Oct. 7, 2023

Mental Performance in Hockey with the Founders of Hone Athletics, Jessica Renney and Paula McQuaid

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Season 1 Our Kids Play Hockey

The Co-Founders of Hone Athletics have dedicated their lives to helping professional athletes on the mental fitness journeys. Jessica Renney grew up with a unique perspective of the game having spent most of her life close to the NHL and witnessing the importance of mental fitness to pro players, and Paula McQuaid serves as a mental performance consultant for Hockey Canada's Women's u-18 National team. She has won two golds, silver and bronze medals with the team in IIHF World Championships since 2018.

They join us this week to share about the creation of Hone Athletics, which enables coaches to better grasp their players' mental health and aid them in reaching their fullest potential. We explore the significance of person-centered coaching and how emotional awareness can dramatically alter an athlete's performance. 

We do a deep-dive into the importance of mental health in professional sports and address the necessity for self-assessment before leading others, how to cultivate a positive sports culture, as well as the rising significance of mental health. 

Text The Our Kids Play Hockey Team!

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00:52 - Youth Hockey Mental Fitness and Action

06:34 - Breaking Down Barriers

16:36 - Athlete's Mental Health Tool Development

26:00 - Mental Fitness in Athletics

34:23 - Creating a Positive Sports Culture

42:47 - Person-Centered Coaching in Sports

53:43 - Emotional Awareness in Coaching Importance

57:23 - Positive Coaching and Personal Growth

01:06:44 - Kids Play Hockey

WEBVTT

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You know we talk about mental fitness a lot on the show.

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In today's episode we talk about tools that you can utilize to help you on the bench as a parent, and kind of the mission upon all of us to further the conversation, at minimum, on how this affects our kids not just becoming better people, but helping us win hockey games.

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Right.

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That's, at the end of the day, what we all want, but I think we want them to become better people the most.

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We have on Paul McQuade and Jessica Reni with us today, owners of Hone Athletic, to talk about this really fantastic conversation.

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I know it feels like I say that every week, but we're having a lot of fantastic conversations and again, look, we're getting to that time of the year where the gift giving season is coming up.

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I want you to head over to hockeywrapperoundcom, check out their off ice tools and some of the new things that they've done the children's book that they've written by Kristi Cash, hannah Burns and Lee Alliance.

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That's me.

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I'm at hockeywrapperoundcom.

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Use the code okay PH at checkout.

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You'll get a nice little discount there.

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It's a great way to support us and the show.

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And finally, humbly asking you, wherever you listen to the show, please give us that five star review.

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It really, really helps us spread the word, whether it's on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Giving us those reviews and those written reviews helps us spread the message, in addition to you telling all of your friends about what you do all the time, and we appreciate you.

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With all that said, let's dive into this episode with Paul McQuade and Jessica Renny on mental fitness and action on our kids play hockey.

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Hello hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome to another edition of our kids play hockey.

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I'm Leo Elias, joined as always with Mike Benelli.

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You know we talk a lot on this show about the importance of mental fitness and keeping your mind as healthy as your body, so today we have two guests joining us that are experts in that space in hockey.

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Paul McQuade is a mental performance consultant for Hockey Canada's women's U18 national team, winning two golds, silver and bronze medals with the teams in the double IHF world championship since 2018.

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We're also joined by Jessica Renny, who has a unique perspective of the game, having spent most of her life close to the NHL, witnessing the importance of mental fitness to professional athletes who operate in high performing cultures.

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Paul and Jessica are professional members of the Canadian counseling and psychotherapy association and nationally accredited body in Canada and are founders of Hone athletics, which is a unique digital platform that empowers sports leaders with the technology and expert guidance needed to create healthy, happy, high performing athletes Something we love here on this show.

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We will dive into that much more.

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On the show today, ladies, welcome to our kids play hockey.

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Thank you, nice to be here, it's exciting.

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Yeah, we've been planning this episode for months, so I'm excited it's finally here.

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So thank you both for here.

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Paul, I'm going to start with you real quick because, I said in the open, I know our audience, I know what they like to hear out.

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So let's just start with your experience with Canada's U18 team, your role of mental performance consultant.

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What, what does that mean?

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What are some of the challenges you see?

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And if you can even begin to try and describe the metal, you know, winning a medal, what that is like.

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For you it's indescribable, but I always like to try.

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Yeah, yeah, that's a great question.

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So what does it mean?

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The MPC role that I've played has been phenomenal.

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It's something that I kind of wasn't didn't know that I would be going in that direction and, coming from a therapeutic background, it kind of lends itself a little bit differently to that position, so I was able to kind of do the typical things that a mental performance coach would do, but also go into that.

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I have that therapeutic background.

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So I think personally I think that marries really really well in sport, especially when we're dealing with younger individuals in terms of what it's like to win a medal depends which ones you're talking about, that's fair.

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That's a fair point, yeah.

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So, however, you get as much learning, regardless of what it is, and over the years I've been lucky enough to do it I think it was six years and you, you recognize how you you yourself shift in this role.

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So, while the athletes, they were all U18, so they're kind of in a similar space.

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So, year after year, you have amazing groups of young women dealing with very similar things.

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However, my opportunity to evolve really happened throughout those years, and especially seeing, like after COVID.

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So a lot of things happened after that where these players hadn't played for years, and then so the things that we didn't even think of, like thinking about how come we're seeing so much emotion or what's going on here?

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And it was such a stage that they hadn't been on in years, which was a cool opportunity as well.

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So, being mindful of the stuff they're going on and how they are world and how their environments impact them, I will speak to you about the last gold medal we won.

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That sounds like a happy memory, yeah.

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Well for us.

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For us, it was Right yeah.

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Not for us but for you.

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For the purposes of the show, we'll just say it's happy for everyone right now.

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Thank you, yeah.

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And it was intense, as it always is, and it was very neck and neck and usually you guys pull it out, so we were never relaxed and sitting shoulder to shoulder literally with the other team's people, and it was about we're all kind of excited and cheering and about down to the last minute or two minutes, we just stopped talking, there was nothing, everyone was just sitting there and then, of course, the buzzer went and we were thrilled and excited and jumping together and you're just so pleased for the girls, you're so pleased for their parents, everybody that's there supporting them, the country and the team around the team who's been there since the start.

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So, yeah, it's pretty amazing.

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We always talk about the greatest rivalries in sports and people say Yankees, boston or whatever, and I always say USA, canada, women's hockey.

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Not only does it span now generations and decades, but age groups like this.

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It's an eternal battle and again, I think it's one of those things that unfortunately in the media they don't do the best of really diving into, like showing how much this means.

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And then also the level of preparation.

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You talked about COVID and I remember the women's national team wearing masks in one game and that they had trained to do that.

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We had someone on Ellis that they had trained for that.

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So the level of preparation, dedication and everything that goes into it is at the highest, of the highest levels.

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I'm not talking men or women's sport, I'm just talking in general.

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Right now you bring up a good point about COVID too.

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I'm still uneasy and freaked out generally that as a society and I'm talking North America we just kind of finished it and moved on and never talked about it.

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And it's a little bit weird that we don't talk about it, considering that things like world shutdown for three years and then, especially with our children who we asked to sit in front of a TV or a computer for three years, and then we wonder why they have problems communicating now.

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So kudos to both of you, obviously, for bringing that up.

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You know, jessica, I want to get your thoughts on that too.

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And then I have a question for you.

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I was just thinking to myself have we moved on?

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Have we.

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Right Like how do we?

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That's a great question.

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How do we know when I think about kind of bringing it back to mental health and Paul and I have always talked about COVID being the echo pandemic, or mental health being the echo pandemic of the physical pandemic, and certainly we can talk more about that but if we look at kind of the mental health of our young people and those who are needing support and I read a stat the other day actually that said you know, we have, let's say, 300,000 mental health providers I think it was in the US actually and we have 1.2 kids registered in sport, so there's a massive need for our kids to be getting the support they need.

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And how can we use sport as that vehicle to provide them with that mental health support that they need.

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And we obviously certainly think that we can do that.

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But just looking at the need versus, you know, our world's capacity to respond to the need in the way that the narrative that we've always kind of adopted, which is individually, we're really wanting people to look at how we can do this differently, to make sure that, you know, a coach or a sporting leader can have the impact on that young person's mental health, rather than waiting for a psychiatrist or psychologist appointment to have that mental health impact.

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Yeah, also, you know, the stigma surrounding mental health is breaking.

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Like I had a question later on, I'm going to bring it up right now.

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Actually is you know, we talked about this like the stigma is absolutely breaking.

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We can see now that more conversations are taking place, I don't think it's lame for people anymore to talk about it and you know, just 10 years ago we didn't talk about it.

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It was weakness, quote, unquote.

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I don't think anybody's seeing it as weakness now, unless you have kind of an old school mentality.

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But the thing that surprises me is that mental health, mental fitness, is the number one concern of youth athletes and parents and their parents across the board.

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Now, I'd actually like to do research on what that was 20 years ago.

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I wonder if it was like ice time or something like that.

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Right, but now, as of today, for everybody listening, the number one concern of young athletes and their parents is mental health.

