The Rediscovery of a Love - Hockey

So, I now bear the title of a "Damn Yankee", but that will never take the North out of me. I have recently discovered a location to play some hockey. Of any of the sports that I have ever participated in, by far, hockey is my absolute favorite. Albeit, the most physically demanding and potentially dangerous sport that I could have selected for recreational play. Yes, I know that there are more dangerous and more physically demanding sports out there. However, as an adult looking to play for recreation and not as an aspiring professional, I can't find it in my area. Additionally, I'll be playing roller hockey.

Personally, I find it interesting that I was even able to find the sport here. Yes, Atlanta has a professional hockey team, but I wasn't expecting to find the facilities or a place with enough participation to play once I moved. Well, I have recently discovered that in the metro Atlanta area, there are exactly three places to play. I have been lucky enough to move to the exact neighborhood of one such location. I am less than two miles from the facility.



Snell Park and home of the South Gwinette Athletics Association (SGAA) are just moments from home.

Please, don't think about the available leagues in the same light as you would down at Neville Island. I've played in a league down there before. They have several leagues for adults. They have the skill levels separated into 4 categories, D thru A. The D league being the entry level league. Well, the SGAA only has two leagues. They have an "A" league for those like me are looking for a recreational league and an "AA" league for those on a more competitive skill level. As it stands right now, I have full intentions of joining the "A" league. However, I will not object to moving up to the "AA" league if I find the competition too lax in the "A" league.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I have a false impression of my skill level. I know that I'm not skilled enough to claim any type of good skill rating. However, I have my apprehension about what skill levels these "southerners" are going to have. I also say "southerners" because there are not many native southern bred people that I have met in Atlanta thus far (mind you my exposure is minor). Therefore, the possibility exists that other northerners with some youth bred skills could be participating. I guess I'll know more after the first open skate.

That is another thing that I find interesting. They call it "open skate". I've always knew of open practice time as "stick time". I can go skate anywhere, but I can only play hockey with other people at very few locations. When I hear open skate, I think of a roller rink. All you do is skate. I guess it is all about exposure and interpretation of the terminology used.

Back on topic. Another difference between the league here and those at Neville is that this league is a draft league. You do not bring a team into the league. You bring yourself. Therefore, the league is providing potential players three two hour blocks of practice time. This way, the teams can be drafted on an observed basis. I look at these periods as an opportunity to shake off the rust. I'm going to need it. I think it has been about 4 years since I actually played a game last. Maybe longer.

Anyway, talking about shaking of the rust. This past Sunday, I decided that I was going to throw on the skates and find my legs again. Well, for the most part, this went well. I even had some help doing so. The neighbor's dog was out and wanted to play with my ball. I figured that I have enough ability with my stick that playing keep away with the dog would be safe enough for it. Well, this did turn out to be true, unfortunately, I didn't have enough skill to keep the ball away from the dog very well. She was faster, more agile, and more determined to get the ball than I was to keep it away from her. I must have been outside for about an hour and I either didn't push myself hard enough or I'm in better condition than I thought because I wasn't even sore (in the legs) the next day.

However, the skate didn't go completely without incident. I discovered that the road in front of my house is not exactly level. There is a bit of a grade that I was unable to perceive by eye or while I was running. This was an unfortunate oversight. I decided that since I'm a defense man that I would need to brush up on my backwards skating. Well, this didn't end well, no, not well at all. It all started in the uphill direction. This worked out just fine as I was able to control my speed for when I was going to switch back forward. Well, during the return trip, things were not so peachy. I was gaining speed and fast. I wasn't even pumping and I was going faster. At this point, I knew I was in trouble. However, waiting to slow down was not an option. After my driveway, there is a steep downhill grade that I enjoy going down forward. However, going backward meant certain road rash. I had to attempt to swap over. No two ways about it. Well, I got to about my mailbox and figured it was now or we're going over the hill. I got my first foot over, but as I was pivoting my body and trying to swing my other foot around, something went amiss. It wasn't pretty. I ended up falling on my left hip and left hand.

Before you ask the obvious question here, the answer is a resounding "No!". Of course I wasn't wearing any protective gear. I was wearing exactly the following (top down - no assumptions, complete list):

• sunglasses
• jean shorts
• boxers
• socks
• skates

Nope, no gloves, no helmet, no shirt, nothing at all that would provide padding.

Well, this fall was not horrible. However, it did leave me unable to continue to work on my stick work. I got a very minor strawberry on my left hip. It was almost not worth mentioning. However, then there was my left hand. Apparently, my first reaction to falling was to break my fall with my hand. I guess some instincts never are completely removed. I learned during my days as a pole vaulter to just land without trying to break the fall. Well, that thought wasn't what was crossing my mind as I fell this time. By the time I knew what I had done, it was already too late. I had my hand firmly planted on the ground trying to stop myself from sliding down the road. The result was that I had some scrapes on the meaty part of my thumb, finely sanded skin (not broken or bleeding, just shaved down a few layers) on the heel of my hand and then the real injury. I had a hole on the palm side of my hand where my middle finger knuckle is. Apparently, it was in this location that I had applied all of my pressure in effort to stop the slide.

While the attempt was marginally successful in that all of my other wounds were minor, this injury was pretty evident. It was the only place on my body from which I was bleeding. This hole was several millimeters deep and has since made holding objects tightly in that hand difficult at best. Even the pressure required to handle a hockey stick as my rear hand was too much contact for this guy. A short period of time after this happened, I had enough for the day. Tomorrow (or today, depending on your standards) is going to be my first attempt at holding a stick again and my first at-speed re-introduction into the world of hockey.

Wish me luck. As I'm sure most of you already know, I'm going to need it.