mostly boring
I've always loved sports in general. Not necessarily professional sports, but sports in general. None has ever really meant so much to me as hockey. As a teenager, I skated two miles to the tennis courts daily where many of us converged to play. High school was mostly about what park we'd play in, who was playing, and could we possibly find a second goalie. I played ice hockey (poorly) for several years. The only points I ever scored (3 goals, 2 assists) all came in the same game.
15 years or so ago, at a park in town we were known to frequent, the park was vandalized. We were kicked out of the parks (no skating, no hockey) by town council and the mayor. At the time, my step-father was a member of town council. We were left without anywhere to play. Parents spoke up and we were promised two rinks in town. A bad winter passed and the money was redistributed to new snow emergency vehicles. We stopped playing and a grant was later used to build a skate park for the same skateboarders that had vandalized the tennis courts we were playing on.
I've always tried to still get the rink built, mostly through conversations with my step-father. I have always faced complete rejection. Since I have been employed by the town, I have made my desire for a small outdoor rink known. I found a completely useless and abandoned tennis court that has rotted away and made my case for it. I mostly met rejection. I spent a day this summer cleaning the debris from the court. I spent two days off work after I caught a horrendous case of poison ivy after tearing the trees out.
Today, at the end of the day, my boss called me into his office and told me he was touring the town with the head of the state's green acres program, a park renovation program. The guy saw the tennis court and apparently there are certain standards that must be maintained at green acres parks in order to continue to receive financial funding. The abandoned tennis court violated green acres standards. My boss, because I had been persistent about it, pitched the hockey rink.
Next week I will be starting to mark out a rink I dreamed about 15 years ago. Most of the work will be mine to do, most of it unpaid, but damn if it doesn't feel good to be just that close again.
15 years or so ago, at a park in town we were known to frequent, the park was vandalized. We were kicked out of the parks (no skating, no hockey) by town council and the mayor. At the time, my step-father was a member of town council. We were left without anywhere to play. Parents spoke up and we were promised two rinks in town. A bad winter passed and the money was redistributed to new snow emergency vehicles. We stopped playing and a grant was later used to build a skate park for the same skateboarders that had vandalized the tennis courts we were playing on.
I've always tried to still get the rink built, mostly through conversations with my step-father. I have always faced complete rejection. Since I have been employed by the town, I have made my desire for a small outdoor rink known. I found a completely useless and abandoned tennis court that has rotted away and made my case for it. I mostly met rejection. I spent a day this summer cleaning the debris from the court. I spent two days off work after I caught a horrendous case of poison ivy after tearing the trees out.
Today, at the end of the day, my boss called me into his office and told me he was touring the town with the head of the state's green acres program, a park renovation program. The guy saw the tennis court and apparently there are certain standards that must be maintained at green acres parks in order to continue to receive financial funding. The abandoned tennis court violated green acres standards. My boss, because I had been persistent about it, pitched the hockey rink.
Next week I will be starting to mark out a rink I dreamed about 15 years ago. Most of the work will be mine to do, most of it unpaid, but damn if it doesn't feel good to be just that close again.