Personal Narrative: My Participation In Competitive Hockey

My participation in competitive hockey began ten years ago through the North Bay Girls Minor Hockey Association in North Bay, Ontario. Since then, hockey has become a lifestyle and a major part of my own identity. The first nine years of my hockey career were spent in North Bay as a part of the Ice Boltz team. My obligation to the team and desire to be successful required me to make sacrifices in my personal life. Travelling to games and practices, working out during the summer, and participating in training camps were a few of the extra efforts I made in order to reach my goal of playing hockey at a University level. I made the Midget AA team during my last two years in North Bay, the highest level of hockey offered for girls in our city. Although I was not one of the senior girls on the team, I was named assistant captain because of my work ethic and dedication. That year I took on a supportive role to our captain and became a leader through example. Our team was successful because we highlighted eachother’s strengths instead of trying to outplay one another. My success as an Ice Bolt allowed for an opportunity to play in the Provincial Women’s …show more content…
I was named assistant captain, and I recognized that integrating the new North Bay players with the rest of the Barrie players was a vital step in becoming a team. In order to build deeper connections that did not revolve around hockey, I organized team building and social events. As the team bonded, the dressing room atmosphere and attitude of the players improved. Our greater levels of trust and enthusiasm directly translated into better performance during practices and games. One of the most important skills I learned was learning to collaborate with the different personalities that made up our team. Understanding what motivates different players and how their approach to situations differed from mine made it easier to develop strong