Biography of John Frostbeard [2/2]

[FrostBeard 2,049]

Biography of John Frostbeard

Early life of John Frostbeard,

"The Beginning"

John Frostbeard is a native Latvian, that was born in a beautiful countryside of Latvia, in a region called Sēlija, near the border of Lithuania. He was born into a family of farmers that were focusing their strengths into building up their business and making in a success. His early life was quite full of adventures as he spent most time outdoors with his friends and family. He was a kid his parents could be proud of as he never lied to them or broke any of the family rules, though his family really didn’t put any chains on what young John could or couldn’t do. He spent lots of evenings with his dad either fishing or watching something interesting on TV. His family always were quite big on almost any sport that you could watch. His dads favorite was basketball, his moms always was hockey.

Start of school,

"Helping as much as he could"

John spent loads of time with his grandparents as their home was quite a lot closer to his primary school than his parents farm. He usually did stay with grandparents through weekdays and in weekends went back to help his family in farm. John never had any regrets of area where he was living or anything, he was truly grateful of everything his mother and father did for him.

Next big step,

"Moving away from his family"

John Frostbeard very supportive for quite a long time, but as he was living in an area were there was only 9 grade school, after reaching the age of 15, he had to start looking for a secondary school. His family was very supportive and thought that having an education should always be a high priority for anyone, no matter what. John always had plans of returning to his home town, as he really didn’t think that there were any other options.

Excitement and food,

"Our favorite customer"

First year of secondary school went by relatively quickly and soon it was the summer when he joyfully returned home to help his parents. He spent whole summer thinking what is really his calling in life and while browsing his school’s webpage, he saw a just posted message about after-class activities that will be offered to second year students at his school. And so there it was, a beautiful message saying that they have finally completed their sports facility that now will include a beautiful ice rink. As a child John always dreamed about learning to skate so he went to his mother and father with this brilliant idea of trying out skating next semester and something to fill up his time.

Second year came with a huge excitement for John and he had not only an opportunity to learn to skate but to go back to his classmates as all them were quite good friends and texted each other throughout all summer. His marks in all his classes were great and he was one of the top students and as well as happy customer in cafeteria. This was the first time when he was gaining weight in all his life as he went from 6 feet, 150 lbs (1m82cm, 68kg) to 6 feet, 230 lbs (1m82cm, 104kg). This put him on the spot as he understood that he needs to push himself to do more sports and maybe even exercise more often. That semester he switched from going to ice rink 2 times a week, to everyday and that helped him to become an amazing skater. His life continued like for till 2^nd semester came around and he had a chance to meet his school hockey basics teacher/coach. He praised the skating skill of John’s quite a lot and pushed him to try new and more things on ice like making tight turns and full stops, he even had a lesson on how to hit boards, when full stop is not possible.

To be or not to be,

"I want to be something more than..."

As he did have quite a close relationship with most his teachers and mentors, he listened to all advice he could and so, when he was at the end of 2^nd semester, grade 10, his hockey mentor asked him if John would be interested in trying out playing hockey with few local guys, oh whom John already quite a few. He agreed to try it out and so he informed his family of his decision and everyone was extremely supportive. John’s mentor together with John went to local town to be basic hockey equipment and so he started to train and became a better and better every week. Unfortunately, his excitement and dedication to hockey stopped when he received a call from his mother that his dad was involved in a horrible car crash that left John’s paralyzed in his left leg. That incident pushed his family into quite a few hard decisions as now that John was studying and his dad unable to really perform any work around the farm, family had to decide whether they keep the farm and John comes home or they sell it and move into village near their grandparents were mom was offered a job as a schools gardener. As his family was strongly supportive of an idea that a child must get an education, they agreed to selling their farm. This whole situation put John into a position were he always felt necessary to give back to his family after they made such a contribution to John’s future. After John’s family sold their farm, John decided that he will fully focus on becoming a household name in hockey in his home country of Latvia where such players as Sandis Ozoliņš, Kārlis Skrastiņš, Sergejs Žoltoks, Artūrs Irbe, Helmuts Balders and many more, have showed that they are capable to be players of highest quality.

It was not only path John decided to take as he promised his family that even though we will pursue a career in hockey, he will put a huge effort into getting B.A. in Social sciences, Political science and so, even right now, after signing his first contract in VHLM, he is still studying in Pennsylvania State University to get his B.A. in Political science.

Support of everyone,

"People I love..."

John’s Mother and Father, as well as his 4 grandparents and huge fans and supporters of him and so is his small hometown and school.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

WOAH Latvia 

 

are you from LV in real life? @FrostBeard

[FrostBeard 2,049]

Just now, hedgehog337 said:

WOAH Latvia 

 

are you from LV in real life? @FrostBeard

 

Yup, born and raised and living right now

[hedgehog337 3,483]

Just now, FrostBeard said:

 

Yup, born and raised and living right now

 

Which city? 

[FrostBeard 2,049]

Just now, hedgehog337 said:

 

Which city? 

 

Well, right now I am living in Riga, as I went to study and such, but previously lived in small town called Nereta.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

Just now, FrostBeard said:

 

Well, right now I am living in Riga, as I went to study and such, but previously lived in small town called Nereta.

 

oh, so indeed Sēlija. 

 

I'm also spending majority of my time in Rīga. But I'm coming from Limbaži. Great to see a fellow Latvian here 

[FrostBeard 2,049]

Just now, hedgehog337 said:

 

oh, so indeed Sēlija. 

 

I'm also spending majority of my time in Rīga. But I'm coming from Limbaži. Great to see a fellow Latvian here 

 

Awesome, so you having that classic Limbaži accent ha?  And truly good too see another Latvian here.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

2 minutes ago, FrostBeard said:

 

Awesome, so you having that classic Limbaži accent ha?  And truly good too see another Latvian here.

 

yea, I indeed like to slur words a bit. 

[johnnyhockey42 13]

I think everyone has that problem of "not exactly knowing what their 'calling' is," even professional hockey players.  That was a great job adding that to John's story as it really humanized the character for me and helped me relate to him with what I went through at a similar age.  I hope there won't be too much of a language barrier for John in the VHL, that must be tough coming all the way from Latvia!  That's awesome John is joining the league after such a devastating car accident, good for him man.  The strength in the face of adversity is an amazing character trait for John to have and I can't wait to see what he does in this league.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

REVIEW: A very nice biography...up until you included that John was studying at Penn State  . I always enjoy reading the biographies of players who live or grew up outside of North America, as the stories and development steps are just different than what we usually get. I'd be slightly concerned that he was able to put on 80 pounds in one year, but I guess he had to do what he had to in order to bulk up. All in all, this was a very enjoyable read.

 

Also from a formatting perspective, I enjoyed the short blurbs you had under each chapter title. Something little, but I think it's a great addition.