Me? A role model?

For some time #14 has been telling me about his 8 year old niece, Kelly, who is is evidently very intrigued by the "girl goalie" who plays on his hockey team. A few times he's mentioned that she might come watch us when we were playing outside on Sunday mornings, but it never came to be. I've become curious about this little girl who by #14's account could do with a "positive female role model", and though I had the chance to meet her on Tuesday night, I unfortunately didn't get the chance to talk to her in person.

Tuesday night was another "matinee" game, and #14 said she'd be there with his parents, and he asked if I could go say hello to her before the game. I told him absolutely I would do that, but I feel bad that things didn't turn out that way. I was at the rink early as always- even earlier this time because I needed my skates sharpened. But when Kelly arrived I was probably already in the locker room, my mind occupied by the fact that Goalie Husband wasn't there yet, and worried that he might have overslept. By the time he arrived and I was reassured, #14 realized he'd forgotten his helmet, and went in search of one, and I'd forgotten to ask him to introduce me to Kelly. So it was that I didn't remember until we hit the ice for warm-up, and I saw a young girl at the end of the stands between two adults, the adults pointing in my direction and talking to her. I wanted to skate over and wave, but they were on the other team's side of the ice and though it wouldn't have been a crime if I skated over there, I would have felt odd intruding on "their" space. Besides, I was starting to get into my goalie-mind and wanted to take some warm-up shots. When we switched sides between periods though, I made an effort to skate over to where she was sitting and wave at her and tap my stick on the glass. She waved back, a little timidly. Naturally, they were gone by the time we finished changing after the game. But I hope she enjoyed watching and if she comes out again I will make a concerted effort to go say hi (and maybe recruit another member to the Union mwah ha ha ha).

And speaking of kids, I had a midly amusing experience when I went to the rink last night for a clinic. The group that was using the ice before us was a large group of kids, ranging in ages from pretty young (probably 7-ish) to pre-teen. Since we were on the rink with no "womens locker room", I had to change on the other side and walk through the lobby and into the rink area in full gear (including mask). Just as I was coming into the rink, the kids and their parents were pouring out, lugging bags of gear behind them. One of the younger kids' dads pointed to me and said "Look, this guy's a real goalie." He said hi to me, so I gave him the goalie nod, said "Hey, how ya doin' ", and grinned at him. As they walked away, the dad said, loud enough for me to hear, "Maybe when you grow up you can be a goalie like her". Just then, a precocious little kid looked up at me and said "Hey, where were you, we needed a goalie!" I didn't even know how to respond to that, but I'm sure it wouldn't have done much for my confidence to have a bunch of 10 year olds scoring on me at will. Wouldn't that have been a sight; the big awkward goalie facing skaters a third of her size zipping around like those mosquitos that "walk" on top of water. Actually, I think I'd have a blast.