you want to just try it out, you do not need to make a four night commitment weekly with ridiculous game schedules. If your kid loves that and you want to do that, I absolutely do it.
Speaker 1:But you're right, we push kids into that environment which, again, I'm not saying it's the worst environment ever. I'm just saying there's alternatives and we should grow in-house leagues where you don't have to travel, you know ridiculous places and ridiculous times of the day to expand the game. I think another way to expand the game, which again the Flyers are doing, is there's other forms of hockey aside from ice hockey. Right, there's ball hockey. Floor ball is a different sport, but it's another way of experiencing a stick sport is a different sport, but it's another way of experiencing a stick sport. But tell me about the ball hockey initiative that the Flyers are doing, because I think that that's another underrated and underutilized way of getting involved in the game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it really is. And this started four years ago when a deck hockey league in South Jersey reached out to us and said our numbers are slipping and every year our numbers go down and we need to reverse this trend. Can you help? And it was myself and Brad Marsh, who's a Flyers alumni, that I work very closely with.
Speaker 1:Big time Flyers, alumni, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we started thinking like what can we do to help help these leagues and help these associations to kind of reverse this, this trend? And we had just started doing the on ice learn to play, and I thought that's a pretty good model, like why don't we, why don't we take that and bring it to these outdoor deck and ball rinks? And so we did. We started the learn to play ball hockey program and it's six weeks of instruction. Every kid gets a Flyers branded stick ball and reversible penny.
Speaker 2:So we did, we started the learn to play ball hockey program and it's six weeks of instruction. Every kid gets a Flyers branded stick ball and reversible penny. They're only paying thirty five dollars, so it's even a lower, lower barrier to entry. And and almost immediately we started seeing those, those numbers reverse because again we're filling the funnel and we're we're providing the next wave of kids that are going to go into next step programming at all these, all these outdoor ball hockey associations, which it's I don't know what it's like in other parts of the country, but in South Jersey specifically, like ball hockey is huge there's, there's all these parks that have two, three, four outdoor rinks and they've got five or six or 700 kids playing in leagues. It's awesome and, as we say, many roads lead to fandom. There's many on-ramps to fandom, and a kid that's playing ball or street hockey is just as much a hockey player as a kid that's on the ice five days a week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I completely agree with your sentiments on that and you know, I think the popularity of ball hockey in certain areas would surprise people. You know, like you said, South Jersey, I know, in Massachusetts, I mean, there are outdoor arenas that have stands where you can go play ball hockey. I mean it's a serious sport for a lot of people but it's hockey. Right, we always say hockey is hockey. I think that you're right $35. I didn't know that that's an amazing entry to the price point to the game. I love that.
Speaker 1:Another thing I wanted to talk about aside from that, is that obviously you get to work with a lot of players involved in these projects. Right, this is how I want to phrase this question, because we all love NHL players here. Tell me about the character aspects of these athletes that we don't see, Because, again, most people see these athletes, it's usually in a game or a press conference. They don't see these people outside of the rink and in my experience they are high-quality, high-character people that really are dedicated to the kids, to the families. I mean, I don't think I've had a negative interaction with a Flyers player or alumni or alumnus, I think is the right word there in any of the experiences I've had with my own children or just out in the open. So talk to me about the characters, the character, I'm sorry, the character of these players, and please feel free to name drop as much as you want.
Speaker 2:Sure, and you hit the nail on the head, lee. Like these are quality people and they're willing to do anything to grow the game and to give back to the community where they live and play, and that's just not here in Philadelphia, that's across the hockey world. Like these are high quality guys. We spend time during training camp every year with our community relations team meeting individually with each one of the players. We spend time during training camp every year with our community relations team meeting individually with each one of the players. And if it's a guy that's been on the team a few years, it's usually a shorter meeting because we already know sort of what their interests are. But if it's a new guy, we really want to talk to them about all the things that we do community-wise and find out what it is that they're passionate about and what their interests are, and we try and match guys with with things that are important to them. So if if cancer related causes are important to them, then we make them an ambassador for hockey fights cancer night and we'll take them to children's hospital to visit kids. If, if it's somebody that really wants to get be involved in growing the game of hockey, then we'll pair them up with like learn to play, or actually we had a new player initiative that just started this year with Noah Cates because he expressed an interest in getting involved somehow with youth hockey and so we do a postgame meet and greet with Noah 15 times during the course of the season.
