“He Wouldn’t Freeze All the Time”: Wayne Gretzky’s Father Once Implemented a Bizarre Way to Train the Hockey Legend

Wayne Gretzky is a hockey prodigy, who is considered the greatest hockey player ever. However, for Wayne, his glorious journey was filled with many ups and downs. But the retired hockey player had very supportive parents. In a recent interview, Wayne shared how his father implemented a bizarre way to train the hockey legend during his childhood.

Wayne Gretzky was just two years ten months old when he began ice skating at his grandparents’ farm. He was joined by his cousin, who had equal love for ice hockey. However, since Wayne’s father worked at a telecommunications company, they could visit the grandparents only on weekends. Therefore, his father invented a solid solution for Wayne’s hockey practice.

Wayne Gretzky shared about his father’s innovative idea for his practice

Wayne Gretzky was lucky to be born into a hockey-loving family and country. In his podcast session with Spittin’ Chiclets, Gretzky recalled his childhood days playing hockey. He shared that his father built a rink in the backyard of his house for him. This was a unique solution as his father could watch his son skate from the comfort of his house without feeling cold.

Gretzky told in the podcast, ” My dad started taking me to these local parks that had outside rinks and then as my dad says out of necessity he built a rink in the backyard so he could stay inside the house and watch me through the kitchen window so he wouldn’t freeze all the time”

As Gretzky and his parents were unable to visit his grandparents’ house in Ontario every day, his father took him to local ice parks.

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However, he soon found a middle ground and built a rink in the backyard of his house so that the four-year-old Gretzky could practice whenever he wanted. Every year in December, Gretzky’s father would arrange for a water sprinkler with which he built a rink in his backyard.

Gretzky opened up about his childhood struggles

Although Wayne’s family was supportive of his hockey dream, they had financial struggles since his childhood days. In an interview, he opened up about his childhood struggles. Gretzky shared that his father did not have enough money to buy him a new pair of skates. Moreover, Gretzky was not allowed to work until he was 16.

His father believed that one should enjoy their childhood and stress about money problems. However, when Gretzky turned 16, he began working throwing gravel in potholes. He worked his first job for eight weeks, earning $4 an hour.

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