Teamwork and a Winning Attitude

I’ve often mentioned here about spending a good deal of time digging for new ideas.  What members might not know is the variety of that research.

I hope you appreciate that this really isn’t the time for me to look too much into new drill ideas (unless I’m asked a specific question that might require a fresh approach).  No, the spring is when I head into my “bunker” to investigate new training methods, the very latest in science, as well as some new drill ideas.

Still, I am constantly on the lookout for things that will help us — hockey players, parents and coaches.  And, while I’ll soon announce here why I was off on the following tangent early today, I thought the following would be pretty interesting for you to hear.  And, it also gives me the chance to share some advice I’d like ALL of my hockey friends to appreciate.

– Dennis Chighisola

Now, I have a feeling you’ll be surprised when you discover where I’m ultimately going with the meat of the following podcast.  So, at least as you go into it, I ask that you listen from several angles…

I mean, I know there will be some business types who will get a lot out of this.  And so will we players and coaches.  However, I’d really later like to talk about this audio as it applies to each parent’s young player.  So, with that in mind, please have a listen…

Now, grown-ups who have played their fair share of team sports should surely appreciate all that gentleman said — about you, about me.  Ya, for sure, as young athletes we learned so much about teamwork.

From there, however, let’s switch to looking at this line of discussion from a parent’s or coach’s viewpoint.  And, in so doing, let’s see how we might help the hockey players in our charge strive for the right things…

Of course, teamwork means getting along — but not always necessarily with just those mates we like or know well.  And, hockey — probably more than most other team sports — requires giving-up one’s own body in order to make a given play, sharing the puck with a mate who is in a more advantageous position, etc.  Yes, there’s a lot of selflessness required to be a truly effective hockey player.

The speaker said athletes “have stamina”, although I’ll twist that a bit to suggest that they learn “staying power”, or the ability to keep going under some pretty difficult circumstances.  Personally, I’ve seen a lot of none athletes who accepted defeat far to early, or far too easily, while former athletes just wouldn’t quit.

I found it interesting that the audio also highlighted an athlete’s desire to learn “the game” (not just his or her job).  Actually, I’ve often put that into my own words, suggesting that one get into “the spirit of what we’re trying to really accomplish” — in a given drill, or within the context of our playing system.

Of course, athletes DO learn to play by the rules, which to me makes them all the easier to deal with in later life than those who never learned such.

And, the good ones are always looking to better themselves, or always raising their own personal standards.  Ya, even within a team game like hockey, it rests on the shoulders of every individual member to constantly make himself or herself better and better.

Then, I purposely moved one of the speaker’s earliest ideas to last here, mainly because it’s the one I’d like to expand upon just a bit more…  What the speaker said was that athletes tend to make victory a habit.  They know what winning feels like, and they have a sense of how to repeat it.  Yup, true enough.

As true as the premise of that last paragraph is, however, I feel the need to point-out that, athletes early-on also learn to experience losing, disappointment, failure.  And, while that surely isn’t our aim as we enter any game, it surely is one of the most important things we’ll ever, ever experience.  If you think about it, a young player will never truly appreciate the excitement of winning unless he or she has been through just the opposite.

Still, there’s yet another point I want to make — especially with parents…  For, you see, while none of us want to see our youngsters hurting, I think we do them an even greater disservice by overly protecting them.  Every kid is at some point going to feel he was the game’s goat, and every player is likely to at some point be benched, be short-shifted, or told not to dress for a game — even at the pro level.  So, those things being somewhat inevitable, it seems to me our job — as a parent or coach — is to teach them how to deal with such occurrences.

Hey, did you know that Michael Jordan ended his NBA playing career as the leader in only one category — that of missed shots?  (Yes, he is high in many others, but that’s the only category where he’s Number One!)  And, did you know that Babe Ruth (at least last I knew) holds the record for the most strikeouts in Major League Baseball history?  Hmmmmmm…

I’ve actually heard it said that Jordan’s record is the one he’s most proud of.  But, then again, he often speaks about being cut from his high school basketball team, as well.  Ya, Michael Jordan, I believe, is proudest of overcoming setbacks — learning how to bounce back from missing a key shot, whatever.  And so must Babe Ruth have learned to blot-out his latest failed at bat, once more strutting to the plate with supreme confidence.

Yes, great players learn to deal with setbacks.  And, my message to those overseeing their youngster’s development is to at least not overly protect them.  Instead, see if you might help them put recent disappointments into perspective,  share stories with them like those of Jordan or Ruth, and suggest to them that it’s what they do after a setback that determines what sort of athlete (and person) they really are.

Finally, even if a youngster ultimately makes it to hockey’s highest rung, he’ll likely be retiring long before the age of 35.  Ya, even NHL-ers eventually have to go out and get a job.  So, of course, are the rest of us — the mere mortals.  My point:  that we’re likely to help our young guys and gals be all the better suited for any sort of life after hockey, IF they gain along the way all the things our game truly offers.