Pombo

[samx 1,175]

Pombo was born in the Maldives on June 15, 2002. He was born into a small family with just him and his parents. They owned a small shop while he was growing up. He didn’t have a ton of introduction to organized sports early on because they were not popular where he was growing up. His friends and he would play volleyball on occasion or race in the ocean but that was all he knew when it came to athletics.

 

When Pombo turned 10 years old his family had to move away from the Maldives because money was tight and living there just was not an option. Their family business was struggling and they could no longer pay rent. His family made the hard decision to move to South Korea. His parents both found corporate jobs and they had a far more stable income. This is where he had his first introduction to the world of hockey. 

 

His friend invited him to one of the local high school games. He sat in amazement watching the puck bolt around the ice and everyone moving in such synchronous yet chaotic ways. That night he begged his parents to let him play hockey. They agreed to buy him some of the basic equipment and if he practiced enough they would consider signing him up for an actual team. 

 

Pombo worked his butt off over the next few months. He would go to the local rinks during open ice hours as often as possible and work on basic skating and puck drills. He would work off the ice on stick handling and shooting. Very quickly his parents realized he was in this for the long haul. They let him try out at the local youth hockey club. He made the lowest team possible but hey he made a team and he couldn’t be more excited.

 

The first year of playing on an actual team was hard. There was a sharp learning curve and he struggled to keep up at times. However, Pombo just kept putting in the work. He would spend hours more than the other kids to improve his skills. By the end of the season, he was better than the rest of the kids on his team.

 

The following year he made the 2nd best team that the youth hockey program had. He continued to climb up the chain throughout his preteen years. When he made it to high school he decided he was going to try out for his high school team. To his surprise, he made the cut. 

 

High school hockey was hard. The opponents were bigger and stronger and Pombo wasn’t holding up well in his first season. He struggled to keep pace and be a good contributing member of his team. He didn’t give up hope and kept pushing on. He had been in this position before and knew with some hard work he could be the player that his team needed. He worked hard constantly trying to improve his game. Slowly he got better and better and could keep up with the people he was playing against. His junior year is when he really started to turn things around. He had his first point per game season. He won league MVP. Although his team didn’t win, he felt something big coming on. That summer he worked hard and got the teammates who were sticking around to put in the extra work too.

 

Before his senior year, his mom tragically passed away. The season became dedicated to her. She was his biggest supporter through it all. His senior year ended up being huge for Pombo. He was playing well and getting scouted by colleges all around the world. His school made it to the championships and had a chance to play for the title. The game was tied 2-2 going into overtime. Something in Pombo kept telling him that he was going to be the difference maker. 2 minutes and 23 seconds into overtime Pombo gets tripped up and his team is on the powerplay. He is lined up at the top of the circle for the draw. His center wins the draw back to Pombo… he shoots and he scores! This kid who only learned how to skate 8 years ago has now won the championship for his school. He couldn’t believe it. 

 

The following year he ended up at a prestigious university in Switzerland playing out his hockey dreams. He would lead his team to win multiple division championships in his 4 years at school. At the end of it all he had to make a decision. Hang up the skates and continue on his dream of becoming a dentist. Or try to make it in a different professional league? He decided he was going to try to get into the system for the victory hockey league. And that is where we are today.