Hockey. One sport that has been around for ages. Unfortunately, if you were to say "oh, I love hockey" to someone, there is an 80 percent chance their response will be "yeah man, I loved the fight last night, they really got into it" (major sigh). Or, my personal favorite is when people hear the word hockey and start to recite the "Miracle" speech. Great history, but not what I was going for. Hockey is more than just your average pick up a stick, bat, racquet, glove, and swing away at a small little object. Hockey can be broken down into so many elements that if you tried to explain it to one person, it would make their head explode. Other sports you can explain very simply. For example, soccer: You want to try to score the ball using only your feet in your opponents net post. Hockey is different in so many ways that one could not understand the coordination and skill it takes to place this sport.
ICE SKATING
Most people would say that hockey is of similar nature to any sport. Definitely not true. A majority of sports have players on their feet ready to move in any position. Hockey has players actively moving on the rink in skates. According to USFSA (United States Figure Skating Association) members, there is a 0.05 percentage of people who can decently ice skate, and we all can figure out that that percentage is composed of either figure skaters or hockey players! Then one has to think about how to start and stop at the drop of a hat— yeah, you think you can totally do that. WIPEOUT!
EQUIPMENT
With the ice skating, a person must be able to put on several layers of padding, obviously because you don’t want that puck flying up and hitting you, well, anywhere. The padding weighs a ton, especially if you randomly want to be the goalie (do not even get me started on goalies, I already date one now), and the player must now be able to pick up a hockey stick and skate. How the hell is someone supposed to do that? Skating is tough and now you are given a stick. Then, you are supposed to shoot this round heavy puck into a net. Now you can add shooting a puck onto the to-do list in a hockey game. The puck travels extremely fast, and if you randomly get hit on the ice, be prepared for some ugly bruises.
There are a bunch of other aspects that go into playing hockey, but starting out with just these two aspects is difficult for over a good chunk of the population. Over the past year, I have grown to admire and applaud those individuals who have the skill set to play this magnificent sport. I’m a collegiate tennis player, and I can even admit what I do is cake compared to what hockey players must endure. Collegiate and even professional hockey players are amazing to watch on the ice because like any professional, they have been working day in and out to perfect that sport. Professional hockey is something like no other. I dare you to go out to your local rink and try to just skate around. There is a 20 percent chance that you will NOT fall, and of course you can always get up. Just remember, hockey players have to always remain active on the ice: you fall, next guy goes in.
