You’re already a hockey boy.
Grammy and I watched you for an hour and a half at Jackson’s Landing in Durham and were blown away with the progress you’ve made in such a short time. It’s only been a month, but already you have incredible balance, can move around with purpose and understand the game basics.
Watching this progress made me recall an earlier moment. When you were three at your old house, your Dad had enthusiasstically flooded the backyard to make a skating rink…hoping you’d get the hang of skating. He was hoping you’d like to play hockey someday. The experiment didn’t work out very well… you were still too little.
Flash forward three years (a doubling of your lifetime!), it was so cool seeing your Daddy’s future hope become a reality.
But what stuck in my mind on this Camden hockey day wasn’t your evolution as much as your hunger, persistence and enthusiasm.
You really wanted to be out there… couldn’t wait. The coach gave your team many challenging tasks.. push this mini tire forward with your hockey stick… skate/walk across five hockey sticks … crash to your belly on the ice and go under a bridge. You did each exercise with gusto… real gusto. And every time, you got better. The first time you tried walking over those sticks you were all over the ice! But by the fourth time, you did it!
During the aggressive scrimmage (with boys twice your size in some cases) your hockey stick jammed your stomach and you fell to the ice and play stopped. You cried very discreetly… your Dad went out to see you and it wasn’t clear if you were done for the day or would somehow go on. I wasn’t surprised when you sucked it up and got right back into the scrimmage. That’s what I mean by persistence, hunger and enthusiasm… and competitiveness!
After the practice ended, your teammates left the ice. But knowing Grammy and I were still watching, you stayed on the ice and skated around several times. You wanted us to see what you could do.
You’re a competitor Mr. C, and you will go places in this world. I’m proud of you!
Mr. Hockey going through drills at Jackson's landing