Come July 7, 2011 it will have been exactly six months since my labral repair surgery on my right shoulder. It has been a long road to recovery so far but six months is the full recommended heal time and I was biking since 3 weeks after the surgery and have started running the past 3 months! A lot has happened since Christmas time including my dog being brutally attacked on Christmas day night and under-going 2 surgeries, plenty of pain killers and 2 months of wearing a cone. Sometimes I wish that humans could be as simple minded as dogs. Leo was the definition of a trooper. He would look so sad in his little kennel, drugged up on sedatives but when you came over to pat him the little tip of his tail would go "whap whap whap" on the floor as it was wagging back and forth if he could stand. My dog Leo and I have been on the mend together ever since and sometimes the best recovery is a furry friend!
Needless to say, Leo is back in working order and mentally seems the same happy-go-lucky black lab! As my dog mentor, Cesar Millan, always says, "Dogs live in the now" and "they don't hang on to the past. Humans do." So, it seems very fitting that I am thinking so much about 2010 and how big of a successful hockey year that was for me and then look at 2011 and 6 months have passed and I'm not even sure if I will even be selected to play in a series that is happening IN Vancouver! So, I look to the top of the screen and remind myself of the name of this blog: "Living in the Now" and I need to do just that. I can only control what I can control. The rest? Not up to me!
I have been very fortunate though to be asked to travel with the team as a video tech and to stay close to the team. I spent two weeks in Santiago, Chile filming and training on my own down there. Soon after, I was off to Vienna, Austria to film 4 games a day at the Champions Challenge II. Right after, a two-week trip around Italy? Talk about living in the now. I have to remember just how lucky I am and how fortunate I am to get to travel so much as part of my "career." Though it may not be your typical lifestyle or 9-5 job, it certainly is part of my career path. Everything I have done that has been related to hockey seems like it is just for hockey but when I think about it? Every experience has its purpose.
One of the best things that I can say about my UVic Vikes experience is that not only did I learn how to be a student-athlete but I learned so much about myself: how I learn, how I function and all the little details that will help me in life. Whether it be time management trying to get from class to practice or working with others, somehow it all seems so applicable to the "real world." My coach at UVic, Buzz, used to always tell me after I would complain about all the little technical hockey skills we were practicing, "Ali, these are all tools you can put in your tool box and you may not be able to think of a time in a game when you may need them but just wait. You will be in a situation and your muscles will take over and pick out the right tool from your tool box."
That's just what life is. It's a giant tool box and the more open you are to new experiences and meeting new people the more tools you gain to put in your toolbox for down the road! That's exactly what hockey has been for me. It has been a sport that has pushed me mentally and physically to limits I never thought I could over come. It has been a sport that has introduced me to organizations and people all over from dealing with the Canadian Athletes Now Fund fundraiser events to earning sponsorship from Penn West Exploration. It truly is a humbling experience that I have to remember not to take for granted!
Recently graduating from University with a B.Sc. feels absolutely incredible. Sure, everyone can make the "it took you seven years" joke but I am so proud to say that I DID complete it and also while dedicating so many hours to the team and on the pitch! It is definitely a bigger deal than just graduating. It is a stepping stone to the next stage of my life and hopefully I'm still on the uphill.
Needless to say, Leo is back in working order and mentally seems the same happy-go-lucky black lab! As my dog mentor, Cesar Millan, always says, "Dogs live in the now" and "they don't hang on to the past. Humans do." So, it seems very fitting that I am thinking so much about 2010 and how big of a successful hockey year that was for me and then look at 2011 and 6 months have passed and I'm not even sure if I will even be selected to play in a series that is happening IN Vancouver! So, I look to the top of the screen and remind myself of the name of this blog: "Living in the Now" and I need to do just that. I can only control what I can control. The rest? Not up to me!
I have been very fortunate though to be asked to travel with the team as a video tech and to stay close to the team. I spent two weeks in Santiago, Chile filming and training on my own down there. Soon after, I was off to Vienna, Austria to film 4 games a day at the Champions Challenge II. Right after, a two-week trip around Italy? Talk about living in the now. I have to remember just how lucky I am and how fortunate I am to get to travel so much as part of my "career." Though it may not be your typical lifestyle or 9-5 job, it certainly is part of my career path. Everything I have done that has been related to hockey seems like it is just for hockey but when I think about it? Every experience has its purpose.
One of the best things that I can say about my UVic Vikes experience is that not only did I learn how to be a student-athlete but I learned so much about myself: how I learn, how I function and all the little details that will help me in life. Whether it be time management trying to get from class to practice or working with others, somehow it all seems so applicable to the "real world." My coach at UVic, Buzz, used to always tell me after I would complain about all the little technical hockey skills we were practicing, "Ali, these are all tools you can put in your tool box and you may not be able to think of a time in a game when you may need them but just wait. You will be in a situation and your muscles will take over and pick out the right tool from your tool box."
That's just what life is. It's a giant tool box and the more open you are to new experiences and meeting new people the more tools you gain to put in your toolbox for down the road! That's exactly what hockey has been for me. It has been a sport that has pushed me mentally and physically to limits I never thought I could over come. It has been a sport that has introduced me to organizations and people all over from dealing with the Canadian Athletes Now Fund fundraiser events to earning sponsorship from Penn West Exploration. It truly is a humbling experience that I have to remember not to take for granted!
Recently graduating from University with a B.Sc. feels absolutely incredible. Sure, everyone can make the "it took you seven years" joke but I am so proud to say that I DID complete it and also while dedicating so many hours to the team and on the pitch! It is definitely a bigger deal than just graduating. It is a stepping stone to the next stage of my life and hopefully I'm still on the uphill.
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