Login

dnL · 03-02-2017, 02:29 AM

Brotherly Love
A Player's Tribune Article

By Halfdan Thorstein

Competition - it's why we all do it. It, being everything. Sports, entertainment, careers - it's all about competition. Some of us are better in certain aspects, and others are better in other aspects. I, for example, may be a pretty decent hockey player, but put me in a kitchen and the only result is a burned and sloppy mess.

For most of us, competition drives us to improve. It's no secret that a lot of fantastic hockey players grew up in a house with another one or more hockey players. Anecdotally, it seems the youngest in the family develops the best skill, compared to his or her brothers and sisters. I'm no exception. I know brotherly love.

I recently wrote an article about my brother - about his influence on me and our country's program before his death. That article led directly into this one, in my mind. Brotherly love - direct siblings or not - results in optimal performance in almost all aspects of life, including hockey.

It's a bold claim - I know; I can only speak of my experiences, and the experiences of my friends and family. But the competition between family members is a fantastic catalyst to growth in a sport such as hockey.

I grew up in a fairly small city in Europe; my neighborhood consisted of my family, a few friends my age, a few older kids, and a few cousins. Our free time in the winter was spent on the rink - myself, my brother, our friends and their brothers and sisters, our dad (and sometimes our mom), our aunts and uncles, and our friends' aunts and uncles. Having such a tight-knit group of people to play with was essential for my growth, and the growth of my brother, and everyone who played. Brotherly love helped my improve.

You see, playing hockey against and with friends and family - both older, younger, drastically older, and those just starting fresh - is tremendously important for a young player. Playing with such a group is both comforting and nerve-wracking for a young player. We do not want to be vulnerable, but instead be confident players on the ice. We want to contribute to that brotherly love.

For someone young and new to the game, and even one with experience, playing in a comfortable situation both tests and improves his/her skill whilst simultaneously provides reassurance. A close friend; a brother or sister; an aunt or uncle; mother or father; playing with someone who has no fear or remorse for showing the error of a players' way, but doing so in an encouraging manner, is an extreme benefit for a lot people.

Try to force a pass when you shouldn't? Friends or family will intercept and capitalize, throwing in a few chirps. Find yourself in that same situation a few moments later? Learn from those chirps, make the right play, and take the congratulatory remarks from those same people that you trust. We call that brotherly love.

Try to walk into the zone with an open winger? Friends or family will body you off of the puck, transition through the neutral zone, and get a solid scoring chance, whilst chirping. Next time, you don't make that mistake. Brotherly love strikes again.

After hundreds of hours playing against bigger, stronger, more skilled opponents, a player learns tremendously how to play the game. Head to team practice, or the next game, and learn from those experiences to make the best play - and do so successfully. If you don't make the best play? You know your brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, friend, or cousin will be right there, at the end of the game, to both chirp you and encourage you to make the better play next time. Brotherly love once again makes us feel both vulnerable and more educated for our next encounter on the ice.

But what about those players who don't have a family support system? Those players that don't have a brother or sister that plays, no local aunts, uncles, or cousins? That's what sets hockey apart from the other sports, in my opinion.

Brotherly love has no blood requirement.

One of the greatest aspects of this sport is that no matter who is playing, we all have a brother or sister to support. When I was very young, a girl my age and her mother moved into our neighborhood. We all talked about how great hockey is, and how we were going to be the next great hockey players in the world, and encouraged young Elise to play with us. She had never played before, but through our encouragement and gentle chirping, she started to develop into a very good hockey player. Once she accepted our love - the first step - and gained confidence and started learning from us, she naturally developed into a solid player. She was playing with a group much more skilled than her, who showed her how to make the best play. When she didn't? Some nice, solid chirps and explanations why it wasn't the best play. When she noticed we made the wrong play? Solid chirps, from her, questioning why we didn't make the best play. Last year, she led our country to the women's national silver medal.

That's the culture of our sport, in my opinion. I've never met a player that would not have taken part in anything that would show otherwise. Hockey players and families have this innate ability to be inclusive to all, to help grow those less skilled, and learn from those with higher knowledge of the game. We all have the brotherly - or sisterly - love, that will continue to make this game the pinnacle of athletics and teamwork.

Even you, reading this article, will eventually impact another person's life on or next to the rink. And those other people? They'll learn sisterly love, and continue the tradition.

~985 words

Anders157 · 03-02-2017, 12:03 PM

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us