I’ve always loved the sport of hockey. Something about hitting a rubber puck with sticks while ice skating caught my attention when I was younger. I thought it was fascinating. For as long as I can remember I’ve been watching Red Wings games on TV, going to minor league games in Flint, and playing mini sticks with my dad. It’s no question that hockey has always been a big part of my life, but I never got to play. I always wanted to, but never did. Hockey is an expensive sport, that’s for sure. That’s one reason I never played, because it cost too much. It’s also a physical sport, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. I’m not the toughest kid around, so I didn’t know if I would be good when it came to the physical aspect of the game. However, I often look back in regret that I never played for a team, as it’s something I’d love to do.

One summer night I was playing Call of Duty when my mom called me into the living room. She let me see what she was looking at on the computer, and it was the Detroit Red Wings Youth Camp website. The camp was upcoming in about a month and it was for all skill levels, so you could join without playing before.

“Do you want to do it?” My mom asked me.

Without any hesitation, I said yes. There was no way I was going to pass up an opportunity like this. The thought of playing at the Joe amazed me. I became extremely excited and started getting all my gear together, but there was a part of me that was kind of scared. I knew I wasn’t very good and I would be playing with kids that have been playing competitively for years. I was too excited to worry about that at the time though. I was too thrilled to play where my favorite NHL team plays.

A few weeks passed and the day finally came. I grabbed my bag and stick, got in the car, and headed to Detroit. I wasn’t too nervous in the car, as I was looking forward to play on NHL ice. We arrived at Joe Louis Arena and parked in the back lot. I remember walking with my gear towards the building, admiring the iconic arena that I was about to enter. My blue hockey bag over my shoulder, my cheap wooden stick in my hand. With every step I took towards the arena, the more eager I became. I was about to play hockey at the Joe.

“You ready for this?” my mom asked me.

“Yeah I think so.” I said.

My parents and I headed through a back door. I was told to sign in at the table and I received my jersey. I looked at the red jersey and took a minute to think. I had my own jersey now. It may be a little thing but it sure felt special to me. I put it on over my shirt and waited for my group to be called into the locker room.

After an eternity of standing around, we were finally allowed to go into the locker room. I walked into the visitor’s locker room and sat down. I started to think about how many NHL greats have sat in this same locker room. About two minutes later, I started to get really nervous. I looked at all the other kids and their high end equipment, and then I looked at my cheap, outdated equipment that I got from a flea market. Right away I knew I was the only one there who didn’t play hockey. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. I was hoping there would be someone else there with the same amount of inexperience as me. I sat there quietly in the noisy locker room waiting and waiting. Everyone seemed to know somebody and I was the only one alone.

About another hour later I watched everyone else start to put their equipment on. I did as they did and I put on my gear. My skates were on my feet, my pads were on my body, and my helmet was on my head. I was ready to go. We sat in the room for a little while longer and then we were told to go sit on the bench.

As we watched the zamboni clean the ice from the previous group, I was super nervous. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up with everyone. I knew I couldn’t skate well and I would look like an idiot who didn’t know what he was doing. I knew how to skate, I just wasn't very good at it. I took deep breaths and told myself I was going to do fine. I remembered what my mom told me, “Go at your own pace and just have fun.” That calmed me down a little bit.

One of the staff members opened up the gate and kids started to take the ice, skating off as fast as they could. I stepped on the ice and started to skate how I skate, slow and careful. I was immediately passed by all the kids behind me, and that’s when I knew I was going to get judged.

As we were taking laps around the ice, I distracted myself from my bad thoughts to look up at the rafters. I saw all the banners that hung from Joe Louis Arena such as Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Nick Lidstrom, and more. The 11 Stanley Cup championship banners were hanging above me as I glided around the rink. I gazed at these and was astonished. Never in my life did I think I would have this opportunity. Never in my life did I think I would be skating on the same ice that so many players that I idolized did. Sometimes life just throws you these opportunities of a lifetime.

We heard a whistle and took a knee at center ice. There we were briefed on what we would be doing, and I realized what I was getting myself into. The first drill consisted of skating as fast as you could from the goal line to the blue line, turning around quick, and skating as fast as you could back. I went to the back of the line so I could watch everyone else do it before I embarrassed myself. As the coach blew the whistle, players skated with such speed that I knew I couldn’t match. Before I knew it, it was my turn. The whistle blew, and I took off as fast as I could, which wasn’t fast at all. I was as slow as a turtle compared to everyone else. I was almost to the blue line when I heard the whistle blow once again. I skated around the cone and was headed back to the goal line. Right after I completed the turn, I was passed by the kid behind me. I felt extremely embarrassed. I then had to stop, which like Luis Mendoza, I couldn’t, so I just dragged the blade of my skate against the ice until I slowed down enough to hit the boards. I don’t know what was more embarrassing, my slow speed or not being able to stop.

The next drill was another skating drill. In this drill you had to zigzag between cones going backwards, and then on one foot. “Great”, I thought to myself. I did the best I could. I fell a couple times, and when I did the ice would mock me. I would get up, shake it off, and keep going. I made it through the first run when another kid in my group showed me how to stop better.

“Do you even play?” He asked me.

“What makes you say that?” I said jokingly.

“Try stopping like this.”

He then showed me a new way to slow myself down. His name was Hunter and I talked to him during the camp. He was the only kid there that I didn’t feel judged by.

We were about to start another drill when I was thinking about how I’ll probably never get to skate on this ice again, so I might as well start to make the most out of it. I started to ignore everyone else and start to have fun. We continued doing drills and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Once I blocked out the thoughts of everyone else judging me, I was having much more fun. I didn’t care how bad I looked, all I cared about was that I was playing hockey at Joe Louis Arena. That’s what mattered.

Our time on the ice ended and we headed back into the locker room, I took off my gear and got some dirty looks from some of the kids. I made sure to ignore them and continue on. I just had one of the best experiences of my life, and I wasn’t going to let some judgmental kids ruin it.

We headed outside the locker room for off ice workouts. Part of me was relieved to be off the ice. As much as I enjoyed skating where the Red Wings skate, it was nice to have my feet back on solid ground. I didn’t feel so judged here because I actually knew what I was doing. We did some exercises for about an hour and then camp was over for the day.

It was August 11th, 2014. Camp had just ended and I walked through the VIP area of Joe Louis Arena to meet up with my parents to head home. While camp was going on, you could hear the rain hit the roof of the arena all day. The rain did not stop. I overheard someone's parent say that I-75 was flooded. I asked my parents about it and they said we were going to have to take a different way home. So we got in the car and hopped onto Woodward Avenue. I caught a glimpse of the freeway, and it looked like a giant dirty swimming pool. There was no way we could take it home so we took the detour down Woodward. The only problem was everyone else in Detroit was doing the same thing. The traffic was horrific. I was becoming extremely bored. We were stuck in traffic for five hours. Five hours to get from Detroit to Clarkston! It seemed like the slowest five hours of my life. Sitting in the backseat of the car on a rainy night was not enjoyable.

As we were driving through dirty Detroit, I reflected on how I made it through camp without ever playing hockey before. I was able to do something I've always dreamed of doing, playing hockey at Joe Louis Arena. It was definitely a challenge, but it was a challenge I was able to overcome. I was proud of myself. It was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget. You should always try to enjoy everything you do, no matter what other people think. Don’t let other people stop you from having fun. Because at the end of the day, it’s not what they think that matters, it’s what you think.