Hello everyone

Welcome Patrick - this is a great place to be for encouragement. Good luck in your training. There's a great event in Galena each year you might find fun. there may be a few of us looking into this one. Site at: http://www.galena.org/triathlon/index.cfm

That looks like a fun one to do. Thanks for the heads up on it, and the welcome. I'll definetly keep it in mind when I'm maknig up a scheduale for the upcoming summer.

hahahhaha, yeah you guys can change my name to "Super Slow Guy"....

Welcome Patrick! What is your background? Are you just getting off the couch or have you dome some other athletic endeavours?

I had been playing hockey for about 13 years, but I have been on a 4 year burnout hiatus. I did some running over the summer, and then just stopped and started drinking and smoking (cigarettes). Now that I have quit smoking I'm back to running, biking, and eatting right again. So I guess you could say that I'm just getting off the couch, again.

hey Patrick,
I played ice hockey on in a women's league a few years ago but also had to give that up due to the same injuries that forced me out of triathlon. I'd love to get back to the ice someday. For now I'll be happy just watching my son play. At 13 he's still using some of my gear, but he's long outgrown most of it.

I hope w're both back on track here.
Ellen

I hope we're back on track too. How long did you play for?

Patrick and Ellen - Ice Hocky YEAH... I grew up in Northern Ontario and lived on skates since about age 2. My dad was a Hall of Fame goalie at the University of Michigan. I didn't know from basketball, football and the like until I came to the States (way too many years ago) - Last hocky gig was for Espositos Pizza place in Morton Grove, IL -in the mid 70's. Here's how old I am - when I was a kid, there were six NHL teams - know which ones?

Great to have you here and I am sure that the toughness that you gained from hockey, with benefit you greatly in the tri's!

Thanks for the encouraging words. And Yes I do know about the Original 6, Old Time Hockey., it dosen't get none better.

yeah, I know the Original 6 I come from the era of the "Big Bad Bruins" LOL nowadays I find NHL hockey a real snooze. I'd much rather watch my 13 yr old son play in his bantam league. I listen to an AM sports talk radio station that I absolutely love. A few weeks ago they had Phil Esposito on promoting his book and he was talking about his knee surgery rehab. I remember that like it was yesterday because he stayed at a friend's house 4 doors away from our house. I was all of 10 years old and we used to knock on the door every day for autographs. He always signed too.

Patrick, I played for 3 seasons before I broke my ankle in '01 (not skating, trail running, the same ankle I had surgically repaired a few years earlier) and I haven't had my skates on since. Now I have arthritis in my knees and won't get back out there until I get rid of the extra baggage I am hauling around. It would just be asking for trouble right now. But the women's league has room for me when I'm ready. I also played in high school......way back when. They were trying to get a girl's team off the ground, this was....'77? '76? Anyhow, since then, the director has turned over control to someone else and it has turned into a huge girls program around here. Sometimes the girls high school team is on after my son and I love to watch them play.
Ellen

That's the great thing about all the "old" time hockey players. They treated the fans with respect and signed everything they could. For instance, my buddy works at a bank, that Stan Mikita goes to, and Stan knowing that my buddie was a new guy told him to bring in something to get signed. I don't think that any players now-a-days would do that.

Anyways, Hopefully you'll get rid of that "extra baggage" you're talking about and lace'em up and skate with your son, or that girls team. Keep on, keepin on.

Well, you should be tough enough from that sport! I grew up in FL and back then it wasn't even on TV. I've been to a few games, but never got into it. I now have an ice rink 3 miles from my house though.

My kids skate at the same rink I skated at as a kid. It was built as an open air rink in the early 50's and since then there has been a battle cry to build a new rink. Over the years there has been a roof built anad something that resembles an enclosure. The "new" locker rooms are now 25 years old and decrepid (sp?) We have no ice from mid March to mid October. When it gets warm outside and cold inside there is so much fog on the ice that the players cannot see and the condensation on the glass keeps them from being seen. Of course the 2 huge fans are useless. We have one of the biggest youth hockey programs in the state and absolutely the worst facility. Can you tell this is a sore spot with me? The fees for this sport are crazy, and I'd love to know where the money goes.

