By Billy Villacorta
How to win with the slowest player in the hockey
league
When I was named one of six captains for my hockey
league in my second year with them, it came as a huge surprise for me. I was
inexperienced in being a captain. So I asked a good friend of mine to share the
task with me, thinking he could organize the team’s defense while I took the
offense. This move came as a shock to him, and when he later asked me why I
chose him, I said it was because I trusted him. He told me that he had never
been more motivated playing in a recreational league.
During the draft, when captains have to select
players for their teams, a word came to my mind: unity. I wanted to make the
chemistry and cohesiveness among my teammates the most important aspect for
this team. When the team was set, we didn’t have the best players in the league
or the best goalie. We even had the slowest player in the league — a
70-year-old. However, I was pretty sure our team mentality was so strong that we
could make each other better.
I would speak about the importance of working
together rather than just giving individual performances; that we had to be one
with one another, to work together for the same goal, which was to win the
game. Before one game, I remember saying, “When we’re out on the rink, we can’t
play for ourselves but for one another, because when we do that we have more to
play for. Let’s help each other in the tough situations in the corners.”
I encouraged the offense to help the defense by back
checking, and the defense to help the offense by jumping on the play. Since
communication was important, I told them to talk to one another and build each
other up throughout the game.
We ended the regular season undefeated, and were
getting ready for the playoffs. Again, I tried to help us all focus on the idea
of unity among us, and we were able to reach the championship game. There was a
lot of pressure — expectations were high because this was what we had played for
the entire year. In the end, we won the championship game 5-0, and we
celebrated it the way we began the season — together!
One thing that I learned from this experience is that
we cannot go at things alone. We cannot be afraid to ask each other for help
and aid because this is what God wants from us, to be together as one.
Billy
Villacorta lives in Fayetteville, Georgia. Send your sports stories to
livingcity.ed@
livingcitymagazine.com.
Caption
Billy Villacorta (bottom left) and his team
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