How I got hooked on volunteering and Kiwanis

Now that I was settled in Canada, thought it was time
to repay the debt to society. The helping hand offered to
me by so many people made it possible for me to get this
far in life. My first volunteer work was with the Soo Pee Wee
Minor Hockey Association. I worked with them as Public
Relations Director, writing articles in the newspaper and
appearing on television to publicize the good work of the
Association, as well as getting businesses to sponsor the
various hockey teams. I also helped out managing a Pee
Wee B team. After recovering from my bout with crippling
arthritis in 1971, first I learned to walk without a cane. Then
I decided to learn to skate (In Hungary, I didn’t have the
opportunity skate at all) and became the coach of the Pee
Wee B team that was in last place the previous year.
Because they were under performers, the association
couldn’t find a coach for them, so I volunteered. For the
practices I would bring in a top midget hockey player to
teach them the skills needed to play hockey. Then, my job
was to motivate the players, give them confidence and
manage the lines during the games. Before each game I
would ask the players: “who is the best team” and they
would reply “we are”. I would say “I didn’t hear you” then
they would say it more loudly “we are”. We would repeat
this a few times, then go out to play all fired up. My third line
got the same ice time as the other two, and never shouted
at any player (which was different from many of the other
coaches), complimented the good plays and gave
encouragement to a player when he ended up in the net
instead of the puck by saying “better luck next time, keep up
the good work”. Our team came from last place and won
both the League and Playoff Championship in the spring of
1972. This team was sponsored by the Lakeshore Kiwanis
Club and the one we defeated was sponsored by ACT. I
was buying pop for the players right after winning the
playoff championship and the ACT coach Con Lauber came
over to congratulate me as he was helping the ACT
representative buying the drinks for his team. After taking
the drinks to the dressing room, I came out to talk to Con
and said: ‘you have a good sponsor, they buy pop for the
players even when they loose. We won the championship
and I hadn’t seen anybody from the Kiwanis club, you would
think that somebody would at least come out and watch the
final game”. Con smiled and said that the “Kiwanis is going
to give the players and parents a banquet, they are very
proud how the team played and how you coached them”. I
said: “how do you know that?” He replied: “because I am
the President of the Lakeshore Kiwanis Club”. Con further
said that he would like to invite me to join the club, and after
opening my big mouth, how could I refuse