Ice Hockey Night

Last night we took the boys to their first ice hockey game. I have never been to a game myself so it was a new experience for all of us. After having a quick meal at Nando's, we bought our tickets and took our seats quite close to the rink itself. Man what a game. We played United Arab Emirates and SA completely thrashed them. At half time the score was 8 - O but what we all noticed was the pace of the game. Clearly it is the fastest ball sport to date, if you can call a puck a ball. The intensity on ice is truly insane! The speed and agility these guys poses is phenomenal. It is definitely not for the faint hearted as these boys plough into each other like massive overloaded trucks that breaks have failed. You can not believe the hits that some of these oaks take but they just get up and carry on! The boys where fixated on the game and you could see the excitement on their faces as they probably imagined how they would play an a couple months time. I'm just so glad that they share the same enthusiasm and passion for skating as I did. When I saw them skate for the first time I knew they would. It is a combination of adrenalin, focus and knowing your abilities and pushing it to the limit. You think nothing can ever beat that feeling until you do something like bungy jumping. Another Episode for another time though.

Duran on Ice

It was an early start for me today. I was up and on the road by 4 am, determined to get Duran some ice time. This week we have the Ice Hockey world championships being held at Grand West Casino. I spoke to Jason, events organizer for the Western Province Ice Hockey Association, on Friday to try and organise some ice time. He informed me that it would be really tough to get scheduled because of the world championships starting on Monday. We made arrangements for the 28th instead and told him that I'd send him the links to our episodes as well. About five minutes later I got a call back from Jason and he was like "Scheldon, we have to get this guy on ice immediately!" So this morning was exactly what I expected. Being his first time on ice ever, Duran attracted quite a lot of attention at first, for it was ice hockey practice for some. He was a bit sketchy at first but soon found his feet and was going backwards in no time, as if he was born on ice! This boy truly has an amazing talent and as soon as he got off we had professional players approaching him wanting to know how he is that good! What an experience it was, unfortunately Eston could not be with us today so we do not have any quality footage on film but I did pull out the old trusty blackberry and got some sick footage of him skating. I wish you guys could see the raw excitement on his face, it was priceless. We stayed for a bit as players from Greece had the opportunity to use the ice. Duren was completely fixated on them and after a while just turned to me and said: "I want to do this!" I replied: "Well you're doing it." What a day it has been! The first hockey lessons on Sunday the 28th of April should be epic!

Duran Kotze

I know right, weird title to a blog. It will all make sense when you guys get to see our second episode out on Wednesday 10 April. On Monday Eston called me, as I was just leaving the gym and said to me, "I've got the camera, keen for a mission?" So we headed out to Stellenbosch, about 30 minutes drive from Cape Town. I met Duren in the streets of Stellenbosch a few months ago. I saw him zoom past me on skates and scrambled to catch up to him. I was so impressed with his skill and wanted to know more about this kid. He invited me to his home and I was quite shocked when we arrived. He lives next to the Stellenbosch dumping site with his grandma and mother in a 3 x 2 meter, badly damaged Wendy house. He shares a bed with his mother as there is not enough space. We soon learned that the dumping site was their salvation. It is where Duren goes everyday to find something to sell to feed the family. This kid not only looks after his family but "sponsors" three teenagers that he is currently teaching how to skate. When ever he can, he barters and exchanges different items that he has found on the dumping site for wheels or skates, for the simple reason to teach these kids how to skate. He is a phenomenal person and skater and I can't wait to see what he can do on ice!

Ice Skating

Yesterday, Sunday 30 March, we took the skater kids to the ice rink in Cape Town. It was supposed to be their first Ice hockey lessons but being Easter Sunday the trainers where not available. So we took them for a chilled session on the ice instead. The camera crew and I set out in the afternoon to meet them and their parents in Bo-Kaap. From there we hit the road to Grand West, a huge casino and entertainment centre where the Ice rink is situated. To be honest I think I shared the same excitement as the kids when we finally got on to the ice. Having not skated for over two years it was like riding a bicycle again. As I suspected they had a natural feel for the ice as well. In a few minutes they where dashing around the rink like experienced ice skaters and I found it quite hard in the beginning to keep up. The "go pro" camera was an absolute godsend and we captured some cool footage of the guys skating. The camera man and I both wiped out at one point and sustained a couple of nasty ice cuts, but nothing serious to write home about. With what we witnessed on Sunday, I am even more confident that our skater boys are going to dominate the ice hockey lessons. Catch our first video post on Wednesday the 3rd April!