Speaker 2:We call it Kate's, his mates, and he hosts a member of the youth hockey community that has overcome some sort of adversity, so it could be a kid that had cancer or a brain injury or suffer the death of a parent or lost their home to a fire, like these are all real examples of things that happened this year. There's so many folks in the hockey community that have overcome obstacles and so this is just one way for us to sort of recognize them host them for a night at a game. They get to go down in the locker room after the game meet Noah, and that's just one example. You know we have Garnett Hathaway who's really like a cause that's really important to him is first responders. So he hosts Hats Heroes, where he hosts first responders every game and goes down and spends time with them after the game. And these guys are just so generous with their time and I can't say enough good things about, about our players and their willingness to give back to the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, again, we say it a lot on the show about the talents of an NHL player is obvious. That's the obvious part. But while they're professional hockey players, they're also professional people, right, and it kind of goes to show that those athletes don't do anything at a less than professional level, right, it's an all the time thing for these athletes and I'm sure that when you talked about Cates and Hathaway and the other athletes, when they do these things, they do them. You know, I think there's sometimes a misconception of like, oh, they're just here because they got to be here. I've never found that to be the case. When they're there, they're there, right, they want to do it. So can you talk about that? Maybe in because you've worked with a lot of athletes over the years? Right, is that common across the board? Are there variances to that, or is it just? You agree that that's what you're seeing?
Speaker 2:I think it's pretty common across the board. I'll give you another example of something that happened this year that was really inspiring, lord, I'll give you another example of something that happened this year that was really inspiring. Cam Atkinson came to us during the offseason. He's really involved with his nonprofit with military-related causes, right. He had an idea to provide a service dog to a military member, preferably a member of the Flyers Warriors, and so he brought this idea to us and we're like, yeah, we can, we can help facilitate this and make it happen. John Tortorella heard about it and then Torts said I want to be involved, and so his family foundation said well, we'll help fund it as well. It's $30,000 for a service dog, so it's it's, it's a lot.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, I didn't know that that's crazy. So and then so March, he heard about it. He goes, oh well, flyers alumni want to be involved. And then Stuttman, who oversees Flyers charity, said well, yeah, we're going to. We're going to fund it equally as well. So all of a sudden it's turned into this player, coach organization and alumni all working together to provide a service dog. And it all started because Cam had an idea and brought it to us and we actually just notified the recipient last week that he's going to be receiving a service dog. So he's going to go to like a meet the dogs session in a couple of weeks. And basically I didn't know how any of this works. It's really cool, but the, the, the dog and the service dog recipient, they just sort of they find each other. I believe that yeah, and it and it's an unbelievable thing.
Speaker 1:So everyone with dogs is nodding right now Like, yeah, I can we understand? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah so that's a player taking the initiative and saying this this is something that I think would be cool. Can you help me? And yeah, the answer is always yes. Like you want to do something, we'll. We'll find a way to make it happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I'm going to talk about the Warriors in one second too. You know, what's amazing to me is how much gratitude most NHL athletes have. They understand their position in life and I think as they grow it becomes even more obvious to them, you know, should they be fortunate to have a long career? But the anchor I always call it the anchor of understanding, you know, I don't want to say the less fortunate, but people are sacrificing themselves in the military. People are out there first responders, nurses, doctors, firemen, policemen I mean all of it. Right that I've always found athletes to be grounded in. They're doing this job. I can do my job. Right?
Speaker 1:When I speak to my players, I talk a lot about the military a lot. I believe the US military is the greatest team on the planet, right? So when I need to look for teamwork or ideas about team building, I go to them and it's always an amazing moment when you can work with a team, especially sometimes the older kids, I'll say that when you can say that. You know they use the same words that we do about being accountable and sacrifice. And then I explain sacrifice is something a little different in the military and I said if they can go out there and protect each other. To protect you, you can go out there on the ice and play this game and you got to have that anchor in the back of your mind With that.
