Given that the ability to play rep hockey is unequal between socioeconomic classes, it falls to the parents to create an environment where everyone has fun, is respectful, and understands that a position on a team this year does not guarantee one the following season over (Taras & Waddell, 2016, p.223). A seasoned hockey mom will help the “newbie moms” fit in by setting an example and sharing stories of their experiences.

In our “What’s in your bag” task, I shared the contents of my hockey bag. I’ve been a hockey mom for seven years. My bag looks as it does now because of what I have learned from other hockey moms and personal experiences during the past seven years. Perhaps if I had been given a list of items to keep in my hockey bag when I started my journey as a hockey mom, I would never have been cold, hungry, suffered from a headache (hangover), or searched for an outlet to charge my phone so I could find the nearest Starbucks (or LCBO) when playing out of town.

While the Melting Pot Metaphor is becoming taboo, it very much applies to hockey. The melting pot is a metaphor for developing heterogeneous societies whose ingredients are processed until they lose their discrete identities and yield a final product of uniform consistency and flavour (Bachmann, 2006). According to NLG (1996), replication of culture demands assimilation into mainstream norms and will only work if one already speaks the language. Hockey, like our communities, is increasing in diversity, and effective citizenship requires us to interact effectively using multiple languages and more communication patterns (NLG, 1996).

While a picture is worth a thousand words, a detailed list may better support the idea of multiliteracies. I live by what I have been taught by hockey moms who have more experience than I do, and I will do anything to support those new to the hockey culture so that they can experience the same joy I have watching my son play a sport he loves. Maybe I’ll create an online education module to help newbies learn the difference between forward and defence and the hand signs for slashing, hooking, and tripping. I learned those early thanks to my son being a penalty box frequent flyer as the “big kid” on the team!

References:

Bachmann, A. S. (2006). Melting pot or tossed salad? Implications for designing effective multicultural workgroups. Management International Review, 46(6), 721-747. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-006-0124-4

Taras, D., & Waddell, C. R. (2016). How Canadians communicate V: Sports. AU Press. https://books-scholarsportal-info.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/uri/ebooks/ebooks3/upress/2016-04-01/1/9781771990080

The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review 66(1), 60-92.   http://newarcproject.pbworks.com/f/Pedagogy%2Bof%2BMultiliteracies_New%2BLondon%2BGroup.pdf