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I think we've turned a corner, like I said, but I don't think we've gone far enough, because I think, like most things, we're acknowledging it now but nobody knows what to do, and when you say things like a therapist or therapy, that's where the stigma kind of sticks its ugly head back up again.

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Oh, you're in therapy.

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I proudly say my family, see someone.

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Yeah, it's not a weakness to me.

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I want to see someone.

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We want to do, we want to be the strongest family possible and it's, it's just like it's all the time.

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It's just like going to the gym.

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You wouldn't say I'm going to the gym to get stronger and somebody goes oh, you're doing that, oh my.

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So again the questions for both of you here what are some action items?

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What do you see really as experts in the space?

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What are the next steps that we need to take to continue to break down those barriers?

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And what, maybe, what are some action items for the parents listening and the coaches listening that we can do to further, you know, advocate for stronger mental fitness within the locker room.

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So I think, and what is right?

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Yeah, yeah, I think this conversation right, I think, at the end of the day, having conversations about sport-specific mental health gives our athletes and our leaders permission to talk about it, because it exists.

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You know, all four of us sitting here on this call, we all have mental health.

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It doesn't just come in when we have an issue, it's like physical health.

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We have it all day, every day.

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So I think in so many ways and Paul and I see this so often in our work, and Lee you said it that you know the awareness is there, but it's the now.

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What?

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Right.

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It's the like.

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Okay, so what do we do and how do we create a space where coaches and leaders and parents feel like they actually have agency and can do something here?

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So for me, it is really about bringing that conversation into the dressing room, into the rink.

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You know, not just having it on the ride home but actually physically marrying the athlete and the leaders with mental health and specifically kind of sport-specific mental health Right.

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So I think that's an awesome place to start.

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They read yeah.

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I love.

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How, oh sorry.

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No, no, go up Paul.

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Well, I love how you said, Lee, that you proudly say that your family participates in therapy or whatever modality you do.

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And we call it family team building, but it's.

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We go to a therapist together, right yeah, and I love hearing that and I think that's like we talk about modeling so much with coaches and the people around our young athletes model that share that and when you start talking about openly, then that stigma reduces, right.

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Yeah, that's fantastic.

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Thank you.

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I think this is where you know, I know where we are in USA hockey from like a coaching education standpoint.

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I know hockey Canada does this as well in certain aspects and they're probably getting better and better at it.

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Is, you know, introducing these concepts nutrition, mental health, you know, and things outside of the role of a volunteer mom or dad hockey coach, right?

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Because, it's so intimidating to just to coach anyway and then to throw in the fact that you're supposed to be a mental health expert and you're supposed to be a nutritionist and you're supposed to, you know, be a top line scheduler.

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I mean it's all those things that I think you know, that I think that's why you know reaching out to, to folks like you and services that are offered is a support structure for the coaches, because we're not experts.

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I mean it's really different.

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You know you can, you can listen to a couple of podcasts and read a couple of books and see a couple of pamphlets, but you still need to, you know, engage with the professionals in this space.

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And I don't know.

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And to your all your points, I mean it is being more and more acceptable, but until the governing bodies make it a part of the actual education of coaches and not just how do you do a breakout and how do you teach power skating?

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And then it becomes really hard because you know, coaches have a lot.

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I'm not talking about pro coaches, I'm talking about the volunteer youth hockey coach, just like, okay, listen, I have a hard enough time getting to the rink and now you want me to identify whether I'm talking to a child, properly or not, and building up self esteem or beating them up or you know it's a lot to ask.

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But I do think if we educate people and let them know that there are services out there, that's the obligation of the organization and, frankly, the coach to utilize that and then explore how does that help my team the most, where it's not affecting, and has helped me the most.

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Right, because if you don't have healthy athletes mentally, how the heck you coach them anyway?

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Yeah, right, yeah.

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And you said you know we get nutritionists, we get all of those things, and I think, as coaches and individuals, we would never jump.

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I would never jump into that world with my athletes or whatever, and say, okay, well, I can, I can teach you what to eat to or how your nutrition needs to look.

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I would never venture into that.

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And so when you come to mental health we're not asking coaches to do that either you don't need to dive into that world and give all the answers.

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You just need to be kind, you just need to hear, you just need to notice, and then there's next steps, right?

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So there, that's one thing that that's always very important to us is we never ask coaches to step into those realms that they're uncomfortable with or that are beyond their knowledge, but simply being there and showing them that, oh, I care about this and I care about you.

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Yeah, you know what?

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One of the things about kids that I think we forget as we get older is how much as kids, we just wanted to be heard.

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Right, just just.

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I just want someone to listen to me, and I think when we get to adulthood and look, there's a lot of things that happen, but we don't afford a lot of children the.

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Let me just listen to you.

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I don't have to fix it for you, I just want to want to listen to you.

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This is obviously the perfect segue to talk about what you two have created.

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But, as Mike alluded to right, I think that there's pressure on especially volunteer coaches of I don't know how to do that, right, I know it's important, but I don't know how to do that, and you two have created something pretty amazing.

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You know, I again I'm jumping all over my questions here, which I love.

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It means we're having a good episode.

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Again, you founded hone athletics.

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We spoke about it in the open.

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It's a brilliant piece of technology and I'll let you, you know, go on further if I get this incorrect, but basically it surveys the athletes anonymously with questions dealing with the mental side of performance and then it repost them to the coaching staff in a way that they can just consume the information of how.

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I was, my team kind of, where they at.

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We talked about the importance of meeting athletes where they're at, and you've kind of created a tool to do that.

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So I think we should dive into where that came from and then also please dive into how it works.

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Yeah, I'll kind of talk about a little bit around where it came from.

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So Paul and I spent a lot of time working with teams around mental health.

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We certainly saw a nation and need to address sport, specific mental health with teams.

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So we sent a ton of time, kind of I think it was we always call that our and deface five years of really digging in and working with teams and then in working with individuals privately as well, and what we saw was that, you know, our teams were wanting to learn more and wanting to have these conversations, and so we would do those sessions, we would ask the coaches to leave the room so that our athletes could answer honestly, and then, without a doubt, two hours later, when we got home, we get a call from the coaches and coaches would say, okay, what happened?

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What can I do, right, right.

00:17:23.088 --> 00:17:29.579
So in our heads we're like, huh, okay, we got a shift here.

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We got a shift because this is about co, creating an experience.

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Right, this is about having everybody a part of the conversation.

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So we said, go, just come back into the room and had these, these wonderful conversations and and looked at how we could really start to access and impact more athletes and scale, scale our services to a place where, you know, they didn't have to be in Calgary, alberta, in order to access us.

00:17:54.253 --> 00:17:58.238
So that really is a foundation for home.

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We're very well versed in kind of the sport specific research when it comes to mental health.

00:18:03.343 --> 00:18:09.313
So we took a lot of time making sure that we were creating something from sport for sport.

00:18:09.313 --> 00:18:29.480
A lot of the time, when it comes to mental health initiatives, we create them with non athletes and then we kind of plop them on athletes and say, hey, let's make this work and it doesn't, because there's so many cultural nuances there's there's so many very specific things that we need to be paying attention to when it comes to athletes.

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So we're we really created something specifically for athletes and specifically for that culture, and I don't know if I don't want to talk a little bit more about kind of how it works.

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It's very simple, it's very easy.

00:18:43.383 --> 00:18:44.704
I want all the coaches to see it.

00:18:45.251 --> 00:18:47.550
It is Jessica.

00:18:47.550 --> 00:18:47.891
I want to.

00:18:47.891 --> 00:18:48.251
I want to.

00:18:48.251 --> 00:18:49.212
I'll do it for you.

00:18:49.212 --> 00:18:50.994
Like everybody listening, I took a look at this.

00:18:50.994 --> 00:18:52.978
I don't think it could be any simpler.

00:18:52.978 --> 00:19:02.740
Yeah it's actually so simple, to the point, I could see someone saying, well, it's too simple, yeah, but, but that's at the end of the day, that's what you want, right?

00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:03.451
I like it.

00:19:03.490 --> 00:19:04.872
Yeah, I think it.

00:19:04.872 --> 00:19:06.775
What's important to is understand that.

00:19:06.775 --> 00:19:16.486
You know, look what, when I work with teams and everybody listening has heard this but I always start with trust, right, you have to build that trust because you're not going to get honest results or answers from anybody if the trust isn't there.

00:19:16.486 --> 00:19:21.751
But the second thing I talked to about coaches is is do you know how to motivate your athletes Right?

00:19:21.751 --> 00:19:29.849
And I get know a lot, like I was motivated the way I was motivated, and I said that it's a huge mistake to assume that anyone's motivated the way you're motivated.

00:19:29.849 --> 00:19:38.451
So you know, I could see a coach play a little bit of devil's advocate, mike, and you can too, like I like to bring up the funny objections and support you, but I could see somebody.

00:19:38.451 --> 00:19:41.036
Well, how is knowing how my team feels going to help me with practice?

00:19:41.036 --> 00:19:47.712
Because I plan this practice and if they come back and say I'm just not feeling great today, you know how am I going to do my practice?

00:19:47.712 --> 00:19:48.434
And it's it's.

00:19:48.434 --> 00:19:49.656
It's a few things.

00:19:49.656 --> 00:20:00.340
Number one it's not about you, it's not about you, it's about them, right, and if they're not mentally in a place to receive the information, I don't care how good your practices.

