The Grandview High School JV hockey team is making waves in the center of Grandview. The squad is demonstrating that success doesn’t necessarily need a varsity title with a 6-4-1 record.
“Every team has its ups and downs, but I see Grandview having a great program and taking off very soon to become a big name,” freshman Emilio Kukic said.
Leading this young hockey team is coach Jason Schmidt, who credits players’ strong sense of solidarity, skill development, and devotion for the team’s success.
An immense amount of preparation time has gone into preparing the team for the adversaries they may meet throughout the season.
“Our coaches have been preparing us for this transition since our first season as a team. They continue to push us to be our best no matter what level we may be playing at.” Kukic said.
Dedication and hard work effectively simplifies the standards of these young student athletes. They dedicate more than one season in order to learn and get better at everything they do.
“Although we are a JV team, we hold ourselves to varsity level expectations,” sophomore hockey player Lincoln Alisasis said. “I believe this will help as we transition to varsity because we are already trying to meet that standard.”
The JV hockey team has grown to be a pride of the school, demonstrating that being on the junior varsity level is not the only indicator of success; however, becoming a great team comes with challenges of its own, such as going against great varsity teams.
A great tactic that the team used in order to overcome these challenges, is by gaining support from their parents.
“The support from our families who are always showing up for us both on and off the ice is what helps us continue to overcome the challenges we are faced with,” Alisasis said.
Support from students as well also hugely impacts the performance of the players on the ice.
“People showing up for games and showing their support, photographers and news channels coming as well, I make sure I’m trying my best so that they can capture that,” Kukic said.
Players hope to not only continue shining on the ice, but to also help expand the JV Hockey program.
“We may not have a varsity label yet, but we play with the heart and skill of champions,” Alisasis said. “We’re setting the stage for the future of hockey at Grandview High School.”
The community has rallied behind the team, attending games and showing unwavering support.
“I love the team’s great spirit and frankly it is the best to watch how they play the game of hockey so enthusiastically and they really bring the sport to heart,” sophomore Raghav Ahuja said. “When they lose, they keep their heads high, and when they win, they stay humble.”
With its sights set on the future, the Grandview High School JV hockey team is not only skating in the direction of victory but also forging a legacy of greatness and tenacity that will live on in the pages of Grandview sports history.
“Despite whatever school we attend, we all show up in our Grandview jerseys/jackets and show others that we take pride in the team that we’ve helped build,” Alisasis said.
