At 6 a.m. every morning, Colm Trainor ’21 laces up his skates and takes a lap around the ice rink. Feeling the cold air on his skin, he shivers a little and takes a deep breath. To warm up, he begins to juggle the puck in front of him. He pulls back his stick to slap the puck to his older brother Aidan Trainor ’20, with whom he has been practicing everyday.

Photo courtesy of [credit name="John Zammit"]

Trainor started skating at the age of three; he has been on the ice for more than four-fifths of his life. Trainor’s passion for hockey, which started to grow at the age of five, was heavily influenced by his family. His grandfather, a huge hockey fan, convinced Trainor’s parents to sign Trainor up. His three older brothers, who are also hockey players, have greatly influenced Trainor’s passion for the sport. Specifically, Trainor claims to have turned towards his role model Aidan for guidance.

“Growing up, my brothers have always helped me through and I've always had them here to help. They've always been supportive no matter what happens. Usually like Aidan, my older brother, he's always with me. So no matter what happens, we're experiencing it together. And we play on different teams, but even if someone doesn't understand the sport, I could always talk to Aidan about it. I would say he's my role model,” Trainor said.

Coming from an athletic family, hockey isn’t the only sport he has played, but it is the one he has stuck with most passionately. Since being introduced to the sport, Trainor’s love of playing hockey has continued to grow. With this motivation complementing his athletic ability and experience, Trainor eventually earned a spot as the captain of the boys hockey team.

Assuming responsibility as a captain, Trainor shares strategies, holds practices, and keeps the team motivated. Along with these roles, Trainor also maintains a good relationship with his coaches, both of whom are new this year. Assistant Head Coach Charles Gallagher praises Trainor for helping him get accustomed to the new environment.

“He has keen insight on hockey and the dynamics of hockey, and you can always see him either talking to myself or to our new head coach,” said Gallagher. “Both of us, me coming on the team for the first time and the head coach being brand new, needed to kind of get the lay of the land, to understand what's going on here in school. There are assistant captains who are helpful, but really he's the man.”

While putting the team first, Trainor still consistently works to improve his own game. Playing on a travel team, Trainor had to manage his time well. With the new virtual schedule due to COVID-19, Trainor took the opportunity to skate on the ice all day.

“I basically do my classes from the rink, and then I will, if I have a free period, put my skates on and I'll hop on the ice or I'll do a workout. I'm usually leaving at six in the morning and getting back at five or six at night. It's a big lifestyle,” Trainor said.

Trainor’s dedication as an athlete and ability to maintain strong relationships complemented his strong leadership when he led his team to success at the Mercer County Finals last year. Trainor accredits the firm relationship between him and his teammates for the win.

“I think we're brothers. We've been through it all. Like we're all there for each other like, you see each other in the hallway. You say hi. It's not like a group of guys that are just there for the hockey season,” Trainor said.

After all of the time and effort he has put towards growing the boys hockey team, Trainor plans to take a gap year next year and attend a few junior camps over the summer to see where hockey takes him. But for now, he is hopeful about this season. “My season's still going for travel so I have that to look forward to and districts and hopefully nationals if they work it out,” Trainor said.