Kurtis Weber

Mrs. Godfrey

October 2, 2019

Leadership Studies

My story

One day when I was just a young kid, about 6 years old, my grandfather picked me up

and threw me in the passenger seat of his white jeep. He was taking me to go ice skating at the

old Kennedy rink in hyannis. I had never been able to skate before because I was simply not

interested in playing hockey. When we got there he tied my skates and we hit the ice for the first

time together, and the first time for me ever. It was not the best showing of my best skating

skills. I was not able to skate the whole hour we were there. It was disappointing to my

grandfather, but he would never give up on teaching his grandchildren how to skate. He knew

that Hockey would teach me important life lessons. One, how to work at a goal. Two, how to

receive criticism. Three, how to commit to something. Four, how to overcome adversity. Lastly,

how to grow from these lessons you learn and take them into your life.

My grandpa would come every wednesday after that to pick me up and take me down to

the rink to skate. I was young, so I only remember a few things from my ice skating lessons with

Papa. I recall on our third trip to the rink he asked me, “if we figured out skating would you play

hockey?” Of course I replied with a yes. He then explained his experiences playing hockey, his

good times and bad ones. But he ended the car ride with one sentence I have not forgotten to this

day. “It was not always easy going to practice every day, getting hit real hard, or getting yelled at

by the coach. But my best lessons, moments, and friends all came from playing hockey.” It
struck me, lightning bolt right to the head all the way down my back to my feet. I had to play

hockey after that, after those stories, those moments, I yearned for that.

My first year of hockey was one I will never forget. My grandfather took me to most of

my games that first year, as my parents were really busy with work and college process with my

sister. I was not always the best player but I always tried my hardest and with that came

moments of greatness. After every game my grandfather would do his part and criticize some

decisions I made on the ice, or penalties that I got. I did not love the criticism, but I listened. He

would always tell me that “I am only criticizing you because I want you to be a good player, not

because I am mean, I want you to be a good player” With that being said before every criticism, I

listened. As a hockey player I grew that year, we did not have the best team and I was not on the

top level team but there was growth. I grew from the criticism, I learned how to take criticism.

Hockey after that first year was what some would say “A grind.” I earned a spot on the A

team, in the rest of my youth hockey career. The first year I was on the A team, It seemed I did

not belong there yet. At least I thought so, as I was not the best on the team but fit in somewhere

along the middle of the lineup. I worked very hard to compete and keep up with my fellow

teammates. I showed up to every practice, every game, just anything to help make me a better

player. Overtime I eventually got better and made my way up to the better half of the teams I was

on. But it all came to a halt when I was 13. I had been hit hard during a game, as a result of the

hit I separated my shoulder and broken my collarbone.

The start on the road to recovery was to sit and wait while everything healed. Then weeks

later physical therapy was the next step. After hours of being in the gym trying to restrengthen

my shoulder I was finally ready to get back out on the ice to finish my last season of youth
hockey. I went out and finished off the season with my team winning our league championship,

and finished second in New England regional tournament. It was the ending I was hoping for

when heading into high school hockey next year.

That Off-season I was able to realize how much the physical therapy and time in the gym

helped. It wasn’t what I wanted to do but it was the best thing for me. The realization I had from

this bump in the road was that anything can be obtained from working hard. I also realized that

these were the lessons my grandfather was talking about. You learn from hockey, from the

different experiences that happen along the way. You learn to work with a team at a common

goal. You learn when you get knocked down its okay just get back up again. You learn that hard

work will help you attain your goals.

Thank You