My Proudest Moment As A Father (so far!)

In honour of this past father's day, I wanted to post my most proudest moment as a dad, so far. Sure there's the usual things, teaching the kids to ride a bike, learn to skate, do the dishes, cut the grass....(OK those last two were a joke) but this moment is extra special to me.

In March of 2009, Andrew was 7 years old and told Jennifer and I he wanted to play hockey. Since it was too late in the current season, he couldn't start until October, 2009; so to give him a bit of a head start, we put him in a hockey camp in Winnipeg at the end of last August. The plan was for him to stay at my dad's and go to camp for a week while Jenn and I stayed home. Just before he left I gave Andrew a good talk about camp, that it would be fun, but it would be a lot of hard work too; he said he understood and reassured me he would do fine.

Well, two days in, we get a call from my dad. "I don't think Andrew wants to play hockey anymore." He was crying on the ice, crying in the dressing room, and making up any excuse he could not to participate. Andrew even said his skates were hurting his feet, so dad bought him new ones, but nothing was helping.

Now, Jennifer and I knew this might happen; and there's lots more to the story than what I'm saying here; but to keep it short; about one hour after dad called I got time off work and booked it to my dad's, I got there just as Andrew was going to bed.
I said "Andrew, I know you want to quit hockey, but you are going to finish this week of camp, because that's what you, me, and mom agreed you would do. After this week, if you still want to quit, that's something we will talk about." He agreed and went to sleep. My dad said, "I don't know what you can say or do to change his mind."

The next morning, I took Andrew to hockey camp myself. He was fine all morning but in the dressing room, I could tell he was getting nervous. (Here's my shining moment....) I asked Andrew if he was nervous because the other kids out there were better hockey players than he was, and he said yes. I said "Andrew, don't worry about anybody else; just go out there; listen to your coaches, do the best you can and have fun." He quietly and confidently said "OK" and headed out to the ice.

I have to say that hour I was watching him practice I was on pins and needles the whole time. Although Andrew has skated before and taken some lessons, he was a horrible skater compared to the other kids out there, and he didn't even know how to stop. Every drill he was the last kid done, and I was just waiting for him to come off the ice all discouraged.

But he didn't.......

He got off the ice and in the dressing room he told me he was happy and having fun! I stayed with him the whole day, they did exercises outside and watched videos of hockey drills and ate lunch. Then he had another on ice practice in the late afternoon which he participated in and did great. I could even see a little bit of an improvement in his skating from that morning. That night we had pizza for supper and let Andrew pick a movie at the video store in celebration of his great day.

The next day, we went up again, and Andrew did great in his morning practice. That afternoon, my dad came up to watch him practice. "Holy shit" he said when Andrew got out there. Dad couldn't believe how much progress Andrew had made in a day and a half. Andrew's coach Larry Bumstead or "Bummer" as everybody calls him, saw dad and I standing there and came off the ice to see us. "Is this Andrew's dad?" When dad said yes, Larry reached over; shook my hand; and thanked me for keeping Andrew in camp. "Look at him" he said. "He's smiling and having fun, just like everybody else." I snuck away from my dad and sat in the bleachers by myself for a few minutes, and while I watched Andrew do his drills with a smile on his face, I started to cry like a chick for about 10 seconds. I was so proud of him. Once I regained my composure; I went back and stood by my dad.

The story get better.

I had to leave Winnipeg and get home to go back to work, but Jennifer was able to go and watch Andrew's last couple of days at camp, including the game they have at the end. Well, during that game, didn't Andrew score a goal! Jennifer said the place went nuts and all the coaches cheered for Andrew and gave him high-fives. I got three phone calls that night about Andrew's goal, one from him, one from Jennifer and one from my dad. One of my friends said to me later "You know, that goal is going to cost you about 10,000 bucks on future hockey fees." I know he's right but I don't really care.

This past fall, Andrew played his first season of minor hockey. Although he is still not the best skater, he works hard out there and he's strong on his skates. He scored about 5 or 6 goals this year (10 or 20 if you ask him) but I really noticed was his development as a defenseman. He was hard for kids to get around, but most of all he had fun and wants to play again next year.

So, why was this my proudest moment? Well, anybody who knows me knows I'm passionate about hockey, and to see both my kids playing minor hockey today is a thrill for me. Also, my dad and Jennifer were there to share the experience with Andrew too. Will Andrew make it to the NHL? Probably not, but if he does this would be one hell of a story. Thanks for reading.