00:20:00.340 --> 00:20:01.482
It's not, it's not going to work.

00:20:01.482 --> 00:20:08.435
Now again, I will make the argument this will, this would work at the pro level to we are talking specifically youth athletes.

00:20:08.435 --> 00:20:11.519
Mike, I can see you, you, you chop it at the bit here, go ahead.

00:20:13.663 --> 00:20:24.269
It's like it's just like doing lesson planning, like maybe like if I'm a coach, scared to use a platform like this, it's probably says more about me than my athletes.

00:20:24.269 --> 00:20:27.865
Like, like, if I cause I don't want to know what their mental health is, cause, then I got to deal with that.

00:20:27.865 --> 00:20:40.247
Like you know, if I, if I have to deal with kids that have anxiety, or kids that don't get like to get yelled at, or kids that need to be coddled, or kids that have other stressors in their life, that doesn't concern me as a volunteer coach, I'm like I don't care what that gets doing at school.

00:20:40.247 --> 00:20:41.684
Like cause that doesn't concern me.

00:20:41.684 --> 00:20:43.928
I don't care if their girlfriend just broke up with them or they.

00:20:43.928 --> 00:20:47.844
You know they they have a fight with their boyfriend or whatever it is Like, and I think that's where it's.

00:20:47.844 --> 00:20:52.740
So that's why I, that's why I got into coaching, because it's teaching, it's, it's mentoring, it's.

00:20:52.740 --> 00:20:55.068
It's not just about winning hockey games.

00:20:55.068 --> 00:20:57.909
Hopefully, hopefully I mean there are, I get there.

00:20:57.909 --> 00:21:13.884
There are a lot of teams that say I don't care what your mental health is, I just need the top 18 athletes and if you're a weak athlete mentally, I'm just going to replace you anyway with a with a kid that that in in in my mind, in what I see on the surface looks like a strong athlete.

00:21:13.884 --> 00:21:26.670
But you guys you guys could speak to this more than anyone like how many athletes look strong, that are, that are, that are, that are really struggling inside, and that doesn't manifest itself until after they're gone from me.

00:21:26.670 --> 00:21:40.672
Right, they're no longer with me, but I but at the end of the day, I have an obligation in that in that time I have them to help them, teach them, mentor them, not just to say, oh, please, just get through the next six months and then move them on.

00:21:40.672 --> 00:21:53.099
And I think that's why, you know, any addition to these type of programs is scary for a lot of adults, because then they're faced with the fact that they have to deal with it.

00:21:53.099 --> 00:22:06.204
It's, it's, it's almost, like you know, um, like my wife taught my wife's a therapist and she'll talk about, you know, her mandated reporting obligations, about when she finds something out like and you're like, well, maybe I don't want to find that out.

00:22:06.204 --> 00:22:15.721
Like you know, I don't want, I don't want to test to get a concussion, because I don't want to deal with the fact that he has a concussion and then I have to then react to that concussion, you know.

00:22:15.721 --> 00:22:16.325
So it's just.

00:22:16.325 --> 00:22:17.351
It's just.

00:22:17.351 --> 00:22:26.359
That's the way I see a lot of this, the mental health discussions is the fear of having to deal with it instead of just kind of burying your head behind it and not deal with it.

00:22:26.359 --> 00:22:31.037
Now, on the other side of this, parents advocate for this.

00:22:31.037 --> 00:22:32.704
Find the coach that wants to use this.

00:22:32.704 --> 00:22:34.133
Find the person that wants to.

00:22:34.133 --> 00:22:52.748
you know, confront this head on, it's going to save you many many years of maybe even actually seeing and needing a therapist at another level, outside of sport and we're talking about sport, right, but there there are human beings, these kids, they're only playing hockey with us, you know, three or four hours a week.

00:22:52.748 --> 00:22:54.023
There's a rest of their life.

00:22:54.023 --> 00:22:54.586
That's going on.

00:22:55.047 --> 00:22:56.030
Yeah, exactly yeah.

00:22:56.863 --> 00:23:03.450
I think about Mike when you said um, you know we don't want to, we don't want to deal and and I think we get this, we understand this.

00:23:03.450 --> 00:23:09.423
Um, but I think about when an athlete's physically injured and I think about that happening on the ice.

00:23:09.423 --> 00:23:12.451
What happens when an athlete's physically injured on the ice?

00:23:12.451 --> 00:23:13.011
What happens?

00:23:13.011 --> 00:23:17.811
We rush in to support that athlete and it.

00:23:17.811 --> 00:23:20.857
Maybe they broke their leg, maybe that it's something.

00:23:20.857 --> 00:23:22.769
We send them to the hospital.

00:23:22.769 --> 00:23:23.049
We don't.

00:23:23.049 --> 00:23:27.660
We don't sit there and think to ourselves oh shit, I'm gonna just swear sorry, I shouldn't Go for it.

00:23:28.643 --> 00:23:31.132
I mean, I'm not, I'm not splinting a kid in the locker Right.

00:23:31.132 --> 00:23:36.166
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not putting splints on saying hey, listen, I think you have a fracture of the tibia.

00:23:36.347 --> 00:23:38.929
Exactly and no part of you think you should.

00:23:38.929 --> 00:23:41.299
Well, no part of you thinks you should.

00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:48.005
We know we make the kids kneel we make the kids kneel on the ice as an acknowledgement that someone is injured.

00:23:48.005 --> 00:23:50.250
Yeah, like, think about that, yeah.

00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:52.647
So we don't have to reinvent the wheel here.

00:23:52.647 --> 00:23:54.299
We don't have to reinvent the wheel.

00:23:54.299 --> 00:23:59.792
Sport does a beautiful job of rehabilitating, rehabilitating physically injured athletes.

00:23:59.792 --> 00:24:02.227
We just need to do it with mental health too.

00:24:02.467 --> 00:24:02.989
Totally agree.

00:24:03.760 --> 00:24:06.189
And when we talk about we, they don't want to deal with it.

00:24:06.189 --> 00:24:27.539
You are like you're dealing with it, and when I kind of hear that, it makes me go to like you're dealing with it, but perhaps not extremely well if the head's in the sand because it is there and they're showing up with it, and if you want a group of 18 players who you just want to be strong and get there, it's not mutually exclusive.

00:24:27.539 --> 00:24:38.291
You need them to be mentally okay and that doesn't mean everybody's in amazing mental health, but that they're supported can make such a massive difference.

00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:45.557
Look, I'll take the stigma a step further, just because I think, as you guys and Jessica, you said this so wonderfully at the beginning it's about awareness, right?

00:24:45.557 --> 00:24:48.859
So I talked before about how my family sees someone.

00:24:48.859 --> 00:24:52.316
Well, the common question I get back is well, what's wrong?

00:24:52.316 --> 00:24:52.859
What happened Right?

00:24:52.859 --> 00:24:54.898
And it's like well, you know what?

00:24:54.898 --> 00:25:00.959
We're trying to be the strongest family we can be, right, so it's not like I'm wearing a cast or something.

00:25:00.959 --> 00:25:04.500
Yes, yes, obviously, we have every issue that every family has.

00:25:04.500 --> 00:25:08.358
We're just taking steps to become the strongest family we can be and we don't regret that.

00:25:08.358 --> 00:25:14.498
Right, and every single family has these issues and every single family some of them more, some of them less.

00:25:14.498 --> 00:25:18.339
I'll also mention, too we're very fortunate to be in a position where we can go do this.

00:25:18.339 --> 00:25:20.297
That's not true for everybody, all right.

00:25:20.297 --> 00:25:29.897
This is also the where community and family plays a tremendous role, something I think we've gotten away from in recent years, where we you know, yeah, right, right.

00:25:29.897 --> 00:25:33.339
Like you used to be able to coach just wasn't your ticket to the next level Right.

00:25:33.339 --> 00:25:35.219
This was someone you could trust and buy into.

00:25:35.219 --> 00:25:40.740
And just from a societal level, I really love us to see us get back to more of a.

00:25:40.740 --> 00:25:43.500
You know it takes a village mentality.

00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:49.339
You know there's so much fear today about even letting anyone else talk to your kid, which I get.

00:25:49.339 --> 00:25:52.259
I mean it's sometimes it's justified, especially with the web today.

00:25:52.259 --> 00:25:53.653
But anyway, I'm not trying to get off track.

00:25:53.653 --> 00:25:58.875
My point is what both of you are making is that.

00:25:58.875 --> 00:26:02.579
You know it's a strength builder to be mentally fit, All right.

00:26:02.579 --> 00:26:10.939
Also, you know let's flip it to the parents that might be like just trying to get their kids to the next level this is an asset for your kid to be mentally strong.

00:26:10.939 --> 00:26:11.220
It's an asset.

00:26:11.220 --> 00:26:12.568
It's an asset.

00:26:12.568 --> 00:26:16.755
I, we all could say this All right, I have seen it's just to be like.

00:26:16.755 --> 00:26:17.519
I say this a lot.

00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:26.239
I have seen unbelievable talent, professional level talent, fail because they don't have this piece right.

00:26:26.239 --> 00:26:36.457
Especially today, it is essential if you would like your child to succeed really in anything that you spend the time or at least have the awareness of.