Speaker 1:I want to segue into the Philadelphia Warriors because I've done a lot of work with military, especially veterans, and I do not believe people understand the drop off when someone separates from the military mentally. What happens to them? Right, their identity, identity, their community and their purpose is taken away in a snap of the fingers once they're out of the military. Right, they live this life, they, they secure our freedom, they do all these amazing things with amazing people, and the day that you separate it's over um, and a lot of times there's a deep, deep depression and there's a I don't want to get into it too dark, but that first year out of the military is a very dangerous time for a veteran and if they survive that time period it can be a long road.
Speaker 1:And what I love about the Philadelphia Warriors is that the mission is to provide those veterans with a community, with purpose, with identity, and the people that I know involved in that organization have found all three because they talk so highly about it. And again, this is one of many kind of veteran-led teams around the country. Right, not veteran-led, but veteran teams around the country. But I know it's a passion of yours, rob. Why don't you tell us about the Philadelphia Wars? Feel free to share some stories too, as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure, it actually all started in the summer of 2018, yeah for sure, it actually all started in the summer of 2018. A Marine Corps veteran, rick Stabino, reached out to me and he said I saw this warrior hockey thing that exists. There's like programs in DC, there's there's programs out in the Midwest, and I couldn't find anything about a warrior hockey program in the Philadelphia area. You know, can you help me start one? And I said I don't. I don't really know anything about it either, but I'd be happy to have a conversation. So we brought USA hockey into the fold and they sort of met with us and walked through like what warrior hockey is all about? Basically, it's for injured and disabled veterans. They have to have a minimum 10% disability and okay. So what's the interest level in a warrior hockey program in Philadelphia? We don't know. So let's host an event and see what kind of turnout we get.
Speaker 2:So we did a try hockey for free event in December of 2018 for veterans and we had like 40 people show up and it was like, okay, we might be onto something here. And so a couple of weeks later we were able to get some ice at the Wells Fargo center and we invited everybody that was at that initial skate to come skate with us at Wells Fargo center. All right, there's like 35 of them still still hanging around here. This we might be onto something and it was just at the time in 2019 when the Flyers were hosting the stadium series against the Penguins.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm not sure if folks know this, but every time there's an NHL outdoor game, there's a legacy grant that's that's associated with that game.
Speaker 2:So the NHL and the host club each put up twenty five thousand dollars000 for some legacy project that comes out of that hosting that outdoor game, and I was petitioning the league to use that grant money to start a warrior program in Philadelphia, and they agreed, and so all the guys that had been skating with us, we invited them down to the Wells Fargo Center and we brought them into the Flyers locker room and explained to them that they are now part of the Philadelphia Flyers family they will be known as the Philadelphia Flyers Warriors and and our goal right from the beginning was to go to the Warrior Classic in Las Vegas. It was about eight months out and and it was like we start preparing today and it's so important because it gives these guys purpose, it gives them structure, it gives them something to look forward to every week. We practice every Sunday year round and, by the way, we won that first warrior classic and we've won several others since then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have heard about that since then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have, I have heard about that, yeah, yeah, but we've grown the program from that initial 30, 35 players. It's over 115 players Now. We just brought four teams to to Wayne, new Jersey, at the ice vault for the first ever USA hockey warrior national championships. We had two teams lose in the finals but all four teams played their hearts out and it was a really, really inspiring weekend to see all these veterans from all over the country get together. You know that common theme of love of their country and love of the sport of hockey was pretty cool thing to be a part of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to pull the thread on this a little bit too, because from a hockey aspect, it sounds awesome. Talk to me about maybe a story or something One of the veterans has told you about what this means to them, because, I'm going to say it again, that community aspect is so important for these guys to know that they're not alone, to know that we care about them, to know that they can be part of a team again, right, so tell me about that, because that stuff is amazing to me too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would love to direct folks to a documentary that the Flyers video team put together. Sure Won an Emmy Award recently. It's called New Heights and it profiles several members of the Flyers Warriors and it does just that. It tells their stories and what it was like and what it felt like coming back and not knowing what your purpose was in life, and it's on the Flyers YouTube channel right now. We're hoping that it'll be on the NHL network in the near future, but it's a really well done documentary, kind of profiling these guys from the Warriors and talking about their journey and how this program has helped them just kind of get their lives back on track.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's called New Heights. You said it's on YouTube, on the Flyers channel. No issues with Jason and Travis Kelsey, obviously, on that name. That's the name of their podcast, right.
