Bad Blood
In snowpants that made me look like the Michelin man, I wobbled to the foldable chair at the edge of our pond. The ice was slick and the sun's rays blinded my eyes. Partially submerged islands on either side of the pond sprouted large pine trees. Boulders piled on one of the islands tumbled until they became prisoners to the ice’s grasp, setting the scene for our soon to be battle. Hockey was more than just a game for us. It was war. The flannels under my snowpants were agitating me, so I sat down and rolled them up. Dead skin collected under my nails as I scraped my legs. The base layer of wool was necessary, however, to defend against frostbite. Readjusting my bottoms so my socks covered the base of my pants, I created an impenetrable layer against the snow. I forced my skates on and began to pull firmly on my blood stained laces. The mixture of the cold and the pressure of tying my laces caused my dry, cracked hands to reopen. Red droplets dribbled down the valleys of wrinkles in my hands and stained my powdery white skin. Once I was satisfied with the tension around my ankles, I wiped the blood onto the snow, a mini murder scene, and pulled my gloves on quickly. I blew on them through the cloth and tried to reheat the frozen fingers. It was imperative that my hands stayed warm, so I could grasp my
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My older brothers were already on the ice. Tyler's lanky frame glided in circles around my stocky brother, Monty. Tyler was quite serious about hockey and even had specialized gloves. Monty, on the other hand could never quite master the craft of skating, and preferred to stumble across in mammoth boots. He slipped, but not much more than I did. Dad had given me lessons in skating techniques, but I still had not mastered the proper hockey stop. This resulted in frequent faceplants in the snow or the occasional tackle of a teammate. Even as 7,8 and 12 year olds we were proficient enough to give the teenagers some
In the book “The Boys of Winter” by Wayne Coffey, shows the struggle of picking the twenty men to go to Lake Placid to play in the 1980 Olympics and compete for the gold medal. Throughout this book Wayne Coffey talks about three many points. The draft and training, the importance of the semi-final game, and the celebration of the gold medal by the support the team got when they got home.
Success is not given, it is earned. Waking up for a 5am skating practice is nobody’s ideal Wednesday morning, especially for a hormonal teenager like myself. However, satisfaction of landing a new jump or learning a new spin does not come from letting our ‘wants’ buyout our dreams. “By the time we’d finished, we were amazed at how much the book had taught us: about ourselves.” I don’t always succeed, nor do I always expect to. Throughout all the morning practices and late night workouts, failure is something I have learned from. I remember giving up on myself countless times after falling on a jump or not turning my edges properly, as if I had ‘writer's-block,’ feeling completely numb. Nevertheless, succeeding was the easy part, it was learning to grow into the 6 year old singing, confident, child again, and defeating the numbness. I have learned, along the way, people are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your hard work. However, it is the end product that matters. It will be I who knows how to complete a program, or I who knows how to work hard. Staying focused as the athlete I am, not letting people side track me, builds the confidence to know ‘I finished the
SOI-The purpose of this creative piece of writing is an entry from one of our hockey games from tournament. I have tried to use a connection to compare battle or war to hockey, to make the story become more brutal and realistic. I have written in first person to show that it is in my perspective and what I recollect from the game.
After being mesmerized by figure skating at the age of eight, I became a member of the Markham Skating Club. As a competitive figure skater, I must perform various jumps and spins in a choreographed program. I have participated in numerous competitions in Central Ontario and have received multiple medals for my achievements. Yet, my achievement as a figure skater stem from the adversity that I faced throughout my skating journey. This sport has imposed challenges to both my mental and physical strength that have ultimately constructed the qualities of dedication and humility within myself.
In Act 1 of the play Blood Brothers, we learn about the different circumstances certain characters are put in such as Mrs Johnstone, who is forced to give one of her twins away to her employer, Mrs Lyons. We learn throughout act 1 about how this decision impacts all of the characters in one way or another. We are also introduced to the two main characters, Mickey and Edward who are the twins which were separated at birth, and who soon become best friends, ‘Blood Brothers’, after meeting for the first time.
Physical Aggression This behavior consists of hitting, punching, slapping, pulling hair and pinching. Functions cited as task avoidance, denied access, attention or without clear antecedent. Recently at a graduation party, Alexis was upset that attention was going towards the brother and not her. This resulted in Alexis getting physically frustrated with mom by attempting to hit her. Staff member had to use verbal re-direction such as “Calm hands Alexis” to re-direct her from expressing any further behaviors.
