Troy has had a very long few months. He has not loved this hockey season and by November was asking me how many sleeps until hockey was over. :( There has been much bribery going on over the past months to get this little man on the ice and actually participating. He spent an entire practice laying on the ice - I told the coach to just move him off to the side because I was not taking him off. He has collected many new skylanders for getting up at 5am to get to his 6am practices with a smile on his face (smiling because he knew he would get a new skylander if he did it) We've been to McDonalds for breakfast more times then I'd like to admit to reward him for putting in an effort. It has been a constant battle with this kid BUT this past month I was starting to feel like all this encouraging/pushing him to love hockey was paying off. He wasn't asking for rewards, he was actually paying attention to the score and he even started to become aware of when it was his line that scored or that he wasn't on the ice when his team was scored against. He was going after the puck, getting back to stop the other team from scoring and in his last game of the season he actually dove out, stick stretched out, to hit the puck away from an opposing player on a breakaway. I don't think I have ever cheered louder for him then at that moment. He actually cared and didn't want his team to lose. And they didn't... after finishing the season in last place his team won their last game in OT giving them the bronze medal. (of 4 teams but still- it's a step up from last place) Troy was thrilled which meant I was even more thrilled. He came home from that game and pulled out his mini sticks net and wanted to practice more hockey. :) Of course now the season is over... I am scrambling to find a friend for him to join a 3 on 3 team with or some kind of summer hockey league. I want so badly for him to keep up his enjoyment of the sport - especially because he is currently not signed up for any sports this summer. (He gave lacrosse a try for a few years but begged me not to sign him up this year so I didn't) I can only "encourage" him to love one sport at a time. ;)
Ty also played his last game of the house league season this past weekend. This season has been an improvement from last (trying to be positive about this). While his team last year did not win a single game all season his team this year won 4 games but then at the end of the year went on a winning streak putting them in the A finals. Quite the jump for this little team. Ty puts a lot of pressure on himself when it comes to his house league team. He feels when they lose it is his fault for not scoring enough goals. When they win he does take great pride in it though. He feels like a leader on this team - which is great for a kid like him who isn't typically a leader. Unfortunately he is knocked down very quickly - he is an overly sensitive kid and one negative comment or action towards him and he shuts down and has a very hard time shaking it off. Something he is going to have to learn to get over as he gets older. For now he's a ten year old little boy and he's allowed to go cry in his room for the afternoon after his team loses their final game. :(
Being in house league is not his choice so when things go wrong it feels that much worse for him. For whatever reason (in the name of fairness I have to assume) for his teams final game he was taken out of his position of centre and told to play wing. He was so disappointed he was in tears before the game had even started. To him this meant his coaches didn't have faith in him to play centre and lead the team to a win. He was crushed - and his team lost. And just to drive the last nail into the coffin so to speak, the coaches gave out medals to a handful of players after the game and for the second year in a row he was not recognized for his efforts. He is the top scorer but not only that has more assists then any kid on that team. He is the kid that brings music into the dressing room to pump the team up and on the ice we can see and hear him directing traffic - telling his teammates where to go when they seem at a loss. Like I said - he felt like a leader on this team. On this last day though - he cried in the dressing room, then most of the drive home then spent the afternoon in his room. It seems very unfair to me that my kid has to go through this year after year. Maybe this is supposed to toughen him up and make him try even harder - I don't know. I do understand hockey is just a game and that there are much worse things that a kid could have to worry about. I am keeping a good perspective on that but as a mom what I see is my son wanting something he can't have even when he is giving it everything he's got, while he watches his friends get to do what he wishes so badly he could be doing. What I choose to believe is that everything happens for a reason - my kid is not giving up and one day he is going to get what he wants.
Fortunately we do not have to end the season off on such a sour note. Next weekend Ty has his final Select tournament. :) I'm confident those boys are going to defend their championship title once again and bring home the gold. Really looking forward to this weekend. I do love my time at the arenas...