Speaker 2:No issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think they would cause any issues as well. Well, look, I just want to, as a host, but also as a person in the hockey community, thank you and everybody involved with that Warriors team, because I think that that's an amazing initiative for our community. I think those veterans deserve everything. I think they deserve everything for what they've done for us. I want you on the conversation back now to youth hockey a little bit. You know, in your 20 plus years, you've been involved in a lot of, let's just say, organizational behaviors within hockey, right, and I know we have a lot of hockey directors, hockey officials, hockey managers that listen to the show and they're always looking for tricks or tactics or tips on how to run a better hockey program, right. So let's just start with hockey directors in general. What have you found to be successful in the initiatives that you've created and what would you like to see happen in youth hockey a little bit more?
Speaker 2:I think the successful programs are the initiatives that you've created and what would you like to see happen in youth hockey a little bit more. I think the successful programs are the ones that let kids be kids and let the kids have fun and enjoy the game for what it is instead of what it could be 10 years down the line. Enjoy the journey, like it. It goes fast and um, and before you know it it's over, and just the life skills that this, that this sport, teaches us are immeasurable, and so I'm sure I'm not telling them anything they don't already know, but just let let the kids enjoy the game.
Speaker 1:It's the best it really is. You know and I think you're making a good point of not looking 10 years down the road, right, and I hear that from parents a lot of times Well, if he's ever going to make tier one, if he's ever going to make this, if she's ever going to do that it's like guys, just let him be 10 years old this year, right, and love the game. I always say, and again look, I always admit this too. From that 12 to 15 age, which is an interesting age, things do turn right. You start to become a little more serious about potentially having a future in the game, and I do think there are conversations when you're 13, 14, 15 that do need to take place. If you want to have a future in the game beyond high school, all right, there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1:But when you're 10, the goal for me with my kids, is to cultivate a love of the game, and I use the word cultivate because I said this on the show many times. I can't create that for them. They have to create their own love of the game. It's on us as parents and coaches to cultivate that love of the game. And when you're talking to a squirt team about, like nationals, and you know, in in October it's. I mean, what are we doing here? Right? And again, you want to know a recipe on how to burn a kid out? Start talking about high school when they're in fifth grade, right, it's not worth it. So I just think that that's, that's fantastic advice. Um, and I think I want to have a little back and forth here.
Speaker 1:When we talk about organizations with that, I think hockey directors, it's so important that they show up to these practices sometimes and reiterate that to the kids, right, right, I think hockey directors and I'm not calling anyone out on this but it can be easy to go to those double A teams or those triple A teams that are looking to go to nationals this year, because, look, that's exciting. I'm not taking away from that at all. But you also want to go to your A teams and your B teams and your beginner teams and say, hey, you're the future here, right, you're the future of this organization and the way you can be part of the future is loving this game right now and showing up at a practice and introducing yourselves, enabling the coach, right, I mean, do you have any other thoughts on that? Because I think that interpersonal connection within the organization is important. I would like to see coaches talk to other coaches more right. I think there's more that can be done on that front.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I agree with everything you said there and I think it's important to focus on skill development and player development too. We see so many times at younger ages where it's like, okay, we're going to work on the one, two, two, four check today in practice. Well, how about you work on your skating skills and developing a better shot and better passing ability? And just like skill work is is so important and sometimes it's it's almost overlooked at younger ages. Like let's teach these kids how to be, how to be athletes and how to be good players with with a strong skillset, and then worry about you know what your power play looks like and your forecheck. Like let's, let's build that base and make good hockey players right and take it to the next level from there. And that's what you're talking about. Those a and those b players like they're the ones that really need it. They really need to learn the game and skating is such an important part of the game I it's everything.