As more of my teammates began to show up, I recognized most of them. However, I learned later that if I went on to play in the Spring, this would not be the same exact team I would play with. With only twenty minutes until we began,I put on all of my gear and my dad gave me a thorough warm up. Time seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, everyone was gathered together as positions were being assigned. I was originally overwhelmed with excitement, but as the game drew closer, the joy I had felt was replaced with anxiety. The lacrosse game taking place before ours ended and we entered and took our place on our bench. I recognized the opposing team’s jerseys quickly and identified them as a travel team from our area. Taking one final breath, I rushed into the lacrosse net enjoying my bird’s eye view, unsure of what was to
Bad blood is a book that was written James H. Jones who is an associate professor of History. The book narrates on how the government through the department of Public Health service (PHS) authorized and financed a program that did not protect human values and rights. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment which was conducted between 1932 and 1972 where four hundred illiterate and semi-illiterate black sharecroppers in Alabama recently diagnosed with syphilis were sampled for an experiment that was funded by the U.S Health Service to prove that the effect of untreated syphilis are different in blacks as opposed to whites. The blacks in Macon County, Alabama were turned into laboratory animals without their knowledge and the purpose of the experiment
Coffey, Wayne R. The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. New York: Crown, 2005. Print.
This movie accurately portrays the events leading up to the game and how the underdog, The United States Men’s National Hockey Team, overcame a lack of talent, size, and experience to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Legendary head coach, Herb Brooks, coached and conditioned his inexperienced team to play fast and tough on the arena. The teams known lack of experience caused them to be majorly overlooked. There was low expectations for the team leading up to the Olympic tournament. To make matters even worse, the American team suffered a 10-3 loss during an exhibition game in New York City against the USSR, who had won the previous four gold medals in ice hockey. The team’s motivation shifted completely during their first game of the tournament when they made an upset comeback against Sweden in the final 30 seconds of the game. Following this game, the team played the rest of the tournament with an impressive record of 4-0-1. The “miracle on ice” as they say, mostly stems from the semifinals, where Team USA played Russia. Surprisingly, the young team managed to hold their own throughout the game, and before they knew it, they were winning. With 10 minutes remaining in the game, the American team found themselves in the lead. They knew the only way they could hold their lead was through relentless effort and
captive by a sheath of frost, as were the glacial branches that scraped at my windows, begging to get in. It is indeed the coldest year I can remember, with winds like barbs that caught and pulled at my skin. People ceaselessly searched for warmth, but my family found that this year, the warmth was searching for us.
A blast of adrenaline charges throughout my body as I experience the initial drop. My body's weight shifts mechanically, cutting the snow in a practiced rhythm. The trail curves abruptly and I advance toward a shaded region of the mountain. Suddenly, my legs chatter violently, scraping against the concealed ice patches that pepper the trail. After overcompensating from a nearly disastrous slip, balance fails and my knees buckle helplessly. In a storm of powder snow and ski equipment, body parts collide with nature. My left hand plows forcefully into ice, cracking painfully at the wrist. For an eternity of 30 seconds, my body somersaults downward, moguls of ice toy with my head and further agonize my broken wrist. Ultimately veering into underbrush and pine trees, my cheeks burn, my broken wrist surging with pain. Standing up confused, I attempt climbing the mountain but lose another 20 feet to the force of gravity.
There are two types of abuse. Google’s definitions of abuse is the cruel, violent treatment of someone or something, or the improper use of something. There’s always a result after one has been abused. Abuse is either done physically and/or emotionally. To me, abuse is overusing something in a wrong way or treating someone or something horribly.
Falling in love with someone is supposed to be one of life’s greatest gifts. People fall in love, get married and have children. Sometimes life is not that simple for some people. Sometimes during this great time in their life, their partner becomes physically, mentally, and sexually abusive. So one would ask, why not leave and get out of the relationship? It is not that simple for the victim. Fear of their partner’s actions, concerns about their children, and their deep attachment to their partner are factors that cause people to stay in abusive relationships.
OUCH! My leg crippled with pain. I tried to shuffle my way to the window, but it was excruciating. As my senses kicked back in, I felt pains shooting up and down my body. Peering down at my hands I screamed. My hands were covered in cold, congealed blood.