Skater Boy – Coming of Age Story Part III

Title: Skater Boy – Coming of Age Story

Part III

When Matt and I went to the Corning Ice Rink the next week, I made sure we made it there in plenty of time to talk to whoever was in charge.  A pleasant woman greeted me and listened as I asked for Matthew to be evaluated and placed in a class that was on his level.  (Yeah, the five step Mohawk Matt had taught his "coaches" the previous week wasn’t a clue that he might be in the wrong class.)  She had Matt quickly evaluated and at least put him in a more advanced class.  I was happy but still wondered if the class was too low but again... I didn’t want to be THAT parent. 

As I watched the class I wondered if Matt would test out of it that night.  He didn’t.  The next week he had a different coach.  They worked their way down the clip board and went through the moves at that level.  When it was Matt’s turn, he looked awesome, but for some reason they did not pass him out of the class.  “Surely, next week,” I told myself.  Nope.  New coach, who again, followed the clip board religiously.  I felt like yelling, “What are you seeing that I’m not!”  I was very frustrated, but I tried to remember that these were just nice kids and the program was very inexpensive. 

Toward the end of the program, I had given up.  Each week I began to expect a new coach, would anticipate them being totally blind to Matt’s skill level, and I was certain this cycle would continue until the end of the program for the year.  (Unlike other rinks, Corning is an outdoor rink and can’t stay open past winter.)  Then the second to last week, when yet another new coach, took the ice... something different happened.  I had given up at this point and walked back and forth dully in the cold trying to stay warm.  She barely started teaching the class, when suddenly she skated back to the office.  I perked up.  What was this?  When she returned, she started testing Matthew.  Matthew almost tested out of their entire program that night!  I was so happy!  (He would finish the program the next week:)

The girl, who was still in high school, was very excited about Matthew.  “He needs to go see Stacy!” she insisted.  I didn’t know who “Stacy” was but Matt still had Bob.  The girl wouldn’t take no for an answer.  She gave me a scrap of paper, wrote her name, and number on it.  “If you want Matt to meet Stacy, just let me know!”  “Okay,” I said politely, putting the number in my wallet.  When I got home I told my wife, “Babe, I just want you to know that I’ve got the number of a sixteen-year old girl in my wallet, and let me tell you why that is!”

I promptly forgot about that encounter.  It was far more important than I realized... it was God preparing the next step in Matt’s ice skating career.

That summer I was now proud of Matt’s ice skating ability!  When we went to visit my parents I had them take us to a rink where Matt could show them his skills.  Matt did not disappoint!  Matt did Waltz jumps, shoot the duck, and other cool little tricks, and people around us noticed.  He was so little and so good... or so I thought.  I was fully on board with Matt's ice skating dream!  Matt had made me a believer!

Then the impossible happened!  In the fall Bob got let go from the Elmira Ice Rink program!  I couldn’t believe it!  Worse, Matthew was not getting good instruction under the new leader of the rink.  We felt he was being ignored and we had limited options.  I talked to this new director about getting Matt advanced training.  Her answer to Matt's dilemma was a curt, “He’ll have to move to a big city!"  That wasn’t true but we didn’t know that at the time!  We were all discouraged.  Then I remembered that passionate teenage girl who insisted she had the answer.  Nervously I checked my wallet and there was her number.  I called, hoping her parents didn't think I was a creeper or something.  I asked for her and soon she was on the line.  “Hi,” I said timidly, “I’m Matt’s dad....”  She remembered Matt!  I asked her if she would she tell us who Stacy was?  Of course she would!!  It turned out this Stacy lady was based out of the Ithaca area!  Ithaca!  That was discouraging!  Where Elmira is about an hour away, Ithaca is two hours away!  Yipe!!

Grandma Card came to the rescue.  “I’ll take him up!” she said.  Soon I would get busier and busier in my different jobs and Mom Card would become Matt’s primary driver and companion.  That evening I waited breathlessly for news about the big first night at the rink and what this Stacy woman was like.  Mom Card called late that night and said, “Well....” a large pause, “we’re starting at the bottom again.”  As she talked on, Mom Card explained that Matt wasn’t as good as we thought he was!  In fact, compared to an advanced program he had barely begun!  It was so bad, that unlike the Florida rink last summer, where kids watched Matt in awe, at this new rink the people were unimpressed with Matt.  One woman said harshly to Mom Card, “LOWER students need to stay out of the way!”  Mom Card finished with,“Matt was the worst skater in the rink tonight."  That was hard to hear but it was the truth.  Matt could have quit discouraged but he didn’t. 

This is actually a VERY "Coming of Age" story moment!  In my book, "American Fairytale" this sort of situation happens to the main character, Will.  The young hero has been trained by European experts in pistols, muskets, and the cutlass to an extremely proficient level... for an older boy anyway.  Then he learns his skills and weapons are not that impressive to his long lost father.  Will has to start over again and master new and superior skills, that his father teaches him.  In Matt’s story though, he is not moving toward martial combat, but to perform in the world’s biggest contest for a shot at a gold medal.  Like Will, Matt dug in and began again. 

One time in track a girl from a bigger track program insisted that five step hurdling was just as good as four step.  I told her that wasn’t true.  She thought I was just some hick, rural coach that didn’t know what he was talking about.  I bit back the truth.  It wasn't that her coaches at the big school were worse than I was...  in all likely hood they were vastly superior.  The problem was their program was probably massive, with huge numbers.  Since she was a pentathlete they probably hadn't worried too much about her having perfect 100 hurdle form.  The young lady did good in our program and we got along fine, but she never listened to me about the hurdles.  A young JT hurdle girl, Beth Williams,  told me (soon after the argument with the girl from the larger school), “Well, Coach Baker (a very respected coach at our school) told me to four step too and I think it makes me a lot faster!  I don’t think she is right about five step being just as good!”  I smiled at Beth and really appreciated that bit of faith in Mr. Baker and myself as coaches. It’s hard for an athlete to be told they aren’t that good at something they believed they were awesome at!  The only choice at that point is to learn new skills.  It is a test of your character, a part of maturing, and Matt passed this test with flying colors!

*** Author Adrian Essigmann has eighteen books in print on Amazon.com, soon to be nineteen!  All of them are $.99 cents on Kindle, with the exception of “An Assumed Risk” which will be (Lord willing) an e-book before summer.  All of his books are available in soft cover too!  Type Amazon Adrian Essigmann and his author’s page should come up ***

Book of the Week – American Fairytale - $.99 cents on Amazon Kindle books (paper version is available too) – “This book blends the magic of a Fairytale with historical fiction. Although it is set in the years leading up to the American Revolution, it has an evil wizard, a princess, and other worldly weapons. It is a book that can be enjoyed by the whole family, yet has hidden meanings that an adult will find stimulating.”