Reflections+of+Works+Read

Reflections of Works Read

Emma Tufts Honors Literature and Composition II Mrs. Boyle May 28th, 2013

The book Eleven Seconds by Travis Roy with E.M. Swift was the novel that had the biggest impact on me this year. I believe that reading this book changed my view of not just sports, but life in itself. It showed me not to take anything for granted, because something could happen in a split second and change your life forever.

The book Eleven Seconds changed my view on sports completely. This book is based off a college hockey player, Travis Roy. Travis had worked his hardest leading up to his division I debut, giving it his all just to skate with some of college hockey’s best. When he was a kid he only dreamed of being able to play college hockey. Now he had a chance to prove himself, prove all his work as a child for the Boston University Terriers Men’s Ice Hockey team.

On October 20th, 1995 the unthinkable happened. Roy hopped over the boards for his first career shift. Just eleven-seconds in, Roy went into the corner to lay a check on North Dakota’s Mitch Vig. Vig dodged the check leaving Roy’s body sliding into the boards. The way that his head made contact with the boards resulted in the cracking of his fourth and fifth vertebra leaving him paralyzed on the ice, unable to move. All he had dreamed about as a child had tragically come to an end.

Roy handled his paralysis as a true man. He never once blamed Vig for dodging the check. He realized that it was an aspect of the game that takes place more than once in each, and every contest. Moving forward with his injury he chose to make his story an element to teach upon. He has a foundation called the “Travis Roy Foundation” to help fund spinal cord injury survivors and to help work towards a cure.

The way I looked at sports before reading this book was all for the competitive aspect of it. I looked at sports as a way to prove myself as an athlete. I certainly took the fact that I was able to run, able to skate, and able to participate daily for granted. Now that I have read and reflected on this novel, my outlook on sports has changed completely. The way I view sports now is just for the fun of the game, the love of the game, and the appreciation I have because I am able to play. The fact that there are people in the world who would do anything to just go kick a soccer ball around again, is always in the back of my mind. People who are able to even walk should be thankful because not everyone has that capability.Every time I touch that field, every time I touch that ice, I now certainly do it with pride, appreciation, and thankfulness that I am able to participate. Travis Roy’s story changed my life in a way, it showed me to be more appreciative, and to not take anything for granted. Ever since I read his story, I hit the ice in memory of him.

Travis Roy Foundation