USA Hockey, which sets checking guidelines for most youth hockey leagues, now prohibits checking until the pee-wee level, which players enter at age 12. Pomeroy said checking should be banned at that age level, too, if not all the way up to the pros. It takes away from the game. Hockey is a game of great skill. Any kid with athletic ability can learn to shoot hoops or play soccer.
Baseball is a little more complex, but hockey is the most complex of all.
Anderson said the AAP used age 15 as a cut-off since participation in youth sports starts to drop significantly at that age. Also, children between ages 13 and 15 have the most discrepancy in size, he said. But Ostoff said if they wait until they are 16 to start checking, the kids are bigger and faster, and therefore have the potential to cause injury more than they could at the younger ages. He also said a look at where the injuries in hockey are coming from would probably tell a lot. Personally, I think 99 percent of all injuries come from hitting the boards, he said.