00:26:36.457 --> 00:26:37.180
Maybe I should look into that.

00:26:37.180 --> 00:26:39.920
Hey son, hey daughter, how are you feeling today?

00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:41.003
How are you feeling today?

00:26:41.003 --> 00:26:46.691
Yeah, no, I value those conversations with my kids when they're willing to have them Right.

00:26:46.711 --> 00:26:47.432
You, can't force anything.

00:26:47.492 --> 00:26:47.874
I don't know.

00:26:47.874 --> 00:26:54.702
Anyway, like I said, everyone's saying the same thing here that mental health, mental fitness is important.

00:26:54.702 --> 00:26:56.368
For the parents listening, for the coaches listening.

00:26:56.368 --> 00:26:58.445
Email us if you're not sure what to do.

00:26:58.445 --> 00:26:59.101
Right, we'll.

00:26:59.101 --> 00:27:03.224
We'll look at these ladies, or at least we'll point you in the right direction on something to do.

00:27:03.224 --> 00:27:04.228
Go ahead.

00:27:05.540 --> 00:27:09.711
Like I don't want to override your questions either, but I mean we're I didn't ask one yet.

00:27:11.622 --> 00:27:12.769
I know I never asked questions.

00:27:12.848 --> 00:27:14.819
I'm sorry, I just, I just bring out, I just bring out.

00:27:14.941 --> 00:27:16.313
That's just the New York Connecticut.

00:27:16.313 --> 00:27:18.125
In you, right there, my, I'm just talking.

00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:22.171
But I just I'm wondering like where did, where did you see the most need for this?

00:27:22.171 --> 00:27:48.327
Like when you, when you were doing your R&D, like when you were in there doing this right, where, where did it come to you and say, wow, you know, if we could centralize this data, you know this, this information that we're getting, and anonymously, and it can support the coach and and support what we try to do with all our athletes, as we're speaking with them in groups and I understand you probably do teams, organizations, right Organizationally, like are we a healthy organization?

00:27:48.327 --> 00:27:59.501
You know, so I think I'm just wondering, like, where that R&D led you to say, ok, well, how can we come up with the questions that we want to ask to help us, to help coaches?

00:27:59.501 --> 00:28:00.526
Kind of move on from this.

00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:13.827
Yeah, we the first, the first moment of us kind of walking into this world was with a group of, I think, eighth graders and we didn't know what we were walking into and they just, they just started talking.

00:28:13.827 --> 00:28:18.290
And that's when we realized, oh OK, they want, they're willing and they want to.

00:28:18.290 --> 00:28:20.969
We did not have to leave this conversation.

00:28:20.969 --> 00:28:26.669
They wanted to talk about how they were feeling, owning their behaviors, all these really cool things.

00:28:26.669 --> 00:28:29.950
What really stands out to me, jessica talks about when we would.

00:28:29.950 --> 00:28:44.339
We kind of thought we were geniuses and let's get the coaches out of the room where we can have this conversation and the kids can come up, and then everybody's talking to us and all these private conversations, and then we're like, oh no, we missed, we missed it completely and bringing them back in.

00:28:44.339 --> 00:29:05.292
But I recall specifically one team and we had a couple of players who would stay after the group every time and having very long conversations and just recognizing that they felt rather powerless in what was happening and there was nobody there that had influence on their environment to change it.

00:29:05.292 --> 00:29:19.619
And so that's when we we needed to have that conversation with the coaches in it, to be like stuff's going on and you need to know and you need to support them and it's been amazing it's been really amazing ever since to have done that and to share that information.

00:29:19.619 --> 00:29:21.659
And we don't win when we use the app.

00:29:21.659 --> 00:29:23.440
Like I said, we take the guesswork out of it.

00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:46.373
So we've been, we've made assumptions on what's been going on, particularly during Covid, of what would they would we would need to monitor, and so when we did the research on what kind of stressors impact young athletes and impact how they perform, it showed up with, you know, relationships and stress and pressure and criticism and all of these things that are not diagnostic questions.

00:29:46.373 --> 00:29:48.740
We are not diagnosing disorders here.

00:29:48.740 --> 00:29:51.400
We are not diagnosing depression or anything like that.

00:29:51.400 --> 00:29:58.871
We're picking up on your stress and then, when we know which area it's in, we can start to support you for what you need as a team.

00:30:00.223 --> 00:30:03.319
Do you see common themes, like I told the team of, like, say, 18 kids.

00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:08.820
Do you see like this spike in in where, where the stressors are, and then is that helped me?

00:30:08.820 --> 00:30:21.964
Then, as a coach, say, oh, wow, like I'm really affecting a big group of kids here the way I'm teaching, as opposed to it's one or two that I don't know of, I mean, but I would imagine you could probably figure it out Pretty quickly.

00:30:21.964 --> 00:30:28.050
If it's one, right and you say I can't believe I'm doing that, like I don't know where, I went kind of off the rails there.

00:30:28.050 --> 00:30:30.460
But if it's like, it's like anything else, right.

00:30:30.460 --> 00:30:35.259
If it's it's like in the hockey world you hear it all the time like, oh, all the parents are saying they're so upset about this.

00:30:35.259 --> 00:30:37.180
I'm like who's all the parents?

00:30:37.807 --> 00:30:40.489
All the parents, three of them, you know.

00:30:40.489 --> 00:30:41.596
Is it like I tell all the time I?

00:30:41.615 --> 00:30:42.159
work with all the time.

00:30:42.159 --> 00:30:47.763
Listen, if you have, you know, 70% of your people on board with you, you're doing a great job.

00:30:47.763 --> 00:30:57.779
You're going to have your, but on the, on the side of kids not being in a room parroting each other, but being privately being able to say this is how I feel.

00:30:58.582 --> 00:30:59.325
You're not with.

00:30:59.345 --> 00:31:06.359
They're not with each other, right, they're just, this is their own kind of, this is their own therapy, I guess in a lot of ways like getting it off their chest.

00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:13.932
But then you read that, that read the room for lack of a better term and and get and get to see.

00:31:13.932 --> 00:31:22.259
Ok, wow, you know, I'm like these kids feel like they have no time to study, or these kids have no social life, or they feel like they're you know, they're at the rink too much or what.

00:31:22.259 --> 00:31:23.066
I don't know what the questions are.

00:31:23.066 --> 00:31:32.115
I'm going to have to research that a little bit, but I think it's just really important, you know, to see those, those, those themes right and then react to them.

00:31:32.656 --> 00:31:34.723
Yeah, and I'll speak into just.

00:31:34.723 --> 00:31:46.992
You know, we have leagues or teams that have been in the app now for three years and and we've been able to look at the data at the end of the year and say, hey, it looks like your girls or guys are really struggling with pressure in November.

00:31:46.992 --> 00:31:49.057
Okay, so what can we do in October?

00:31:49.057 --> 00:31:53.193
What can we do in October to make sure that these athletes are feeling supported?

00:31:53.193 --> 00:31:57.451
So it becomes an incredibly powerful preventative planning tool.

00:31:57.451 --> 00:32:16.595
Not only is it, is it co-creating the sporting experience in the moment, but we're also able to give organizations and coaches the opportunity and parents the opportunity to Really better understand their athletes straight from the mouth of the athletes.

00:32:16.595 --> 00:32:25.048
Like I always say well, this isn't like we're not in there doing stuff and do whatever, like this is just Helping us.

00:32:25.048 --> 00:32:44.431
You know, the athletes and the coaches and leadership better communicate in a way where they feel heard to your point, lee, right, like these athletes feel like oh, they see me, yeah, me and like that is the most powerful tool, powerful, whatever you want to call it.

00:32:44.431 --> 00:32:46.355
I think, actually think it's funny, I just called it a tool.

00:32:47.747 --> 00:32:48.309
It's a tool.

00:32:48.309 --> 00:32:51.203
It is a lot of things, but it is a tool, is one.

00:32:51.223 --> 00:32:54.813
Yeah, so when you know, when you say, what can parents and coaches do?

00:32:54.813 --> 00:32:55.875
See them.

00:32:55.875 --> 00:33:01.268
Yeah here what you know, like what you're saying matters it's, it's it in.

00:33:01.268 --> 00:33:05.317
It is simple, lee, like you say, the apps really simple, it is simple.

00:33:05.317 --> 00:33:15.603
It is simple core values here at home is is to provide the simplicity behind Mental health well, and I love that for it as a coach.

00:33:15.623 --> 00:33:16.125
You know it's funny.

00:33:16.125 --> 00:33:18.477
I got a lot of notes here from what we all just said.

00:33:18.477 --> 00:33:28.740
I love that you brought the word preventative, because so many people that this is a human thing, it's not a hockey thing, but so many people wait until the action happens.

00:33:28.740 --> 00:33:29.684
Oh, I broke my leg.

00:33:29.684 --> 00:33:31.553
I need to do something about that.

00:33:31.553 --> 00:33:33.201
Well, you should have been strengthening it instead of.

00:33:33.201 --> 00:33:34.748
You know You're over 40.

00:33:34.748 --> 00:33:35.913
You probably should have been running anyway.

00:33:35.913 --> 00:33:38.730
You know there's a lot of those, a lot of things you can do.

