From roller skating in his backyard to shooting pucks on the ice, Diamond Bar High School junior Justin Yim has been playing hockey since he was eight years old.

First introduced to the sport by his father, he originally started out playing roller hockey, which is hockey played on a dry surface with wheeled skates. 

As of now, Yim is currently playing for Bishop Amat High School, since DBHS does not have an official hockey team, and The Rinks Development program—a hockey and skating club that offers competitive opportunities and skating facilities for athletes.

He began playing for Bishop Amat when he was only a freshman, because his older brother was also on their hockey team. 

“I got on the team because hockey is different from the other sports like baseball and football where I guess we go to a rink instead of a school to play,” Yim said.

In his sophomore year, Yim made the varsity team and, that first year, they made semifinals in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey league. 

“I’ve learned how much teamwork you need in order to win the game and how much conditioning you need,” Yim said.

Although Yim does have some short term goals for his hockey career, including becoming team captain in his senior year and placing first in the league, he does not plan to continue playing hockey after high school.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be playing hockey professionally or in college because I don’t really think I have the potential,” Yim said.

He usually plays about four days a week at the KHS Ice Arena or the Anaheim Ice Arena later in the day, often after his wrestling practice. Most of the conditioning he does is with the DBHS wrestling team, but he also does hockey exercises after he trains his skills on the ice. 

Yim said that playing two sports competitively is one of the hardest things he has done in his life and generally manages his time by planning out his day in the morning. 

“My hardest day is Thursday because I go to school from 7:00 to 4:30 and my 6th period is wrestling practice, which is two and a half hours long; I then need to to rush back home and go to hockey practice, [and] I usually come back home at 7:30,” Yim said. “I feel like the hardest part about it is staying consistent with the constant grind everyday.”

However, Yim said he still enjoys playing hockey as a way to make new friends and have a good workout.

“I enjoy the physical aspect of hockey and the amount of skill it takes to actually be good at it,” Yim said via Instagram. “The fact [that] you are on blade one-eighth of an inch thick just adds even more skill.”