Picket Fence Post

When I stumbled upon a video of a then 9-year-old Canadian hockey player on YouTube via ParentDish as he discussed how differently people treat him when they see him as just a kid, versus how they treat him when he puts on his hockey helmet and steps onto the ice rink to play hockey — like he’s been playing hockey “for 15 years” — I knew I had to post it here.

The video’s apparently a big hit in Canada.The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that in 2006 the boy “wrote a speech for a class assignment pleading with hockey parents to stop being so negative. It was only intended for his class and few members of his family, but a YouTube video of [Miller Donnelly] giving his speech has recently drawn attention and has now garnered more than 85,000 hits.” That was back in January 2009.