Speaker 1:The youth levels, it's everything, yeah, everything, yeah, we get. I get an email a week that is typically something like my kids nine, my kids 10, my kids 11 what do I have to do for their hands, to get their hands going? And I I make no assumptions, but I write in every one of those listen primarily at that age. Skating is the most important skill and make sure that that is your primary concern, because your kid can do a michigan. Can't skate, not going to work for you long term. Right, all right. The other thing, too, is I'm all about creativity, so I say I don't have a problem with a kid practicing a Michigan, but if you're practicing the Michigan 10 to 1 over a wrist shot, that's not great. Yeah, that's not a good percentage.
Speaker 2:I love creativity and I like coaches that allow kids to be creative. But, yes, you need to reel it in sometimes and work on the fundamentals as well. But, yeah, creativity is such an important part of the game.
Speaker 1:Right. I always say too, when you look at an NHL warmup, nba warmup doesn't matter, pick a sport. When the guys warm up, watch what they're doing. They're not doing Michigans, they're working on their gliding, they're working on their puck handling, they're looking on their edge work all these extreme fundamentals of the game. I saw a video, uh, of steph curry recently again basketball player in just fundamental stuff, over and over and over again and they asked him why are you working on that? You're a pro. And he said, like the fundamentals of the game, if you can't do these, you can't do anything.
Speaker 1:I had a great conversation with my son the other week. He's a goalie defenseman hybrid right now. It's an interesting thing. But but he wanted to work on a slap shot. And I told him you know, you, I love that you want to work on your slap shot. Once you get your wrist shot down and your snap shot down, we can evolve into a slap shot. Because I said, look, anybody can swing the stick, but if you have no accuracy, if you have no idea of the weight transfer, you have to build into this. And he mildly disappointed, but he understood and I said I also want you to break five sticks this week. So let's just make sure that we're getting that down.
Speaker 1:But again, when I look at drill development and you know, again, mike, my co-host, is really great about this he brought up this really wonderful thought the other week of why does every drill have to end in a shot? You know why can't a drill end with just getting the puck to the right area of the ice or being in the right area of the ice or a zone exit. You know there's a lot of different ways to teach this and to make it fun. And I always say to parents don't underestimate tricking kids into doing something to teach them, for example, in learn to play and or Adams and might hockey. When you want to teach a kid how to get down and get off the ice, throw 100 tennis balls on the ice and tell them to pick it up, because they don't know that they're learning that skill Right. But at the same time, if you tell the kid to drop down and get up over and over again, it gets repetitive. They don't want to do it. So you got to play that game a little bit too Right.
Speaker 2:And that's where creativity and coaching comes into play, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Right, and I think that's something that organizations can help teach their coaches as well. Because, look, let's be honest about it, rob, at the youth levels, majority of coaches are volunteer parents, especially at the younger ages, and God bless every mom and dad that has ever volunteered to coach a hockey team. It's not easy. You have to deal with the other parents in some form, but I wish we offered even more resources to them about how to have some creativity in their coaching. I think there's plenty of resources on drills and things to do, but I don't think there's a lot of resources on here's how to kind of be creative with your team. If you're facing this situation, here's something you can do.
Speaker 1:That's a conversation probably for another show. But no, I really appreciate the advice of those hockey directors because, again, it's no one. No one in youth hockey is making a full living on this. Right, you might be making something, but you're most likely not making a full living. So we salute all of you out there working in the game. Rob, I really appreciate this conversation. I want to just throw it on you. Did you have anything else that you wanted to talk about from a Flyers standpoint or from somebody in the game or just a message to our audience in general.
