hockeyfan Posted October 18, 2007 Report Posted October 18, 2007 An interesting story about a guy in South Carolina....http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/oct/18/go_hockey19413/Like most people in the Lowcountry, I couldn't tell you the difference between a blue line and a clothesline 15 years ago. And like many residents, my first real exposure to ice hockey came in the fall of 1993 with the arrival of the South Carolina Stingrays. Despite being born in Chicago, I had little interest in the game. I'd never played it growing up. Besides the 1980 Miracle on Ice game (when the U.S. Olympic hockey team shocked the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, N.Y.), I'd never really sat down and watched a hockey game on television. Even five years into the Stingrays' tenure, I had been to only a handful of games at the North Charleston Coliseum. In 1998, I became the beat writer for the Stingrays at The Post and Courier, so I had no choice but to learn the game. But as someone who grew up playing football, basketball and baseball, the sport was foreign to me. It was like soccer, only you could fight. For two seasons, I struggled to learn the intricacies of the game. In the summer of 2000, our sports editor thought it would be a "great idea" for me to understand the game better by doing a story on "how to play hockey."I was less than enthusiastic. I was 36 at the time, and you can't teach an old, fat guy a new sport. Or at least that's what I thought. After taking a month's worth of skating lessons at the Carolina Ice Palace, I enrolled in a "Practice and Play" class. I kept telling anyone who would listen that I was a basketball player. Learning to play hockey wasn't easy. It was like learning how to play basketball, but with a small problem. Imagine learning how to dribble the basketball, pass the basketball and shoot the basketball. The only problem is you don't know how to walk, and running is out of the question. Oh, yeah, and you can barely stop, so running into people is an issue. That's what hockey was like the first time I stepped on the ice. It was a humbling experience. But even as I was flopping all over the ice, running into my teammates and opposing players, there was something about the sport that I liked. First, it was a tremendous workout. There's a reason guys don't stay on the ice for more than a couple of minutes at a time. I sweated more playing hockey than I have playing any other sport. Second, I didn't see my skills eroding. As I stated before, I didn't play hockey growing up, so I never knew how good I used to be. I could only see myself getting better and better every time I stepped on the ice. The learning curve for hockey is pretty steep. It's a sport that's impossible to perfect, but you do see results rather quickly. Third, I liked the people I met through the game. Like rugby, hockey is a sport that is as much about the social hour after the game as what goes on when you're on the ice. There is a real sense of camaraderie not only on the ice, but in the locker room as well. Most players over a certain age just want to go out, get some exercise and realize they have to get up and go to work the next morning. Fourth, it's a low-impact sport. Unlike basketball, tennis and racquetball, hockey is not as tough as you'd think on your body. No, that's not a misprint. You're not bouncing up and down, running on concrete. You're gliding on ice, so it's easy on your knees and legs. In addition, most adult leagues don't allow any body contact. If contact is made, it's usually by accident. When I hit 35, I could play basketball once or maybe twice a week, but it took me several days and a lot of aspirin to get back out on the court. I normally play hockey at least twice a week, and even three times is no big deal. My body can take it. There are several players at the Carolina Ice Palace over age 60 who are still out there skating and having a great time. My personal physician had an Achilles tendon problem and had to give up basketball. I suggested hockey. As a native of Kentucky, he was skeptical, but after a couple of lessons, he raved about the sport. So I took part in three or four "Practice and Play" sessions, honing my limited skills, and in 2001, I mustered up the courage to join one of the adult leagues at the Ice Palace. Within a year, I gave up basketball, softball and flag football, and my body is the better for it. My hockey career flourished. In less than two years, I went from a player who could barely skate (OK, some of my teammates still don't think I can skate.) to being named Commissioner and Dictator for Life of two of the adult leagues at the Ice Palace. Not bad for a former basketball player.
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