Being the only woman trainer for the Chiacgo Blackhawks is pretty interesting. Some people think I'm so lucky that I get to "stretch out" the players, but little do they know how hard it is to handle these goofballs. It's more like working at a day care than for a professional hockey team! What I do love about my job is how much of a family the Blackhawks Organization is. From the front office managment team all the way down to our equipment managers. Everyone is valued, especially by the players.
I was walking around the United Center the morning of our game against the Maple Leafs. The boys were all doing their own thing. I just finished doing some rehab work with Daniel Carcillo, and some of the other guys were taking care of their equipment.
I was rounding the corner in the hallway when I saw a white soccer flying at my face. Lucky for me, I have cat like reflexe, and I caught the ball in my hands.
"Woah!" One of the players came running up to me, "that ball nearly took your head off!" The player took the ball from my hands and gave me a sly smile and wink. He then ran off to the rest of the guys and they started to kick the ball around again.
"Hey! Jon. Let me get in there." I said as I started walking over to the group. They all turned and stared at their captain, waiting to see his reaction. I stared at him, trying to be as intimidating as possible.
"I...I don't know. I mean, not to sound rude, but, uh, can you even play?" Jon looked at me suspicously. His other teammates stared at us in shock, a few even started to back up.
"Oh my goodness. Did you really just say that?" I was almsot baffled at what Jon said, "pass me the freaking ball." I waited for Jon to pass me the soccer, yet it didn't come. So, I took matters into my own hands. I stomped over to Mr. Jonathan Toews, and grabbed the ball out of his hands. I made eye contact with him, and he was smiling down at me definitely amused.
I dropped the ball on the ground, and started dribbling it. I bounced it on my foot a couple times, then my knee, back down to my foot, then I passed the ball to Patrick Sharp. He stopped it with his foot, and then looked at me laughing. I motioned for him to pass it back, which he did. One by one, each of the players joined in on the game. We were passing and bouncing the ball back and forth. Every once in a while I would catch Jon staring at me with a wide smile on his face. When the ball got back to me, I rocketed it to Jon. He easily stopped it with his foot, then passed it back to me.
Jon and I were engaged in an intense staring match while passing the ball back and forth. We forgot all about the other teammates, and it was just the two of us. After what felt like an hour, Jon stopped the ball, and picked it up. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck then smiled at me across the hallway.
"You wanna get dinner sometime?"
"With you?" I pointed at him with a furrowed brow. I started to laugh then at Jon's horrified expression, "yes, Jon, I would love to get dinner with you sometime."
