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A good player goes where the puck is. A great player goes where the puck is going to be.- Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky was a great player even as a child. So great in fact that in his hometown the parents of the other hockey players would boo him when he was on the ice.
I can’t imagine booing a child for anything let alone excelling at their sport, but on the other hand I can’t say I’m surprised that people did it either. There’s something about having a child in sports that makes some parents go psycho aggressive beyond all decency.
Eventually Gretzky’s family moved him from the small town they were in to the big city of Toronto. Part of this was because they wanted to help him in his hockey career but it was also to get him away from the crazy environment that had developed in his hometown because of the jealous hockey parents.
Good thing Gretzky didn’t let all the booing get to him and get him down when he was a kid. He didn’t have his eye on where his life was at the time but instead on where he was going to be …and went on to become the greatest hockey player of all time. I bet those parents are really jealous now.
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Yep…great kid for not letting it get him down.
Hi Julie,
It’s a pretty amazing feat in itself that he didn’t let that kind of thing stop him imo. I wonder what the major factor was on him being able to get through it all as a kid, like was it mainly his parent’s encouragement or something within himself?