Claimed:A Good Look at Fook Yu

[Baozi 1,658]

 

What a Good Fook

www.VHLHockeyNews.com

 

The first thing that will always jump out for anyone seeing Fook Yu for the first time is that he looks like a monster of a man. At 6 foot 6 with a broad frame, there is no doubt about it. Fook Yu is a massive hockey player. The offspring of a boxer and a weight lifter in China, Fook has always been the big kid around the block so utilizing his size has been an ongoing affair throughout his life. A multi-sport athlete growing up as the child of two Olympic athlete parents certainly has had his its advantages and in this case Fook was able to gain exposure to professional athletes at a young age. Following the Olympics as where Fook’s first exposure to ice hockey began. At the time he was already playing competitive baseball and boxing, but during the Winter Olympics in Beijing is where the idea formed to try his hand at hockey.

Competition in China is not exactly elite, and the fact Yu had somewhat of a size advantage made things even easier for him. Hockey just seemed too easy for him in the beginning and it just didn’t seem like even a challenge at one point. This all ended when his U15 National club went overseas to play in the midget tournament in Calgary, Alberta. That was the turning point, or the eye opening experience as for the first time, Yu found out just how small he was in the hockey world. The kids that were not even up to his shoulders there bulldozed his U15 team and at some points made Yu look like nothing more than a giant pylon, the rest of his team being merely divots in the ice to avoid even. Seemingly overnight then his obsession with playing hockey appeared. The humiliating defeat in the tournaments became his driving force going forward as he decided to focus on hockey. Now due to the dearth of talent still in Asia, it became hard for Yu to level up his technique too far. Instead he chose to spend his efforts on training his body and mastering specific skills that he found to be key features of winning teams. He looked up to the past Stanley cup winners and found that at the base of each of these teams was power and technique down the middle. Getting by on raw talent which he may have lacked was not an option. He had to work hard in order to wipe away the memory of the defeat in Canada. Defense being an integral part of hockey in his mind, he began modelling his game after the two way giants of the game like Kopitar, Bergeron, Toews, Datsyuk.

Given that his parents were both Olympic athletes, sports training was easier to obtain for him than others through their connections. With an Olympic introduction, Yu was able to attend sessions under Laura Stamm, one of the biggest names in power skating for development. Under Stamm, Yu developed his skating to the next level. Eventually not only was he a big man, but he was incredibly mobile for his size as well. He also started growing into his frame giving him a ridiculous wingspan allowing him incredible control of his zone on the ice.

Through his U16 and U17 years, he played with the youth program of the HC Kunlun Red Stars in the KHL. Overall competition included some imported underagers from around the KHL but for the most part was limited to regional opponents. In this Chinese youth organization, Yu quickly rose to the top. In only his first year he managed to win the MVP to go along with the rookie award after scoring 30 goals and 55 points in 20 games. The second year he played, he managed similar numbers but worked on his defensive game more as he bulked up. He was constantly at the gym working on and striving to condition himself for the pro game.

Despite doing well the in the league the past few years proved to be tough for Yu. Competition just wasn’t good enough in Asia as a whole to challenge him. Despite this, he grew to become an elite defensive specialist and was incredibly strong on the faceoff dot to go along with his raw power game. It no longer became a points game to him, it was about winning. Dominating the Chinese U17 circuit eventually led him to attend a year at Fong’s Asian Hockey Academy, reputedly to be the entry into North American pro hockey. He mentored under former all star Xin Xie Xiao, aka XXX from the VHL and further refined his defensive game. Notching another championship in a tournament against mens team in Asia, Yu turned his focus to preparing for the VHL entry draft. Advised that the path to pro hockey meant he would need to go oversea, he set about the goal of winning the VHL championship.

 

 

Excerpt from a recent interview:

“It’s definitely been a long journey to get to this point and I know it’s only going to get harder. Coming from out east, the competition in North America is bigger, faster and stronger. But I’ll take it one day at a time here. First thing’s first is the VHL, I’ll be trying out there and I know already that I’m going to have battle tooth and claw to get a roster spot even. My parents were good at teaching me how nothing is ever given to you and how hard work is what leads to success. I may not be as skilled as some of the other kids here, but I’ll give them a run for their money for sure and outwork them to be better. I pride myself on the defensive side of the game, and I think scoring comes at the right times, you just have to makesure your opponent doesn’t score in the meantime. Having watched how teams have won championships, I think the way I play will lead me to one, if not more of them.” – Fook Yu

[Smarch 3,153]

Holy jacked Asians 

[Baozi 1,658]

Just now, Smarch said:

Holy jacked Asians 

 

Fook Yu and Mi

[Jericho 917]

Claimed