Us veterans on the team like to keep the younger players on their toes by joking around with them every so often. Nothing is ever cruel or violent, they're all in good fun. It's lightens the mood and let's the new guys relax in a daunting new environment. A couple of seasons ago we hit a new comer with series of pranks one after the other.

We got word of a rookie joining the team, Julio Tokolosh. We were excited, he brought with him a lot of promise and skill. We knew that we wanted to make him feel welcomed and calm his nerves. We met him before training camp, hung out a bit, and then finally got together when camp started. We hit him right away. We were all at breakfast and he got up to get something, so we dumped a heaping amount of salt into his cereal. Our boy almost puked all over the table after he ate it. Next, we had taken his equipment and put it in a freezer and took it out just before we were getting ready. He put on his equipment and everything was frozen and freezing. He had to throw them off his skin before they stuck to him.

It's little, petty pranks, but just something we do to bond with the new players and bridge the age gap.

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