Rhys grew up in Wales, so his exposure to hockey was fairly low but he always loved sports. His mom forbid him from playing the country's national sport of Rugby because it was too dangerous, but Rhys wasn't that interested anyway. When he was 5 or 6 he played football (soccer) and was ok at it. His mom was always very encouraging of him but Rhys just wasn't that interested in the sport. Wanting to find her son a sport to play so he could bond with teammates and coaches, one day she took a flier for youth hockey from a grocery store in town and Rhys was immediately interested. The next day, he went to a rink and strapped on some skates for the first time and he was hooked. He was a natural skater and didn't take much coaching to get a feel for it. From his first season he was one of the better players on his team and by high school, many of his teammates and their parents knew that he was going to be playing at higher levels.