A family affair: Leduc hockey team spans 3 generations

For the Fleming family, hockey is a family affair — one that spans three generations.

Jacquelyn Fleming, 13, plays centre on the North Central Impact of the Alberta Female Hockey League. Her dad, David Fleming, is the head coach, while his dad, Jim Fleming, is an assistant coach.

"It's wonderful," Jim Fleming told CBC's Radio Active Wednesday. "I can share ideas with them."

But sometimes it can be a little awkward, he said.

"On the bus last week, I told Jacquelyn, 'We need goals and we need you to walk from the corners and get in front of the net,' " he said. "She was sitting next to a girl beside her, and I looked at Sarah and said, 'Aren't you glad your grandpa isn't coaching the team?' "

Head coach David Fleming brought his dad into the fold because he didn't know many people in Leduc, where the team is based.

"I asked Dad if he'd be willing to help me in regards to the tryouts and evaluations," he said. "It just kind of carried on from there."

Despite being with her dad and grandpa when she plays hockey, Jacquelyn said the two often have different approaches to helping her.

"I go to both of them for different things," Jacquelyn said. "My dad likes to teach me to be a team player, and my grandpa more the skills and the skating part of hockey."

Jim Fleming said it's primarily his son's team, though. "You can give an awful lot of credit to David," he said. "I haven't been involved to that extent."

But in typical hockey fashion, David Fleming is quick to return credit.

"It's been a great experience. He has a wealth of knowledge from years of experience," he said. "To be able to leverage that expertise has just been great."

Love of hockey runs deep

All three Flemings were on the ice quite early on. Jim said his son, along with David's three brothers — the youngest of which is 44 — all still play hockey.

It was only fitting that Jacquelyn was on skates soon after she learned to walk.

"She showed an extremely early interest right from the time she was 16 to 18 months old," her father said. "She was dressing up in my hockey equipment or whatever hockey equipment she could find."

Jacquelyn was skating before she was two, and she's been on the ice ever since.

"[She] always wanted to go to public skating every chance that we could, so we did that, and then she just carried it on from there."

Through six games with the North Central Impact, Jacquelyn has two goals and four assists, including five points in her last three games.

But most importantly to her father and grandfather, Jacquelyn is having fun playing for the team.

"I like that it's so competitive," she said. "It's so fun to play with all the girls on the team."

Listen to Radio Active with host Portia Clark, weekday afternoons on CBC Radio One, 93.9 FM/740 AM in Edmonton. Follow the show on Twitter: @CBCRadioActive.