Velevra - HOF Builder Article

[Ricer13 2,624]

Joined: September 30th 2013
Jobs Held: Player Store Manager, Sim File Updater, Updater, Award & All-Star Committee's

     Velevra joined the VHL back in September of 2013. Not many of the new members in this league would know the name Velevra and I myself have to admit I didn't know much about Velevra the member until doing my research for this article. While digging through the record books and speaking with the legend himself I have grown a new appreciation for what Velevra has brought to this league over the last eight years. He has held some of the most crucial jobs in this league before the portal existed and has had impressive careers with a number of players he has built. While being such an a huge part of the VHL community Velevra has done so, modestly. He isn't the loudest or most notable name in the league but from the shadows is a huge part of the VHL and personifies exactly what the VHL is all about. 

      Back in the days of 2013 when the VHL was a lot less automated, there was a lot of data entry that needed to be done. Velevra was a major part of this process in the league. His first job was a Player Store Manager. This involved a lot of what the store manager does now but required all of the information to be entered manually. He had to enter in all of the players in the leagues contracts and manually put in any of the purchases made in order for the player store to operate efficiently. Velevra eventually moved on to become a Sim File Updater for the VHL. Again before everything was automated each player that entered the league had to be manually put into the sim file. This meant that each of their attributes and any changes to their attributes had to be inputted and done so with extreme accuracy. Velevra is most proud of being a sim file updater because of the amount of effort it took and how accurate you had to be to keep the league running smoothly and each player happy. After his many seasons as a Sim File Updater the league became more automated, Velevra transitioned from a Sim File Updater to a Regular Updater. This entailed him to review members point tasks every week and either approve or deny them based on the point task guidelines. Throughout the seasons he has also been apart of Award committees and All-star selection committees. As you can see his history in this league outside of his created players runs deep and he has left his mark on the VHL.

     Although Velevra was a beast behind the scenes putting in some serious work for this league, he also managed to build some really successful players in the process. A few of these players are Shane Baker, Severin Von Karma, Veran Dragomir, legendary goaltender Apollo Skye and most recent player Soren Jensen. The most recent player that everyone might recognize is recently retired winger Soren Jensen. Jensen was an scoring winger who spent his time between New York and Davos during his playing career. While his numbers were slightly underwhelming during his career Jensen did win a Founder's Cup with the Houston in season 68 and won the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy for being the rookie of the year in season 69. While Velevra has had varying success with his players there is one that stands above the rest. Hall of Fame Goaltender Apollo Skye broke on to the scene back in season 51 with the HC Davos Dynamo. He spent two seasons in Davos putting up some impressive numbers which earned him a Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy for rookie of the year. After his time Davos, Skye moved on to play for Quebec. They had a competitive roster and Skye thrived with his new team. In season 53 Apollo Skye won the Scotty Campbell Trophy as the league MVP and the Dustin Funk Trophy as the most improved player. It would be only a few more seasons before Apollo Skye and Quebec would finally earn that coveted trophy and win themselves a Continental Cup. His follow up season to winning a Continental Cup was equally as impressive as he earned himself another Scotty Campbell for the league MVP and brought home the Aidan Shaw Trophy as the top goalie in the VHL. Skye was inducted into the Hall of Fame in season 62 which was only four seasons after he retired. 

     Velevra has proven himself on and off the ice with the important jobs he has had in this league and with the success he has found in building his players. What started as a hobby to help pass the time during his stressful grad school days had turned into a passion and partly due to the amazing community we have in the VHL. When you have members from around the league praising your success and pushing the league to show some recognition for it, that really shows the kind of impact Velevra has made on this community. Even though he would rather do it all from behind the scenes Velevra is absolutely deserved of this HOF Builder recognition and has earned himself a moment in the spotlight. Congratulations @Velevra!

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