I remember at the age of six years old waiting at my house every day after school just waiting for my dad to say the words “Sara it’s time to go to hockey.” And with that, I would run to put my shoes on and rush over to the rink because all I wanted to do was go to the rink to play hockey. I was like this because of a coach named Nick who made me love the sport that has shaped me into the person I am today. 

Coach Nick started as my Learn to Play Hockey instructor at the Mullett Ice Center, and he always was so energetic, happy, kind, funny, and made playing hockey extremely enjoyable.

As I grew up I went through the Arrowhead High School youth program, Coach Nick was the director of the youth program and ran most of the practices. At these practices, he would push me to become the player that I am today. He always made sure that I was executing everything to the best of my abilities and made sure that I wasn’t developing any bad habits along the way that would affect me while playing against others. As I said earlier Coach Nick helped push me to become the player that I am today who is an extremely hard worker who practices 110%, a player who leads by taking what he has taught me and is teaching some of the girls that are on the high school team, a Captain of the Girl's Varsity Hockey Team at Arrowhead, a player who has gotten a defensive MVP award, and he also helped me commit to playing division three hockey at MSOE.

I am also extremely grateful that I was able to be taught by Coach Nick year-round because he has his own company called Hockey Factor Academy. During the winter, spring, and summer he has camps where we would train on the ice as well as off ice. These camps really gave me the ability to learn more about the game of hockey and improve my game IQ as well as skills. I also learned how to work hard, and he would always skate by and say “head up” almost 100 times a practice which is how he taught me to keep my head up while stickhandling and shooting which is a crucial part of playing hockey. Coach Nick made so many memories with me from all of the camps that he taught me in, spending time with me in the shooting room, and coming over to shoot in my backyard while eating brats with my father and me.

Throughout my years of playing hockey as well, I had my times when I would be in my head, and perform horribly, but Coach Nick would find time out of his extremely busy schedule to have a private session with me. In these sessions, he would also help me get out of these mental blocks and stop me from being so hard on myself. He would always tell me that I needed to get out of my head and that I was having a battle with myself and myself only. Whenever I would get nervous about an important game or showcase that I would play in he would always help find a way to make me feel better and less nervous about those games or showcases. 

Without Coach Nick's help, I wouldn’t have become the confident player that I am today, who loves to play the sport of hockey, and I want to thank him for giving his time and energy to helping me be who I am today.