South Lincoln High School - Athletic Awards Banquet =================================================== Location: Smithville, Ontario Date: June 5, 2003 INTRODUCTION (Read by Christalynn): ================================= She shoots she scores...# 55 Andria Hunter. Not only did she win two World Championship gold medals for Canada, but she has also become a successful professor at the University of Toronto. Andria Hunter, has been playing hockey since the age of 9, beginning with figure skates (which by the way she hated) she decided she needed something with a little more action which brought her to her career in hockey. Not only did she play ice hockey, she was also a member of the 2002 Women's Inline Hockey World Champions. She also traveled to Switzerland for a hockey season, where she played in the Swiss Women's A league. Retired now she is a professor, wife, and soon to be mom. Please help me in welcoming Andria Hunter, my cousin and well rounded athlete. INTRO: ------ Thank you. I'm glad Christalynn clarified that I'm pregnant -- I wouldn't want people to think that I'm getting this belly because I've been hanging out at Tim Hortons scarfing down donuts ever since I retired from hockey! And in case you're wondering too - a lot of people have been asking us if we know if the baby's going to be a boy or girl. --> Well we did have an ultrasound done, but apparently it's still too early to tell if it's a defense or a forward! Ok, on to my speech! I'd like to start by saying that it's a REAL pleasure to be here this evening! It's especially special for me because my Dad went to this high school, as well as many of my cousins, including Mark and Christalynn who are here now. I'll try to keep my speech short because I know you'll also have a second guest speaker tonight, Becky Kellar. What I thought I'd do is give you a brief look at my hockey career, focusing on a few important lessons that I've learned along the way. MY CAREER: --------- I first started skating on our family farm near Peterborough at the age of 4. I took figure skating lessons for a few years until I eventually came to the realization that unless there was a little black object on the ice for me to chase, I just wasn't going to have as much fun! So, in grade 4 my parents agreed to let me play hockey, even though it wasn't so common for girls to play WAY back then. Actually it seems hard to believe, but that was more than 26 years ago -- most of you weren't even born then! [Not that I'm that old!] I was also fortunate that my highschool had a girls' hockey team, because not every school did in those days. Throughout high school I played on the hockey team as well as on numerous other school teams. In fact, in grade 13, I was crazy enough to play on 7 different school teams and also to be a member of the Student Athletic Association. But, as enthusiastic as I was about playing sports, I realized that it was also important to concentrate on academics. As you can imagine, I had to be pretty disciplined and committed to balance so many sports and my school work as well. I also led an active social life, and as I'm sure my relatives who are here tonite will attest, my dad kept me busy doing chores on the family farm! I'm really glad I got involved in sports in high school. Not only was it a lot of FUN as I'm sure you all know, but it helped me to develop my skills as an athlete, and it also improved me as a person. Being part of a team helped me to develop my interpersonal skills, and it also taught me a lot about responsibilities and time management. I made many good friends by being involved in high school athletics ... and a lot of these friendships I still have today. One of the highlights of my hockey career was being offered an athletic scholarship to attend the University of New Hampshire, where I studied Computer Science. It was there that I learned the difference that a really good coach can make. Our coach, Russ McCurdy, was certainly the most influential coach I've ever had! ... And I really don't think I would have made the national team if it wasn't for him! He truly understood the game of hockey, and had an exceptional ability to teach both individual skills and team concepts to his players. He focused on putting the team ahead of the individuals -- he made it very clear that it didn't matter who scored the goals, as long as the team was successful! He stressed the importance of a good work ethic, and how important it was not to get outworked by your opponents. He was the type of coach who could take a player who had weaker skills but a positive attitude, and turn her into an accomplished player! He would actually prefer that type of player over one with more talent, but not having the desire and work ethic to go along with it. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, I decided to go to the University of Toronto to pursue a Masters degree ... it was actually just a really good excuse to play hockey for the university team! :-) I had enjoyed it too much! NATIONAL TEAM: ------------- But certainly the biggest highlight in my career was playing for Team Canada at the 92 and 94 World Championships. It was really a dream come true for me! Although I must admit that this wasn't a dream I had as a child. When I was growing up, it was always my dream to play on a university team because at that time the national team didn't exist! In 1992, we went to Finland for the World Championship. Going to a foreign country to play hockey was quite an whole experience in itself! We had to adapt to many things -- like playing on an Olympic-sized ice surface, eating different foods, getting over jet-lag, and not to mention being in a country where you didn't understand the language! It being my first year on the national team, everything was really new and exciting. I'd say the most memorable part of the experience was just putting on that Team Canada Jersey and having the opportunity to represent my country. I still remember how emotional it was, after we had won a game, to hear the Canadian anthem playing and to see the Canadian flag being slowly raised to the roof of the arena! Winning the gold medal and being crowned World Champions is an experience I'll simply never forget! At the time I was on the National team, the World Championship only took place every second year, so I decided that in the year after the '92 World Championship I would go to Europe to play hockey for a season. I've always firmly believed in taking advantage of your opportunities, which happens to fit in nicely with the theme of your banquet ... DEFINING THE MOMENT! To me what the means is, not waiting for an opportunity to happen, but making it happen! ... Going for it! A good friend of mine from the University of New Hampshire and I sent out some letters to various teams in Switzerland, and eventually we got an invitation to play on a team called Langenthal! They didn't have a lot of money to pay us to play, so they arranged for us to live with families, which