As you read these upcoming words, focus on your immediate, first association with them: Millennials, Gen Z.
These association answers are all correct: whiny, wimpy, entitled, participation trophy.
Thankfully, Gen Xers and Millennials still have the opportunity to save our youngest generation from the pitfalls of their forebears, and the way to do it is simple: LET THEM FIGHT!
Behold (H/T Barstool):
Some young Nasty Knuckles 😂😂😂👊🏻
— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) December 8, 2023
🎥: hcastana2013 on Instagram pic.twitter.com/D8Yi4Mjcjj
RELATED: Four Players Suspended After Brawl Breaks Out After MSU Vs. Michigan Game
Fists, Not Tears
I can tell there are already some worry-warts out there, spitting out their french press coffee or whatever, saying, “Oh my God, Derek, how could you possibly support a little kiddie fight club?”
Answer: Because it’s good for them.
For a little bit of background, those tiny terrors are playing somewhere in what we used to call the Eastern Bloc. I admittedly couldn’t find a great deal of information about this particular incident, but what I did find is incredible.
The video you see above is credited to “hcastana2013” on Instagram. So I went over to my Instagram account to see who that is, and it looks to be an account for HC Astana, which is evidently a professional hockey club in Kazakhstan.
But the videos shared by the account are all youth players, so it might be a fan account? Who knows, those countries are weird.
But the point is, the fight is good. Recall that very first sentence earlier. If you want tougher kids, they have to actually be tougher. They have to be put in scary situations with uncertain outcomes. They have to be tested by their peers.
Participation Trophies for a hockey player are missing teeth, facial scars, broken bones, and every hockey player’s favorite, the bone chips in your knees and elbows that show up 30 years later and need to be removed by a surgeon.
Hey, It’s What We Did
Now, I’m closer to the end of my life than the beginning of it, and I’m not going to give another lecture on how Generation X should be considered 1975-1990, but I am “officially” considered a Millennial.
My cohort is much tougher than the younger Millennials who grew up entirely in the Digital Age, and it’s because, like Gen X, we didn’t get participation trophies and no one had a conniption fit when we fought on – or off – the ice.
At that young age (these kids look to be about the same as “Squirts” or Peewees here in America – roughly middle school age) you wear full masks and extra gear like neck guards, so on-ice brawls were never that serious. But have you ever heard of Locker Boxing?
RELATED: WATCH: Alabama State Football Player Suspended For Hitting Security Guard During Game
Buddy, let me tell you, if you want your kid to be tough, tell him to locker box the biggest kid on the team.
The point here is, those Kazakh kids are more likely to become confident, strategic, obviously tougher, and more from allowing them to take their lumps and play-act at what the big boys do. That’s how we learn.
A completely sanitized, safe and clean version of hockey where everyone is nice to each other and goals are distributed evenly among those who need goals – that’s also how we learn.
This is actually true: my father named me after Derek Sanderson – the Boston Bruins great who was known for rearranging faces (and great fashion.)
Bottom line – at that age, I had my brains and face bashed in, on and off the ice, more times than I can count, and I only whine or demand validation half as often as my peers. The proof is in the pudding, folks.
Let them fight!
