Jeff Serowik - by Greg Greenhalgh Professional Hockey Players Association
June 13, 2003
Could you please bring us up-to-date on what
you've been doing?
I have been retired now going on my 4th year. I am married and have 3 beautiful
children, two girls and a boy. I own and operate Pro Ambitions Hockey Camps,
Inc (www.proambitions.com.) I have over 75 camps and clinics in the US and have
3000 kids pass through my program per year. Our camps have been chosen by Platinum
TV
to do a weekly show called "Building a Solid Foundation for Youths" airing
on ESPN, ESPN2 and TSN in Feb. 04. I also direct a 10 team select hockey program
(Mite-Midget) called Nashua Pro Ambitions Selects.
Currently, we are working hard on my charity/Celebrity Golf tourney held this
coming August. My charity, which I developed last year, is called "Sports
Saves
Souls" This gives kids either from the inner city or with unfortunate circumstances
an opportunity to attend a camp of their choice, inclusive of Gymnastics, Golf,
basketball, baseball, tennis, horeseback etc. We will have many NHLers and Boston
Sports Celebrities on hand to hack up the golf course. Any players interested
in playing please contact me off my website.
Eleven years ago you founded the Pro Ambitions Hockey Camps. What inspired
you to do this? Especially at such a young age?
I love working with kids and teaching the game I love. It was also such a thrill
for me to see the kids' faces light up when Jeremy Roenick skated or one of the
many other surprise NHL guests attended my camps. I also wanted to put my Finance/Business
degree to use and have my own business. You can only golf so much, and work out
so much in the off-seasson. I guess I was getting a little bit bored. I started
with one camp and built it up each year that I played. It paid off because when
I had my career ending injury I had something to fall back
on.
Pro Ambitions now hosts over 75 camps nationally and internationally. What
makes Pro Ambitions the camp of choice by so many hockey players?
I form great relationships with the kids and parents. I have many repeat customers
and with the hockey community being so small, word gets out which camps are good
and which aren't so good. I also, took all the great teaching I had as a pro
with coaches like Mark Crawford, Joel Quenneville, Peter Laviolette and Kevin
Constantine and put a rock solid curriculum together for the kids that really
makes them improve their skills after a week or two of camp. My staff is awesome.
Great teachers and great players. I am passionate about hockey and teaching and
I think that rubs off on the kids that attend. Basically, a player leaves my
camp with an assortment of new tricks and an overall improved skill level along
with a smile on his/her face and a raised confidence level and that
is our goal.
You faced a career ending injury during the 1998-1999 season. Could you please
take us through the transition from being able to play pro hockey everyday to
knowing that you may never play again?
I got hit by Peter Worrell playing with the Penguins against the Panthers. I
finally made it to the show and was playing on the top line with Jagr and getting
lots of ice time (power play and penalty kill). The injury was horrible timing
but sometimes when one door is closed, another opens up. It took me 3 years to
recover from that hit. I had Post Concussion Syndrome and wouldn't wish what
I went through on anyone. Headaches, throwing up, nausea, loss of memory, fainting
spells, bells palsy, sleeping 20 hours a day (the first 6 months of the injury.)
I am finally at a point where my symptons have subsided and I am starting to
feel normal again. My energy level isn't what it used to be but at least my headaches
are under control.
The transition was easy because I was so sick I didn't think about hockey, I
was just trying to feel better. I definitely missed being with the boys, traveling
and playing the game I loved, but when you don't feel good it's all secondary.
I was fortunate to have a business to fall back on. I'm not playing the game
but I'm around it and teaching kids so I'm still the luckiest guy around. If
you get up in the morning and look forward to going to work that makes it all
worth while. In the end, I'm very fortunate I had a finance degree, and had something
to fall back on. When you're playing you think your invinceable and never think
it can end tomorrow. So when people say "play like it's your last shift",
it's a
pretty meaningful piece of advice.
Fortunately, you were able to have hockey supply you with a College education
through your scholarship to Providence College. In your opinion, how important
is it for hockey players to have an education to fall back on once their career
is over?
As I stated before, if you have a chance to better yourself through education
especially if it's free, Take advantage of it. Hockey is a very short career
in relation to the rest of your life. Always try to better yourself if possible.
I had opportunities to leave school and sign but thank God I stayed and finished
up my education because it's tough to go back later on.
