I want to build on this a little bit.
I think the big thing with the Saskatchewan background in hockey is ice time. They can go and hop on the rink and skate in a non-structured environment for hours and hours. If you go to a local rink at shinny time, when the kids can go play and there's no score being mentioned, the kids will do things with that puck that they would never do in a game, because it doesn't matter. There's no score. No one's going to get after them for trying this dipsy-doodle.
It's the same with the soccer ball. Throw the kids out on the field and let them play with a soccer ball and they'll do things with the soccer ball that they would never do in a game, because it doesn't matter.
That's where not keeping score at the lower ages is huge: because it doesn't matter. If you're just there to develop them as a soccer player, or as a swimmer, or as a hockey player, they will learn much better skills if there's no score and it really doesn't matter. If you watch tyke hockey, they just play for a minute and they come off. They score—yay!—and then they go back, and then they go again. They learn how to skate. They learn how to play with the puck.
Now all of a sudden it's time to keep score. Now it's time to make triple A and double A. That's where we run into problems.