Big Time Big Player
Our coach’s son sometimes attends our Pee Wee level practices. He’s a goalie, 15 years old, and he’ll get on the ice with our two 12-year old goalies and work on controlling rebounds and deflecting pucks that would otherwise tip in off of a glove or pad. He does it because he’s a good kid, because he can spend an extra hour on the ice with his father, and because he loves hockey.
One day the kids on our team will talk about those practices.
They’ll remember seeing this goalie, knit cap pulled low over his curly hair, firing pucks at them wearing his goalie waffle and glove. They’ll remember the encouragement and whatever small tricks they learned on the ice. They’ll remember when this goalie makes the big time, because he gave his own big time to them without being asked or paid.
I joked with Coach’s Kid a few weeks ago that I wanted to break his story, but this week USA Hockey beat me to the scoop on their web site: Garrett Beckwith made the splash page, talking about tryouts for the National Development Team and playing for the National Championship with the NJ Devils Youth Hockey Club U16 Team.
Before he becomes a big player, Garrett has shown what it means to be a big person. We wish him, his teammates, and his teams, all of the luck they richly deserve.