Jerome Mitchell's Journey [1/2]

[bdu754 22]

Early Life

Jerome William Mitchell was born on April 21st, 2004, to Kurt Mitchell, a former hockey player and his wife, Barbara, in Burnaby. He and his parents later moved to Surrey. Jerome grew up with a profound passion for hockey, after watching videos of his father playing in the NHL for the Vancouver Canucks. Jerome was a season ticket member with the Canucks as a child, because of his father's role with the Canucks.

Jerome learned to skate at the age of three, and started playing hockey a year later. Jerome always stood out compared to the other players on the ice. For one, he was almost always a foot taller than most of the other players, and he was just generally much more bigger and stronger, as well as more skilled. These traits helped Jerome to become one of the most prolific young stars in his hometown of Surrey. He first gained notoriety after video of him scoring a goal in an Atom-level hockey game went viral on YouTube, garnering 40 000 views.

 

Upbringing

Jerome was raised in a very Catholic household. Each Sunday, he would go to church with his family, eat brunch, and then join his team for their game in the afternoon.

Jerome's father valued two things in life: Hockey and Good Grades in school. These factors were extremely important for Jerome, and he had to exceed in both Hockey and Academics. One day, after a report card that showed very poor results, Jerome's father, Kurt, decided to punish him before Christmas. At first, Jerome thought that he was going to be barred from playing hockey until he got his grades up, but his dad decided to take away his video game console instead, showing that the one thing that mattered more than grades, was hockey.

 

School

 Jerome attended public schools in Surrey for most of his life, never switching between schools. At school, Jerome did not get into any fights, and the most trouble that he ever got into was either for forgetting to complete his homework assignment, which he did many times. However, Jerome was actually quite academically gifted at school, scoring high marks in all of his classes, especially Physical Education.

  Jerome originally did have plans to move to Vancouver Island to play for the Shawnigan Lake School's hockey team, which competed in the Canadian Secondary School Hockey League, but after committing to the VHLM, Jerome decided to dedicate himself to playing the VHLM, and ultimately becoming a star in the Victory Hockey League.

 

Midget AAA

  After scoring nearly 80 goals in his second year of PeeWee AAA, Jerome was recruited by the coach of Burnaby's local Midget AAA team to play for them. Although the players were a few years older than Jerome, he still matched up to those players in size, and skill, dominating in his first season of Midget AAA, scoring an impressive 50 goals, with another 34 assists, for a total of 84 points. Despite his prolific scoring, Jerome also was a tough player on the ice, getting into trouble after a hard check to the boards by Jerome sent a player to the hospital. He finished the season with a whopping 200 Penalty Minutes, and a few of those minutes were accredited to fights that Jerome had gotten into.

  Scouting Combine and Kootenay Ice

 Jerome brought his skills to show at a scouting combine for Midget AAA players, where his brilliance on the ice, in addition to his extremely aggressive style of play, impressed a good amount of elite scouts from the WHL, as well as several that represented many collegiate teams for the NCAA with very well-regarded and elite hockey programs. One particular WHL team, the struggling Kootenay Ice, offered to pay Jerome 5000 dollars on the spot, if he signed with them right there and right now. Jerome, who, at that time, had no plans to sign with any team, and had only gone to the combine to play some hockey and have fun with some of his AAA teammates, declined the offer.

 The following weeks after the combine, Jerome continued to be pestered by the Kootenay Ice team about the possibility of him signing with them, receiving countless letters, emails, and phone calls, from management, begging him to sign. Jerome refused every single offer that he had been given, each time increasing, until it had reached a signing bonus of 20000 canadian dollars, which Jerome still declined. Things got even more out of hand when a player from the Ice came to Jerome's house to persuade Jerome. Jerome's father slammed the door on the player, and proceeded to blacklist all contacts with the Kootenay Ice, before ultimately sending a lengthy email to the Ice front office, telling them that Jerome would never sign with such a trashy organization.

 

Choosing the VHL over the WHL

  A few days after that incident, Jerome scored 10 points in a Midget AAA game. Following the game, in the parking lot of the rink, Jerome was approached by the general manager of the Vancouver Giants, a major junior hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL), while he was loading his equipment in his dad's truck. The GM offered Jerome a contract to play for them in two seasons, at the age of 15, and promised that he would still be paid in the next season, even if he wasn't going to play. Jerome thought this over with his father, who originally did want Jerome to play in the WHL, but after some more careful and deliberate thinking, they decided not to sign with the Giants, and agreed instead to sign up for the VHLM dispersal draft.

  Unlike the Kootenay Ice, the Vancouver Giants took the declination humbly, not approaching Jerome to sign afterwards.

 

VHLM Draft, and Moving Forward

  Jerome was drafted in the tenth round of the VHLM draft with the 58th overall pick, by the Ottawa Lynx. Jerome was excited to start his professional playing career in the nation's capital, and he is looking forward to the upcoming season with Ottawa, and he is hoping that he can become a young star in the VHLM, and then afterwards, the VHL.

 

Word Count: 1033

[Jubo 1,839]

Review: I like how you broke down this Bio and gave it a progression type of feel from his starting years to today. Jerome feels like the type of player that oozes dedication. I think adding a picture in some manner would have really completed the format. I hope you keep active with the VHL and can grow your player into the offensive force your drew him up to be. As a 10th round pick you could end up being a steal for the Ottawa Lynx.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Jubo07