Minor hockey authorities may delete "midget" names and other age groups

The names of the traditional hockey age groups – novice, peewee, atom, bantam and, more specifically, midget – may soon be revised as at least one provincial hockey organization has initiated the process that could eventually create a national sport fit .

At a meeting this week, the BC Hockey Board discussed the topic of division names used by members of its minor hockey badociation. The subject was raised in part because of the desire of other sports organizations to remove the term "midget", but also because of the possible shift to age categories (U15, U17, etc.). ) could prove to be an easier clbadification system, an badociation. The spokesman said.

"The BC Hockey Board has asked staff to recommend new names to BC Hockey members (British Columbia and Yukon)," Barry Petrachenko, Executive Director of BC Hockey, said in an e-mail to Canadian Press. "These recommendations will also be presented to Hockey Canada members for implementation at the national level.

"The development of these recommendations is ongoing and a decision of the BC Hockey Board regarding this subject is expected for the new year."

Athletics Canada recently announced its intention to remove the term "midget" as an age category descriptor, a decision taken a few days after the Ontario Basketball Association announced its intention to do the same. The term has been used for decades in various sports, but many consider it a derogatory insult.

Allan Redford, director of the Canadian Dwarf Athletes' Association, applauded the recent developments and hoped that others could do the same.

"In fact, I am wonderfully encouraged by this approach and its impact," Redford said Wednesday. "I am very very happy."

Hockey Canada, the national governing body of sport, has 13 members – mostly provincial / territorial or regional organizations – across the country. Nationally, any changes to age or division categories require a change in the proposed by a member or the Hockey Canada Board of Directors.

This could happen at the next meeting of members scheduled in May or at the Hockey Canada Annual Conference this fall.

"What I would perceive from the advertising badociated with the terminology we currently use, is that it would be a very likely situation, that it would be presented to our members and therefore to our board of directors, "said the senior vice president of Hockey Canada. Glen McCurdie, who oversees security and regulation.

In e-mail responses, Hockey PEI and Hockey Quebec indicated that they would review the configurations of their categories with their respective members. In the meantime, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association and Hockey Manitoba have stated that they do not intend to do anything to Hockey Canada.

There was no immediate response from other hockey organizations contacted by email by the Canadian Press.

Currently, the International Ice Hockey Federation uses age markers, as does USA Hockey, which has dropped the use of traditional terms for the 2016-17 season.

Hockey Canada ranks the Midget category in the Under 18 category as of December 31 of the current season. Bantam is for athletes under 15 years old. The peewee, the atom and the novice are used to rank the young players. Some organizations also use descriptors such as minor and major midget.

Striker Jason Pominville, whose children play minor hockey in the Buffalo area, said he had not heard of any potential changes until recently and that He had never considered a negative connotation with the term hockey.

"I would not even think of it that way," said Pominville after team training Monday in Buffalo. "It's been around so long, and it's not changed for so long … (but) it probably would not be a bad thing to change it because of the circumstances."

The Midget category is also used by some youth football organizations across Canada. While age descriptors are used nationally in this sport, Shannon Donovan, executive director of Football Canada, said the organization would be looking at the issue with its board of directors and provincial members.

Regina Scott, of Guelph, Ont., Who has a two-year-old son with dwarfism, helped make a change to her local youth basketball badociation after noticing the term on a banner in a mall earlier this year. month.

The badociation quickly took steps to make changes and the OBA was integrated. Basketball Canada, which already uses age category descriptors, supported the moves.

Redford, who is also president of Little People of Ontario, said the word used as an insult came from the oppression and exploitation of people with dwarfism in "abnormal shows" in the mid-1800s. .

"The line is that it's not a matter of sensitivity, nor of being a snowflake, but an issue of awareness, acceptance and respect," Redford said. "It comes down to taking control of being and the right to self-identification."

—-

With records from Joshua Clipperton, national hockey writer for the Canadian Press.