Kaspars Claude - The Biography [2/2]

[Bruins10 128]

It all started back in the homeland of Italy, in one of the major cities in the province of Calabria. Kaspars Claude is son of a farmer and a stay at home mom. He was raised by both of them and the rest of his family in a city called Cosenza. She, in her past life, was a professional figure skater and is how Kaspars Claude learnt how to skate and gained interest into ice hockey. During the winters, they would tear down their corn field and just create a huge ice rink. No boards, no ending to the beautiful pond that they created on their land. Kaspars would spend his days and nights there, and especially since he was taken care of mainly by his mother who stayed at home and didn’t work, he had a lot more free time on his hands to enjoy the great outdoors. After about 8 years of just getting taught hockey during his classes of Physical Education, the family decided to enroll Kaspars into hockey in their town. Unfortunately, they did not have enough money to pay for the registration so Kaspars father decided to sell his microwave to meet the quota. But let us rewind the clock a little and take a deeper dive into the life of Kaspars Claude.

 

Cosenza scenery

 

Elementary School

In school, Kaspars was a terrible student. He was a very misbehaved student and would only pay attention to a few people, and that was his family. When it came time to get good grades, he would either be able to focus or just give it to his mother for her to do on her spare time. He had his brother that would look after him in the corridors and also had a couple cousins. Hockey seemed like a family sport to them, and when it was time for gym class, the Claude family and relatives would team up against the other Italian families and have friendly competitions. The school was thinking of growing the sport so they needed a rink, and that is where the Claude family came into play. The school would ask them to use their empty corn field in the winter to make a rink and use it for gym class. The Claude family, with very low budget, would allow the school full use but would make sure that the school would provide Kaspars with equipment.

 

Household with Italians

An Italian household is a fun one and a dangerous one at the same time. As kids, we are thought to live by 2 moral codes, and that is to respect everyone and to make sure that family is first. And that is how Kaspars would become. He would become a family man of some sorts and he would always have the utmost respect for his peers around him. Even though he was a misbehaving student in class, he was never disrespectful to his classmates or his teachers. He just generally disliked school and knew that sports would be way out of the city, or it would be to become a farmer like his father. Even though it aint much, it is honest work. But Kaspars wanted better and so did their family. They saw something in him, they saw his passion for hockey and knew that if he would have friends around him to push him and to play along with him, he would go places that the Claude family has not.

Kaspars father would use his physically demanding job at home to make Kaspars train. He did not have enough money to send him away to camps or to the gym for physical activity, so he used the world he lived in. A couple of tools during the summer, picking at the corn and building cardio would help Kaspars develop some sort of base as an athlete. The cardio that a farmer develops and the core strength needed for the long days is something that you can only develop in the field, and never in a gym. The equipment and constantly holding heavy materials in your hands would develop muscles and the strength needed to be powerful on his hockey stick.

When Kaspars would complain, he would get 2 different types of treatment. Either he would be told to do some counts around the corn field, which in turn meant he would have to do laps around the property. Or, his parents would use their tools around them to make sure he had the discipline needed in the competitive business of hockey. Whether it would be slippers in his own house or suicides ordered by the coach, players or kids would have to obey and go through some pain. Kaspars was built like an obedient man that knows his brothers and family need protection, blood or his hockey team.

 

North America, the goal that Kaspars Claude had his eyes set on

 

College

Kaspars made a decision to travel to America when he was about 20 years old. He needed the exposure and he wanted a better education. He always realized that North America had better opportunity for someone like him and he would be able to use his hockey as a getaway, even if he never made it professionally. It was time for Kaspars to use his actual smarts and to become a man, and leave the house. So, he travelled all the way to Boston and received a scholarship with Boston University where he would become friends with a man named Jack Eichel. They would become roommates and the only thing they did not agree on was their passion for education. Jack knew he was a talented hockey player, and he dreamed of playing in the NHL. But Kaspars, Kaspars knew that he might not make it there and would need a degree just in case, something to fall back on. After working through those deadly days and nights in the farm, he had enough smarts to make it somewhere in the office or as a business man. The friendship these two had off the ice created a bond on the ice that was unbreakable. Together, Jack and Kaspars would lead Boston University to the Beanpot Final and would ultimately win the trophy against Harvard. Kaspars Claude would lead the team in points that season but was all the help of Jack. Kaspars was a pure scorer at the time and Jack was the all around player. Unfortunately, Kaspars would not see his friend get selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL because Kaspars was receiving his Bachelor in Marketing that he put his heart into receiving. To this day, the degree and the trophy would be Kaspars biggest achievements and he hopes to receive more in the future of his hockey degree.

 

Kaspars and his team celebrating a goal when he was in College

[Kekzkrieg 160]

Review: Good to see a fellow Italian in the league! Reading the work ethic in the rink and value of his family, It's good to see Kaspars thinking of supporting the family that supported him by getting his degree as a backup plan. Hearing about the sacrifices that the family had to endure for the sake of his training was pivotal for his development cause he understood the real cost for his parents. Hope to see Kaspers make his family proud and well written!

[Greg_Di 1,022]

Review: Great biography. Very interesting information and covers what a biography should cover. I would only change a couple things and those would be make the pictures smaller, also maybe add a title so that it looks more like a biography and space out some of the paragraphs to make it more visually appealing.