Stories On The Bus

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As an avid follower of local sports and activities, I’m often in the position to be told or overhear interesting stories. I love hearing about the successes of the kids at school or in other activities which they are involved in away from the rink or ball diamond, as it gives me a broader perspective to appreciate what I am seeing out on the ice. How these kids can balance school, hockey, friends and other activites and often excel at each continues to amaze me.

I may share some of these stories over time, but I wanted to begin by sharing the wonderful experience I had yesterday:

Some parents dread long bus trips with kids, just as they do with long car rides, but when it comes to traveling with teams to tournaments or out-of-town games there is no greater bonding experience for them or their parents.

I’ve watched the present Welland Mountainview Homes Peewee AAA Tigers from afar for the previous two seasons, just missing out on celebrating their OMHA Championship with them the year before. I was immediately struck at the great team chemistry they had with one another on the ice as started watching their games. I’ve been around hockey long enough to know what I was seeing was extremely rare. No egos involved, just 18 players playing as one on the ice and no one worrying about who got the credit when they scored or laying blame when they were scored upon.

Now in my third season, I can still say the exact same thing about the team, even with several new faces mixed in the lineup. Seeing them interact with each other on the bus yesterday as I traveled with them to Grey-Bruce was a fantastic experience to behold. From wedgie-wars and headrest-cover football, the kids had a blast in the back of the bus and almost no-one got hurt… Injuries can happen anywhere with kids, and cannot always be prevented no matter how safe you try to make thier environments. Childhood is a time to play and try new things, even if it means getting hurt once in awhile. These kids won’t remember in 20 years how they did in the games after these long bus trips, but they will remember and cherish the friendships made and the funny stories that resulted from them.

Perhaps they will even remember the parent who told them to sit down so that the bus driver could see out the back windows of the bus, even though there weren’t any windows. It should be noted that kids obediently sat down immediately anyway, but it became a source for jokes during the rest of the trip. After several hours in the confined space of the bus, the smells can become quite noticeable. At this point, telling the kids to open the windows at the back of the bus served to lighten the mood when everyone was feeling a little stressed out and tired from the long day.

As is my personal policy on this blog, I aim not to embarrass anyone personally, whether on our Welland teams or our opponents, therefore, I am sworn to secrecy on some of the other goings on, but I can say that I believe everyone enjoyed this trip as much as I did.

In our competitiveness, we sometimes forget why we put kids into hockey. It’s not about seeing them turn pro one day, while that may happen to a select few who are lucky enough. It’s about making friends and having fun, and gaining confidence in oneself while learning the game of hockey. What often happens whenever we try to teach the kids, however, is that we end up learning far more from them in the process. Thanks to everyone for including me in on the ride.

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Filed under 2007-08 Mountainview Homes Major Peewee AAA Tigers, Sports Writing/Commentary

Tags: 2007-08 Mountainview Homes Major Peewee AAA Tigers, Sports Writing/Commentary