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Youngster A Pint-Sized Puck Handler

CANDACE C. MUNDY/TAMPA TRIBUNE PHOTO

Five and a half year-old hockey prodigy Jet Lee Swift works on placing the puck into a goal during a recent training session with coach/trainer T.A. Fahey.

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 24, 2007

Video: Pint Size Puckster

CITRUS PARK - Jet Lee Swift lives and breathes hockey.

The walls of his room are decorated with posters, sticks and trophies - signs of past glory commemorating hundreds of goals and countless games.

And he hasn't finished kindergarten.

The 5 1/2 -year-old has been playing hockey since he was 3. He trains six days a week. "Every day is a different kind of training," said Steve Lee Swift, Jet Lee's father.

After school and on weekends, Swift ferries Jet Lee to games, private skating classes and off-ice training. The boy plays for three teams, practicing at three rinks.

"It never gets old for him," Swift said. "His whole life is hockey."

When he doesn't skate, he shoots. Jet Lee scored a record 238 goals in 10 games during summer, including 38 goals in a single game.

After goals, the celebrations are muted. He rarely talks on the ice.

"When he's on the ice it looks so natural," Swift said. "He can see the ice where a lot of kids just see the puck. It's sort of bewildering how someone can learn to do this before learning to read and write."

Jet Lee began his hockey odyssey after watching "The Mighty Ducks," a 1993 Disney film. His father took him to his first Tampa Bay Lightning game shortly after.

"Then we went to visit the ice," said Jet Lee's mother, Pheng Swift. "He started ice skating, and 10 weeks later he jumped into hockey, and we both fell in love with it."

Two years later, Pheng Swift is a true hockey mom. She attends every game and practice.

"I feel I have to be there," she said.

Swift put up nets in his martial arts training gym so Jet Lee could shoot into them.

Jet Lee began training at three facilities, including the Tampa Bay Skating Academy in Oldsmar. He plays at TBSA in the mini-mites league. The mini-mites range in age from 5 through 7.

It didn't take long for Jet Lee to move up.

Former Tampa Bay Lightning player John Tucker saw him play recently and has recruited him for his Mite team, comprising kids ages 8 and older, Swift said.

He has been recruited for a travel team, the Rising Raiders, made up of 7- to 9-year-olds. The Raiders travel on weekends throughout the state and into Alabama, Boston and Canada.

"He's got a lot of potential for his age," said Trevor Fahey, owner of the Rising Raiders. "He's doing all the right things. Kids can get better practicing with a team, but the extra edge comes from the personal training."

Swift's goal is to make Jet Lee the first big-name hockey player to hail from Florida. To do that, he is preparing for a day when Jet Lee will have to leave home for better training.

The best National Hockey League prospects are often drafted out of high school. There are a handful of elite prep schools for hockey, mostly in the northern United States and Canada.

"We understand as a family as long as his health continues ... he's going to have to go away," Swift said.

"When that time comes we may have to let him go," his mother added. "If that happens, it will be very good for him."

The 42-pound Citrus Park Elementary student is accustomed to being the smallest player on the ice. At the off-ice training facility, he works on one-hand stick-handling drills with travel team coach T.A. Fahey as older kids watch. He has been training there for a month.

Jet Lee's mother said his love for hockey may disappear, but for now she is happy to ride the wave.

"It will work out," she said. "We care so much for him."

Meanwhile, Jet Lee seems unaffected by the swirl of attention surrounding him. After intense drills he runs off to play with his older sister.

"Dad, did you see the goal I scored?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, it looked great, Jet."

To see Jet Lee, watch "Daytime" on WFLA, News Channel 8, at 10 a.m. Monday.

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or shammill@tampatrib.com.

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