Who Would I Be.......?

This week I’m writing on if I could spend a day in the life of somebody I would probably be somebody who is athletic and contributes to the community, a.k.a. Roger Neilson. He was a great coach, rule-bender and started the idea of watching video tapes of games.

Roger Neilson was born June 16, 1934 in Toronto. He started coaching kids when he was just seventeen years old. His last game that he coached was in April 2002. That means that he coached for fifty-one years. Now although Roger Neilson didn’t win a Stanley Cup, he made it to the finals once and he made it to the Conference Finals three times. Now when Roger first started watching video I think that some people would have thought that he was crazy to do this. But nowadays, every team in the NHL uses video replay and almost every team in major junior hockey uses it. This is why I think Roger Neilson is one of the best coaches ever.

Now Roger Neilson didn’t just live in professional and major junior rinks he spent a lot of time in amateur rinks and even started his own hockey league. This guy didn’t only change the lives of all of the NHLers and kids that he coached. He taught kids and adults how to play hockey at his hockey camps. He used strategy to win hockey games. He shared his knowledge and love of the game by teaching coaching clinics. This is how he gives back to his community and the game of hockey.

So in conclusion, I think that I would want to be like Roger Neilson when I’m older, because he coached hockey, created/started the use of video review and gave back to the hockey community. While Roger Neilson never played professional hockey, he is remembered for his passion and devotion to the game and for his leadership and contributions to sport in general. Being a successful athlete is great but leading successful athletes is what I would like to do. Even though Roger died June of 2003, his sprit lives on in all of his hockey camps and every play that is reviewed.