RJ Thatcher - Junior Review

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Rodney-Jay Thatcher, or more commonly known as RJ Thatcher, currently plays for the Mexico City Kings in one of the most popular leagues in the hockey world - the VHLM. But how did he get this far?

 

Thatcher was born and raised in a very uncommon place for hockey stars, that being Papua New Guinea. His parents were born in Australia, but decided to move together to Papua New Guinea about two years before Thatcher was born. The official language of their country is English and Thatcher learned how to speak that, as well as another local language in Tok Pisin. Learning English proved to be invaluable when he later started playing hockey professionally. In his youth, ice hockey was not popular at all. However, field hockey was popular where he lived and RJ took to it quickly. Thatcher dreamed of representing Papua New Guinea on their Olympic field hockey team, but when he was 11, he and his parents moved back to Australia. Thatcher did not have any troubles assimilating into his new environment, but his field hockey skills did not carry over. The field hockey scene in Australia was way more competitive and he simply did not have the skills required to excel. However, Thatcher started to follow the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) and wanted to learn how to play. The first step was to learn how to skate, which did not take RJ very long at all. After he could skate well enough, he started to practice on his own. He found that his field hockey skills translated very well to ice hockey. Despite his lackluster skating abilities, he was even better at ice hockey. At the age of 13, he started playing it competitively. While his skillset needed some finetuning, the raw talent was certainly there. The fluidity on the ice complimented Thatcher's game a whole lot. He worked his way up the ranks before being noticed by VHLM scouts at the age of 17. By then, his skills were sharper and he was one of the best prospects at his age, despite picking the sport up so late in his life. He signed with the Mexico City Kings mid-season and impressed them enough that they used their 9th overall pick on him in this past draft. Today, Thatcher is one of the best players on his team and he looks to bring a title to Mexico City.

 

402 Words