Speaking
of Sports 

by
Lance J. Lilla

 
A great escape for
Novi Varsity Hockey

January 9, 2012

To many of us in Novi, it has been made known that there is an annual trip in which a bus is taken to Calumet in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula targeted at creating unity and team bonding amongst the young men involved with the Novi Wildcat’s Varsity Hockey Team. To many of us in Novi, that is all this trip means. As for the individuals on the varsity squad, this trip holds a much more substantial meaning. To them, Calumet is a place for escape, a place for reflection, but most importantly, a place for growth.

Being the birthplace of professional hockey, Calumet is the epitome of what is needed to instill inspiration and passion into a player of the sport. Logically, that is a sound assumption to make. Though, through life, many of us learn there is no such thing as a safe assumption and to remove naivety due to the never-ending possibility of anything. Within the last few days, the Novi Wildcats varsity Hockey team has been together 24/7 taking on opponents, coping with the frustration of loss, enjoying the celebration of wins, and learning everything there is to know about their teammates.

After debriefing players on the team about their time spent in Calumet, I have also learned quite a bit in relation to the varsity team. It seems that what appears to be the setback is that there is not a strong desire to, once again, be the best in the state.

“There needs to be some passion,” says senior Curtis Herzog.

Okay, simple enough. You say, “Lets inspire these boys to succeed!” The downfall with inspiration is that there is no shelf in any store in the entire world in which you can find it sitting there, waiting to be picked up and purchased and consumed by man. A price will never be placed on it. It’s not that easy.

According to Herzog, “It’s hard to make people want it. It’s intangible, it has to come from within.”

So, where does this leave our returning state champs? Some would say in a bit of a downward spiral at the moment. Factually speaking, that may be correct. The ‘Cats have been walking away from their most recent battles with more losses than wins. Pushing that thought aside, one could still have faith in the team but the blatant truth is that having faith in a team won’t make them succeed, for they must have faith in themselves to make anything great out of their team.

We’re left hoping. Hoping that over these last few days the varsity squad escaped a world filled with what other people want and discovered what they want, hoping they reflected upon themselves from all possible perspectives, but most importantly hoping that they grew to become something better than what they were before their departure.

(c) 2011 Novi Information Network
www.novi.org