Every Friday night for 6 six weeks, I've been going to 'No Nonsense Ice Hockey' at the local Y. I signed up for this no contact event because I've always thought it would be fun to learn the sport. It's on my bucket list to play ice hockey for at least one season. This sort of counts.
I thought this would be a good intro to the sport since this program has 45 minutes of drills, followed by 30 min of a scrimmage. Since it's not contact, I shouldn't have to worry about getting injured and not being able to work.
A few background notes:
- I grew up watching a LOT of ice hockey, as my Dad and brothers are huge Canucks fans.
- I grew up figure skating until I was about 10, and then haven't skated much at all since.
- I played about 6 ice hockey intramural games while in PT school in borrowed gear, and thought it was a blast. But the highlight of all that was to try to get over the boards and on to the ice without falling over. There was no instruction, no practice, no coaching, and we often lost games 10-0 and laughed our butts off.
- I played field hockey really seriously from the age of 13 until the age 25, and a little more after that on and off until I was 30. I gave most of everything I ever had in hopes to get to the Olympics and did not succeed. It was awesome and I'm incredibly thankful for all the things that happened to allow me to represent Canada around the world, but it was also very disappointing and difficult to figure out how to move away from that life. I miss the sport and that life and those friends a LOT. Even though my elite days are clearly over... I wish I could play field hockey with friends now just for fun.
The week before the ice hockey started, I emailed the program leader and asked what gear I'd need. I thought probably a helmet, skates, gloves and a stick. The answer was a whole lot of gear: skates, socks, shin guards, padded shorts, a jill, shoulder pads, elbow pads, stick, and a helmet. I trolled craigslist without much luck and ended up at 'Play it again Sports' buying mostly used stuff. I spent over $200 on all this stuff - a part I hadn't really bargained for, and on the same day that we closed on the condo. Oops. I was committed.
The first night I showed up to a few surprises:
1) The two change rooms we had were co-ed. Men and women sharing to get ready. Not something I had experienced before. On one hand, I didn't need to get naked so I wasn't too uncomfortable. Also, in general, I'm not that modest. But, professionally, there's a good change I could end up treating any one of these people, and I don't want my patients to have seen me without clothes on or vica versa!
2) Another lady helped me get all my gear on and I figured out where it all went. She even gave me some tape because that's how you keep your socks on. You have to tape them on over your shin guards, every single time you play. (What a silly system, right?!)
3) My PT rehab hockey jersey is too small and doesn't fit very well over my shoulder pads.
4) There were other people out there skating around like they were in the NHL. Really. A lot of the other people were really good. What were they doing at the same 'learn to play' thing that I was at?
So I played. And I didn't fall over. And I was totally intimidated. I was scared I was going to get hurt because people were fast and shooting the puck hard. There were slap shots shooting by my shoulders and coaches were not helping to regulate things or keep us out of harm's way.
By the scrimmage, I was smiling and loved it.
Week after week, I improve. The drills are good for me but I find the pace of it all quite slow as there's a lot of waiting in line. I live for the scrimmages. (Also, the women have taken over one change room and all the guys are crammed into another now.)
Three weeks ago, I realized I'm learning a lot and skating much better and getting decent. I'm right up there with any of the other women and a lot of them have been playing for years. I read the play well and I'm fast.
In the last three weeks, my expectations for myself have risen. I can get all my gear on pretty quickly. I can get on and off the bench quickly. I can skate forward and backward and turn.
2 weeks ago, I 'scored' in our scrimmage. It wasn't a real goal because it was actually against 'Benny the Bench' - a board in front of the net with certain holes for the puck. But I did put a puck in the net, for the first time in any of our drills or games. I was so ridiculously excited and went around and gave all my teammates knuckles with my glove on and a big goofy smile on my face. Most of them looked at me, totally rolling their eyes and confused on why I was celebrating so much for such a silly thing, but I was genuinely stoked.
Tonight, in a drill, I score 3/4 times on real goalies. First time I've put the puck past a goalie in any situation. Exhilerating. Jumped and squealed and did lunging fist pumps. Again, other people were like 'uh... it's only a drill!'
And I'm annoyed with others now when they don't look up or give a good pass. Or when they don't skate hard. My standards are increasing! I'm becoming the annoying person who is starting to think that they are better than they are.
I still fell over and into the net and got in the goalie's way, and I still hurt my neck every time I try to snap my helmet straps on. (Seriously, I need suggestions on this one.) Tonight I even learned that I'm supposed to put hockey tape over the blade of my precious $24 used stick to protect it.
But I feel so alive after I play. So excited! So confident! Even cocky. And that's very cool. I'm pretty sure I haven't felt cocky about anything athletic since 2009 when I last wore a field hockey jersey. It's really fun. And I can laugh at myself and with others as I learn something new, outside my comfort zone, and start to see improvement.
When I'm driving home from hockey, goofy smile and all, I wonder 'what if I had started playing THIS sport when I was 13?'??
Obviously, I'd be just like Hayley Wickenheiser now.
