“Kids playing the game are often more open to talking about color than older players, especially around topics considered taboo…They are eager to learn from the experienced leaders in their community.”

A Colorful Sport

Color is critical in hockey. Red lines, blue shirts, black biscuits, painted masks, and matching gear. Players often go to great lengths to get the right colored equipment. Wearing the wrong colored pants in an NHL game would make a player ineligible to play according to Rule 9.1, which states “All players shall be dressed uniformly with approved design and color of their helmets, sweaters, short pants, stockings and skates.” Though color plays such a large role in the sport, the hockey community often underestimates its impact. Kids playing the game are often more open to talking about color than older players, especially around topics considered taboo.

Kids See in Color

As a youth coach coordinating practices, it can be hard to avoid players' commentary about color when trying to divide into groups for scrimmages. Pinnies are handed out to half the group when players aren’t already wearing jerseys of a certain hue. Then an eight-year-old player might skate up to me and ask, “Coach Max, can I be on the white team even if I’m Black?” I’ve heard a ten-year-old tell another “You can’t be on the white team, you’re Asian.” A seven-year-old once complained to me, “I don’t want to be on the black team, I’m not Black.” Whether we like it or not, young people are thinking about race and how we interact with each other based on skin color from an early age. In fact, as Dr. Erin N. Winkler, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee stated in a paper titled Children Are Not Colorblind, “research clearly shows that children not only recognize race from a very young age, but also develop racial biases by ages three to five that do not necessarily resemble the racial attitudes of adults in their lives.”

I don’t particularly look forward to any of these exchanges when I’m getting ready for practice, however, these moments present coaches with important opportunities. A coach could choose to not respond to any of these players, acting as if nothing was said, or a coach could get upset, yelling at the players to stop talking about these topics. Neither of these responses are likely to help the situation in such formative moments for the players. As the American Psychological Association states, children are often aware of race long before adults want to talk about the topic, and delaying “these important conversations could make it more difficult to change children’s misperceptions or racist beliefs.”

Ultimately, kids are looking for guidance from adults in each of the aforementioned situations. In response to the eight-year-old, a coach can help by reassuring the player that “Yes, you are Black. You can play on whichever team you want. We aren’t splitting teams up based on race.” A coach can calmly tell the ten-year-old, “Whether someone is Asian or not shouldn’t stop a player from being on a certain practice team. You’re not being a good teammate if you tell another player they don’t belong because of their race.” A coach can reason with the seven-year-old, “You’re right, you’re not Black. You do have a black jersey on though, so why don’t you play for the black jersey team today?”

Coaches as Leaders

Coaches can lean into these teaching moments as a way to combat racism, build camaraderie, and help players develop a clearer sense of self. It’s why organizations such as the Coaches Association of Canada have recently developed education tools to help coaches address race and racism in sport. If these interactions come up in front of coaches, you can bet they come up away from adults in the locker room or on the bus. Ignoring players or telling them “no” is less effective than standing firm and having honest conversations about the issue.

Young players may talk about color more openly than others, but they are also eager to learn from the experienced leaders in their community. Coaches can make the difference.