The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXIII

KENDALL REID
ALEX JONES, TEACHER
The Park School, Brookline, MA
Courage in my words may not be the same as courage in your words, but we
have both experienced it. Having courage means being willing to accept a
reality or undertake a task you may be afraid of. We all have different types
of courage to conquer. All that matters is that you are prepared to take a step
of courage in the right direction whenever you are faced with something
difficult or dangerous.
Hockey has always been one of my favorite sports, whether I was watching or
playing it. When I was younger, I would watch the Boston Bruins on TV,
pretending I was David Pastrňák. I started to wonder what it would be like if I
was the only girl among all those boys playing hockey. As I watched—BAM,
CRASH, POW!—I heard all the sounds of the players getting pushed, shoved,
and checked into the boards. My unrealistic expectations for my future in
hockey started to drift further and further from reality. Could my dreams be
possible? I wanted to be an inspirational figure. The type of person who could
forge a path to something big, bigger and greater than what we have today.
As I got older and started watching my older brothers play their hockey games,
I began to grow intimidated by how tough boys’ hockey could get at ages eleven
and up. Although I had already been playing boys’ hockey for almost four years,
my leagues still weren’t as physical as the older teams.
Despite the fact that they are the same sport, boys’ and girls’ hockey have some
major differences. I noticed that whenever I played with boys, they would first
go for my body to block me from the puck, then try to skate away with it. With
girls, it was the opposite. When a girl tried to steal a puck from me, she would
first lift up my stick, then skate away with the puck. Both worked efficiently, but
I prefer not to be checked into the boards by someone who is double my size.
You would think checking is a penalty (it is to some degree), yet sometimes the
referees are so used to rough play that they don’t call many of those penalties.
I don’t know why boys are more physical than girls, but it was definitely
something that scared me. I put those thoughts aside and left them for myself
to ponder later in my hockey career.
When I turned eleven, my decision time had come. Did I want to continue
playing boys’ hockey or switch over completely to girls’ hockey? There was
reasoning behind both sides. If I switched over to all-girls hockey, then my
“FEARS ARE INEVITABLE
IN LIFE, AND THE
ONLY THING THAT
CAN ABOLISH THEM
IS COURAGE. SO
NEVER STOP SHOWING
COURAGE.”
dream of playing in the NHL was likely to end, but I wouldn’t have to endure
the rough play. With boys, it was the reverse. I had made high-stakes decisions
like this about sports before, but this one felt different. It felt like a choice that
would change the level of my play to something better or worse. The decision
was mine. From school, I had learned about challenging myself to my
maximum capacity. But it was so much harder to take the extra step and push
myself when I did not know what the outcome would be. I asked my brother
whether he liked the environment of boys’ hockey or not. It seemed to him that
he still enjoyed hockey, despite his relatively small size compared to his
opponents. This convinced me 20 percent. The other 80 percent was pure
inner courage. I wanted to beat that fear and challenge myself. I didn’t care if
the boys would be mean or tough on me. All I cared about was that I had the
opportunity to take another step towards my dream.
After six months now of playing boys’ hockey, I have concluded that it is not as
bad as I thought it was going to be. My teammates treat me as an equal and
never say any rude comments or insult me in any way. I get a couple of shoves
and snarky comments here and there, but I don’t let it bother me, because I
know that I was the one who made this courageous decision to continue. I am
so glad that I continued, because boys’ hockey plays such an important role in
my life. It applies the right amount of difficulty for me to push myself to
constantly improve, teaching me to cope with challenges life brings me.
I have learned so many lessons from this one decision, too many to list. The
most important one, though, is to always let your courage overpower your fear,
like I did in this situation. This is why so many adults tell you to “be brave!” or
“never give up!” Fears are inevitable in life, and the only thing that can abolish
them is courage. So never stop showing courage. It could lead you another
step closer to making your dreams possible.
THE COURAGE OF CHILDREN: BOSTON AND BEYOND
VOLUME XXXIII
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