It seems like just yesterday I was scrambling my gear and bags together in my room preparing to leave. Memories, laughter, learning and some deep thought lay between where I sit in Vancouver Airport now and those moments of prep.
In my last update (link) I left off at the end of our 2nd week of camps in Campbell River. After that week we went to Prince George for what was our busiest week of work. At Prince George we had 2 groups of players training with us both much larger than the group of 11 at Campbell River. Here I thankfully had help instructing the goalies from a teacher at a local Christian School. Despite the extra hand I was required to be on the ice for both ice times for both groups plus the staff games. As a result this was easily the most exhausting of all 5 weeks. The camp started on Sunday and by Thursday's end I had logged around 26 hours of ice time. Despite the exhaustion this week's efforts were the source of one of the most rewarding experiences of my summer. Our youngest goalie in this camp was coming out to play goalie for the first time in his life. On the first day he hit the ice he staggered emphatically and often while skating the warmup laps but everytime we hit the ice he progressed. By the end of the week he was able to skate comfortably enough in his crease to consistently move out on his angle without getting out of position. This development moved him from stopping 50-60% of shots in drills to between 80 and 90% of shots by the end of the week. Additionally his hard work paid off in Friday's game where he, up against six other goalies, let in the fewest goals between the two scrimmages. His drastic improvement was encouraging on its own but it was a gesture by him and his parents that really helped me realize the impact I was making in these camps, even with a depleting energy supply. At the end of the camp he and his parents presented me with a Tim Card which had a a few short sentences from his parents that remain incredibly meaningful to me.
Thank you for spending such quality time with R___. His first time as a goalie has been such a positive experience. We appreciate your positive attitude, skill and encouragement for the players.It was in reflecting on this week that I came to realize the incredible impact I could and was having all while having a tremendous amount of fun. R___ and his parents were so appreciative of this camp that they signed up to attend the final week of YWAM Hockey Camp this year in Kelowna but unfortunately it didn't work out that they could attend.
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| Staff and students of the older group at Prince George |
Weeks 4 and 5 of camps took us to beautiful Kelowna, BC. For both weeks I had the tremendous privilege of working with another goalie instructor named Josh. Funny, outgoing, laid back, talented (especially technically) and intelligent; Josh is truly a class act person. He was especially helpful the first week when YWAM Hockey ran it's first ever Elite Camp. At this camp we had only two goalies but there was a drastic contrast between them. One was among the youngest of the campers while the other will be in has last year next year. The elder was amongst the most technically sound goalies we saw in the 5 weeks and the younger excelled in many areas not technical. Josh's technical expertise was especially useful and we worked cohesively together using our contrasting skill sets to improve all the areas of these goalies' games.
Week 4 was not only memorable for being the first elite camp YWAM Hockey has done but for the incredible family we were billeting with. This family of 5 included 2 older boys, who both participated in the camp with us, and a 4 year old daughter. Highlights with this family included a marvelous boat ride (including some AWESOME TUBING) on one of Kelowna's splendid lakes and a night of attempting to do strange things with spaghetti noodles. The noodle incident inspired me to write a rather ridiculous song which I hope eventually to impose over some video footage of the night. For the song go here (link). I'll add the video component if/when I get it done.
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| Josh and I with the goalies from week 4 |
Week 5 bore some major similarities to the week in Prince George. There were two groups of kids going through the camps and the youngest goalie was again playing goal for the first time ever. Unlike Prince George I wasn't required to be on the ice for all of both groups' ice times, but rather I was allowed to be with the younger group through all of the week. It was a real privilege to be able to lead a small group and participate in ball hockey again after having to miss these in Prince George (the Elite camp used a different schedule which didn't include small groups or ball hockey). In this camp the youngest goalie struggled to improve each day. In the first two days of camp he had to try to play in forward's skates which were greatly hampering his ability to keep his balance while facing shots. I explained the differences between player skates and goalie skates to his mother who was able to find him a pair by midway through the week. After adjusting to the drastic change a pair goalie skates does to how you feel on the ice the difference in his play was incredible. The other goalies I got to work with in this week were very enthusiastic netminders who worked exceptionally hard, left room for laughing and created helped out by encouraging the first timer. This hopefully compounded with the efforts of I and the other staff to show Christ's love to the young goalie and his Mom. I'm confident that we've made an impact and planted a seed, hopefully a seed which grows.
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| The Blue Bruisers protecting their goalie in the ball hockey championship |
Wrapping these five weeks up has been difficult especially because of how fast they went by. One thing that I'll take away for sure is that I need to be working in fields that I am passionate about. Coaching, teaching, justice, hockey and music are things that I can identify a passion for and all of these are held in place by my desire to serve God with my life. In the last few days I've been thinking a lot about a quote I've recalled from some of my YWAM training and how I relate to it:
Your calling lies at the place in which your great passion and the world's need intersect.
I anticipate that I will be exploring calling and vocation excessively with my thoughts and experiments in the immediate future. This starts with an audition this Saturday to become a busker in the Toronto Transit System. Please pray for me as I prepare for the first musical audition of my life.
God Bless.
