Gigi Marvin’s Opportunities for Success
SUCCESS PAPERS.
By Sarina Goos | Biokinetics Major
Just 10 miles South of the Canadian border in the very Northwest corner of Minnesota, lay a hockey player and an outdoor enthusiast’s definition of heaven. The tiny area made up of less than 3,000 people often gets overlooked by tourists and is mistaken for Canada. It contains an unmatched lake for Walleye fishing and local hockey arenas filled with endless hours of free open hockey. Summer schedules revolve around Lake of the Woods while winter schedules transition into the hockey arenas. Children receive a pair of skates as their first pair of shoes and a fishing pole as their first toy. People here live and breathe hockey and fishing as much as they need oxygen. People learn how to skate before they learn to walk. Most children are capable to skate on their own by the age of four years old and are registered for a hockey team by the age of five.
This is the kind of environment Gigi Marvin grew up in. Marvin remembers leaving the hockey arena in sixth grade fully dressed in her hockey equipment- shoulder pads, breezers, shin pads, skates, jersey, and all. Her parents waited for her hockey game to finish, handed her a pair of skate guards, and drove her a block to the Warroad Elementary School for her piano recital just down the street from the arena. Young Marvin did not have a chance to change out of her hockey equipment so she walked up to the piano skates and all. She remembers “it took a lot of focus to push the pedals with skate guards on.” (Longman)
Marvin grew up in a hockey players dream. She has experienced opportunities throughout her life that have lead her to a successful hockey career playing for the University of Minnesota and for the United States Women’s Hockey teams. Marvin’s unique hockey opportunities, small-town hockey culture, and family legacy have helped her reach 10,000 hours and success that not very many people are fortunate enough to experience.
Marvin’s unique hockey opportunities, small-town hockey culture, and family legacy have helped her reach 10,000 hours and success that not very many people are fortunate enough to experience.
The first thing that one may notice when driving into the town of Warroad besides a sign that says that the Canadian border is 10 miles away is that there are hockey sticks on their water tower. These people love their game of hockey so much that they have gone as far as to call themselves “Hockeytown USA.” The game of hockey is ranked the number one topic talked about at local coffee shops. The second, fishing reports. Third, local gossip. Hockey is what people do and is what brings a sense of community to the town. It is an activity that many people bond over and are able to connect to each other with.
There is not much to do during a blustery cold winter in a town of 2,000 people. However, for some reason people never seem to get bored or cold because everyone in town is at the hockey arena. Driving into the parking lot of the Warroad Garden’s Arena, you will notice Polaris snowmobiles made by the fellow neighboring hockey town of Roseau, lined up in the parking lot. The hockey arena is a community center, a coffee shop, and a second home for many. The hockey arena is the biggest gathering place and the talk of the town. When Warroad plays Roseau, a town 20 miles west down Highway 11, it is a national holiday. Imagine a tiny high school hockey arena packed so full that people are standing in the isles of the bleacher stands and fathers noses are pressed up against the glass in the standing areas. Around 1,500- 2,000 show up to attend these hockey games. These two teams have been clashing together for over 50 years. These games are more than just a rivalry. It is a huge cultural identity and winning this game means bragging rights over the other town for a year.
Section eight hockey is equivalent to high school football in Texas. People are nuts about hockey and basically worship it. Section eight hockey team make up the Northwest Minnesota corner and contains small towns like Warroad, Roseau, Thief River Falls, Bemidji, and East Grand Forks. This area is the king of hockey. Despite Section Eight’s small size, they are known as a hockey powerhouse. Their hockey arenas are filled with so many Minnesota State Title banners that it is too many to count. These kids grow up in cultures that revolve around hockey and have learned the importance of hard work. They have learned how to handle being the underdogs. They take on prestigious teams like Edina, Eden Prairie, and Minnetonka. Surprising to many, Section Eight teams give them a run for their money. What is Section Eights key to success? One reason could be that these teams do not have a tryout for their teams. They take what they can get but yet they can out battle teams like Edina who have over 300 kids to pick players for their team from. Section Eight’s key to success is their passion and loyalty to their town. These kids grow up in a culture where the game is more than winning trophies and playing a game. It is a lifestyle.
Two psychologists, Richard Nisbett and Dov Cohen from the University of Michigan, conducted a study on cultural legacies and how people would respond and react to different situations. They studied the culture of honor in the South. The ancestors of the people that they were studying had a history of being hostile and were often violent towards insults and threats. They found that people tend to respond in the exact way of their ancestors. However even more strange than that, people would respond in the same way of that of the people in their culture regardless of if they had ancestors in that community (Cohen and Outliers 170–174).
