Getting to Know Rising Star Spence King

[Jer_Lefebvre 61]

This week I had the privilege of interviewing @Spence King he is an up and coming star playing for the Philadelphia Reapers. In the most recent VHL draft he was drafted 17th overall by the Helsinki Titans, as well as 35th overall in S71 VHLM draft by the Reapers. Spence King is a model member of the VHL community he is very active in the organization with not only his player Spencer Elsby, but also assistant gm of Philadelphia as well as GMIng team Asia in the WJC. Before we jump in to the few questions he had time for me to ask him I’ll show you my answers to those same questions !
 

Q.  When did you first come upon the VHL and how did you hear about this amazing league?

 A. For me I first heard about the VHL in the beginning of April, it has now been about 2 months I have been a part of those league and I can say for sure I love it, it is the closest thing to the actual league. Spence King was the one to tell me about it I know him from my hometown and I definetly owe him a huge thank you for introducing me!! 

 

Q. The VHL as a whole is a massive organization with many moving parts, for some it can be a bit overwhelming when you first come on to the scene. For you what was your first impression like, and how did you cope?

   
A.    As a new recruit coming into the VHL I think the most appropriate way to describe me is like a deer in headlights! I was very overwhelmed I didn’t even know where to start, from creating my player to figuring out how to earn this so called TPE, it was a lot to take in. Thankfully I was very lucky to have a great supporting cast around me to help push me along in the right direction to be as successful as I could be. I’ve been through it if you are a recruit reading this it gets much better, practice makes perfect things become routine.
 

Q. Many young players struggle in the beginning to with so many different things you need to stay on top of in order to develop at a rapid rate. For you what did you find the hardest about it and how did you overcome that first wave of difficulty?

   
 A.  The hardest thing for me honestly was not the figuring out how to do things but trying to figure out what to do for those things. In order to maximize your TPE you need to during most weeks write a 500 word minimum and a 200 word minimum article. My biggest struggle most the time is trying to decide what to write about, even to this day some weeks it is tough to get creative. The one thing I have going for me is my good buddy Spence King, if I’m having a writers block lots of times I’ll start just chatting it up with him about anything and everything to do with the VHL and something comes to me. He’s been there for me from the beginning and I appreciate more than he knows.

 

 

Q. Now that you are established as a big up and coming name who were some of your greatest influences that may have helped you through the tough times?

A. There are 2 people that have been major players in my development thus far in my career the first I talked about previously Spence King. He brought me into the VHL world and has been for me since day one. Even when I was that Anoying new recruit that knew nothing and had a question about everything he always had an answer. The other is @Sonnet my very first GM in Houston, no the season and my career didn’t start out the best but I always had a gm that helped me stay on top of getting all my weekly tasks done and knowing exactly what I need to do. Honesty, I owe a lot of my success now to my start of my development thanks to sonnet.

 

Q. The VHL is a very tight knit community, which is why that is exactly what our theme week is focused on, what is your favourite thing or things about the VHL?

 

 A.  I think my favourite thing about the VHL is the Discord communication, just having your locker room chats with your teammates after sims, either a big win or a close loss just encouraging and pumping each other up to me it is the best part and there is nothing else like it.
 

Q. With this last question we are going to get a little deep with you, now that you have been around for a little bit you have seen both sides of the league with being an assistant gm as well as a star player. If you were talking to a new recruit or someone who was thinking about joining and had to just explain to them what it means to be a part of this amazing league what would you tell them?

 

   A.  Now this question is more geared towards Spence King himself but if I was to talk to someone who is thinking about joining the VHL I would tell them that a league like this gives you a passion, everyone here is passionate about and it’s an exciting thing to be a part of. It’s something to care about, the VHL is exactly what our theme week says it is we are a community, everything is fun it is an awesome experience to live out a hockey dream but above all else it’s a community!

 

Now that I have given you insight in to my experience as being a part of this amazing community here are the answers I got from Spencer King! 
 

Q. When did you first come upon the VHL and how did you hear about this amazing league?

 

A. “From my childhood hero Valtteri Vaakainen , he had just recent signed in the league and was my favorite player growing up back home since I can ever remember, he is 100% the reason im here today”

Q. The VHL as a whole is a massive organization with many moving parts, for some it can be a bit overwhelming when you first come on to the scene. For you what was your first impression like, and how did you cope?

 

A. “At first I was more than extremely overwhelmed with how much of a culture shock it was. I was completely lost Had no idea how to even claim Practice , needed to ask atleast 4 people to help me figure out how to claim my first welfare. Let alone getting into discord I had ZERO experience with this new form of communication. I wasn’t even able to get find the locker room for 4 days” 

 

Q. Many young players struggle in the beginning to with so many different things you need to stay on top of in order to develop at a rapid rate. For you what did you find the hardest about it and how did you overcome that first wave of difficulty? 

 

A. “One word, ROUTINE Its all about the getting in the routine of your weekly tasks , it gets easier and easier to the point that maxing out on weekly capped TPE can happen so quickly”

 

Q. Now that you are established as a big up and coming name who were some of your greatest influences that may have helped you through the tough times?

 

A. “Jer….. I just wrote 1000 word article explaining that in the Media Spots, Check it out  your actually even tagged in it ”

 

Q. The VHL is a very tight knit community, which is why that is exactly what our theme week is focused on, what is your favourite thing or things about the VHL?

A. “Exactly what you said right there , the guys at the top put SO MUCH effort into monitoring everything and making sure theres always moderation happening and don’t allow for any bullshit or bullying or disrespectful behavior, this is the reason the community remains so tight knit, they are all truly great people”

 

Q. With this last question we are going to get a little deep with you, now that you have been around for a little bit you have seen both sides of the league with being an assistant gm as well as a star player. If you were talking to a new recruit or someone who was thinking about joining and had to just explain to them what it means to be a part of this amazing league what would you tell them? 

 

A. “This league is a great escape from reality for hockey fans , especially the die hards like myself and the entire community, VHL,VSHL and everyone that works on this makes it such a welcoming and realistic experience you cant find anywhere else.”

     

I want to thank Spence King for his awesome answers to my interview it was really a privilege to be able to ask him a few questions to add to my experience of the VHL and I hope you all enjoyed as much as I did!