Thankful People: Finding joy and community in Jackson’s grassroots street hockey movement

Thankful People is an annual series highlighting Southeast Missourians who have overcome adversity and developed a new perspective on life. The series is sponsored by Saint Francis Healthcare System. Read more Thankful People stories from this year and the Southeast Missourian archive.

For this Thanksgiving, I wanted to find a story about joy.

I found it in four Jackson teenage boys with hockey sticks.

Traditionally the Thankful People newspaper assignment involves an interview with someone with an incredible yet painful backstory. Stories of survival. Overcoming heartbreak. Returning to some version of normalcy following a harrowing experience. Such stories usually reveal a new appreciation for life’s little and important things.

But thankfulness is not reserved for unfortunate people who have experienced trauma. Thankfulness is often demonstrated by the actions of people who find joy in what they do. Thankfulness is often expressed by sharing.

And sometimes it’s delivered with a body check. Or a one-timer. And certainly, thankfulness can be found every Sunday afternoon in the parking lot at Jackson Middle School.

So let’s start with the headline from Nov. 20: “Jackson mayor, aldermen set to approve street hockey rink.”

It’s a story that certainly means more to these four teenage boys (and all their hockey buddies) than it will to the larger community. But to me, the story is a flashpoint of Americana. The families of the boys and girls who play hockey on Sundays raised $74,000. A new, 70-foot by 145-foot concrete pad will be built in City Park not far from the skate park. There will be permanent goals and nets. It will be there for anyone wanting to grab their buddies, regardless of age, for a pick-up game. It will be there for tournaments. It will be there for a long, long time.

I reached out through Messenger to arrange an interview with a few of the boys who are responsible for the Jackson Street Hockey games.

I had the privilege of meeting Brock Compton, Jonathan Rosenquist, Logan Maevers and Gavin Moyar.

They are Jackson’s version of the boys in "The Sandlot", the cult classic movie set in the 1960s about a nervous kid, Scott Smalls, who moved to a new town and was adopted into a group of baseball players. There is one obvious exception between these groups — there is no Benny the Jet in Jackson Street Hockey. There are no expectations of scholarships or a future as a college or professional hockey player.

Simply, they love the game. They play for fun.

These boys are throwbacks to my generation. The popular sentiment today is that kids aren’t free to play anymore. The popular belief holds that children are governed by helicopter parents, coaches and profit-driven tournament enterprises. These hockey boys are not governed by any official organization but themselves. They’re not taking private lessons to hone their skills with hopes of someday cracking a high school varsity roster. I’m sure many of my Gen X counterparts remember days in the summer meeting friends at the ballpark or the blacktop for games of all types. That’s how these Jackson Street Hockey boys do it.

Sundays at the parking lot. 2 p.m. We’ll pick teams. All invited. Helmets required for skaters. Let’s play.

Every week, some 16 to 20 players show up.

They also host small tournaments with referees. Sometimes, spectators come to watch.

Jackson is a town that worships football, loves baseball and cheers on its basketball stars. Its cheerleaders are state champs. They've had excellent golfers. Soccer teams are everywhere. There is no such fanfare for youth hockey. That’s no matter to Compton, Rosenquist and the boys. There’s concrete and sticks in this hockey desert. They’ve created their own joyous path. And for four years, they’ve been sharing it with others.

After talking to the boys for a while, my favorite story comes from Gavin Moyar. He’s the smallest of the four, a junior at the high school. I relate to his story, because I know what it’s like to move a long distance to a new school as a seventh-grader. I asked him about why he likes to play.

“Well, I grew up in Pennsylvania, OK? And up there, hockey is a bit more popular than down here in Missouri. So I remember, all throughout my childhood, I’d go to these, like minor-league hockey games, and I’d just go watch that a lot. So I grew up with hockey, and then I moved here. There was really nothing that connected me. And then I saw Jackson Street Hockey, and I’m like, ‘Man, that’s a blast from the past.’”

He’s been playing hockey on Sundays for about four years now. He was welcomed with open arms, and has made friends he will not forget. He sees his hockey buddies up and down the hallways at the high school and they exchange knowing nods.

