Josh Grider '14 with women's hockey team members Laura Fortino '13, left, and Catherine White '12, who took Grider out on the ice after a men's hockey game last year. At 6 feet, 5 inches tall and 295 pounds, he looked much more like the offensive lineman he was than a natural skater.
After a challenging football season, Josh Grider finds grace on the ice
The 2011 football season was over and Josh Grider '14 was looking for a diversion. Grider, an offensive lineman for the Big Red, had had a tough sophomore season, only starting in one game and finding himself with less and less playing time on the field. "I just wasn't good enough," Grider recalls.
Not wanting to dwell on the experience, Grider, who had befriended several members of the women's ice hockey team, decided to see if he could find his feet on the ice.
The hockey season was only three days old when Grider's friends took him out on the ice after a men's hockey game last November. He didn't quite seem to have a knack for it his first time out. At 6 feet, 5 inches tall and 295 pounds, Grider looked much more like the offensive lineman he was than a natural skater. With other students zipping around or leisurely gliding around the rink, the biggest man on the ice was hard to miss stumbling along the boards.
Grider has even made appearances as Touchdown, the skating bear mascot, at games for both the men's and women's hockey teams. Photo by Ned Dykes/Cornell Athletic Communications.
"The rental skates were awful, just awful," Grider said. "My ankles were touching the ice, because the rental skates couldn't hold 300 pounds. It was really bad. Ever since then, I've blamed it on the skates. I'm better than that."But he was hooked on hockey. With the help of women's hockey player Jessica Campbell '14, Grider bought his first pair of skates on eBay for $20. At size 13, they were two sizes too small, but it was the best he could do in a pinch. Months followed with as much time as he could get on the ice as he tried to pick up a sport he never even saw during his childhood in Austin, Texas, and Athens, Ga.
The love affair took off. When Grider visited his grandparents in Ohio for Thanksgiving, he made it over to the local ice rink to skate for a few hours. Even as football's offseason workouts geared up, Grider would find his way onto the ice for upward of 12 hours a week. His shorts, T-shirt and soaked winter gloves were replaced by loaned hand-me-down gear from some of the larger players on the men's hockey team. Not surprisingly, he also became a huge Big Red hockey fan.
Grider on the field for the Big Red men's football team. Photo by Cornell Athletic Communications.
In the spring semester, Grider took a hockey physical education class -- skipping over the introduction-level offering in favor of the intermediate class. And he made appearances as Touchdown, the skating bear mascot, at games for both the men's and women's hockey teams, even enduring two 20-hour bus rides to represent at the Women's Frozen Four in Duluth, Minn. The legs of the costume only made it halfway down Grider's shins, almost giving away his identity.
The hockey experience has had a lot of tangible benefits, Grider says. Because skating is starkly different than land-based activities, it serves as a powerful cross-training activity.
Coupled with standard football offseason training, the whole experience has helped Grider on the gridiron. Football assistant coach Jeff Fela said Grider made significant technical strides in spring workouts. As a result, Grider has started each of the squad's first six games this season.
"It only helps me," Grider adds. "The mix of doing the football workouts and hockey has made me a better overall athlete and, in turn, made me a better football player."