2 Playing Up

Chapter 2 Playing Up In Wayne's league, the uniforms were made for older, bigger kids. The top hung past his knees. It caught on his hockey stick. It made it hard to shoot. So Walter tucked the right side of the uniform—Wayne's shooting side— into his pants. It became Wayne's special look, right up to his final NHL game. That first year, six- year-old Wayne scored just one goal. Everyone

on his team won a trophy. Except for Wayne. After the awards ceremony, he cried. Walter told Wayne to keep practicing. Keep working hard. And soon he'd have more trophies than he could imagine. Wayne listened. He practiced longer and harder. The next year he scored twenty-seven goals. The following year, 104. How did he improve? Every winter, whenever he could, Wayne would be outside skating. As he grew older, he'd skate before school and after school. He'd eat dinner in skates.

Then he'd go out again in the dark, a floodlight shining on the yard. Finally, at around 10:00 p.m., his mom and dad would insist Wayne come inside. In the warm weather, Wayne didn't stop. He hit pucks against the family farmhouse. Of course, Wayne broke a few windows. Once, his grandfather had just put in a new glass pane. Wayne let a puck fly. Crash! Broken again. Wayne practiced for hours on his own. But on weekends, neighborhood kids came to the backyard rink. He played against them all—no matter how old or how tough. And when they wanted to take a break and go to the movies? Wayne stayed on the ice.

No one told him to practice. Not his father, not his mother. He just loved it. When Wayne turned ten, the same age as the

other players in the league, he scored 378 goals! It was a youth scoring record! The entire country took notice. Canadian newspaper reporters called Wayne "The Great One" and "The Great Gretzky." The nicknames stuck. Wayne didn't really like them. He liked "Gretz." That's what his friends called him. Wayne felt embarrassed by the fuss. Confident on the ice, he was quiet off. He didn't talk a lot. He didn't like the spotlight. Still, there were interviews on radio and TV. Dinners and award shows. Banners hung at away games. They said, "See Wayne Gretzky, ten year-old scoring ace." Kids his own age asked for his autograph. Sometimes, going into games, Wayne switched team jackets with another player so people wouldn't stop him. At home, no one paid any more attention to him than to his brothers or sister. And that's how he liked it. Wayne's family didn't have a lot of money. Their home was small. Wayne shared a room with his brothers. It was barely big enough for

the beds. SPORTS AND THE GRETZKY SIBLINGS KEITH, FIVE YEARS YOUNGER THAN WAYNE, PLAYED AND COACHED FOR MINOR LEAGUE HOCKEY TEAMS. HE WAS NAMED DIRECTOR OF AMATEUR SCOUTING FOR THE BOSTON BRUINS IN 2013. BRENT, TWELVE YEARS YOUNGER THAN WAYNE, PLAYED FOR THE NHL'S TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING FROM 1993 TO 1995. HE FACED OFF AGAINST WAYNE IN HIS SECOND GAME AS A PRO. GLEN WAS BORN SEVEN YEARS AFTER WAYNE, WITH A TWISTED FOOT THAT COULDN'T BE PUT FLAT ON THE GROUND. HE WASN'T ABLE TO PLAY MUCH ORGANIZED HOCKEY. BUT ACCORDING TO WAYNE, GLEN PRACTICED EVEN HARDER THAN HE