Advanced Essay - Matthew Willson

My goals for this paper were to show how having a special connection with someone you look up to is important. Having someone to show you the ropes is a very important thing in the development of a young person. Sharing a connection or passion with a parent or someone you look up to is an important thing that every child should have. One thing I did well for this essay was connecting scenes from my childhood to my idea. One thing I would have liked to improve was my development of a larger issue. I did a good job talking about my issue and I connected it to my scenes but I could have gone more in depth.

Advanced Essay

When you hear the word “legacy”, you may think of something that is left behind, or when someone does the same thing that a former family member has done. Legacy doesn’t have to be either of those things. It can be a type of mentality or outlook or even a passion or love for something that is passed on from someone to someone else.  Sharing a common experience with somebody makes you closer – you learn about that person and what makes them tick – and you gain an appreciation for the things they value and how it relates to you.

My dad is Canadian and hockey is a very large part of his life.  Most kids in America grew up having a catch in the front yard with their dad.  As a kid I played many sports but hockey was my main focus. Those moments where I could have been playing catch, I was on the ice with my dad.  My older brother and I both played hockey and my dad coached our teams.  We were on the ice together all the time.

When I was very young my dad bought a poster displaying a picture of a famous goal from a famous hockey game between Canada and Russia during the 1972 Summit Series. This was an 8 game series between Canada’s best professional team and the best Russian players.  The game took place at the height of the Cold War and it was such a big deal in Canada that grade school children were allowed to watch the games from Russia in school during the day. Everyone crowded into the gymnasium and the watched black and white TV’s perched on tall TV stands.

My Dad also bought a DVD about the series that was made by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) - and my brother and I watched it with him.  As the documentary moved onto the final game of the series I started to pay more attention. The way the narrator spoke over the slow motion shots gave me goosebumps and made me lean forward closer to the TV. My heart rate went up and I started breathing faster but I wasn’t moving at all. The emotion from the players and the fans was so greatly illustrated in the film that it was almost as if you were there.  As the game got close to the final moment where Henderson scored the game winning goal the narrator stopped and it played the voice of the commentator, Foster Hewitt, from the game.  As the final goal was scored it felt as if an extreme amount of pressure was released through my body.  I realized how fast my heart was racing when it started to slow down.  Sharing this moment with my family wasn’t very important to me back then, but now I realized how interesting the moment was. My dad watched this same game live forty years ago and he shared that moment and experience with my brother and I when we were almost the same age.  

As I grew older I stopped playing competitive hockey because of concussions.  The same thing happened to my brother.   Since both of us still liked to play,   we would rent the ice on Fridays during the winter at Simons Recreation Center and play pick-up with 15-20 people including my dad.  The games were always fun, and I was always one of the better players, since I played so much as a kid.   I really enjoyed playing and sharing the experience with my dad and brother.  Every kid in the world needs someone to look up to and learn from.  When children grow up and don’t have good parental guidance they may end up doing bad things and may make bad decisions. Having someone to show you the ropes is a very important thing.  Sharing a passion for something with your parent is a special thing only some kids have in life.  

My Dad takes a team from Philadelphia to play pond hockey in a tournament in Canada every year.  I have been going with him since I was 10 years old.  My brother goes to university in Canada now, so it is a chance for us to get together and have fun.  There is usually 3 feet of snow – and it was 28 below zero last year.  At the tournament my brother and I skate and play pond hockey with people from all over North America.  It is an absolute blast.  We play, we talk about it. We play, we talk about it some more.  You realize that it is not playing the games so much as sharing the experience together that makes it great.