00:33:38.730 --> 00:33:52.152
My favorite one and and it just shows you kind of how Unconscious that's the word I'm gonna use we are to certain things like the fact that every November to December, your team is going to be exhausted with each other.

00:33:52.152 --> 00:33:55.239
Every year I see it, and every year it's a shock.

00:33:55.239 --> 00:34:02.984
Well, I don't understand Right, it's because they've been together for four months and you should have a good, healthy hatred for your teammates.

00:34:03.952 --> 00:34:04.436
That's the truth.

00:34:04.477 --> 00:34:05.505
Okay, joe, get us out right.

00:34:05.505 --> 00:34:08.255
It's like the holidays are here and then a lot of things happen.

00:34:08.255 --> 00:34:13.018
The holidays are wonderful for some families and they are horrible for other families.

00:34:13.018 --> 00:34:15.726
How are we not anticipating that, right?

00:34:15.726 --> 00:34:22.150
So so and again, I love having the data because you can, whenever you have data you can point to, it's like no, it's there.

00:34:22.150 --> 00:34:25.125
Right, I'm not making this up, but preventative stuff.

00:34:25.125 --> 00:34:25.688
I you know.

00:34:25.688 --> 00:34:28.585
I always tell coaches when I work with them you want to avoid winning.

00:34:28.585 --> 00:34:31.476
I mean, you want to avoid winning one of the streaks.

00:34:31.476 --> 00:34:33.664
You prepare for them before the season starts.

00:34:33.664 --> 00:34:34.987
You don't not talk about them.

00:34:34.987 --> 00:34:37.713
If we go on a losing streak, what are we gonna do?

00:34:37.713 --> 00:34:44.740
The other note I have here that I thought was really important and this is from what everyone said right.

00:34:44.740 --> 00:34:58.990
First off, the environment has to exist for Kids, actually, coaches and parents to express themselves right, and I don't think we spend a lot of time in the hockey world Creating the right environment, that to exist.

00:34:58.990 --> 00:35:07.244
When the environments there, it's amazing what kids will share, but when they feel like they can share then the other thing was this, and actually, mike, you said something that made me write this down.

00:35:07.244 --> 00:35:11.891
I think this is there you go, mike, you did it.

00:35:11.891 --> 00:35:17.574
You know I talked on this show a lot about, for the most part right.

00:35:17.574 --> 00:35:20.146
Coaches really do care about these kids Deeply.

00:35:20.146 --> 00:35:31.806
We care about the kids we coach more than I think anyone realizes and no coach that I know, no coach wants a kid to feel helpless ever, right?

00:35:31.806 --> 00:35:35.086
If you're okay with that, you shouldn't be coaching, right?

00:35:35.086 --> 00:35:39.856
So I think, from a hockey standpoint, that kids struggling on the breakout right.

00:35:39.856 --> 00:35:42.788
You want that kid to feel confident Mentally.

00:35:42.788 --> 00:35:55.585
We cannot have kids feeling helpless like there's nowhere to go, I can't talk to anybody, because that leads to way deeper I don't want to say problems, it just deeper mental issues that could really be detrimental years later.

00:35:55.585 --> 00:36:07.164
So I think having a tool or having even the ability for the players to know, hey, they're listening, you know they perfect at it, but they're listening, they actually care.

00:36:07.164 --> 00:36:20.108
I I had a great coach mentor of mine that used to coach women's soccer At the college level and she would ask her players before every practice you know, thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle how are you feeling today?

00:36:20.108 --> 00:36:21.632
She would change her plans based on what?

00:36:21.632 --> 00:36:22.175
The answer?

00:36:22.175 --> 00:36:35.244
No, ego, right, it was like they need to work on this today, but if you're not mentally where you need to be and the players obviously gave honest feedback on that, you know, I think fear is like well, everybody's thumbs down every day.

00:36:35.364 --> 00:36:49.664
No, they wanted to practice it, just sometimes they didn't have that and I wonder, I wonder to Lee, if, if I actually don't wonder, I know that so much of the power of something like that is asking the question not even just the response.

00:36:49.664 --> 00:36:56.452
The response is informative and it helps our coaches and that's great, but it's a great point we have to be mindful of.

00:36:56.452 --> 00:37:07.434
You know the power of Having a tool like home and and the impact that it creates, just in the fact that we're bringing that into our team and into our organization.

00:37:07.434 --> 00:37:13.476
That is, you know, the foundation for Starting this journey and and creating this culture.

00:37:13.476 --> 00:37:16.086
And I think Paula speaks to the culture so beautifully.

00:37:16.086 --> 00:37:20.322
So I won't, but I think you hit on something so wonderfully and that is you know.

00:37:20.322 --> 00:37:32.119
You know how do we create that culture in sport, right, to ensure that Our, our teams, our coaches, our athletes everybody knows that they can.

00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:38.056
You know, this is something to talk about here, right, this is something well, I'm gonna mirror your answer from the start of the episode you have conversations about it.

00:37:38.056 --> 00:37:46.996
That's how you start to learn how to create those, those cultures, and and it's a day one implementation, right, don't?

00:37:46.996 --> 00:37:50.469
You don't wait, you don't wait to implement a culture.

00:37:50.469 --> 00:37:54.038
It's a day, one, day, day, minute one of the meeting.

00:37:54.038 --> 00:38:04.097
Here's the culture we're gonna create and here's what I want to establish and, you know, maybe, here's how I'm gonna be vulnerable to your feelings, with the understanding that you need to give me the best that you have every day.

00:38:04.097 --> 00:38:06.853
Right, I don't, we're not having those conversations.

00:38:07.507 --> 00:38:09.099
No and then the culture is gonna happen.

00:38:09.099 --> 00:38:10.389
Culture happens Right.

00:38:10.389 --> 00:38:14.112
So do you want to be at the front of it or do you want to be kind of sweeping it up?

00:38:14.112 --> 00:38:17.244
If some things occurred that somebody stood, it stepped in in this culture.

00:38:17.304 --> 00:38:20.655
You're like oh no, let me tell you right You're not gonna win if you don't have it.

00:38:22.425 --> 00:38:25.612
Yeah, I've never been on one where everyone hated each other.

00:38:25.833 --> 00:38:27.538
It doesn't happen right go ahead.

00:38:30.846 --> 00:38:34.882
Your points are like that our job is not to like break the kids like the job.

00:38:34.882 --> 00:38:37.532
The job is not to like oh, how do we, I'm gonna break this kid like it.

00:38:37.532 --> 00:38:44.614
No, they just they said I like it's not bull riding, like it's like a day I just kind of a broken kid and then I can build them back up like I don't know that's.

00:38:44.614 --> 00:38:52.987
You know, I think that's just a hard you know way to go about working with, with youth athletes or any Person.

00:38:52.987 --> 00:38:58.204
But I think it's just a matter of being proactively looking at tools to set yourself up.

00:38:58.204 --> 00:39:03.070
Like if I was building a program from day one and scratch, like you'd say, okay, well, what are the tools that I need?

00:39:03.070 --> 00:39:05.605
I need I need these, these teaching, training tools on the ice.

00:39:05.605 --> 00:39:07.356
I need these mental tools.

00:39:07.356 --> 00:39:08.565
I need these nutrition tools.

00:39:08.565 --> 00:39:18.777
I need all these these different silos of when, where I want to have the pinnacle of my athletes so that, like you know, ultimately to win right, you're, you're, you're putting a program together to try to win.

00:39:18.777 --> 00:39:25.117
You know, however, you define winning with the age group you're with and the level you're at is is really, you know, up to you.

00:39:25.117 --> 00:39:43.025
But if winning is and, lee, we talked about all the time right on this show is if winning is the kids play again next year, then you want you know, if that's no like is if we had kids that are playing and love coming to the rink and love the Experience and love what you've done for them for that time you had them, then you've won.

00:39:43.025 --> 00:40:09.637
And if this could be a piece of that and it should be, whether you use home or just dealing with mental health or having Conversations or researching what you guys have done In the field, like that's just helps, like anything you can do to add value To your team outside of your 16-minute practice slot and your great scheduling ability you know is gonna be, is gonna benefit your kids across the board.

00:40:09.637 --> 00:40:20.791
But again, we speak mostly to parents here and Parents demand this, like parents demand this be a piece of what you're the consumer, your parent, you're the consumer.

00:40:20.791 --> 00:40:28.277
You have the ability to have a A two hundred thousand dollars stake in each team to have that team.

00:40:28.277 --> 00:40:38.012
But Mike, the warm-up jackets, I gotta go to Boston again next week.

00:40:39.465 --> 00:40:43.887
It's an excellent point though in in all seriousness that's.

00:40:43.887 --> 00:40:50.605
That's kind of sometimes what it feels like we're up against right right is the warm-up jacket.

00:40:51.025 --> 00:40:52.347
And I said it for a reason.

00:40:52.648 --> 00:40:55.956
I, yeah, like, and and I, hey, like I'm.

00:40:55.956 --> 00:40:57.038
I have a little guy.

00:40:57.038 --> 00:41:05.818
He's Playing this year and, like I understand, like you know, feeling like you belong and all that stuff is really important too.

00:41:05.818 --> 00:41:08.853
This isn't an either or for me at all right.