People in Northern Minnesota are very similar to the people studied by Nisbett, Cohen, and Gladwell in the South. People act a lot like the people and culture around them. Hockey is the culture in Northern Minnesota and is something that everyone does. It has been a past-time passed down from one generation to the next. It does not matter whether or not someone had family members who played the sport. People get involved in the sport one way or another.
Inside the Warroad Gardens Arena just hanging right above the glass in the warming area, one can whiteness years of hockey history in a matter of minutes. An impressive array of pictures of past and present Olympians are hung large and proud on the brick wall for all to look upon. Among these pictures, hangs a picture of Gigi Marvin who is a present Olympian and former Warroad Warrior. She is the only female hockey player currently with her picture up on that wall. The United States has never won an Olympic medal without someone from Warroad being on the roster (Oklabzija). Warroad has a rich history of families contributing to these teams. These families include the Christian’s and Marvin’s.
Another family legacy that Warroad, Minnesota is known for is Marvin Window’s and Doors. In 1904, Gigi Marvin’s great-grandfather George who lived in Manitoba hopped on a train from Canada to Warroad so he could manage a lumber, coal, and grain elevator business. Warroad historian Beth Marvin said that the first thing George was asked when he got off the train was if he owned a pair of skates and liked hockey (Longman). George later became the manager for the 1965 United States hockey team and was a major contributor to the University of North Dakota hockey team. Her grandfather Cal coached the United States hockey team in the 1950s and her father played for Brown University. She now has cousins who currently play for the University of North Dakota’s hockey program (Weiner). Her family is the definition of a hockey dynasty.
Studies show that over eighty percent of jobs are received because of a connection (Shafer). “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” In Marvin’s situation, this is very accurate. Marvin grew up in a huge hockey pedigree and was set up for success because of her last name. She still had to work hard to get to where she is today. However, her family name and connections have had a lot to do with why she has experienced so much success.
“Practice makes perfect” is an ever-occurring phrase that is repeated by many people in many situations. Some people spend crazy amounts of hours a day practicing to try to perfect a skill. The truth is, this is exactly what successful people do. They practice. In Warroad, Minnesota the rinks are open from 6 A.M. until 10 P.M. A little over half of this ice time is devoted to free open hockey, especially on the weekends. Yes, free open hockey! This means that anybody no matter their age, and gender can go to the rink to skate and perfect their hockey skills.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, he talks about how it takes a person 10,000 hours of practice to perfect and become an expert in a skill. He used a perfect example of the early years of the Beatles career. He discussed that when the Beatles started out their career, they were horrible high school musicians with a dream to someday make it onto the big stage. The Beatles were not born the Beatles. They had to put in the work and practice to become the icons that they are today (Outliers 47–50). The Beatles drummer Pete Best said “We played seven nights a week. At first we played almost nonstop till twelve-thirty, when it closed, but as we got better the crowds stayed till two most mornings (Outliers 49).” Having to play for so many hours at a time forced the Beatles to learn many songs and not just their popular ones. They had to perfect and learn every song. This prepared and sharpened their skills as musicians and was a pivotal point in their career.
In Ericsson, Krampe, and Tesch-Romer’s article “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance,” they quote several sources stating the role of practice in motor learning. They proved in their studies that performance in cognitive, perceptual, and motor tasks are improved in terms of accuracy and speed when practice is increased over a period of time. The more we practice, the more our bodies will remember a specific task that we are trying to perform. It will not only be engrained in our brain but will transfer to our bodies and become “muscle memory” (Ericsson 367). This being said, practice does “make perfect.”
Marvin learned to utilize the free ice time in Warroad and reach her 10,000 hours at a very young age. Like most children in Warroad, she would spend several hours a day at the rink with her friends. Warroad contains two hockey arenas: The Warroad Gardens Arena and the Olympic Arena. The hockey arena serves as a daycare for most families. Children are dropped off by the school bus after school and stay to skate until their parents have to physically drag them off the ice around 9:00 P.M. The parents know that their children are safe here. It is not only a place to perfect their hockey skills, but also a place to learn many life lessons. The children take care of each other and play hockey all day. They have everything they could ever need there, including a concessions stand that stays open all day long. One huge advantage for Marvin was that the open ice times were not set aside for any specific gender or age level. Five year olds could skate with twelve year olds and girls could skate with boys. It might not seem like a huge advantage but it definitely is a game-changer for many players who are trying to develop their skills at a young age.
