I've fallen AND I got up...

Mary-Anne's photo St.John's, Newfoundland

Pond Hockey

I have this notion that athletes are good at most sports.

With that in mind I was out the door to try my new hockey skates. I have never been a star skater. The most skating I did was on the creek near our house, that was lovingly maintained by our neighbour Mr. Wolting. I spent most of my time on that rink in hand-me-down figure skates and occasionally stood in net as the goalie for my brother and his friends.

I fondly remember, "skating parties" at the local Kinsmen Arena in Chatham with school friends. I could skate ok and especially better in a pretty sweater, holding hands with the "crush de jour" of grade school.

So yesterday, on the frozen pond near our home in Bradford, Ontario, Canada, I attempted pond hockey in my 40's, after all, this is "my year of living athletically." 

I wore pink hockey gloves, knee pads on the outside of my jeans and my thickest sweat shirt under my winter coat. I felt bundled beyond comfort. I looked strange but felt only slightly self-conscious. Upon reflection, I think I had illusions of taking off my coat and effortlessly gliding across the ice with my Queen's University sweatshirt on, scoring goal after goal.(sweatshirt compliments of Neil while he was pursing his Masters) 

We played parents against the kids. Caleb and Blake were soundly winning and celebrating just like Nail Yakupove, rookie on Edmonton Oilers.  

Skating on the bumpy ice, while handling a puck, was a challenge. My legs were strong, my cardio was fine, my sense of balance... not so great. After about 15 minutes, I was standing taking a break when I simply fell over. It wasn't pretty. I got up skated around a bit and called it a day.

I have a sore left hip as a special reminder of  Sunday's family outing, taking in the great Canadian tradition of Pond Hockey.

This emerging athlete is going to need more than one winter to excel at Pond Hockey.