Speaker 2:I think we still have a ways to go in growing our game and making it more inclusive and welcoming for different audiences, and I think we'll get there. You know, I've been encouraged by the growth of girls hockey, absolutely. I've really really pushed hard to find ways to get more girls involved with the sport and we're making inroads locally and nationally and internationally, and that's something that we'll continue to focus on. Like there's so much opportunity there for girls hockey to continue to grow.
Speaker 2:You look at the success of the PWHL in its first season and you know, look, I'd love to have a team here one day. I don't know what their plans are, but I think it would do well. Here, I agree, and it would fuel further growth and getting more little girls involved in the sport. So, yeah, that's that's something I'd love to see. Long-term is is the continued growth of of girls hockey, um, and and other forms of hockey as well. Like you know, we've we've been very involved with with special hockey and sled hockey, and actually the sled hockey nationals were just in westchester pa right last weekend. Yeah, and um, like this game really is for everybody and in all of its different forms, and we want to continue to make people feel like they're, like they're welcome in our sport yeah, I I think that you're right.
Speaker 1:We've got a long way to go, but I think that we're further along now than we were just five, ten years ago. And a great example is my daughter, who is only seven, but she's growing up in a world where professional hockey is a possibility. She's dreaming about that Again. Her life could change dramatically when she's a teenager. The point is that she's seeing the capacity to dream big, and that's that's the opportunity that we're affording anybody that maybe isn't normally involved in the game or doesn't have a past in the game. That is really important as well.
Speaker 1:Right For my daughter to see the junior Flyers and the little Flyers have a team. It's funny she says I want to play for the mini Flyers and I was like, well, that's, that's not a thing yet, but I I a hundred percent agree with you that I would love to see the PWHL expand again. I think they're going to do that based on some of the numbers that they've gotten this year, and I love that the NHL teams are committed to assisting that or working alongside that, because it's a very, very important initiative for hockey in general. But again, big takeaway today from you, rob, is just the growth of this game beyond the ice is so apparent, and I think that that's something in our communities.
Speaker 1:I think about all the things we've talked about today special hockey, sled hockey, veteran hockey, youth hockey, girls hockey, ball hockey, learn to play hockey. That's a lot of I said hockey a lot of times. There there's more right. It's probably more than I'm not even thinking about. And then there's the player initiatives involved with hockey. It's an amazing community and world to be a part of.
Speaker 2:It is. I'm so grateful every day to come in here and be a part of the hockey world and work in the NHL and meet so many good people in the local hockey community and the national hockey community and you know. I hope I can keep doing it for many more years.
Speaker 1:Well, we hope you do as well, man, because the work you've done is undeniable and I appreciate how humble you are, but you've had a major impact on hockey in not just the Philadelphia area but beyond, and I sincerely want to thank you for that. As a hockey person in the area, someone from the area Right, it's beautiful to see and to know that that's out there, because in the in the depths of youth hockey sometimes it can be lost to some Sometimes the direction we're going. But I think we are all going in the right direction in a lot of ways and you're a big part of that. So thank you for that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm excited to see where the game goes. I think we're on the right path and there's great things ahead for hockey.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, if that excitement ever goes away, we're in trouble.
Speaker 1:But I love getting up every day to do what I do. We got eternal excitement right now. This has been a great edition of Our Kids Play Hockey with Rob Baer. Again, we are powered by NHL Sensory. Make sure you check them out at hockeysensorycom. But for Rob, I'm Lee. Thanks so much for watching this episode.
Speaker 1:Remember all the episodes of Our Kids Play Hockey available at ourkidsplayhockeycom and I've mentioned it many times on the show. We get emails all the time. We want to hear from you. Team at ourkidsplayhockeycom is the email. You can send us episode ideas. You can send us questions. You want to ask Rob a question? You can send that over to me. Hockey questions from Mike, me or Christy. Send that over Team at ourkidsplayhockeycom. But next episode, have a great weekend and remember to skate on everybody. Take care. We hope you enjoyed this edition of our kids play hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now If you found value. Wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network or our website our kids play hockeycom. Also, make sure to check out our children's book when hockey stops at when hockey stopscom. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it, but thanks so much for listening to this edition of our kids play hockey and we'll see you on the next episode.
