Anton Edvin: From Small Beginnings [1/2]

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Anton Edvin: From Small Beginnings

 

Anton Edvin is an 18 year old Estonian who has just begun his journey in the minor professional ranks of hockey. Growing up his favorite sport was hockey, unfortunately he was unable to play it for most of his youth due to the financial state of his family. Only the richest of Estonians who lived in Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia, were able to play the sport and those who were talented enough eventually left for Latvia or the Nordic countries to play in their junior leagues. Instead played football (soccer) and filled the void by watching the national team play friendly matches when he saved enough money to buy a ticket and listening to radio broadcasts when he was lucky for his mother to allow him to use the radio for the evening. Those were only on nights that his father was still out working in the fields.

 

 

(Tapa, Estonia. Anton Edvin's birthplace).

 

The day he learned to walk Edvin began working for his parents on their farm in Tapa, Estonia. He started with simple tasks like collecting eggs each morning from the chickens and apples from their few apple trees to collecting the wheat during harvest and planting it at the beginning of the new season. His father introduced him to football at a very young age and he joined his local club as a striker. The entire town of Tapa loved the local football team and when they heard about this young striker the hype around him was unbelievable. From a very young age he was known by all of the most important people in his town. He learned about hockey when he was seven. He saw some kids skating on a pond and asked what they were doing. When they explained the game of hockey to him he was immediately hooked. Anton's father didn't support his dream of becoming a hockey player, though. He told him "Anton, you be a footballer or a take my farm. No more of this silly hockey." For the next eight years he would continue playing football and being a great striker for the local club at that. Although most of the village was very poor, especially his family, on game weekends they were asked to come to local restaurants and stores to do their eating and shopping at a discount as a show of appreciation by the townspeople. As a young boy he loved the attention and adoration his friends and fans gave him, but as he got older he realized how weird it was to have an entire town idolize him for him football skills. He realized that if he was going to play football professionally he'd have to leave Estonia and play somewhere new. Somewhere where the entire town didn't know his face, name and his parents personally.

 

When he began going to Gumnaasium (High School) as a 15 year old Anton was hoping he would either be asked to play football by one of the professional teams throughout Europe and if he had not been approached by any teams after turning 18 he decided he would go to a university in Germany and learn some field of work. He wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to learn at a university, but he was certain that he didn't want to take over his father's farm, although it would break his father's heart. Farming wasn't something he did because he wanted to. He did it help keep food on the table in his home, but it wasn't something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Fortunately he had in fact been approached that season with an offer to play football in the United Kingdom for Shelbourne in Dublin. He got the offer while practicing with his club team and it was too good to be true. The entire way home he was scared, excited and nervous. Would he have to leave the country alone, as a 15 year old? What would become of his parents? Would he ever see them again? He decided to wait to speak with his parents about the issue until he knew what he really wanted. After all he had another three years before he really had to make a choice about what he wanted to do, why rush it?

 

(Tallinn International Ice Hall. The first rink Anton Edvin ever skated at).

 

Then one day the coach of the national Estonian hockey team came to his school and asked that the best athletes in the school be allowed to accompany him on a field trip to the national team's training facility. There Anton was given the chance to finally skate on ice for the first time and play the sport that he so desperately loved watching and listening to while growing up. He was an awful skater, just absolutely horrible, but being a striker on his club football team for many seasons he had a natural nose for the net and being so tall and athletic he was able to keep "control" of the puck, if you could call his hobbling around the ice with the puck constantly bouncing away from him control. He was especially great at scoring while close to the net and the national team's coach took notice. After the skate he was asked to move to Tallinn and go to a boarding school to finish his education and learn to play hockey for his country. He was totally ecstatic. For the next three years of his life he would spend every day training. Skating, shooting, lifting weights and eating like a king to fill out his frame. The product of this training regime was a 6'3", 185 lb right winger. This young man from a small farming village named Tapa (population 5,400) would go on to play for national Estonian team at the age of 18. After his first IIHF tournament he was asked to play in several junior leagues. The MHL in Russia, the SuperElit in Sweden, the USHL in the United States and the OHL in Canada. None of them were able to measure up to the offer he got from a team in Canada though, so he declared his intention to make his way to the VHL by way of the VHLM. Now he is traveling outside of the country for the first time without the Estonian national team to Saskatoon, Canada to make a name for himself, his family, and his country in the world hockey.

[StamkosFan 72]

Review: I love people who create their players for countries that are out of the mainstream, it really distinguishes you. Very young for sure and with a lot to prove! Great story of being a football star instead of a hockey stud, another unique plotline. I love your creativity and how you stayed focused entirely on his life rather than what’s going on now with his career, you followed the prompt perfectly. Love that you want to play internationally too, national teams are the best! Nice work!