In this episode of "The Ride to the Rink," host Lee Elias offers a deep dive into the mental and strategic aspects essential for hockey players and coaches as they navigate the intense periods of playoffs, big games, and tryouts. Lee shares his insights on the dynamics of winning and losing, emphasizing the importance of embracing losses as learning opportunities to achieve greater successes in hockey.
Highlights Include:
Winning and Losing Dynamics: Lee discusses the reality that striving for significant achievements in hockey or any aspect of life comes with the risk of facing losses. He stresses the need to accept and learn from these experiences as a fundamental part of personal and athletic development.
Value of Losses as Lessons: The concept of viewing losses as educational opportunities is presented as a crucial mindset for growth among players and coaches.
Preparation for Key Moments: With the approach of crucial times such as playoffs and tryouts, the focus shifts to the importance of being mentally and physically prepared, highlighting the roles of teamwork and personal responsibility.
Beyond the Ice: Lee talks about the broader implications of hockey in shaping young individuals, underlining respect, teamwork, and accountability as essential values that transcend the sport.
Empowering Young Athletes: The episode wraps up with a motivational message for players facing evaluations or significant games, encouraging them to face challenges head-on and recognize the impact of their actions both on and off the ice.
Our Kids Play Hockey is powered by NHL Sense Arena!
NHL Sense Arena, is a virtual reality training game designed specifically to improve hockey sense and IQ for both players and goalies. Experience the next generation of off-ice training in VR with over 100+ drills and training plans curated from top coaches and players.
Use Code "HockeyNeverStops" at Hockey.SenseArena.com to score $50 off an annual plan!
Speaker 1:
Hello, hockey skaters and goalies around the world, and welcome back to another edition of the ride to the ring powered by NHL. Since arena, this is Lee with you today and look, no matter where you're at this point of the season it might be right before the playoffs or big games or tournaments or evaluations, slash tryouts I want to remind you, as a coach, few things. One if you want to win big at anything this could be life, this could be hockey, this could be practice you got to risk losing. Big part of winning is always the risk of losing and your ability to be comfortable with that very uncomfortable feeling and also understanding that losing is an educational path to make you a better player. The ability to embrace that is a skill set that we all need to have. So I'm going to say this one more time If you want to win big, you have to embrace and be willing to lose big. And when we break this down a little bit more, I want you to think about this time of season when you're listening to this Again, big games are coming up, evaluations and tryouts are coming up. If you practice this all the time the ability to work hard, be present, to be focused on what's in front of you, to know that you want to win, to be a great teammate, to be a great person coached by your coach, to be a great kid to your parents. All of that adds up this time of year and really the other 12 months of the year outside, wherever you're at in the season. It's so important, especially if you're getting to those kind of 14 new ages the 16 new ages if you can't control yourself, if you cannot get yourself into a position where you're mentally fit, physically fit, you understand how to listen, how to learn, you understand how to be a great teammate, you understand the seriousness of what this is at the end of the day in terms of being someone who wants to win. In the grand scheme of life, obviously, hockey doesn't stand out, is the most important thing, but it is an important thing to make sure that you're showcasing your ability to be a young adult in this game. So if you're heading towards those evals, make sure that you understand that the way you treat your teammates, the way you treat your coaches, the way you treat locker room attendants, people at the rink, your parents yourself, really plays in the decision of coaches as you go on the next season. It's an all the time thing. So if you're heading into those big games once again, if you want to win big and winning big could be the game it could be making the team you want to make next year. It could be just winning big to learn something. You got to be risking the loss and the kids that can do that tend to end up winning big. I'm Lee Elias. This has been an edition of the Ride to the Rink. I just want to wish all of you the best, no matter what it is, no matter what challenges are in front of you. I want you to know that I believe in you. You should too, and we will see you on the next edition of the Ride to the Rink. Just get on everybody. We hope you enjoyed this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value. Wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network or our website, ourkidsplayhockeycom. Also, make sure to check out our children's book when Hockey Stops at whenhockeystopscom. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey and we'll see you on the next episode.