In 1996, just two days after Marvin’s ninth birthday the Warroad boy’s high school hockey team was on there way home on a seven hour bus ride to celebrate one of the biggest accomplishments that can be experienced as a Minnesota high school hockey player. A Minnesota State Title Championship. For a small town, no matter the sport, this is a big deal. As the players entered Warroad city limits, they were greeted by a mile length of cars while fire trucks escorted them to the school where they would be celebrated by family and friends. Young Marvin surprisingly did not have a ton of interest in this event. Instead, she and a few hockey buddies stayed at the rink and took advantage of the open ice time instead. She remembers the rink manager turning the lights off to try and hint to them that they needed to leave the ice. Nine-year old Marvin wasn’t going to let that stop her from practicing her skills. She found her glow in the dark hockey puck and her and her friends skipped the celebration and skated in the dark (Longman).
Kurt Russel who plays Herb Brooks in the movie Miracle states that, “Great moments are born from great opportunity” (Miracle). This quote from one of the most well-known hockey coaches in Olympic history describes Marvin’s life. Marvin was given a special opportunity to grow up in one of the most successful hockey communities in Minnesota. She was given opportunities to use her cultural legacy to reach 10,000 hours and hone her skills way before many people her age. She was also able to use her family ties to become one of the most successful college athletes in Minnesota. Gigi Marvin found success despite having come from a small town that competes with major powerhouses in Minnesota. Hard work and talent got her to where she is. Her culture and family legacy gave her the opportunity to reach levels of practice that many people lack. Was she successful because of her connections or the opportunities that she was given along the way?
Works Cited:
Cohen, Dov and Nisbett, Richard E. Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996. Print.
Ericsson, Anders, Krampe, Ralf, and Telsh-Romer, Clemens. “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance.” Bethel University Library Full Text Linker. US : American Psychological Association, 1993. Web. May 2016.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: Stories of Success. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 2008. Print
Longman, Jere. “Minnesota’s Olympic Hockey Cradle (Pop 1,781).” The New York Times, 4 February 2014. Web. 31 March 2016.
Miracle. Dir. Gavin O’Connor. Perf. Kurt Russel. Walt Disney, 2004. Film
Oklabzija, Kevin, “Gigi Marvin, T.J. Oshie Went to Same High School.” USA Today. Gannett, 17 February 2014. Web. 31 March 2016
Schafer, Megan. “Networking: A Helpful Guide for All Students.” ProQuest. Uloop, Inc, 11 Nov. 2015. Web.
Weiner, Jay. “Shooting Star.” — Minnesota Monthly. N.p., Jan. 2008. Web. Apr. 2016.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sarina Goos, a freshman from Roseau, Minn., seeks to earn a degree in Biokinetics, hoping to someday make an impact on other’s lives as a Physical Therapist. Goos likes Chocolate Teddy Grahams, playing and watching all kinds of sports, and going on camping adventures with family and friends.
What I’ve Learned:
Practicing and perfecting my skills is what is going to make me successful. And when I am sick and tired of practicing, that’s a sign that I should practice some more.
Getting stuck on the Bodien roof with friends at 1 A.M. instead of studying for a Christian Theology quiz the next day, is far more worth the memories than the grade.
Life isn’t about the grades or trophies that I earn. It is about the lessons and experiences that I have gained in the process of trying to earn those grades and trophies.
Surround yourself with people who you wish to be like. The people who will motivate you and push you to be a better version of yourself.
Do what makes me feel happy.
Be adventurous. Even if it means camping in Duluth when it’s only 20 degrees outside.
I miss my dog.
Dogs aren’t only for petting and tail-waging, they are also for writing.
Trying to be an adult is hard. I’m just going to be a kid at heart the rest of my life.
I am so proud of where I have come from. My cultural legacy of growing up in small-town Roseau, Minn., has taught me the importance of community and hard-work. I have been blessed with the relationships back home that I will forever treasure. It has even taught me a skill that everyone from Minnesota needs to know: Ice Skating.
DO NOT forget to call Mom and Dad or they will be very upset.
Running and prayer time with God along Lake Johanna is the best source of therapy.
I have never been so excited to have my parents take me to buy a burger after eating in the dining center for six months in my life.
Be involved in everything you can. You are only in college once.
Take every opportunity and run with it. You never know, it might lead you down a road you have never seen before.