00:41:08.853 --> 00:41:21.224
He has every single Thing we do has there's meaning behind it and and it's really, I think, creating and starting to say, hey, like you know, we're, we're doing this in sport.

00:41:21.224 --> 00:41:29.110
Let's do it intentionally and let's ensure that we are providing our young people with what they need, not what we think they need, with what they need.

00:41:29.471 --> 00:41:31.594
Yeah, no, just, I agree with you 100%.

00:41:31.594 --> 00:41:41.976
And here's the thing is that my gut tells me, if you went to the parents and said, hey, for this little extra, you know we're gonna have a world-class mental fitness program.

00:41:41.976 --> 00:41:47.193
That's really gonna help the team win, which is true, mm-hmm, I mean, they're gonna go what?

00:41:47.193 --> 00:41:48.014
We spend all this money?

00:41:48.014 --> 00:41:51.193
Okay, that's, that's how those conversations really go.

00:41:51.193 --> 00:41:52.217
And again, I'm with you.

00:41:52.217 --> 00:41:53.945
Like look, I'm also big as a coach and identity.

00:41:53.945 --> 00:41:56.170
I understand the value of wearing a logo on your shirt.

00:41:56.170 --> 00:41:56.931
I get it.

00:41:56.931 --> 00:42:00.530
I just think if we're not creating better people, what the hell are we doing?

00:42:00.530 --> 00:42:03.413
I'm actually gonna use that the segue real quick.

00:42:03.413 --> 00:42:09.733
You know, I've had the real honor and privilege of interviewing a lot of people high up in the game and it's funny and even to the NHL level.

00:42:09.733 --> 00:42:17.693
One of the things I hear coaches say is that you know, if you don't focus on the person as much as the player, you're not gonna succeed long at the pro level.

00:42:17.693 --> 00:42:19.952
You know, yeah, we joked.

00:42:19.952 --> 00:42:22.804
Ted Laszlo spoke a lot about this too, and people think that's a fairy tale show.

00:42:22.804 --> 00:42:27.097
But everything I saw on that show, I'm like, wow, this is really applicable to today's athletes.

00:42:28.766 --> 00:42:29.528
Wrote that show.

00:42:29.528 --> 00:42:31.293
Who wrote that show like he did?

00:42:31.293 --> 00:42:31.835
He did.

00:42:35.826 --> 00:42:36.489
Played Roy Kent.

00:42:38.769 --> 00:42:40.034
Like they hit it, they hit it.

00:42:42.096 --> 00:42:50.275
No, I look, I bring up that show because I do a lot with that and I personally I lived in England for three years so I have a lot of like things that go back and forth with that.

00:42:50.275 --> 00:42:51.847
But it's real.

00:42:51.847 --> 00:42:56.096
Everything they speak about outside the the magical thing of the show it's real.

00:42:56.096 --> 00:42:57.778
Those conversations are real.

00:42:57.778 --> 00:43:01.503
And again, when I look at the top level athletes, this is a huge part.

00:43:01.503 --> 00:43:06.905
Now Listen at the NHL, that the NHL is going through a renaissance right now in mental health, kind of quietly.

00:43:06.905 --> 00:43:15.735
But we just saw I won't mention names but a coach was just relieved of his duties for Potentially infringing on, you know, the mental well-being of his players.

00:43:15.735 --> 00:43:19.125
So the players are not standing for it at that level anymore.

00:43:19.125 --> 00:43:24.637
So one of the things I want to ask, jessica, to you specifically again, you've been around that level a lot.

00:43:24.637 --> 00:43:26.893
All right, you've witnessed a lot.

00:43:26.893 --> 00:43:35.664
In fact, in some of your, your bios I read that you know it's one of the reasons that you're in this field now is that you were able to kind of watch and and see things.

00:43:35.664 --> 00:43:44.353
So what are some of the things you've learned and maybe even some of the big changes you've seen, you know, over time, because things are changing pretty drastically at that level.

00:43:44.833 --> 00:43:45.574
Yeah, yeah.

00:43:45.574 --> 00:43:49.510
So, um, you know, yes, I grew up around sport.

00:43:49.510 --> 00:43:53.625
My both my parents were actually coaches, and my dad a little bit more known than my mother.

00:43:53.625 --> 00:44:12.452
Even though we're not gonna tell her that so my dad coached an NHL for 13 years and then went on to he became the CEO of hockey Canada.

00:44:12.452 --> 00:44:18.405
So I was certainly around a lot of things and and around sport.

00:44:18.405 --> 00:44:24.684
But one of the things I recall and and have a memory of was I was working.

00:44:24.684 --> 00:44:28.416
I was going to university and I was back in Calgary here working.

00:44:28.416 --> 00:44:41.994
I think my parents my dad might have been in New York at the time your guys is area and I had two players come up to me and say they were I don't know what's going on they were playing there.

00:44:41.994 --> 00:44:45.125
I don't know what happened and they said your dad was my favorite coach.

00:44:45.125 --> 00:44:47.692
Hmm and I.

00:44:47.692 --> 00:45:06.514
It's like the one of the most wonderful things of being and doing what we get to do now is we have, you know, so many people come up and say that, which is such a cool thing as a daughter to hear, and and every time I ask them why, their answer is always always the same always and it's because he cared about me.

00:45:06.514 --> 00:45:15.782
Hmm, you took the time to understand me as a brother, as a father, as a son, whatever it might be.

00:45:15.782 --> 00:45:27.125
So I think in so many ways I always saw the value of the person and marrying that with a highly competitive.

00:45:27.125 --> 00:45:30.202
I moved I don't know, like eight times.

00:45:30.202 --> 00:45:33.485
Like I understand both sides of it.

00:45:33.485 --> 00:45:46.420
I understand that winning matters and I understand that people matter, and I think what my dad did well beyond his, quite frankly, well beyond kind of earlier on in his career and we're seeing it now but he always married the both.

00:45:46.420 --> 00:46:01.447
He always understood that winning was important, but never at the expense of the individual, and I think so I saw that and to me I don't know any different.

00:46:01.447 --> 00:46:21.123
Quite frankly, I think we have a tremendous opportunity for sport to be that vehicle and sport to really kind of highlight how we have to be thinking and talking about the culture we're existing in in addition to winning, because winning is really fun and it's a competitive event like all these things.

00:46:21.123 --> 00:46:27.585
Like I'm not, those aren't lost on me at all, but I don't live in a world where those two can't exist.

00:46:28.235 --> 00:46:53.815
Well, I think it's also important to note that there's lots of different ways to win and I think we get so hyper focused on the big ultimate victory which is very rare, like a lot of people, we don't talk about that enough that we forget there's a lot of wins in a hockey season, in a year, in your life, in your family, you know, I'll say too obviously it's clear that his influence and your mother's influence have imprinted on you and that you're furthering that, you know.

00:46:53.815 --> 00:47:08.623
And what's funny, jessica, is that I remember being a young coach and kind of wanting to be at the NHL level and work at the NHL level and then that kind of happened and it was not as fulfilling as I thought it was gonna be.

00:47:08.623 --> 00:47:14.659
It was wonderful, don't get me wrong, all right, but the older I got and the more I realized, wow, I can impact children.

00:47:14.659 --> 00:47:24.126
And when I became a father and I really started to understand that man, that became a lot more important to me than just one ultimate victory.

00:47:24.126 --> 00:47:27.356
I don't wanna I'm not poo pooing when a Stanley Cup or anything like that it is.

00:47:27.356 --> 00:47:29.563
You know, it's a holy grail.

00:47:29.563 --> 00:47:40.105
I don't I'm not saying that's not a worthy goal, but when I look at even the teams that are winning now right, the coaches are loved by the players, right?

00:47:40.105 --> 00:47:49.117
If you look at Vegas, who had a real culture problem just a few years ago and then they rented their ship and those guys looked like they were having the time of their life.

00:47:49.117 --> 00:48:04.141
Or if you look at Colorado and Tampa and the way their coaches speak about the group and the people like, even if you were super devil's advocate here and one of these people like, well, all that matters is winning the Stanley Cup and if they don't win, they're worth.

00:48:04.141 --> 00:48:06.943
Well, the coaches doing it are buying into this now.

00:48:06.943 --> 00:48:13.818
And the teams that are falling apart typically have old school coaches, right, that kind of.

00:48:13.818 --> 00:48:17.742
I'm not gonna mention names, but kicked out of the league now.

00:48:17.815 --> 00:48:19.081
I don't think you have to leave.

00:48:19.081 --> 00:48:20.400
I think we all know.

00:48:21.235 --> 00:48:22.481
Yeah, yeah, I won't say any of them.

00:48:22.481 --> 00:48:25.018
I just it's just one of those things of like, the shift is there.

00:48:25.018 --> 00:48:27.998
So even for the non-believers, the shift is there.

00:48:28.675 --> 00:48:35.661
But it's interesting, I don't under and I know I'm gonna be very blunt here- I get what you're saying, but People love that.

00:48:35.661 --> 00:48:36.317
Here's a hot class.

00:48:36.317 --> 00:48:38.380
What's a non-believer?

00:48:38.380 --> 00:48:39.115
What?

00:48:39.115 --> 00:48:46.141
Is a non-believer, so we don't believe that if we care about children and if we care about people, that good things are gonna happen.

