Taking the knee: Day 1
June 16, 2010 by 300shindefense441 |
When someone in their late 40’s joins a youth hockey camp, keeping a low profile is not easy. Holding onto pride is impossible. As eager faced youngsters stood piled up by the ice rink door, I looked at the hockey moms outside the glass and felt I had to say something. It would be obvious in about three minutes, as the Zamboni made its final turns, that my first steps on the ice would immediately indicate something was ‘different’. I kindly requested that I be told first if any videos would be sent to some funniest video contest, then snapped on my helmet and proceeded with my plan A: learn to play hockey.
The head coach blew a whistle and 20-some kids went like cattle to the feeder . They were promptly informed that I was there to learn, not teach. Next instruction? Take a knee. He had to be kidding. Nevertheless, I was there as a student – no special privileges if I want to learn as a team player. Location is everything – thankfully, I was next to the boards. As it turned out, I needed something to hold onto when it was time to get up.
As we started to do some drills, no one under 12 had to worry about being the worst skater in the class. Skating forward? I took last place every time, mostly because I didn’t know how to stop. In order to prevent being named in a lawsuit for injuring a minor, I almost miraculously learned to stop after three skates across the ice. A young girl giggled and said ‘ See – you can stop now!’. A future Sidney Crosby or Jonathan Toews in the making – a natural leader with the gift of encouragement. I call her ‘Sidney’ now.
Exhausted and out-skated for two hours, we ended up outside for dry land drills. Kids look different without helmets and jerseys on. They actually have faces. I could now see my peers face to face. As the coach tried to keep us in the groups we had been split into on the ice, one boy couldn’t remember which group he was with. He turned around, pointed at me and said ‘I don’t know but I know I was in Emet’s group.’
Enough said – I do stick out in this crowd. No regrets after day one. This could be the best seven weeks of my life.
Update on December 11, 2015: I never suspected such a positive time in my life would prepare me for one of the most traumatic and negative periods in my life in the years that have followed. A divorce and post-divorce years are indeed harder to handle than the death of a loved one in the family. Decent family men do know how to keep their family meals together and foolish men don't try hard enough to prevent the breaking apart of their family for various lazy and unholy reasons. Dan Bauer was not a coach who worried about winning, but he was a coah he expected a decent attitude from his players, win or lose. Losing a hockey game is sometimes as hard as losing a piano competition and facing the fact that humans have many talents is easy. Understanding that some people use their natural talents to try fight against goodness, and holiness and righteousness is what naive people fail to combat against.
What I learned in the Greenheck Ice Center was better than anything I ever learned from the Roland Hendrikson family. Dan Bauer showed me I could be accepted in a place even though I was considered 'unacceptable' in other places. My brother John was only one day old on December 11th, 1957 and he struggled for his own life for 48 hours with my mother. Good struggles do not have to include dog fghts, and in my family we had many good water balloon fights, snowball fights and pillow fights. My family was taught how to war with our hands properly, and remain peaceful in spirit to this day.
Fitting into the crowd is tough sometimes, especially when you represent Team 'Israel' on and off the ice. This walk on water takes a leap of faith too!
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