The Meaning of Teamwork

I have never played hockey in my 57 years of being around. Yet, the game, and - more importantly - the people around it have been a significant influence in my life.
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated throughout the world during the first week of December. It is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of people with disabilities and share their stories.

In telling my own story, I need to emphasize I have been blessed throughout my life with many wonderful teammates who have, unselfishly, helped me reach my potential.
FIRST PERIOD
On a cold December day - great hockey weather - I was born and didn't breathe for 17 minutes. I started my first game with a minor penalty, five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct.
The lack of oxygen to my brain caused cerebral palsy, a physical disability. As a young child I couldn't sit up, open my hands, hold my head still or swallow.
My chances of being a first round draft pick weren't good.
Yet, my parents - co-coaches Harold and Thelma - came up with a game plan to battle through playing with a disadvantage.
When I was five years old we started a long roadtrip, making our first of 18 trips to Philadelphia over five years for treatment. It's a revolutionary technique for kids with brain injuries at the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential.
As a baby, I didn't learn to crawl - a function that programs the brain.
I had to crawl if I wanted to progress
We did an exercise called a pattern. Lying face down on a padded foam table, four people - one moving my left arm and leg, another doing the same on my right side, someone else turning my head from side to side, and another one holding my feet - put me through the movements of a child crawling.
That's how I learned to crawl, for five minutes, eight times a day.
My teammates were an incredible 116 volunteers - friends and neighbors - who came every week to help with patterns.
We did them, day after day, for five years.
When I was 10 years old I could sit up and use a wheelchair. Not skating, but improved offensive skills. I could bend my arms and legs. I could swallow. And I could talk.
It felt like a 1-0 lead, a total team effort going into the second period.

SECOND PERIOD
For the first four years of elementary school, a teacher came to our house for one hour a day so we could continue with patterning.
I started Grade 5 in 1969 at Glenrose School Hospital. On the second day of school I couldn't believe my eyes: a floor hockey game in the gymnasium.
A few years before that my dad let me try playing goal between the kitchen table legs. I played on my hands and knees and Mom's potato masher was my goal stick.
So I had experience - and Dad made sure I had goal pads, a chest protector, mask, and of course, a helmet. Playing floor hockey was great fun, but a little hard on the hands.
My defencemen used power wheelchairs. And, sometimes when I dove for the loose puck (I mean, ball) my defencemen ran over my hands.
When high school came, my love of writing went to a new chapter, literally. In Grade 10, I wrote a 116-page fictional story about a junior hockey player in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
In my first year of college, I made contact with the Edmonton Crusaders of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and asked if I could write in their game day program. They said yes.
I even got to go on some road-trips, on a 30-year-old bus with a heater that broke down in -40 degree weather coming back from Calgary.
I never felt the frigid cold. I was just so excited to be a part of a hockey club.
When I was rudely told I wasn't allowed in a poker game on our way back from Red Deer because I won too much money, I knew I was one of the guys.
Everything was going great.
And then, out of nowhere, several blistering shots came from the point.
On the last day of college, my instructor called me for a meeting.
"Cam," he said, "you're a nice guy and a mediocre writer. But face it: nobody will ever hire a writer in a wheelchair. And the sooner you realize that, the better you'll be."
I headed home.
It felt like I was down 5-1 after 40 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
Sometimes, your harshest critics can be right...and that makes the sting that much deeper.
After college, I sent out resume after resume, and I'll be darned: my instructor was right. Nobody picked me for their team.
I started looking everywhere for the smallest opportunity that could lead to something bigger.
It came in the spring of 1979 when I heard about a monthly newspaper called The Spokesman, a publication dedicated to people with disabilities and the issues they face.
I started writing a sports column on a volunteer basis. It felt like our team scored a goal in the first five minutes of the third period: we-had a long way to go, but we felt like we were gaining some confidence and momentum back.
In the fall of 1979, I was issued my first Edmonton Oilers press pass to watch them play their first National Hockey League season.
At the same time I had a freelance column on wheelchair sports for the Edmonton Journal and found myself traveling all over western Canada covering wheelchair basketball.
Halfway through the third period of our hockey game, we cut the lead to 5-3.
In 1985, I was hired full-time by the Edmonton Journal as a staff writer, and held various positions at the newspaper until 2012.
Since April of 2014 I have written a freelance column for the Edmonton Sun.
That tied the game 5-5.

OVERTIME
Ask any hockey player and they will tell you how much they embrace overtime when they have a chance to make the best things a reality.
I joined the Oilers Entertainment Group in July, writing for their website on two of my favourite topics: hockey and people.
Perhaps, though, the position I'm most proud of is my family: as a husband, a father and a grandfather.
I've been so very lucky to be around people in hockey who have taught me so many life skills: competitiveness, respect, honour and so many more.
So what's the final score in my game?
We're still playing.
That's why we keep our sticks on the ice - and watch for the right opportunity to make a difference.
(For comments, suggestions or just to say hi, email
[email protected]
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For more information about International Day of Persons with Disabilities, please visit their website:
http://www.un.org/en/events/disabilitiesday/