Eric Parker Biography [1/2]

[Eparker24 16]

Name: Eric Parker

Age: 17

DOB: January 25^th, 2001

Height: 6’ 1”

Weight: 195lbs

Handedness: Right

Hometown: Raleigh, NC, USA

 

Early Years

            Eric Parker was born on January 25^th, 2001 to Charlie and Wilma Parker in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has one older sister and spent the beginning few years in this area. Both of his parents were hard working blue collar individuals who made sure they were always able to provide for their two children and help them accomplish their dreams. Eric spent the first few years of his life in Raleigh until his father’s job brought him and his family to Roanoke, Virginia a smaller city in the middle of Virginia. This new are of the country had its closest professional hockey team 3 hours away. At an early age Parker was a multi-sport athlete playing every kind of sport as long as it allowed him to be competitive. He played football, baseball, soccer, basketball, and even wrestled when he was younger. Eventually each sport would lose its appeal because it never fully intrigued him. He loved the competitive nature but never felt fully attached to each sport that he played. Finally, one day he saw a billboard in his city for the youth hockey league and knew he had to try it out. He begged his parents to buy him some equipment and let him try out for the team. His parents were reluctant because of his tendency to pick up and drop a sport on a whim, but once they saw him out there on the ice something felt different. Not only was there a passion for the sport that Parker had never shown before, but also, he was naturally gifted at many of the aspects of the sport.

 

Early Teenage Years

            As Parker began to get older he also began to get better at the sport. Hockey is not very popular in this part of the country so there were no competitive school teams that he could play for. There were only club teams where each city would have barely enough skaters to fill out a team and often players had to rotate between positions. Cities would play each other with their skeleton crew rosters and most of the athletes were barely even able to skate. Except for Eric Parker. He had a natural giftedness for the sport that was obvious to everyone who saw him play. Other teams were specifically making their game plan around him so that they could limit his ability to make plays, but that still didn’t stop him. This helped Parker start to gain notoriety around the regional hockey market. He was still having a hard time breaking into the national and international market but his popularity was growing. That is until his father lost his job. His father was a local business owner and his mother was an elementary school teacher. His father’s business folded leaving his father unexpectedly unemployed with his mother being the sole household income provider. Because of this unexpected change in income the family was forced to cut out no essential spending to help out and everyone was expected to do this. Eric’s sister was forced to stop dancing a passion she had for a while. Eric’s mother had to sell her keyboard and other instruments that she loved playing to help out. Sadly, Eric had to stop playing hockey because of the cost it put on his family to travel and pay the other expenses. During this time Eric frantically worked any odd job he could find. He mowed lawns, helped people move, dog sat, and even did some labor work for people who would pay him. These actions sparked something in Eric. He realized that he cared so much about hockey that he was willing to do whatever it took to be able to play again. His parents noticed this as well. Eric’s father was still looking for a job when Eric’s old coach came to see him. The team had done awful this past season without Parker and the coach was willing to do whatever he could to see that Eric was able to play again. Eric’s father wasn’t one to take handouts and the coach knew that so he had another idea. He offered Eric’s father a job. The coach’s passion was for hockey and in order to be able to travel with the team he had his own business chain where he was his own boss. The coach was about to open up another location and needed someone to run it. Eric’s father accepted the offer and Eric was able to go back to playing the next season.

 

Late Teenage Years

            With everything being fixed financially Eric Parker was able to start playing hockey again. The buzz of Parker coming back led to his popularity rising again. He got back on the ice and was a natural again. He was able to rack up the points and show his flashy ability of play while leading his team to tournament win after tournament win. This helped his begin to gain notice by the right people. Certain scouts from the CHL, colleges, and other programs reached out to him. This led to Parker having to make a decision about where he was going to play next. After consulting his parents and coach Parker decided to go into the United States Hockey Development Program. Although this was a controversial decision everyone was supportive of it.

            Parker made it to the development program and this new culture hit him like a brick wall. He was no longer obviously the best player on the ice. He was already a dedicated player who was always looking to get better, but now it was obvious that he was going to have to work even harder. He was no longer given the ice time just because he was overly talented, but he was excited about that. Now he knew that if he was logging major ice time it was because he earned it. He made a name for himself although he did have some growing pains because of the new level of talent.

 

VHLM

            Eric Parker was drafted in the 4^th round of the VHLM draft by the Las Vegas Aces and is looking forward to how he can make an impact immediately for his team. Definitely keep a close eye on him as he will soon be one of the best offensive defensemen in the VHLM and soon the VHL.

[BladeMaiden 1,807]

Eparker24,

 

Pros-

This has to be one of the most heartfelt, tear-jerking Biographies I have ever read. I love the tenacity that Eric showed by trying to take odd jobs so that he could play the sport he fell in love with. the part where the coach offers Eric's dad the job would literally warm the heart of even the most stone hearted individuals. Your style  of writing is very easy to read and moves at an enjoyable pace.

 

Cons-

For a fake biography reading this gave a a bad case of the feels. Part of me things there should be a warning on this story about the emotional journey it takes it's readers on.

 

Great Job

10/10 (I'm slowly becoming the bloody Paula Abdul of VHL reviewing)

[JG10 28]

Great Article. 1083 words It seems like you are going to be a big steal in the fourth round of the VHML draft