in my opinion, made the experience even more worthwhile. It gave us the opportunity to really experience the culture, more so than visiting a country as a tourist. If you do ever have the opportunity to travel abroad to a foreign country, for sports or otherwise, I'd highly recommend it. It was just an amazing experience! I retired from the National team after the '94 World Championship because of a recurring groin and hip injury. But fortunately I was still able to play at a high level, as long as I could take time off when I needed it. I played in the National Women's Hockey League for the last 10 years. In fact, up until I retired last year, I was playing in that league against Becky (who'll be talking to you next), ... except her team was usually beating my team ... although we did beat them a few times! :-) INLINE HOCKEY: ------------- In 1995, I was really fortunate to discover another sport that was similar to hockey, and just as much fun, but not nearly as hard on my injury ... Inline Hockey! I joined a women's rep team in Toronto that travelled all over North America to play in various tournaments. Every year we'd take at least a couple of trips to California, Florida, Las Vegas, or other places in the US or Canada -- the travelling was pretty hard to take! :-) Our team was quite successful. We won several national championships and even the North American Championship ... but unfortunately there was no World Championship for this sport. But a few summers ago they started to talk seriously about having the first-ever Women's Inline Hockey World Championship. Knowing that I was planning to retire soon because my husband and I were planning to start a family in the near future, the timing couldn't have been better! And sure enough, they did officially announce that there would be a World Championship in the summer of 2002. Different people often have different ways of motivating themselves, and what it comes down to is that you need to find what works for you. One thing that I have always done over the years is to set goals for myself -- sometimes big and sometimes small. I always have some end goal in mind that I use to motivate myself, and in this case, it was playing for Canada at the inline hockey World Championship. To help reach my goal, I registered myself in two different men's inline hockey leagues in the Toronto area, and starting working out a lot to get myself ready. I also played a lot of ice hockey with the guys. And my hard work paid off, as I was selected to the Canadian team! Everything was going great with my training. But then just TWO weeks before the World Championship was to start, the worst thing imaginable happened! I was playing ice hockey on my husband's team, and we were on the powerplay, I was skating behind the net with the puck, and just about to pass the puck out front, when this huge guy lunged at me and took my knee out! I knew immediately that I was hurt badly, and all I could think of was that I wouldn't be able to go to the World Championship. I went for an ultrasound the next day, and sure enough it showed that I had a second degree tear of the MCL, the ligament on the inside of the knee. I knew this was most likely my last chance to play at a World Championship, so I was very determined to do everything in my power to not let this stop me! So suddenly I had quite a different goal ... to get my knee ready to compete! To that end, I basically lived at the physiotherapy clinic for the next couple of weeks. I was even on crutches up until just 5 days before we were to leave for the World Championship. It was definitely very frustrating at times and disappointing. But at the same time, I knew being negative wasn't going to help -- I had to stay positive and to focus on the things that were within my control to help me get better. And with the help of a knee brace, and lots of ice!, I WAS able to compete in the tournament. I played in the first couple of games, and did pretty well, but as you can imagine it was quite painful and I certainly couldn't play my best. Our team was doing very well and looked like we would make it through the round robin without any difficulty. We were pretty much assured to make it to the finals. So I decided the best way I could contribute to the team was to rest a few games so that my knee would be as good as possible for the final game. As you can imagine, it was a pretty tough decision to make, but realistically, the gold medal game against the US, was all that really mattered. <...> And we did end up winning all our games, and we made it to the final goal medal game. Being a forward, my role on the team is usually to score goals, but given my injury, I had to accept the fact that I might not be able to make my usual contribution. And sure enough, at about half way through the gold medal game when we were leading the US by a score of 1-0, I had to take on a different, but equally important, role. The US had a 2 on 0, and I was the closest player back. Basically, I knew I had to find whatever it would take to catch them and to prevent the breakaway. And sure enough -- and I still don't know how -- I managed to catch them! This could have been the turning point. If they had scored at that point, it might have been a much different game! We went on to score the next goal, and to win the game by a final score of 2 to nothing. I can remember how ecstatic and relieved I was to have won -- for one thing, I could finally rest my knee! :-) And as an athlete, you always want to go out on a high note, and this really was a dramatic -- although maybe a little too dramatic with the knee injury -- finish to my hockey career! CONCLUSION: ---------- In conclusion of my speech tonight, I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts about what I feel is important in terms of both sports and life in general. I think it's important to take advantage of your opportunities. I'm really glad that I didn't pass up the opportunity to play university hockey, or to go to Switzerland to play hockey, or of course to tryout for Team Canada. Another thing that I feel is quite important, is leading a balanced life. It's great to be a keen athlete, but I think you're missing out if all you have in your life are sports. I think it's important to find a suitable balance between the various elements of your life, such as your school or work, your sports and hobbies, and your friends and family. And finally, not enough can be said about HARD WORK and DETERMINATION. You can have all the natural talent in the world, but if you don't have the desire and motivation to go along with it, you'll never be a top-notch athlete. One of the most frustrating things for me, is to see someone not trying ... especially if they have the natural talent and the potential to do well. It's those who give that extra effort who will excel ... and this isn't only true for sports ---> Working hard and giving your best effort are important for success in all areas of life! Thank you.