“The most thankful thing out of all of Jackson Street Hockey is the community, and I just feel a sense of home whenever I come here every Sunday. It’s something I always look forward to every weekend. Like, when it’s Friday and school gets done, I’m like, ‘Man I got hockey this Sunday.’ It’s such a fun environment.”

Logan Maevers is the newest member of this hockey foursome. He started this spring, and has come a long way since then. He is among the players who don’t use skates.

“I can barely skate on a darn rink, but that’s a challenge for me, but I’m glad that they gave the opportunity to play on feet and just run around as well,” he said. “It gives plenty of other people opportunities to play a sport that they would enjoy. … Even just being out there, being a defensive monster is what some people do. It’s absolutely incredible seeing people grow not only as players but as people as well. Through the club, the community has shown love to plenty of people throughout this and I am just blessed to be a part of that.”

Many years ago before joining the news department, I was a sports writer. I interviewed hundreds of athletes, most of them very successful. While most athletes will give credit to teammates and coaches, you don’t often hear athletes talk like this. Sportspeak is cliche’ heavy, formulaic and a recollection of sports moments.

I talked with these boys for almost an hour. They didn’t talk about their abilities much. Certainly not strategy or individual plays. They talked mostly about friendships. And joy. Inclusiveness. Even legacy. Their body language matched the spoken. They exchanged knowing glances. Completed each other’s sentences. I don’t know that I’ve been part of a more genuine sports-related interview.

The two boys most responsible for this Jackson Street Hockey culture are Compton and Rosenquist.

Compton looks like a skater boy or surfer more than a hockey player. He’s thin with blonde strands that fall in his face. Rosenquist wears glasses, his short red hair parted on the side. They both wear Cs on their red Jackson Street Hockey sweaters, and for good reason. Both are incredibly polite and introspective.

The boys, with the help of parents, set up an LLC.

Angela Compton, Brock’s mother, was instrumental in getting everything arranged with the city.

“It’s been a process. I have learned more about city government than I ever intended to, and not-for-profits,” she told the Jackson Board of Aldermen at a recent meeting. “It’s a slow process, but every time I was ready to quit, the kids spurred me on and I’d do a little bit more.”

The group printed injury waivers for players to sign when they play, just in case. The group provides equipment so anyone can come and enjoy the game. They’re quick to point out that they’ve been blessed by families willing to help them pay for certain things. But mostly what they bring are vibes where all are welcome, no matter size or gender. Girls play, too.

“Funny enough, Brock and I didn’t meet each other until junior high, and that’s when the Blues won the Cup,” Rosenquist said. “Me and my brother played in the street before I met Brock. We kind of migrated from the street to down here, because down here is more spacious. And then it was like, ‘Let’s just have more and more people. We had some friends who would show up and stuff. And then Brock started advertising it and growing it through social media.

“I think we just like hockey, and every kid wants to play the sport that they like, and there wasn’t really an opportunity to do that for us here. So just us being a friend group, we started playing and thought maybe other people would like it. Me and Brock are both gung-ho people and everyone involved are pretty passionate about the sport. Originally it was just for our own interests, but now it’s spreading the game of hockey and I’d say that’s why we do it. It’s not about us anymore. It’s about what we can leave behind for other people.”

Rosenquist credits Compton mostly for the growth and development of the group and its newfound success with the city’s blessing to build a permanent rink. And he and his friend are in lockstep regarding their motivation.

I asked each player why they were thankful for their hockey group. Every one of them acknowledged the camaraderie and friendships. But Compton’s response sums up the reason why I was drawn to this story in the first place.

“I’m going to answer it from a strange angle,” Compton said. “I’m thankful this is something to leave behind to another group of kids, and hopefully it goes way after. I’m thankful that when Johnny and I leave, Logan and Gavin are still gonna partake in this, still gonna lead it, still gonna do all that. And after them, five or 10 years down the line, I hope that people who have never even heard of Johnny and me go, ‘Do you wanna go out and play some hockey?’ I’m thankful for that.”