The Biography of Arvid Aamo [1/2]

[Daniel 565]

 

ARVID AAMO: THE BIOGRAPHY

 

The story of Arvid Aamo starts like all others, at the beginning. The Norwegian city of Tromsø is known primarily as a place of natural beauty, where many tourists travel every year to catch a glimpse of the celestial phenomenon known as the Aurora Borealis, or, the Northern Lights. The city itself is spectacular, being the largest settlement in northern Norway and the third largest north of the Arctic Circle, and its geographical location on an island nestled among glorious snow covered mountains makes it a sight to behold for all visitors. The Aamo family historically was one that had made its living working in the area's fishing industries, and Hans Aamo and his wife Ingrid had both grown up in the city. Hans was expected to follow his father into the fishing trade but the opening of an airport in Tromsø in the 1960s brought with it new opportunities and enabled Hans to get a job working as a duty manager in the airport. It wasn't the best paying job in the world but it meant working in an office instead of on a fishing boat, and it meant he could provide for Ingrid and their two young children, Astrid and Arvid. Arvid was the younger of the Aamo children, being a quiet and reserved character, he often managed to slip by people's attention and grew up largely in his sisters shadow. In school, Arvid was a well behaved child, always making sure his homework was done promptly and electing to sit and pay attention instead of joking around in class like some of his friends. His childhood was a steady and quiet one, but his family unit was very close and they were indeed very happy. Astrid was a much louder, confident and precocious child, whereas Arvid blended into the background more, focused primarily on his twin loves of football, a big deal in Tromsø, with their team Tromsø IL playing in the Norwegian Premiership, and hockey.

 

 

Hockey in Tromsø is a rather small market however. Arvid's father had gained access to some American TV channels and would occasionally watch some of the sports games he knew nothing about to try and expand his horizons, and it was one night when he watched a NHL game with his son sat beside him that he totally accidentally planted the seed into the youngster's head that would determine how the rest of his life would play out. Arvid was instantly gripped by what he saw on the TV; the fast pace of the game, the aggression and most importantly, the fancy helmets and pads worn by each goaltender. From that day on, Arvid had a new love and would only settle for playing one position; he wanted to become a goaltender and wouldn't settle for playing any other position. His son's constant questioning about a sport he knew little about led Hans to do some research into it and found out that Tromsø in fact had its own hockey team, albeit a very small one. Interested in giving his son the chance to play the sport that he loved so much, he took a ten year old Arvid along one week to speak to the coaches there and see if he could have a chance to take part. Arvid was allowed to train with the U12 team, and soon began to pick up the basics of the sport. After some desperate pleading with his coaches, he was given the chance to try out some goalie drills and put the pads on for a training session, and to his own surprise, he turned out to be something of a natural. His instincts were great, he could find himself moving around the crease naturally and having a strong sense for where a puck was headed. After he established himself as a goaltender with his coaches, after a few months of training, he was given the opportunity to start playing games, a big achievement for someone as inexperienced in the sport as him. His progression continued to accelerate and soon after he was progressing through the ranks at Tromsø, to the point that he was playing with adults at the age of 14. Arvid's family were very happy with the way hockey had brought him out of his shell; his father enjoyed the bonding opportunities provided by taking him to his training sessions nearly every night and his sister was happy to have him out of the way so even more of the attention at home could be put on her. 

 

 

When Arvid turned 16 years old he had been the starting goaltender for Tromsø's best team for a year, playing at a semi professional level against experienced players, and it looked like his talent was only increasing as he delivered some of the best season end numbers of the whole league at the conclusion of the season. Arvid's family decided to make the tough decision to let him travel to Sweden to play with one of the team's in the country's professional league, so his development could continue and he could receive the level of coaching required to take him to the next level. Moving to another country at such a young age and staying with a billet family was something that took a lot of adapting to for Arvid. Naturally he became very homesick and missed life back in Tromsø immensely, but with the support of his family who made sure they were there to talk to him on Skype every day and give him the support he needed, he was able to acclimatize to his new surroundings in the city of Gothenburg, where he played for Frölunda HC and a year later established themselves as their starting goaltender, an incredible achievement for a player of his age and experience. The continued ascension of his abilities led a year later to a decision that was even more daunting for the young man; a move to join the VHL and the possibility of relocation to North America that comes with playing in such a global league. Arvid had grown up living a relatively sheltered lifestyle for the early part of his life, but now his love for and talent in a new sport had taken the unassuming young man from the small city he had known for his whole life to a truly global scale in a short space of time. A young man who has a real opportunity to make the best of himself, it's going to be one hell of a journey for Arvid to go from where he is now to where he dreams of being in the VHL one day.

 

1116 words.

 

 

[Banackock 8,044]

@Daniel I expect great things from you. 

 

Good work, maaaaan.