Junior Review of Benjamin Franklin Chang

[joelunk 19]

The Junior Review of First Year Mexico City Kings Player Benjamin Franklin Chang

 

I have been playing the wonderful sport of hockey for seemingly all of my life. Growing up in Botswana, there were very few hockey rinks as well as a strong lack of people wanting to play the amazing sport of puck. In spite of this, I grew up to love the sport due to my Canadian father's love of the game being instilled in me from an early age. My mother, a Chinese woman, was not nearly as fond of the sport as my father but still supported me through thick and thin.

 

Growing up as a Botswana hockey player definitely proved to be challenging, however I feel as though it has made me a more resilient person, as well as a more resilient player on the ice. While the lack of ice time certainly stunted my development as a player, once I moved to Canada when I was sixteen years old, I was able to catch up on the missed time on the ice. Coming to Canada and observing the Hockey and level of play across the country was a culture shock for sure. The love for the sport from British Colombia to Prince Edward Island was something I had only heard of up until that point. Because as previously mentioned, Hockey was a relatively new concept in Botswana, never mind a country wide adored past time. I am a proud Botswanan Hockey player and will represent the Blue and Black until I eventually decide to hang up the skates. Because of the lack of support for hockey in my home country, I am hoping to be an inspiration for younger generations of Botswanan boys and girls to pick up a stick and play the sport that we have all grown to love here in the VHL. I feel that by the simple fact of me being in the VHL, the game of Hockey is already being spread to my home country and I hope that in spite of the year round hot weather, that funding as well as public interest increase.

 

A main aspiration of my being in the VHL is to make enough money of the course of my career to be able to market the game of Hockey in Botswana by means of building the necessary infrastructure in order to support the growth and development of young players to eventually make a pipeline to lead them to the VHL. Overall, I am very much looking forward to the season and career I have ahead of me. Pictured below is one of the largest ice rinks in my home country. As you can clearly see, it leaves much to be desired. This is the primary motivation behind my wanting to increase the popularity of the sport among the youth in my hometown. 

Edited November 26, 2021 by joelunk