Running Towards Stardom [2/2]

[Termancy 9]

          Titus LaClass was born at the base of the French Alps, in Gilly-sur-Isère, to two proud parents, both livestock herders. Not much is known about who they were other than their names; Claud and Agnès, and that they loved and supported their son. 

 

Early Life 

 

 

        Titus grew up on the hills and mountains surrounding his home, running around with his younger twin brothers, playing in the trees and streams. It is said that that is where he developed his love for nature and physical exertion. At the age of 7, his younger sister was born. Proving to be too much of a burden financially for the family, Titus’s father left to find better work in the bigger city of Montpellier. 

        It was about this time that LaClass began his hockey lessons at the local ice rink. He was a late join, but that did not discourage him. With not many kids in the surrounding region interested in hockey, and those already playing a couple years older, LaClass got a lot of attention from his coach early on. He benefited greatly with this attention, developing at a great rate. His early years of running up the hills and mountains had strengthened his legs and lungs. Playing against older kids proved to be a challenge he accepted readily and he used it to his advantage. After three years of developing his skating and stick skills, he was ready to play his first game at the age of 10.

 

 

 

Schooling

 

         School never came easy to Titus LaCLass. Teachers would write home that all he did was talk, joke around, and barely study. This was a problem because when you live in a town as small as his, you’re bound to run into your teacher at the grocery store. Despite all of his shortcomings, he was still able to keep his grades high enough so that he could continue playing hockey.

 

 

Playing in France

 

 

         At the age of 13 Titus LaClass was already considered to be a promising hockey player. His speed had only increased due to hours and hours in the rink, skating with his little brothers and sister. He continued to play and run in the mountains, even completing trail runs just for fun. He met his first challenge when his whole family decided to move to Montpellier in order to reunite his family. There he joined the local junior team and was placed in the bottom pairing, behind four players all older, bigger, and better than him. LaClass did not mope around thought and decided to put in the work needed to become competitive with them. By the end of the season, LaClass had moved up to top pairing, and was even tied for third in team scoring. 

         Titus LaClass spent two more years in the French junior leagues, moving up from the FFHG division 3 Vipers de Montpellier to the FFHG division 1 and signing with the Aigles de Nice. The choice to sign with this team was made possible by the coaches in the French league who decided it was in French hockey’s best interest to be able to develop such a promising player. LaClass signed with the Aigles due to their proximity to his family and friends, although it is theorized that he stayed in the south of France for the food, the beaches, and his favorite mountains.

         After the end of his 3^rdseason in the FFHG leagues, Titus LaClass faced a tough decision, either sign up into the Ligue Magnus and play against the best France had to offer or move to the QMJHL and get some different competition and development. LaClass spent weeks thinking about what would be the best decision for him and his family. To their credit, both Claud and Agnès understood that this was a choice Titus had to make for himself and that they should not interfere. During this decision-making process, LaClass disappeared into the mountains for several days. None of his family members or coaches or even his girlfriend could contact him. On the fourth day of his disappearance, around dinner time, he returned with clear eyes and his head held up high. He had run for three days and two nights in order to make his decision. He had run almost 100 miles of his favorite alpine trails, not stopping unless it was to drink water, eat a protein bar, or to tie his laces. When he had finally made his choice, he slept all night and all day only then returning home for dinner. He was going to the Q.

 

 

The Q

 

         Titus LaClass left home at 16 in order to develop his skills. This was the biggest decision of his young life, and it made sense since this was the furthest he had ever been from France. Although they spoke French in Quebec, it took a while for LaClass to learn English and understand the heavy accent of the Quebec folk. He was helped by his defensive partner, Comenda Unwonu, who later became his best friend. The two were inseparable, going everywhere together adjoined at the hip. Others teammates though this to be kind of strange, but LaClass and Unwonu benefited from this friendship on and off the ice. On the ice, the two learned much from each other, from how to handle high pressure situations to how to use a faceoff win to their advantage to how to communicate with your d partner. Off the ice, they helped each other with school work or how to ask a cute girl on a date and even testing out trash talk techniques on each other.

         These two would go on to play a total of two years together as the top pair before setting their sights on their next challenge, the VHL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Running career

 

         With the mountains so close, Titus LaClass developed a love for hiking and running. He began running very early with his little brothers, but only started taking it seriously at the age of ten when his coach told him he could compete in mountain races. The training he would need in order to run competitively would be one of his greatest challenges. He competed in his first cross country race at 12 years old, finishing 9^thin his age group. He then began running trails as a way to train for the mountain races in the nearby region. Due to the intense running conditions involved with mountain races, his parents would not let him compete in any until they knew for certain he was absolutely ready. It took LaClass three and a half years before his parents finally let him run a race. He came onto the scene as a rookie no one had ever heard of before, and against top competition, he managed to place top 20 out of 300. At the end of the race, he decided to retire, saying that it took the fun out of running in the mountains.

 

 

 

[Walter Fizz 84]

Review: For some reason the biography just felt awkwardly formatted. The pictures where centered ,but the starting paragraphs where oddly below the pictures. There was to much space between the pictures and the words, and you don’t have to push the words that far when indenting. Besides that everything is okay. So go get er.

[Greg_Di 942]

Review:

I agree with Walter, the formatting seems to be off a bit (headings aren't centered but seems like the paragraphs are). Just made it a bit harder to read. The biography itself is good, lots of details and history on his life growing up.