Thomas Briels is our first ambassador

He signed. That's the news. Here's the part we didn't expect.

The first thing Thomas did was take a stick apart. Not literally, but close. He held it, weighed it, ran a thumb along the shape of the head, then started listing what he'd change. Balance point. The feel of the grip under the top hand. Where the stiffness sits.

Some of it we agreed with. Some of it we argued about. We were forty minutes in before anyone mentioned a contract.

That's roughly how the whole thing has gone since.

Thomas captained Belgium. World champion, Olympic champion, a career long enough that most players currently in the national setup grew up watching him. In this sport he's a reference point, and he got there by being consistent for fifteen years rather than spectacular for two.

He had no reason to take a call from a brand that had sold nothing yet.

What got him interested was who we said the equipment was for. He's spent enough time at clinics and on the side of youth pitches to have opinions about the players hockey loses before they ever reach a club. Talented ones. Regularly. He wanted to know whether we were serious about that or just saying it, and he asked more than once.

So here's what the partnership is. He tests product before it ships, and he tells us when something is wrong, which he has already done. He runs clinics with players who will never turn professional. He puts his name on limited editions, but only on equipment he'd actually use.

He is not a face we rented for a season.

The first sticks he pushed back on are being changed. You'll get the version he approved, not the version we would have shipped without him.