Okay, future hockey stars, check this out!  Being a hockey star and the Captain of the Blue Jackets must all start with a Jersey Pillow!  Oh yeah, I’m sure Rick Nash will also tell you to not forget endless hours of hard work, dedication and determination and a bit of grit as well I bet.  Jersey Pillows is so happy to see the smile that Rick’s own Jersey Pillow brought to his face!  Thanks Rick, and the best of luck in the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics!  GO JACKETS!

So, I’m sitting at the rink and the cutest, bright eyed, little 5 year old boy comes bouncing up next to me and tells me what a great hockey player he is.  I amazed him by showing him a hockey bracelet I am wearing.  It doesn’t take much to impress men, at any age I tell ‘ya.  He was shocked I liked hockey too, so we start talking more.  Jared Boll is his favorite player. ”Why?” I ask.  “Because I met him.”  Solid answer.  I tell him my screen saver on my cell phone was of Jared Boll and myself and his eyes are as big as saucers.  His is really impressed at this point.  I tell him my nine year old plays hockey.  He casually asks, “For who?”  I say, “The Blue Jackets.”  Now, I have his complete attention.  But before I can let it go any further and watch his little mind work any harder than it already was at that moment, I explain that my little boy doesn’t play for the big Blue Jackets, but a smaller Blue Jackets team, but hopes to be a big Blue Jacket one day.  I am sure you’ll all be shocked to hear that this little boy wants to grow up to play hockey too.

But there’s alot more to this story.  Sully is the wide eye hockey wonder I met this morning at the rink waiting for his Dad to finish up a game of hockey.  At the age of 6 months, Sully was diagnosed with Wilm’s Tumor, a form of kidney cancer.  He under went surgery to remove one of his kidneys, along with the softball size tumor.  Sully then endured several months of chemotheraphy.  In March of 2006, Sully had a recurrance of his cancer and again underwent chemo and also this time radiation as well.  

In August of 2004, Sully’s Dad, Joe, and a group of other amateur hockey players from the Columbus area approached the Blue Jackets about doing a charity hockey game to raise money for Pediatric Cancer Research and thus was born Hats for Heroes, a well known Blue Jackets Foundation charity event.  Their first game was in November of 2004 and then they had a huge Hats for Heroes event in August of 2006.  Such NHL stars as Rick Nash, Jody Shelley, Tyler Wright, Eric Lindros, Pascal LeClaire, Dan Fritsche

Sully and his dad Joe with their Jersey Pillow

and many more came out and showed their support for this event.  Hats for Heroes saw many dollars raised for Pediatric Cancer Research and many hearts softened for the children who fight this fight far too often.

For Christmas this year Joe had his own Hats for Heroes jersey he worn during the 2006 game turned into a Jersey Pillow for his son Sully!  How proud Jersey Pillows was to be a part of that gift!  Sully loves his Jersey Pillow and drags it with his all over the place.  It will always remind him of the love and determination his parents have for him and all other children facing the fight against pediatric cancer.  Jersey Pillows is proud to know such an inspiring kid! 

Check out our testimonials from other Jersey Pillow customers who have taken their jerseys and “STUFFED IT!”

While I was building my website and starting Jersey Pillows, it became apparent to me that finding people and resources who were “on my side” were critical.  The photos I am so blessed to have on my website I do believe are a tremendous part of the success of the website itself and of Jersey Pillows.  Sarah Cea of Cea Studios took the photos and did an unbelievable, top notch, professional job for me.  Jersey Pillows highly recommends Sarah and her studio for all your photography needs, she does it all.  Please take a look at her website at www.ceastudios.net and contact her for any of your photography needs.  She made all the difference for us.  Thank you Sarah!

And if you are looking to turn those awesome photos into a reality for your family and are in need of a unique, high quality graduation gift, coaches gift or birthday gift for your athlete, go to our ORDER NOW page to “GET STUFFING!”.

So, I’ve always thought of a New Year’s resolution as vowing to loose 10 pounds or walk the dog every day, maybe cut out chocolate.  But, I have a great new New Year’s resolutuion for all you sports minded enthusiasts, whether you indulge in it or you support it (i.e. drive the car to the ball field or the rink).  Resolve to make yourself better at your sport, for your team, for yourself, for your coach.  However you want to approach it, it’s all a good thing.  It will either help yourself or help someone else and both of those have quality outcomes.  I’ve recently asked both my children to think about their sports resolutions and this is what they came up with: My 11 year old’s resolution is to work in EVERY practice, at whatever sport it may be, on his weakest aspect of that sport.  My 9 year has resolved to ask his coach before every game one thing he can do specifically to help his team be more successful. 

So, tell me what are your sports resolutions?  They don’t need to be monumental, but they do need to make an impact in someones life, a positive impact.  Have your kids make sports resolutions as well and see if their coaches would like to embrace the idea as well for the team. 

Happy New Year from Jersey Pillows!

There is alot that goes into the jersey of an athlete…blood, sweat and tears just to mention a few!  The memories that are equated with the jersey are huge.  How many of us have kids who love to wear our husbands old football jerseys to school to show them off, even if that jersey is swimming on them?  I’m thinking the Dad is just as proud as the kid is of that jersey.  Sports have given so much to us as individuals; teaching us life lessons, how to work as a team or rise up as an individual.  The gift of sports have taught us how to respect the determination of hard work and the admiration for a hero we all have in our lives,  no matter who that hero may be.  So, in this season of giving, I’d like to take a few moments and give thanks to all those coaches who taught me all of those great lessons about hardwork, determination and respect while I was growing up on the sports field. 

 If you’ve got a jersey you’d like to turn into a great piece of memorabilia, please visit our BUY page.  

So tell me, where are your jerseys?