CAF Story | Retired Pro Hockey Player Reaches for the Stars With the RCAF
Video / January 22, 2020
Transcript
I read a passage by Michelangelo. "The greatest fear for mankind is setting your goals too low and reaching them rather than setting them too high and not reaching the mark."
My name is Jim Kyte. I'm the proud Honorary Colonel for the 76 Communication Regiment.
Well, I played professional hockey for 17 years, including 13 in the National Hockey League.
Per ardua ad astra. To struggle to the stars. It really resonates with me simply because as a young man, young boy, I wanted to play in the National Hockey League and, like most young men in Canada, I wanted to play in the NHL, but I had a handicap. I'm aurally deaf so I have a 100 decibels loss and I've had to do things differently.
A quick example when I played pro hockey. I went back for the puck. I understand that players with good hearing can hear skaters behind them. I didn't have that luxury. But what I did was I would look at the glass and see a mirror-like reflection to see if the player was at my right shoulder or my left shoulder. But that gave me an indication of which side I should turn with the puck.
So all these little things that you come with all the struggles that you have in your life are very applicable to the Air Force. And the Air Force, it's always about problem solving.
My hockey career was ended by a car accident. I was a victim of a car accident. I became brain injured and the doctor said he would never clear me to play hockey again. For two years, I had no proprioceptiveness. I didn't know where my body was in relation to space. So in terms of writing, I would mix up my words. I'm legally deaf so sometimes my enunciation of words is not perfect, but with my concussion, it made it even worse.
I started to write as a form of therapy and the Ottawa Citizen found out, so I wrote the column for four years for the Ottawa Citizen. Writing was good because you could write something and you could take a pause and you go back to it, so it was a great learning experience for me.
And I was doing corporate public speaking and the dean of the School of Business of Algonquin College heard me speak and he had an idea of a new program in Sport Business Management at Algonquin. So he gave me the opportunity to spearhead that program. We got it launched and I was hired by Algonquin College. I started with Algonquin College in 2002 and for the last five years, I've had the wonderful job of being the dean of the School of Hospitality and Tourism.
And Lieutenant-Colonel Crosby reached out to me asking me if I would consider being the inaugural Honorary Colonel for the regiment and I did just say yes. I said: "Hell yes! Of course I will."
So, they're many parallels between my professional sport, a team sport, and the military. Very similar to the military, you can get moved around a lot and you play with different teams. In the NHL, I played for five different teams. That changes management but also changes your life dealing with the injuries and the new career, etc. And then I'm also an advocate for accessibility and inclusion.
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