April 13, 2007 -- At today's All-School Assembly, Travis Roy, 32, told the Brewster community how he learned at a young age that it was important to set and write down goals if you truly want to achieve them. As a freshman in high school, his goal was to play Division 1 college hockey. “I don’t think you have the incentive if you don’t write out your goals,” he acknowledged. When he was finished writing out his goals, which he said were “part reality, part fantasy,” he shared them with his parents, who he recalled smiled while reading them. At the time, his father reminded him that “You have to have the grades to get into college.” So Roy, who had mild dyslexia, returned to his bedroom and revised his goals to include maintaining a B average and breaking 1000 on the SATs.

By the time Roy was a senior at Tabor Academy, he was a highly-recruited high school athlete. On October 20, 1995, he achieved the goal he had set for himself nearly five years earlier. He stepped onto the ice as a freshman member of the Boston University men’s ice hockey team, the defending national championship team. He had realized his dream and although it would only last for 11 seconds, he knew he had made it, that his passion, commitment, and hard work had paid off.

Finding His Passion
Roy’s journey on the ice and his path to Boston University had started a long time ago in nearby Maine where he was born in Augusta. His father managed an ice rink, so from an early age Roy was never too far from the ice. He first stepped onto the ice at age 20 months, wearing figures skates, he wryly acknowledged. “I don’t like to say that much,” he added, evoking laughter from the audience. Although he says he doesn’t actually remember this early experience, according to his parents he just kind of stepped away from them and started moving across the ice.

By age 3 he was playing hockey, and for the next 15 years his father would coach him. He recalled playing on a visiting team at the local Pop Whalen Arena in Wolfeboro when he was a sophomore in high school.

Roy went to a private school in Maine before transferring to Tabor Academy for his junior and senior years. “Four years at private school was the best four years of my life,” he told students.

Hockey wasn’t his only sport, however. He prides himself in being a well-rounded person and says he usually played the sport of the season. But ice hockey was his passion and passion, he says, is the first incentive needed to reach a goal. “You have to find something you love, that you have passion about,” he said. A second incentive is pride, he said. “It’s knowing at the end of the day that you didn’t let yourself down.”

Through those high school years, his passion and his pride were propelling him closer to his goal. By the time Roy was a senior in high school, he had been contacted by every Division I school he had ever dreamed of playing for. Just as importantly, he had broken 1000 on the SATs and maintained a B average.

When it was time to make a decision about college, Roy chose Boston University. He was one of six freshman selected for the team that had won the national championship the season before. When he arrived at Boston University, though, he knew it was time for new goals. He would study hard to maintain his grades and he would practice and train hard on and off the ice. He knew that of the six freshmen, only four would play in the opening game. His goal was to be among those four.

The week of the first game, Roy’s coach called him into his office, and Roy learned that he was one of the four freshmen who had been chosen to play in the first game. He would play on the third line.

“I Made It”
"When I woke up [on October 20, 1995], it was the best day of my life – before it was over, it was the worst day of my life,” he said.

Roy recalled putting his #24 jersey over his head and standing on the blue line for the national anthem and then the national championship banner was hung (from the previous year’s championship). “Never in my life had I been more proud.”

That night on the bench, “I received a tap on the back of my shoulder I had waited all my life for.”

He stepped on the ice, gained possession of the puck, and delivered a pass. Then, while checking an opponent, he lost his balance, and the momentum took him head first into the dasher boards.While down on the ice, he said he thought he would just get on his hands and knees and get back up like he always did but quickly realized that his brain was not communicating with the rest of him. He recalled seeing a glove moving and wondered whose glove it was before realizing it was his glove and someone else was moving his arm but he couldn’t feel it.

He knew something was really wrong. He asked for the trainer to get his father from the stands. His father came on the ice and was expecting to tell Roy to get up and play hockey, like he had done so many times in his son’s hockey career, but instead Roy said, “Dad, I’m in trouble.” And then he told his father, “I made it.” “This little kid from Yarmouth, Maine, had made it.”

He then recalled the head brace, the stretcher, and the emergency room. His 4th and 5th vertebrae were broken. Roy was now a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down.

A Positive Attitude
After remaining in the hospital for four months, Roy moved to the Shepherd’s Center, a rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, to begin rehabilitation. While here, he learned to operate the joy stick on his wheel chair, shoot a gun, and scuba dive.Perhaps most importantly, while here, he realized that “little goals lead to bigger goals,” he said. Roy described how it took the same energy to get a bagel to his mouth that it took to bench press 150 lbs. just six months earlier. When he arrived at the Shepherd’s Center, his attitude about life slowly began to improve and he realized that “a positive attitude and the energy that comes with it, will take you farther than anything else.”

His smiles started to come back while in rehabilitation.

“Live everyday with an optimistic attitude, regardless of the challenge or obstacles,” he urged the students.

To be successful, he said, you have to know yourself well. This knowledge of himself eventually let him realize that he was the same person as a quadriplegic as he was before his injury.

Roy talked specifically to the students about a few things they are accustomed to hearing as Brewster students, including respect. Roy grew up being told he had to earn respect but he said he feels that’s wrong. “When you meet someone new, give people respect right from the start, giving a little more respect right from the start, will go a long way.”

Peer Pressure. When it comes to issues such as drinking, drugs, and sex, he believes we all have our own little voice [in the back of our head] … as long as you listen to that little voice in the back of your head then no one is going to die from a drunk driving accident or from overdosing on drugs, or have an unwanted pregnancy, he said.

Love. He spoke of his first few weeks at BU and how, after a first kiss with a girl he really didn’t know, he confessed, “I love you.” After the student laughter settled down, Roy reminded the audience that the key is to acknowledge those around you and let them know you love them and that these reminders should be a daily occurrence, not a special occasion. “Nothing says love like a good hug,” he said.

After Roy’s remarks, he answered questions from students and faculty. When asked about what situations get him frustrated, he said the independence that he has lost to do things for himself is frustrating. Although he now lives alone in Boston, he needs 24-hour care. Still, through all the frustration, Roy’s positive attitude was apparent.

“I lost a lot with this accident … and had to find smiles again. … I feel very fortunate that I can still laugh,” he said.

For more information on Travis Roy, please visit www.travisroy.com or www.travisroyfoundation.org.