Game On Magazine 2017 Nov Game On low res | Page 74

“
I DON’T
CARE WHAT
YOU DRIVE TO
THE GAME, I
JUST CARE
WHAT KIND
OF DRIVE YOU
HAVE DURING
THE GAME
”
one of her younger brothers
was sitting on the front steps
visibly distraught. He told me
that his hockey coach at Bronx
Community Centre just quit. I
decided that I would take him
over to Bronx and chat with a
few of the guys at the club. I
actually ended up volunteering
on the spot to be a part of
the new coaching staff. I had
no experience at the time,
but that was the start of my
coaching career.”
Brooks coached that ‘little
brother’ of his then-girlfriend
for the next number of years
until that then brother-in-law
was old enough to join Brooks
behind the bench. The two
spent the next decade or so
coaching teams within the area.
“After coaching with my
brother-in-law, I began
coaching my son and daughter
in the early 2000s,” the well-
travelled coach said. “My son
has actually spent the past
nine years coaching with
me. I have always enjoyed
bringing up past players of
mine as assistants. I still do
7 4 | G AM E ON | N OVEM BER 2017
that to this day, as I actually
coached three of my current
assistants at some point.”
For the past six years,
Brooks and his son, Carter,
have coached within the Twins
organization – an impulsive
decision, but clearly a brilliant
one, nonetheless.
“I took on the team almost
instinctively when offered,”
Brooks said, “It’s actually
about a 40-kilometre drive
one-way to the rink, so when I
head back and forth four times
a week, the kilometres really
add up. But I do it for the love
of the game. The Twins are by
far the best organization that
I have coached out of -- and
there have been a lot of them.
They just do everything right.
The families are involved,
and we try to go on big bus
trips every year to places like
Chicago, Indiana or St. Louis,
just to name a few.”
Proper teamwork, disci-
pline and sportsmanship
are surely critical aspects
to any team sport, but
for Coach Brooks, making
connections with his players
is of extreme importance.
“Fun is the name of the
game,” he said. “If you’re going
to hockey and not having fun,
you won’t come back. The
kids that I coach keep coming
back. We have fun; we laugh
at each other. We are there to
exercise, there to succeed, and
we’re there to become friends.
Friendships in hockey last a
lifetime.”
Although somewhat
unfathomable, Brooks has
coached well over 500 young
hockey players since his early
days at Bronx, and he could
probably still tell you every
player’s nickname.
“It’s great running into
these guys when they’re older,”
Brooks said. “Sometimes
I’m out at the corner store
and someone will come up
to me and say, “Hey coach!”
He will then introduce me
to his wife, tell me about his
three hockey-playing sons,
and how he is helping coach
all three teams. I just love
running into former players.”
From sprinting kids up and
down Kimberly Hill behind
the old Incin Arena in the
middle of winter for “training
purposes,” to flooding the
outdoor rinks with hoses
before evening practices or
tournaments, to attending
yoga classes at Bell MTS
Iceplex’s Focus Fitness, Brooks
has nearly seen it all. But his
mindset remains the same.
“I’ve coached for parents
who could afford to buy their
kids a new pair of skates every
day of the week,” he said. “I’ve
also coached kids who couldn’t
even afford one pair of skates,
and we’d find equipment for
them. I don’t care what you
drive to the game, I just care
what kind of drive you have
during the game. I don’t care
how you get there, it’s what
you do once you’re there.”
Standing by Jonathan’s
side is his wife – whom he
says didn’t even like hockey
to begin with. But through it
all, he maintains that she has
been extremely understanding
and flexible to his absurdly
bizarre annual winter
routines, beginning in August
and ending in April.
“It’s not easy rushing away
from church or family to get
to every game an hour-and-
a-half before puck-drop,” he
said. “It’s also not a nice sunny
day at the ballpark. You’re out
there in the middle of winter
wrecking your cars and driving
through ice and slush, putting
on thousands of kilometres
every year. But that’s hockey.
We do it for the love of the
game. I want to thank my
family, and especially my wife
for allowing me to spend this
much time with the thing I
love most. Next to her and my
kids, of course.” ❍