TEACHER SPOTLIGHT

JARRET SMOYER — HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER, DEBURGOS BILINGUAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

My love for hockey began as a young kid. My father taught me how to skate when I was 5 years old, which was about the same time I started playing hockey. When my parents got divorced, I was no longer able to play hockey because of the cost and travel time on my mother who was working full-time and going to college. But in our neighborhood, there was a pond where we played ice hockey in the winter and every Christmas I’d get a new pair of hockey skates. All the neighborhood kids would come out and play after school. To this day, anytime I drive past a body of frozen water, it brings a smile to my face.

When I was 20 years old, I started to play inline hockey at East Stroudsburg University. I was playing with a group of guys, two or three days a week, when they asked me if I would play ice hockey with them the following year. I tried out and made the team as a 4th liner. That year, I only played one or two shifts a game. After the season, I worked very hard to improve my skating by going to resorts in the area and skating on frozen tennis courts. I improved to the point where I became the third line center for the last two years of college. I have been playing inline hockey with the same core group for the last 10 years.
The Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation is the greatest program ever developed for the students of the school district of Philadelphia. I wish these opportunities were available for me as a child. The “words of the week” are so great for the kids. I have never seen the group of students involved listen so intently as they did during Mr. Britt's “words of the week” talks. Also, I’ve seen some tremendous changes in some of my students…on and off the ice. In my mind, every student achieved success in learning to play ice hockey. I also believe the hard work they put in learning to skate and play hockey will transfer to their life challenges and success is now an option.

Monday, May 01, 2006