Athletic prowess is defined by several factors. Some you’re born with. Others are achieved through hard work and tenacity. There’s no perfect answer to becoming a winning hockey athlete. But it’s clear if you don’t have these attributes, you’re putting yourself at a great disadvantage.
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Passion is something that can’t be taught. It’s a love for hockey as deep as life itself. You eat, breathe, and sleep the game. It’s an expectation to make sacrifices that could affect other things in your life, i.e. time with friends. It’s the passion that fuels you. When you lose, passion drives you to make a change, so that you’re better the next time. Passion makes you want to be better for you, your teammates, and the game. Passion defines the good, but separates the best.
Hustle means you won’t quit when things get tough. You’re willing to push through the adversity of a 2 goal deficit or the soreness that’s eating you up in the gym. The hustle is ultimately what enables you to be better. See without hustle, how would you make your shot better? Do you want to score 50 goals or are you happy with 10? Do you want to win the Stanley Cup or is it OK to just make it to the playoffs? Hustlers don’t settle for something less. The value of the work that you put into the game equals the outcome. A hustler hits the gym 5 days a week during the off-season, not because he’s told to. He does it because the struggles of last season gave him a reason to work harder.
Discipline is easier than it seems. It can be learned. However, no one will tell you that it’s easily achieved. Often times, it requires you to think before you act. Discipline defines the difference between the team player and the selfish player. Sure, it’s hard to avoid retaliating after something committed a dirty play against you, especially when the referee possibly missed the infraction. The disciplined player has the mind to look past that. He understands that selfishness only hurts the team. Think first, act later.
Similar to discipline is leadership. Every team needs great leaders. The problem is much of the time people think leadership means it’s the best player on the team. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. A good leader has the highest level of discipline and always puts his/her needs behind what’s best for the team. Hopefully, he or she also has all of the other attributes that make for winning players. However that’s not always necessary. A leader leads by example both, in the gym and on the ice.
Some of the best players in the world have incredible vision. The guy that always seems to do something on the ice that no one thought possible: that’s vision. This person has the ability to read and react to play before it even happens. It’s an innate attribute, but can be learned through discipline, leadership and understanding the game. Don’t just watch hockey. Watch every plan and dissect it. Break that play down into the smallest pieces and figure out in your head how it happened. How could you change it? What might the outcome be? Learning to visualize a play before it happens will ultimately give you a half second more to make the right play.
All of these attributes are imperative to the creation of a winning athlete. Much of which can be achieved through determination and hard work. However, you can’t just “sort of” want it. You have to be willing to make all the sacrifices in order to become a complete winner. Part of that is losing with dignity. A great winner doesn’t have to enjoy losing, but he/she must be able to take something form a loss and apply to making himself better. Ask yourself what you could have done that may have changed the outcome? Find the answer and hustle to change it. Let the passion carry you. Lead through example and always keep your cool. Always work, never stop. Never let the game get ahead of you. Read and react before everyone else. That’s a winning athlete.
This article was written by hockey training specialist Christopher Costa. Chris’s life has revolved around hockey, as a coach, player and official for 22 years. His training protocols address all key aspects in producing elite talent, as well as nutrition. His passion is to help elite hockey players achieve the highest level of performance. In 2012 he worked with the Philadelphia Flyers organization and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Human Performance.
