It would seem I was not the only one who thought I picked up playing sledge hockey pretty easily. Last night I received a phone call that truly put a smile on my face. It was from the organizer of the sledge hockey program. She said she likes to call all new participants after their first time out to see how they are doing and find out what they thought of it. That wasn't the exciting part though. She'd spoken with all the other staff/coaches and they all agreed that I was already ahead of everyone else in the program. She went on to say, if I'd like to I could switch to the Select Program. It's the next level up from the Skill Development Program which I was currently enrolled in and just one level below the rep team.
Hearing that the staff believe I can play in the more advanced program feels really great. Especially considering the prerequisite for this program is previous enrollment in the Skill Development Program. In the Select Program, players not only participate in all Skill Development exhibition games but may be asked to participate in occasional rep games as well.
Being allowed to move up a level is exciting on its own. However, the skill advancement isn't even the most exciting change. The Select Program is held at a different arena which is much closer to where I live. I'll still have to take the subway and a bus to get there but instead of taking around an hour and a half, it should take me about 40 minutes. Everything about the commute is cut down by more than half. I only have to go 9 stops on the subway instead of 21. Just 8 minutes on the bus instead of 27. Topping it all off with just a 4 minute walk instead of 10.
The long commute had clearly been my least favourite part of my first sledge hockey experience. If I had any other 'negative' feedback from Sunday it would have been the low level of difficulty. With one phone call, those two aspects became exponentially better. I'm even more excited now about getting into the sport than I was before. I can't wait for Saturday when I join the new program.
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