Mad in game mode!
I went to watch my stepdaughter play hockey the other night and had a blast watching the game. Madie lives with her dad and I full-time, she's 16, and like me, started playing the game later in life (she started at 13 and I started at 45, not really the same thing, but for kid's hockey she started late, just as I did for adult hockey). She plays in the Scarborough Shark's house league system in Toronto and it's the right level for her skills and interest. She enjoys the camaraderie that team play brings, as well as the exercise.
As a kid, Mad's parents signed her up for the usual T-Ball and soccer, but ever since she was little, Mad's been a kid to follow her own path. She was the kid out there picking the dandelions or looking for bugs, completely oblivious to whatever game was occurring around her. Because of her undiagnosed ADD and learning disability in her childhood, she had a tough time following rules and verbal instructions, which made organized activities a disaster. That her brother was a natural athlete and highly competitive made her even more adverse to getting involved in sports, especially hockey, which was/is his primary game. Compounding the problem was her parent's acrimonious divorce, which resulted in Mad and her brother becoming a "pushmepullme" in their parent's vastly different parenting styles, as well as geographical locations. Organized sports are difficult to maintain when you're away from home every other weekend and for a month in the summer.
Once I came to live with John and the kids, things started to fall in to place for Mad. As a teacher, I recognized her ADD and learning disability and those issues were dealt with appropriately. Once she was on an even playing field with the rest of the world, Mad began to slowly realize her own potential. She eagerly signed up for adult beginner hockey lessons with me (since she's 5'10", she easily passed for an adult and she didn't want to learn with little kids). Because I was a beginner, she felt at ease with making the mistakes that beginners do and she no longer felt she was being compared to her brother. After a season of lessons, I found the Scarborough Sharks for her. It was one of the few House Leagues in Toronto that didn't play on the weekends (at that time she was continuing her visitation schedule with her mom), thus finding a league where she could play during a week night was great. John, her dad (my husband), signed up as coach which allowed him to help Mad even more, since when she started, she was mostly playing with kids who'd played for years. John could give her tips from the bench on positioning and how to avoid going offside (it took her awhile to get this rule, but then again, I know adults that I play with, who still struggle with it). She took to the whole thing like a duck to water and has never looked back. It has given her a whole new confidence that can be seen in her attitude to school and other extra curricular activities.
Mad (#13) muscling a player off the puck
Mad stickhandling
Coach John
Mad (#6) playing rugby
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I'm not saying that hockey is the only reason that Mad is the successful student and athlete that she is today. The road has been a long and twisting one and certainly has much further to go. The person who is the most responsible for Mad's success is Mad, she has proven to herself and the rest of the world that she is incredibly tenacious, simply because she believes if she tries hard enough, she'll get it. So now Mad is an honour student; a hockey, golf and rugby player; as well as member of the school newspaper and writer's club. Not too bad for the kid who picked the dandelions!
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