A few years ago an NHL group came to town and wanted to build a double rink facility but local politics sent them running for cover asking what the hell they were thinking. Now the town rec department is trying to raise who knows how many millions to build a new facility, and they're not even coming close. grrrrrrr

ok, deep cleansing breaths.......
Ellen

Geez... gettin' misty eyed here. It's like old home week. I turned off to NHL a bunch of years ago. You Chicago folk may remember Reggie Flemming with the Chicago Cougars - I took my youth hockey team to see the Cougars - dead as ever until Flemming punched out someone - the crowd came alive. (It was our last visit and my last year to coach after dealing with parents who cried for blood from the stands) Oh well - I may be getting "codgerish" - Should have been a Maple Leafs fan in Ontario, but Gordie Howe was one of my Dad's buddies (got him a brief try with the Red Wings as a goalie.) Seems like hockey was more finesse and less fist back then.

When I came to the states there wasn't high school hockey in Vermont back then - I tried to introduce it, but my two best buddies said they weren't going to play a game where I got to carry a stick

What about a winter tri with indoor swim, spin and skate?

Is/was there a Junior B team outta there called the Maple Leafs? Cause your description reminds me of a rink I played at out there.

Aaahhhh, Reggie Flemming. I remember that guy. But not to great.

I know what you mean too about all the parents screaming for blood now a days. Even in the squirt leagues out here. It's nuts. :-( Hopefully they'll relax a little more, nah probably not.

As far as parents calming down, it's in all sports. My bro-in-law is a soccer coach and he says there's be fights and cussing at kids, etc. Sickening.

As far as indoor tri, my local tri group is having one in Feb. Seems like a neat idea and a chance to meet more locals fro mthe group. I am new to the group so don't know any yet.

we used to have one here in the summer that was an inline skate instead of a swim. They stopped having it after it's 4th year. Too bad, it was a lot of fun.

I've been known to tell off parents in the stands. I especially hate when they start yelling at the refs. If you can do a better job, lace up the skates and get your ass out there. If not, shut up and don't get a bench penalty for the team and stop embarrassing me! It's worked a few times, I hope I don't have to ever do it again.
Ellen

Oh yeah, I remember the parents doing that from my team. Man was that embaressing. And it wasn't even my mom doing it! Sure sometimes it necassary, but not very often. So hopefully you wont have to do it ever again TriMom.

I can relate to the irate parents. I would be one if I wasn’t the coach of my boys soccer team!!!

One thing I have always done is get the kids to have a kick around and then meet with the parents and lay down the law. No shouting, kids to every practice, parents to stay on the sidelines not clear off(I’m no babysitter for them) and they have to cheer the whole team and not just there kid (very tough on the kids to have the coach shouting their name out and the parents – they don’t know which way to look.

I always tell the parents that they are the only ones that I will yell at – not at the kids. And get them to imagine what it would feel like for the kid to have the coach telling their mom or dad off!!

So far it has worked!!

Oh – I also tell them my expectations for the kids – and that is to have them return on the last day with as much enthusiasm for the game as they did on day one but also sad that ts the last day. If the kids are enjoying being part of the team then they will carry on playing and that’s what its all about – them enjoying themselves.

You sound like a very cool coach to play for. I had never even thought about that stuff before, but if I do become a coach, I'm gonna borrow your ideas if you don't mind.

Feel free Patrick. Get the parental expectations dealt with and you’ll be fine.

Lets face it – you can’t get hold of their precious little baby and turn them into a world superstar in 8 weeks if they have never even played the sport before. You can let them have a good time and praise them and let them enjoy it – in the long run that’s whats best anyway isn’t it?




I’m not doing a tri best I intend to become world champion. I’m doing it because I want to and I intend to have fun on the way.