
WVFHC Mission
Statement "To provide opportunities to all members of our community to develop
lifelong skills as field hockey players, coaches, and umpires in an atmosphere
that fosters enjoyment of sport, sportsmanship, teamwork, and the pursuit of
personal excellence"
At WVFHC, our primary focus for
the Spring League season is creating a fun environment where playing with
friends can be enjoyed year after year. To that end we create teams in a non-tryout,
non-evaluation program. Players can remain with the same team from U6 to U18, strengthening
their sense of belonging and teamwork every year.
Why don’t we tier our players for
Spring League teams? WVFHC is proud to
offer Spring League as a non-tiered program allowing kids to play for the sheer
fun and love of the game.
Why? Research shows that youth
participation in sport is on the decline. A growing body of opinion is that we
(i.e. parents and sport organisations) are creating a culture which focuses on
high sporting achievement at an ever-earlier age. Many sports and clubs start
tiering players from an early age, using try outs or evaluations to place
players in teams according to their ability.
The joy of “playing” is being eroded from sport, and as a result, for
many kids, it just isn’t fun anymore or they don’t feel “good enough” to
continue. So they hang up their cleats/ skates/ swimsuits and leave sport
behind.
Playing on a team
offers the chance to contribute to something bigger than yourself, to learn how
to work with others, to experience success and failure together, to take
calculated risks and experience the consequences, and learn the values of
sportsmanship. We also offer other complementary Spring programs where
players can develop their further develop their skills and play more
competitively. If you are interested in
more information about why we follow this philosophy, please see these related
articles:
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