Superstar Athlete's and Their Dream (from a Hockey Player's Perspective)

Many people are drawn to many different hobbies. Ice Hockey just happened

to be mine. It's been almost twenty years since my mother and father took me Ice

Skating. I was three years old. Before I move any further I would like to tell you

that I come from a family that has a long history of hockey fans, no one had ever

actually taken their love for the sport and become part of that love. My

grandfather on both my mothers and fathers side watched hockey as if it were

their religion. I even had a grandma on my mother's side that went to so many

games that the team made her their jersey mender, and their water girl. As

funny or as dull of a job that might seem, to her it was almost as good as actually

being on the ice. The biggest influence in the game of hockey was from my

father, he and his brother played hockey as children in their neighborhood

basketball courts and tennis courts. As a youth I wore my dad's old hockey

jerseys during my first few years of hockey. To say the least, I dreamed of being

a professional hockey player. It wasn't until I was playing at the high school level

that I learned hockey is more than a game. It was always expressed that hockey was a

very physical and dangerous sport and it really didn't sink in until I started playing check

hockey. A hockey player usually enters this physical state of the game around the age of

twelve to fourteen. As I grew older the speed of the game got faster, thus made the

difficulty of the game do a 180. For me, it was hockey, an exciting game that

turned into a dangerous sport. I feel blessed that I had the ability and the chance

to play and learn the game of hockey. I also felt that I could have made a career

playing hockey if it were not for my injury that took my scholarship and future

in the NHL away.

Although hockey had its many risks involved, the overall excitement I got

from