Man, when my kid decided that Shattuck-St. Mary’s was the only place on earth he could possibly play hockey and, you know, become the next big thing, I was all for it. Supportive parent, right? But let me tell you, I had no idea what I was signing up for, especially when it came to one tiny, little, all-consuming detail: the Shattuck hockey schedule. It’s not just a schedule, it’s a whole lifestyle, and honestly, a bit of a monster to tame.
So, my journey, my “practice” if you will, began with just trying to find the darn thing. You’d think it’d be simple. A nice email at the start of the season, maybe a clear link on their website. Ha! That was cute. My first few weeks were a chaotic dance of refreshing three different web pages, checking emails that seemed to arrive at random, and then cross-referencing with texts from other equally confused parents. One day it’s an early morning practice, the next it’s moved, or there’s a suddenly announced away game two states over. My head was spinning.
I really tried to get a system going. Seriously. I bought a big wall calendar, color-coded markers, the whole nine yards. I thought, ‘I got this.’ I’d spend Sunday nights meticulously plotting out the week based on the latest scrap of information I could find. By Tuesday, it would be obsolete. A rescheduled game here, an added skills session there. My beautiful calendar started looking like a battlefield map, full of crossed-out plans and scribbled new orders.
It’s Not Like My Old School Days, That’s for Sure
I remember my high school football schedule. We got it on a little card at the start of August, and that was it. Maybe one game got rained out and moved. This Shattuck hockey world? It’s like operating in a different dimension. The amount of information, the speed of changes, it’s something else. Sometimes I’d joke with my wife that we needed a full-time logistics coordinator just for one kid’s hockey.
My actual practice, then, became less about control and more about, well, damage control and quick adaptation. Here’s what I figured out I had to do:
- Keep my phone glued to my hand. Seriously, it’s like an extension of my arm now.
- Join every parent group chat, WhatsApp, Facebook group, whatever they were using. That’s where the real-time intel usually surfaced.
- Learn to pack a “go-bag” for any rink situation – snacks, extra layers, homework, because you never knew how long you’d be there or if plans would suddenly change.
- Always double-check, and then triple-check, especially with other parents. If three sources said the same thing, it was probably true.
It was like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. You’d think you had it pinned down, then splat, it’s all over the place again. I’d talk to other parents, and they were all in the same boat. We’d share our frustrations, our little tips for staying sane. “Did you see the email from Coach Smith?” “No, I got a text from the team manager!” It was a communal effort, just trying to get our kids to the right place at the right time.
So, yeah, that’s been my adventure with the Shattuck hockey schedule. It’s not something you master; it’s something you survive. You learn to be flexible, to expect the unexpected, and to have a good sense of humor about it all. Otherwise, you’d just go crazy. And honestly, even after all this, seeing my kid on the ice, working hard, chasing that dream… well, it makes most of the scheduling headaches almost, just almost, worth it. Ask me again next time there’s a surprise 5 AM bus call, though.
