For recreation league athletes, there's nothing worse than when one of your teammates drops out at the last minute. When a recreation league ice hockey（冰上曲棍球）team in Edmonton needed a goalie（守门员）,they got a save from an unlikely hero.

Nelson Rego, who is 100% blind, plays blind ice hockey for the Edmonton “SeeHawks" and accidentally met another goalie, John Hunter, who was inquiring online about a chest protector. Later Hunter got injured, and trying to help his team find a goalie for a league game, he reached out on the Edmonton Goalies Facebook page.

“Nelson calls me, and he starts out with, 'Hey, how's the chest protector going?’" Hunter later shared about the remarkable story. "Then Nelson continues, 'By the way, I'm not sure if this is a good idea but I've learned that you're looking for a goalie substitute for your- league game tonight. What do you think about me playing?’"

The team was “all in”, so Rego got ready for his first-ever sighted league match.

According to the players, they didn't tell the referee until the puck（冰球）drop that their goalie was blind- information with which he didn't really know what to do.

In an interview with CTV Edmonton , Rego explains he keeps himself centered in the goal by measuring the distance between the posts with his stick and his glove. After he uses sound to key into where the puck is and if it's being challenged, all the while he follows verbal instructions from his loving wife Emelinda, in the stands telling the action.

The game was by no means a washout for Rego, because even though Rego's team lost, he hung in there and earned the respect and admiration of the team.

This remarkable night is just one step in Rego's hockey career and he wants to go further. Rego says, "If it's something you want to do, just do it. It's amazing to watch hockey, but it's even better to play it. ”

All human societies play games．Kicking a ball can be found everywhere whether just a ball of cloth，or a skin stuffed with feathers or air．

But complex games and team sports have tended to arise in big civilizations - the higher the cultural level of a society，the greater the complexity of interaction，and hence perhaps the more complex the forms of sport．

This is not always the case．The ancient Greeks，for example，preferred individual not team sports．But in China for well over 2，000 years，people played the game of “kickball” - cuju．The members were often young men from wealthy families though there were also professional kickballers，whom you could stick with in your team as sleepers．

Cuju was played as entertainment at court banquets or the reception of foreign ambassadors．Even emperors played kickball．

As you'd expect in a Confucian society，kickball clubs were keen on the key qualities of mercy and courtesy．A great player was one who showed “the spirit of the game”．The “Ten Essentials of Kickball” included respect for other players，polite behaviors and team spirit．There was to be no ungentlemanly behavior，no dangerous play，and no hogging（独占）the ball．In other words，as we used to say，“play up and play the game．”

What a contrast with the ancient Greek athletics where only victory counted and if that needed gamesmanship，or cruel professional fouls（犯规），then so be it．

As a way of national culture protection，cuju was listed into the first batch of China's intangible cultural heritages（非物质文化遗产）in 2006．

Clocking 16 hours, 46 minutes, nine seconds, the athlete Chris Nikic didn’t finish with the shortest time when he recently completed his first Iron Man Race, but he did quite well.

After swimming 2.4 miles, the 21-year-old Floridian cycled 112 miles. Even after suffering a fall from his bike during the second leg of the race, he called on his inner strength to get back up, keep going and get the job done. And then he ran a 26.2-mile marathon to become the first competitor with Down’s Syndrome (唐氏综合征) in the world to successfully cross the finish line in the history of the Iron Man Race. For his efforts, Nikic also earned himself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

“To Nikic, this race was more than just a finish line and a celebration for the success,” his dad said. The race has served as a chance to become one step closer to his goal of living a normal life. It’s about being an example to other kids and families that face similar difficulties. Those with Down’s Syndrome will be prompted to live a life like normal persons.

Nikic trained between four and six hours a day to prepare for the event, and that training paid off.

Goal set and achieved, Nikic posted on Instagram, where he has 33,000 new followers. “Time to set a new and bigger goal for 2021.”

One of Nikic’s biggest fans, all-time tennis great Billie Jean King, tweeted the perfect response: “No limits. No boundaries. Keep dreaming big and going for it!”

As for that medal he won for completing the race, he gifted it to his loving mom. With hope of competing in the 2022 Special Olympics scheduled in Orlando, it looks as if Chris Nikic has plenty of big dreams yet to come true.