00:48:46.141 --> 00:48:47.961
It just doesn't connect.

00:48:48.416 --> 00:48:52.603
I'll lean on Mike with this one too, but I see them at the rink weekly.

00:48:52.603 --> 00:49:13.179
Okay, and I'm not trying to be judgmental on anyone, but it's someone to me that is completely unconscious to what we're talking about and just takes this mentality of if you're not first, you're last, right, and if you're not, trying to be the best kid out there at the expense of everybody else, like, and again, it's the crazy hockey parent that I'm alluding to, and again I will say this too.

00:49:13.179 --> 00:49:14.420
And then, mike, please jump in.

00:49:14.420 --> 00:49:15.983
They are the minority.

00:49:15.983 --> 00:49:22.661
The crazy hockey parent, okay, the good hockey parent, the good hockey coach that generally cares about these kids.

00:49:22.661 --> 00:49:24.306
That is the majority.

00:49:24.306 --> 00:49:27.403
It is just typically a silent majority, right?

00:49:27.403 --> 00:49:32.797
That's one of the reasons we made the show is to let everybody know hey, we're good, you're here, you found this.

00:49:32.797 --> 00:49:33.681
Go ahead, mike.

00:49:35.454 --> 00:49:43.139
Well, the detractors are also the ones that say, well, if we didn't talk about all this mental health stuff and we didn't bend to all the kids, we wouldn't have all these issues.

00:49:43.139 --> 00:49:45.985
Like it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, right?

00:49:45.985 --> 00:49:48.822
We let the kids talk and then we realize that they have issues.

00:49:48.822 --> 00:49:52.164
I'm like well, nobody had these issues 20 years ago?

00:49:52.574 --> 00:49:53.920
Well, no, they actually did.

00:49:54.715 --> 00:49:56.242
Then matter of fact you're a coach.

00:49:56.242 --> 00:50:04.702
If you really look back on it, you had these issues and you didn't discuss them and you didn't let that be explored and you didn't have somebody supporting you.

00:50:04.702 --> 00:50:17.054
And then I say it all the time, just as far as even the way we coach just regular X's and O's and practices and training we coached like we were coached until we're educated not to do that right.

00:50:17.054 --> 00:50:18.621
So we coached the same way.

00:50:18.621 --> 00:50:31.699
Every rink I walk into every single night this whole week I will see 25 kids in the corner doing five-circle crossover drills for 25 minutes and coaches will wonder why the kids aren't engaged or interested in the work.

00:50:31.699 --> 00:50:35.445
And I'll be like well, because your practice sucks, they're bored.

00:50:35.445 --> 00:50:39.380
Because they're not engaged or not learning, because they're bored, they're bored out of their minds.

00:50:39.380 --> 00:50:46.423
And it's the same thing with any educational piece, right, we talk about it in the coaching education program.

00:50:46.423 --> 00:50:57.940
Like if you went to a surgeon and talking about getting an injury right, and the surgeon pulled out like a saw and told you to bite on a bone because of the pain, you'd say, well, what the hell am I doing?

00:50:57.940 --> 00:50:59.940
But that was accepted at some point.

00:50:59.940 --> 00:51:01.275
Right, it was accepted to have a bone saw.

00:51:01.335 --> 00:51:03.483
Not that long ago, to be fair, not that long ago.

00:51:05.061 --> 00:51:08.168
So we've evolved and I think that's an X's and O's.

00:51:08.168 --> 00:51:10.362
We've evolved our practices and how we teach kids.

00:51:10.362 --> 00:51:16.911
We've evolved in how we can discuss kids and allowing children and adults to discuss what we want them to discuss.

00:51:16.911 --> 00:51:20.945
So I think there are far too many people still out there and I don't even know.

00:51:20.945 --> 00:51:33.726
I wouldn't call it old school, I'd just call it just people that aren't interested in developing and learning and evolving would be just like, hey, listen, these kids got to toughen up.

00:51:33.726 --> 00:51:34.697
It worked for me.

00:51:35.460 --> 00:51:37.199
Yeah and no, it worked for me.

00:51:37.239 --> 00:51:37.500
Right.

00:51:37.500 --> 00:51:43.625
And I think that's and again, and there are some things, like I said, I will say 100%.

00:51:43.625 --> 00:52:08.559
I think, just as a person in the trenches with kids, that they need discipline and they need a little bit more accountability and we have to not maybe do so much for them as far as being prepared for games and practices, but I don't think not speaking to them and not educating them and not allowing them to voice their feelings and concerns is not one of them.

00:52:08.559 --> 00:52:13.344
But part of a holistic approach to how we look at kids.

00:52:13.835 --> 00:52:26.443
Yeah, it makes me think about something you just said we would never hand young hockey players equipment and say, go put it on and they've never seen it before, and then walk out the room and expect them to come out dressed.

00:52:26.443 --> 00:52:37.900
And then yell at them for not having it on and yell Right and so, but when it comes to mental health, we're like take care of it and then expecting them to show up ready and ready to go and it just it doesn't work.

00:52:37.900 --> 00:52:46.420
And I say to the coaches who are kind of not kind of skeptical and not really sure we'll go that direction, what would happen if you tried it?

00:52:46.420 --> 00:52:54.585
So, a, you're either going to be proven correct, which you're not, or, b, something really cool is going to happen.

00:52:54.585 --> 00:52:58.965
And I wonder how it does take vulnerability to do that.

00:52:58.965 --> 00:53:03.503
I think about my time as an MPC and that was when I do that.

00:53:03.503 --> 00:53:14.360
It's one of my I like myself most during that, because I love caring for them and working with them and doing whatever I can to help them achieve this incredible goal.

00:53:14.360 --> 00:53:18.885
So, as coaches like, how do you feel about how you're coaching?

00:53:18.885 --> 00:53:22.500
Is does like, if we can reflect on that, is there a few tweaks that could be made?

00:53:22.500 --> 00:53:23.864
And it's paying attention.

00:53:23.864 --> 00:53:28.240
It's asking them how the professor who said every morning she, her kids, got up, she would.

00:53:28.240 --> 00:53:31.844
She would ask them the exact same question, a version of how are you?

00:53:31.844 --> 00:53:33.442
But it was a specific question.

00:53:33.442 --> 00:53:38.545
She asked them every day and if that answer changed from her child.

00:53:38.545 --> 00:53:42.784
She would be on alert, and so it's even just checking in every day.

00:53:42.784 --> 00:53:43.557
How are you doing?

00:53:43.557 --> 00:53:48.826
If fine, fine, fine, and if someday it's not fine, is that a little indicator that something's up?

00:53:48.826 --> 00:53:53.541
So it doesn't have to be massive things, just letting them know that you're paying attention and you care.

00:53:54.855 --> 00:54:07.679
You know I'll say this to Paul, taking this just way outside hockey for a second Like, think about how we everyone listening react Just when someone shows you a little kindness outside, right, hey, thanks for doing that.

00:54:07.679 --> 00:54:12.943
Or holding a door for you or letting in traffic, you know, think about how much it affects your day.

00:54:12.943 --> 00:54:16.326
That's a micro interaction, right?

00:54:16.326 --> 00:54:19.244
So we ignore those far too much.

00:54:19.244 --> 00:54:28.463
I actually had a, I ran an experiment on my own social channels where I asked my audience say, count how many negative micro interactions and positive micro interactions you have a day?

00:54:28.463 --> 00:54:32.777
I said in my experience, 98% of the days are more positive than negative.

00:54:32.777 --> 00:54:35.302
We're just not kind of mentally trained to look for it.

00:54:35.302 --> 00:54:37.338
You know, we just kind of let it pass by.

00:54:37.338 --> 00:54:41.382
I want to leave because we're running out of time here.

00:54:41.382 --> 00:54:44.322
Like I said, it might be a second episode at some point.

00:54:44.322 --> 00:54:47.302
You know I like to leave with actionable items.

00:54:47.302 --> 00:54:49.755
We've given a lot to the parents today, I think.

00:54:49.755 --> 00:55:00.563
One I want to say and then I want everybody to share is you know about feelings, right, and that I think for the longest time we told everybody to bury your feelings, don't show emotions, just gut through it.

00:55:00.563 --> 00:55:03.297
And what I've been saying to kids is no, I like that.

00:55:03.297 --> 00:55:04.581
You're feeling something.

00:55:04.581 --> 00:55:10.342
I want you to identify it, tell me what you're feeling and then I want you to control it so it doesn't control you.

00:55:10.342 --> 00:55:13.083
All right, specifically at the younger ages.

00:55:13.083 --> 00:55:14.923
Well, I'm angry that we're losing.

00:55:14.923 --> 00:55:16.210
Good, that's good.

00:55:16.210 --> 00:55:16.954
You've identified it.

00:55:16.954 --> 00:55:21.606
Now I need you to control that and get back out there and work Right.

00:55:21.606 --> 00:55:28.981
I think that's a far more valuable message of I hear you, I acknowledge you, right, you are angry and that's fine, or whatever.

00:55:28.981 --> 00:55:29.523
You're excited.

00:55:29.523 --> 00:55:30.880
It could be positive emotions too.

00:55:30.880 --> 00:55:39.224
Now, control that emotion, because we'll become more emotionally aware, we'll have a more emotional IQ and intelligence.

