Well... the day that Taylor has dreamt about since he was 4 finally came! Although, when he was 4 he dreamt of playing for the Tri City Americans but as he got older and and learned more about the WHL he learned that you can't really "pick and choose" what WHL team you can play for! Can i just say though that he was totally excited when he was drafted by the Vancouver Giants on May 2011. They are a fantastic organization and kinda close too (6hr drive) - it could have been REALLY BAD! but, God was soo good that day!! After the draft, he attended the spring camp that the Giants had at the end of May and did pretty good - "got his feet wet". He trained all summer with Michael at AFS (Advanced Fitness Solutions) and Craig Bond for Power Skating and was ready to compete at the Rookie Camp in Vancouver in August. He did great and was asked to stay but he had a plane ticket to Ohio (he had already missed a week of school) and so...he left - plus he couldn't play for them until he was 16 anyway... :( He went to play for the Cleveland Barons to practice and play with the best to help him get better. The year went pretty good for him. It was also a good year for him to experience living away from home. The Giants kept checking in on him over the season which really encouraged him. Playing in Ohio and for the Barons (which was ranked as the #4 team in the nation) gave him pretty good exposure to colleges & USHL teams. There were a few that had contacted him to let him/us know that they were interested but no commitments... We had been in constant prayer all year that God would make it clear as to what path He wanted for Taylor. Once Taylor got home at the beginning of April, we knew that a contract may be coming our way but had no idea what it entailed exactly... We waited, and waited, and waited and waited some more! After 1 year of praying and hoping - we knew that God was getting a little bit closer to revealing His plan. but those 2 weeks really tested our patience - every time that i would think about it, my fingernails ached with frustration of not yet know ANYTHING! ugh!! all we could do was pray and pray and pray which is what we did. We also followed up with the colleges that we had contact with and we really didn't get much of an answer but we felt that it was an answer from God instead... We finally received the contract on April 19th - we read it and prayed about it. We had a few questions, so we waited until Friday to get those answered before he signed. After we felt confident about the contract, we called Taylor at school to come down to sign it so we could send it back... Here is him signing at Kamiakin and then the celebration with family and friends the next day!
What's next? - you ask... He is going to the USA Hockey Regional Camp this week to stay in compliance with eligibility for anything that USA Hockey may ask him to do and he trains all summer again! He will train with Michael at AFS and Craig Bond for skating. As far as we know, he goes to Vancouver in august to the training camp to make the team. Please keep him in your prayers :)
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