Sometime in the next 10 days, Shallow Lake netminder Shea Tiley will hop a plane for Budapest where she’ll play goal for Canada at the World Under 18 Women’s Hockey Championship.
Crazy as this may sound, the junket to the World Under 18 might be a bit of a break for Tiley, and probably for her teammates.
The reality of sports performers who aren’t pros, is this; they have lives to lead in conjunction with their sports aspirations.
In the case of Shea Tiley, she was elated to be selected for the Canadian team no question, ” shocked ” was the word she used to describe the initial reaction.
But shocked or otherwise, when I spoke to her about the tournament on the horizon, she was in the process of studying for a test, and I’d assume a significant test, at West Hill Secondary School.
And when the test was written, Tiley was then bound for a destination further south to play goal for Waterloo in a PWHL Playoff game.
And then……..well, you get the point.
Pro athletes have other aspects of their life, no question, but there’s also little doubt where their priority is.
For Shea Tiley and her Canadian teammates, there’s almost a rotating set of priorities, minute to minute, that is until they get to Budapest and can concentrate solely on hockey.
I’m Fred Wallace