From Nothing to Something

From Nothing to Something 

“If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.” —Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. This is my story on overcoming adversity, doubters and roadblocks, but also learning how to cope with defeat when you are at your lowest point. I started playing hockey when I was four years old. My parents had no idea about the sport even though they came to to the U.S from Russia where hockey is one of the biggest sports there. I had a skills coach who became my mentor and someone that built me and my career to what it is right now. He is someone that I talk to when I need advice and I thank him every day I can. He taught me a lot, and I want to be the same person to my clients as he was to me.  

When I started playing for a team, I was always the best player every year, however people always had something bad to say about me. I was always the smallest player and in hockey height is a big factor to success and most of the best players are usually big and strong. During my youth career, people were saying “you are too small to to succeed” “you will never play college hockey”, and “when you get older you will not be able to play anymore.” I have never listened to these people in my life but as you grow up, you hear them louder and louder. I remember sitting in my room and thinking to myself the same thing that those people were saying, and I started doubting myself. This was the lowest point in my life because all I ever cared about was playing hockey.  

After the rough patch that I had, I remembered who I was, saying to myself “I am not a regular person, and I want to make my family known throughout the hockey community.” This was the turning point that I was looking for. I picked myself up and blocked out all the noise. A year later dreams turned into reality as I had 25+ division 1 offers, signed a contract with team USA and committed to Penn State University. Because of my perseverance I am now on the road towards playing professional hockey. I want this to resonate with the kids that I will be working with. I do not want my camps to be strictly hockey based, but I want to sit down with the kids and motivate them by my story so that they can create their own. “The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t win’ is you and you don’t have to listen.”—Jessica Ennis-Hill