The fusion hockey team is a district-wide team, made up of students from Dutch fork, Irmo, Ben Lippen, Chapin, and even two homeschooled players.  They bring it together though, and form a team that went to the state championship last year. Under Coach Rick Ramaley and multiple assistant coaches, these players from different schools put school pride behind them to represent the midlands. “I’ve always been impressed with the kids who come out to play. They always put differences aside to play hockey”.

Dealing with students from your school is hard enough. But having to deal with students from 5 other schools, while trying to keep school spirit hidden? That’s even harder to do. “Guys from our school get me mad enough, and it’s hard to understand that these guys, who you’ve never seen before, are suddenly your teammates” said Junior Thomas Mims. That, along with all the other problems they face, playing for fusion is much harder than it looks. Some of the other problems that they face are the normal challenges for other student athletes. Balancing schoolwork, different sports, or other activities can overwhelm them. “Last year I played lacrosse and hockey, and I had to miss half the practices just because of games, it was exhausting” said Junior Tucker Auch.

Another challenge that normal varsity sports don’t face is that they have to drive themselves over 3 hours to some games, mainly the out of state games. Some of the players disagree, however, and they prefer to drive on their own, and stay the night in the town that their playing against. “I like how we don’t have to ride on a bus with each other, because we can stay in hotels, and it seems more like a college team instead of a varsity sport” said Senior Michael Norris. But no matter what they view the team and their experience as, they always get something out of it, and enjoy their time with fusion. Fusion Alumni Connor Johnson knows that hockey is more than just a game. “Hockey really changed me as a person. I learned a lot of things in my time with fusion, and I’ll always miss it”