Hockey Confidence. Isabelle Hamptonstone MSc.

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СКАЧАТЬ and star players on the U.S. Olympic hockey team, often talk about the importance of keeping things fun while working out and playing hockey. “Show up and be fun,”⁶ says Jocelyne. And when you do, you find the fun in your game. It’s always there if you look hard enough. Use it to blaze bright and find ways to fan the flames of your success. Great players and great leaders blaze bright with powerful confidence.

       Blazing Bright with Confidence

       “A lot of people, when a guy scores a lot of goals, think, ‘He’s a great player,’ because a goal is very important, but a great player is a player who can do everything on the field. He can do assists, encourage his colleagues, give them confidence to go forward. It is someone who, when a team does not do well, becomes one of the leaders.”

      PELÉ, the greatest footballer of all time

      WHICH HOCKEY PLAYERS do you know who blaze bright and don’t make a fuss? A number of players spring to mind. How is it that they don’t have to say much, because the way they play does all the talking for them?

      Of all the players out there who display calm and true leadership, one of the greats is Pittsburgh Penguins and Team Canada legend Sidney Crosby. When hockey fans watch Sidney and listen to him speak, they see and hear a hockey player who speaks with true confidence.

      What do I mean by true confidence? People who are comfortable in what they do and how they do it, and in what they say and how they say it. A player who is comfortable playing his game and likes the results he gets when he plays. I’m describing a way of living and being successful that comes from acting with honor, dignity, and self-respect—and from taking responsibility for getting results that count.

      There are people with true confidence all around us. It’s the single-parent hockey mom who works hard every day to make sure the bills get paid and there’s food on the table yet still finds time to drive her kid to the ice, day after day after day. It’s the unassuming kid in the class who doesn’t need to be the loudest person to feel that she deserves to be part of the group. It’s the Sidney Crosbys of this world who play hockey with good intentions and determination, have respect for themselves and others, and take the right actions so that their play speaks for itself.

      How can you develop your own true confidence? Good question. I’ll share my personal inspiration with you. Over the years, I’ve heard or read words and seen pictures that inspire me and help me feel good. No matter where they come from, if they inspire me, I write them down. Then I read them, one a day, to provide a spark of inspiration and to fan the flames of success.

      Perhaps you also enjoy it when someone shares a bit of advice that has worked for them and helps you feel strong. Here are a few words of inspiration that were spoken centuries ago by a wise man, the Buddha, and have been repeated often. He said, “If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you think you will find it?” Buddha is explaining the importance of taking personal responsibility for our inner happiness, for our own results. This is an important and empowering philosophy. We can each learn to use it to help us get results. What’s the truth that Buddha speaks of? Ultimately, it’s all down to each one of us, to take responsibility to learn, to grow, to develop, and to deal with challenges so that we can become more content and happy with ourselves.

       IF YOU CANNOT FIND THE TRUTH RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, WHERE ELSE DO YOU THINK YOU WILL FIND IT?

      BUDDHA

      It is true that we can try to find the answer to our challenges in our surroundings, in our families, in our hockey. . . and we may actually find solutions and happiness there for a short time. But unless we connect to that spark of joy that is always within us—no matter how small it is—we will not find the longterm happiness we truly desire. Helen Keller said it very well: “Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do.”⁷ One of the keys to being truly confident, content, and happy is to take personal responsibility for our own well-being.

      Hockey Hall of Famer and four-time Stanley Cup champion “Terrible Ted” Lindsay played for the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. He says that one of the greatest lessons he ever learned about the power of taking personal responsibility came from his father. “When the Depression hit and he had to raise six boys and three girls, he took responsibility.”⁸ In the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, Ted’s dad dug deep, making himself responsible for putting food on the table, clothes on his kids’ backs, and shoes on their feet. He taught Ted how to be responsible for taking care of business and to value each and every opportunity.

      Ted started his hockey career in skates borrowed from the husband of a family friend. They were way too big, but he loved them anyway. The happiness spark was always there, and Ted chose to blaze bright, even in borrowed hockey skates. He took responsibility for his inner happiness, and over time, the results came thick and fast. The guy who started playing in boots that were too big became the NHL’s leading goal scorer, and that year, his team won the Stanley Cup. By then, the skates probably fit!

      When we decide today that how we feel and how we act— and the results we get—are our own responsibility, we can begin to take ownership of every small step forward that brings us closer to our goals. This develops our ability to act from a feeling of true confidence. Ultimately, our sense of contentment and personal happiness will naturally blaze brighter.

       Being Your Own Head Coach

       “Ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

      HAROLD THURMAN, civil rights leader

      SOMETIMES THAT GAME that used to bring us so much fun and personal reward doesn’t feel so much like fun anymore. We feel fed up, and the outlook isn’t good. Something in us says it’s time to make a change. The good news is this is the perfect time to learn what’s going on in our minds and become our own head coach.

      Listen to the people around you when they talk about their goals. Take the time to notice if their words are about what they actually want. Perhaps they’re really saying what they don’t want. Here’s the takeaway: the mind doesn’t pay much attention to the do or do not part.

      For example, if someone (that would be me) tells herself to stop thinking about chocolate, to forget about how it smells or how good it looks in the wrapper, her mind will focus on the word “chocolate.” Now all she can think is, Where is that bar of extra-dark I hid somewhere? Hang on, I’ll be right back. Mmm. . . Okay, where was I?

      Ah, yes, let’s bring this back into the hockey arena. What if, just before a penalty shootout, the player keeps telling himself, Don’t miss this shot, don’t miss this shot, don’t miss this shot . . . What do you think his mind will be focusing on? His brain will be setting him up to miss, miss, miss the shot.

      So what action do you need to take to be your own powerful head coach? Learn to monitor your self-talk.

       Case Study: Powering Up the Play

       “I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing toward being a champion.”

      BILLIE JEAN KING, tennis player and activist

      OFTEN WE CAN reach a plateau and find ourselves unable to make a breakthrough, or we СКАЧАТЬ