Sunday, September 10, 2006
2006 not so great
After thinking about what has happened, I think that an eight year old has experienced too much. Tonight, Matt was officially cut from the Eagles. We have not told him yet, and will tell him tomorrow afternoon after school.
Rep hockey here in Burlington is seperated under three levels, AAA, AA & A. Last year, Matthew was sent down to A and was one of the top players on the team. After that season, his coach gave him a review that included "Matt is a solid double AA player with a possibility of playing a vital role of AAA".
In the spring, we tried out for a Spring Rep team that does nothing but attend tournaments. Before going on the ice, Matt was concerned that he did not belong in which I told him that he was just as good as any other kid on the ice. Although, he broke his leg that evening, I knew that he was the one kid on the ice that demonstrated the most heart.
As most people reading this, they think, that we push Matt along to be a hockey player. And, although it may appear like that on the outside, you don't know what kind of kid Matt is. With a hard cast on his leg, he missed skating so much that I hung his skates on his wall of his bedroom, then finding them laying beside him in the morning. Once his hard cast was off, he constantly wanted to skate. Knowing that it was too early (under Dr. orders) to skate, I found myself taking him to an arena to try skating because of his constant persistence of asking "when can I skate".
Tonight, the coach of the Burlington Eagles (who coached the rival city rep team last year) wants to keep the majority of his team from last year, and thus cut Matt because as he put it, "it's a numbers game".
Well, I have to put it this way:
For a little boy, who cried the hardest lying in the hospital not because his leg was broken, but because he would miss try outs and that meant that he wasn't going to be an Eagle anymore.
Or, being upset, because the summer hockey team didn't want him to participate because he wouldn't be ready (was ready and would have played more than half of that season).
Watching the Rocket Richard Movie 'The Rocket', and leaning over to me and saying, "he broke his leg like me".
You know what? It isn't quite a numbers game, it is for the love of the game.
Rep hockey here in Burlington is seperated under three levels, AAA, AA & A. Last year, Matthew was sent down to A and was one of the top players on the team. After that season, his coach gave him a review that included "Matt is a solid double AA player with a possibility of playing a vital role of AAA".
In the spring, we tried out for a Spring Rep team that does nothing but attend tournaments. Before going on the ice, Matt was concerned that he did not belong in which I told him that he was just as good as any other kid on the ice. Although, he broke his leg that evening, I knew that he was the one kid on the ice that demonstrated the most heart.
As most people reading this, they think, that we push Matt along to be a hockey player. And, although it may appear like that on the outside, you don't know what kind of kid Matt is. With a hard cast on his leg, he missed skating so much that I hung his skates on his wall of his bedroom, then finding them laying beside him in the morning. Once his hard cast was off, he constantly wanted to skate. Knowing that it was too early (under Dr. orders) to skate, I found myself taking him to an arena to try skating because of his constant persistence of asking "when can I skate".
Tonight, the coach of the Burlington Eagles (who coached the rival city rep team last year) wants to keep the majority of his team from last year, and thus cut Matt because as he put it, "it's a numbers game".
Well, I have to put it this way:
For a little boy, who cried the hardest lying in the hospital not because his leg was broken, but because he would miss try outs and that meant that he wasn't going to be an Eagle anymore.
Or, being upset, because the summer hockey team didn't want him to participate because he wouldn't be ready (was ready and would have played more than half of that season).
Watching the Rocket Richard Movie 'The Rocket', and leaning over to me and saying, "he broke his leg like me".
You know what? It isn't quite a numbers game, it is for the love of the game.
