An American Hockey Dream

American family of MIROSLAV DURAK

I am not much of a writer, but I will try and tell you our story and you can decide if you want to use it. Please let me know if you have any questions about what I have written. I don't work on tuesday so I will be home, but back to work wednesday :(
    My husband and I and our two daughters 8 & 11 live in a home in the capital city of a state in the central part of the United States. We have a Junior A hockey team that plays against opponents from surrounding states. The players range in age from 16 to 21 years old. Most teams have tryouts during the summer months then, the players selected come to our city and live with a housing family August - May. Here is the web site for the USHL teams ... www.ushl.com . The name of our team is the Des Moines Buccaneers.
    If the young men have not completed high school they move in around the middle of August. If they have completed highschool, then they fly in closer to the end of August. In 1999-2000 we had an interview with the coach and the housing director and decided to house a player. They like to place players in homes with families since they will be away from their own families for so long. Each family must have an extra bedroom for the player so they will have privacy when they want it. People in our town are crazy about hockey, so many volunteer to house a player. My husband and I told the coach we thought it would be nice to have a player from another country so we could help him learn about the United States and we could learn about his country.
    In late August, we learned that big defenseman from Tovarniky, Slovakia would be living with us and playing hockey here. We were very excited, but nervous. We wanted to make sure he felt comfortable and at home. We learned that he spoke no English, so we went to the bookstore and bought a slovak/english dictionary. Then we hung notes all over the house with the english and slovak words so he would start to learn things. This was sometimes funny because the translation would not always be correct. The coach and another slovak player picked him up at the airport. Then he finally moved into our home. He had a slovak-english dictionary too which had many more words which I would recommend that any player coming to the U.S. bring.
    At first we used the dictionaries alot. In the morning, at each meal when we sat down to eat, and at night during TV. It took a little more time and patience on his part and ours, but it was fun. He was really a quick learner too. After awhile we stopped using dictionaries except when there was an unusual word that we hadn't used before. Then he met some people who had immigrated her from Slovakia and started taking some English classes. These helped with the written and spoken English too-after all, if his goal is to live here in the U.S. and play hockey, it is best that he learn some of the language so he can get around. He still used his Slovak alot because we had a computor so he could check up on his old team mates in Bratislava or e-mail his girlfriend and family. There were also a few other Slovak players playing in the USHL so he could e-mail them or talk to them after the games.
    When he lived with us he had practice during the day and would have activities with the other players and went to games, but generally ate with our family and celebrated holidays (we even tried cabbage soup!). Miro came from a very good family and was a wonderful person to live in our home. We also knew that his strength and skills as a hockey player were getting better and that he probably would not be back to play for our team again. So it was very difficult for all of us to say goodbye when he went home, but we knew he missed his family and friends too. Our family will NEVER be the same! Not a day goes by when we don't think of him. Now, we like to be his home and family away from home. We traveled 14 hours to see him at the Nashville training camp this summer and have plans to fly to Canada to see him play in the QJMHL.
    I think the year he spent in the Junior A league was good for him to get used to playing hockey with American players and get used to the language. Some players will go on and play for other teams (like defensman Peter Smrek from Martin who was drafted by St Louis and now plays in AHL) or if their English and grades are good and they want, they can get a college scholarship (like Left winger Peter Sejna from Liptovsky Mikulas). Hopefully for other lucky families and for hockey there are other players like Miroslav who have a dream and want to come to America to play hockey!