A great deal of the humor I tend to find myself in revolves around experiences with work or hockey, that I can relate a little to police work, and definitely the husband errors I tend to make that I pass on to those less experienced husbands to learn from.
This past weekend I had the pleasure of witnessing a great hockey game between young 4 to 6 year olds. Invermere vs. Golden. I have a number of friends whose kids play with Golden, so Bev and I attended to watch. It’s a win-win situation for me. I witnessed a hockey ritual, and I learned a great deal about Invermere’s #3, Keira Neal.
A Golden parent was quite vocal and two ladies sitting one step below me were not happy with the pressure and stress that some parents put on the kids. I see an opening to stir the pot. I commented to the ladies that the kids have to learn to deal with pressures and stress or how will they ever survive in the NHL? I later learned these are the Neal grandparents. I advised the ladies that this is a father’s rite of passage. They didn’t make the NHL, their kids will. My opening salvo. I learned of young Keira’s fight with cancer and the fact she plays hockey and other sports with a prosthesis. I focused on her play and was truly amazed at her abilities and skills.
The Golden father was still being vocal and the next thing I see, Grandma is not concentrating on the game but staring over at the parent. I turned Grandma’s head back to the ice and blocked her ears. Her comment back was, “he said get him.” I’m sure he meant it in a nice way. Grandma was getting ticked and she commented, Keira has always told her that it’s all about fun and not whether you win or not. I made the mistake of replying to that statement with “That’s a pretty poor attitude to take with sports, how are you going to get far with that attitude?”
One might be wondering how does this story connect with police work? With my experience I can pretty much judge when someone is about to get physical with me. I read the eyes, the body language and I can prepare to defend myself. However, it was wham, wham, wham, three blows to the leg. She was good, fast, I didn’t see it coming. Have to brush up on my self defense strategy. As I limped out of the arena I thought, good, if Keira has a little bit of that feisty DNA from maternal Grandma, she should bring back a gold medal in the future.
Paternal Grandma, was also vocal but thankfully didn’t join in on the assault. My leg is feeling fine, probably a Tim Hortons coffee, two milk, will make it feel better. (Hint, hint.)
—Marko Shehovac is Staff Sgt. for the Columbia Valley RCMP
