The Thunder from Down Under

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AUSTRALIA - When you think of ice hockey, Australia may be one of the last places to come to mind. There is in face an ice hockey league, the AIHL, but with only 8 teams and a small following, it's not very well known. Its motto is 'The fastest team sport in Australia' and I think that motto goes for hockey period. That's what enticed young Latrell Mitchell into loving the sport so much, the speed. Since Latrell was a young boy, he had a Ricky Bobby mentality, he wanted to go fast. But cars weren't his thing, he liked the idea of playing team sports. He had spent years begging his parents to give him some ice hockey training, but with the high cost and not too many resources in rural Australia, it just was not feasible. "Why can't you play footy like a normal kid!" his dad always told him. He did end up playing some rugby league but it just wasn't doing it for him. That was when his parents had finally made the compromise and put him into field hockey. 

 

Latrell Mitchell was absolutely ecstatic that he got to start playing field hockey at a young age. He quickly became the best player on his team, and developed fantastic stick skills. But at the end of the day, it wasn't the fast moving, exciting sport of ice hockey that he craved so much. He stuck it out and enjoyed being part of a team, but started to seek out more. At the age of 12, he asked for roller skates for his birthday and with a couple of friends, started his own roller hockey league. It wasn't huge, but it definitely replicated ice hockey and was finally able to use a puck. That went on for awhile, and when he started to work at 16, that was when his money started going towards ice hockey equipment and ice time. He would have to travel into the city to get to a hockey rink, but that's al that was on his mind.

 

The kid never actually got to play for a team, so very little experience in that regard, but every waking hour of the day was shooting pucks on net, roller skating and when he had the time and money, get on the ice to practice as much as he can. He started seeking out options to play hockey at a semi professional level, but nothing came through in Australia. He seemed elsewhere and finally got a call from the VHLM that a team in Mexico would give him an opportunity. He jumped on that right away, and at his parents disapproval, moved across the world to follow his dream. There's no saying where Latrell will go with his career, and has lots of catching up to do to the North Americans who have spent their whole lives on the ice, but time will tell if he can adapt and live out his dream to be an ice hockey player.