00:55:39.224 --> 00:55:40.740
If we can learn to control them.

00:55:40.740 --> 00:55:46.360
Burying them, it's just going to explode later Again good or bad emotions.

00:55:46.360 --> 00:55:48.463
So that's just the message I give to my kids.

00:55:48.463 --> 00:55:49.458
It's important to feel.

00:55:49.458 --> 00:55:57.501
I want you to feel, but I want you to control those feelings, not the other way around, like what's your wisdom of the week?

00:55:57.501 --> 00:55:58.224
No, I'm just kidding, let's.

00:55:58.224 --> 00:56:01.581
Let's Honestly, honestly.

00:56:01.641 --> 00:56:12.557
I do that when I walk in the locker room, like I try to smile and be happy, like, even though I'm having, like I have the most miserable day in the world, I just try to be happy when I'm walking in the locker room, cause the kids react to that Like they.

00:56:12.557 --> 00:56:18.918
They see you walk in, get in, get in your dress, come on, let's go, we gotta get going and they're just like it just sets this tone.

00:56:18.918 --> 00:56:21.077
Going on the ice, that's like.

00:56:21.077 --> 00:56:24.563
And even the kids too, cause you know you can train like I'll listen.

00:56:24.563 --> 00:56:33.840
I've done this for years and years and years and I've really tried to like I'll even pinpoint kids to be like hey, when you go in the locker room today, you gotta be smiling, put some good music on the guys aren't all good.

00:56:33.840 --> 00:56:34.335
You know they're not.

00:56:34.335 --> 00:56:35.280
We're not feeling great today.

00:56:35.280 --> 00:56:38.956
I can feel it, you as a coach really know your kid you can.

00:56:38.956 --> 00:56:56.081
You can kind of gauge where we're at when we're coming in and and a smile and a and a and a funny story and just saying hello goes such a long way with like and I work mostly with like you know 16, 15, 14 year old boys and it's just, it's just sometimes you just gotta force it out of them.

00:56:56.081 --> 00:57:09.121
You know we joke around like turn that frown upside down and the kids like, I guess, like, but it's just, it's just you gotta do it, you gotta you force yourself to smile and you're happy, I mean, and that's, that's just, that's just.

00:57:09.121 --> 00:57:10.056
You know a fact.

00:57:10.056 --> 00:57:11.402
So do more of that.

00:57:11.402 --> 00:57:14.184
And I think it's just and, lee, we've talked about it.

00:57:14.184 --> 00:57:30.398
I actually we just did a little ride to the rink episode on it just about you know, going in and and being deliberate in your role to be positive, like, deliberately, come up with plans that when you step into the rink you are going to be in a positive place and then help, help, help.

00:57:30.398 --> 00:57:35.940
Everybody drives that, and then they drive you like they, they lift you up too, and I think that's you know.

00:57:35.940 --> 00:57:36.342
So we don't.

00:57:36.342 --> 00:57:39.099
It's hard to think about those things unless you kind of plan it.

00:57:39.735 --> 00:58:23.351
Yeah, yeah, and I think I, I'm thinking as you guys are speaking, you're both way more evolved than I am because I'm thinking about with my kids and with you know, god, love them Last night and and and sort of trying to regulate and manage people's emotions and and and I, I thought to myself, I just stopped and I thought to myself like I need to regulate myself right now, right as the leader and as the coach, and and if I, if I, you know not to take this down a path, but like when we're talking about mental health and how we impact others, it starts here, right, it starts with that leader, that coach, the mom, the dad.

00:58:23.351 --> 00:58:33.250
So so many times, you know it's for me it's it's about pulling myself out of the situation and just checking in with me and being like, hey, where am I at?

00:58:33.250 --> 00:58:40.594
I might have to go lock myself in the washer right now cause I need minutes, right, but like regulating this first.

00:58:40.614 --> 00:58:43.690
Yeah, jessica, I say all the time and I actually I'll use the word love.

00:58:43.690 --> 00:58:45.914
You know it's tough to give somebody something you don't have.

00:58:45.914 --> 00:58:53.605
Yeah, if you don't have a, if you don't love who you are, it's very hard to give that to your children or somebody else.

00:58:53.605 --> 00:59:01.335
But it's the same thing with with what we're talking about mental health If you're not mentally strong, it's very hard to give that to your kids.

00:59:01.335 --> 00:59:04.262
I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying it's very, very hard.

00:59:04.262 --> 00:59:06.934
You got to check yourself and look the quote said last.

00:59:06.934 --> 00:59:20.737
So be curious, not judgemental, right, when I am losing my with my kids and I'll say it just like that because every parent can relate yeah, it takes me some time, but I'll get to a point of okay, it's not them, it's me, right, and I got to.

00:59:20.737 --> 00:59:24.001
I got to really look inward and say what do I need to do different to get the results?

00:59:24.001 --> 00:59:27.443
Even if it's, even if it's something that they're not doing?

00:59:27.443 --> 00:59:30.396
Well, I'm obviously not responding well, right?

00:59:30.637 --> 00:59:33.119
So so I mean, you're losing your.

00:59:33.119 --> 00:59:34.523
Nothing positive is going to come back.

00:59:34.523 --> 00:59:37.525
No, no, it's not.

00:59:37.525 --> 00:59:37.867
That works.

00:59:38.597 --> 00:59:40.963
I keep telling like something's going to come back.

00:59:43.277 --> 00:59:46.547
The eternal parenting equation for 15,000 years.

00:59:47.898 --> 00:59:48.922
We tried coaches too.

00:59:49.536 --> 00:59:58.217
Right, like we're talking about parents, but like coaches it's any mentor role is that if you're not curious and constantly evolving and like?

00:59:58.217 --> 01:00:05.833
One of the things I admire about Mike is how openly he talks about and Mike even inspired me to do this on the show too Like, yeah, when I was in my twenties and coaching I sucked.

01:00:05.833 --> 01:00:07.579
I was a totally different coach.

01:00:07.579 --> 01:00:11.362
Right, like, you have to constantly be growing and evolving.

01:00:11.362 --> 01:00:14.934
You can't expect the kids to do that if you're not willing to do that.

01:00:14.934 --> 01:00:19.934
So if you're the same coach that you were in 1996 today, all right, I'm dating.

01:00:19.934 --> 01:00:24.360
If you're the same coach who were in 2006 to today, right, that's, that's not good.

01:00:24.954 --> 01:00:26.722
And in my defense I wasn't that bad then.

01:00:26.722 --> 01:00:33.507
Then it was like like you could screw like parents wanted that they're like oh my God.

01:00:33.934 --> 01:00:35.360
I want you to punch my kid in the helmet.

01:00:36.056 --> 01:00:37.284
Like I want you to grab my kid.

01:00:38.014 --> 01:00:39.880
And I was like oh my God, I want you to punch my kid in the helmet.

01:00:39.900 --> 01:00:41.445
I want you to punch my kid in the helmet.

01:00:41.445 --> 01:00:43.505
I want you to punch my kid in the helmet, you know.

01:00:43.505 --> 01:00:55.277
But I think this but there's, there's certain acceptable norms that we all went through, Like you could, like in the eighties when I, when I was coaching, you know you could, you could literally run kids until they puked their brains out Like it was.

01:00:55.338 --> 01:00:57.856
like it was like, oh my God, what a product it was.

01:00:57.856 --> 01:00:58.257
Actually.

01:00:58.257 --> 01:01:00.643
Everybody was throwing up, you know, and it's like I was, like I'm like to be fair, yeah.

01:01:01.994 --> 01:01:07.157
Maybe I should admit to that, but I think, I think it's just, but it's like it's one of those things where it was almost like, well, I'm not doing that, so I need to do that.

01:01:07.157 --> 01:01:09.063
Like that's where, that's where winners are made.

01:01:09.063 --> 01:01:11.786
And and then you find out, like what do you mean?

01:01:11.786 --> 01:01:12.713
Everybody didn't do that.

01:01:12.713 --> 01:01:23.737
Like that, there's other people outside that did this other way of teaching, like coach Reni, like did different things it to to you know, inspire their athletes, and you didn't know that.

01:01:23.737 --> 01:01:42.179
But I think there's no excuse now, because every piece of social media, everything on the web, everything you can look up, like you have the access of the library of the world, get yourself of what the best practices are and what will get the best results, or get the same results by doing it a different way.

01:01:42.641 --> 01:01:53.496
Let's do it the better way, I gotta say this to you and again, I was joking about you being bad but like, listen, we didn't know what we didn't know, right, like.

01:01:53.496 --> 01:01:55.222
So everyone's got to give everyone some grace.

01:01:55.222 --> 01:01:58.637
The coaches in the 1980s didn't know what they didn't know.

01:01:58.637 --> 01:02:02.367
You can't get on them for that, right so, and I'm agreeing with you.

01:02:02.367 --> 01:02:07.568
But we know now and that's the difference is like, we know this now, so you have to adapt.

01:02:08.396 --> 01:02:09.217
And we'll continue.

01:02:09.217 --> 01:02:22.751
We'll continue to learn, we'll continue to find new things, and I think something that's we've a little bit lost sight of is allowing people to do better, like once we figured out that oh shoot, there's a better way and somebody's willing to do that.

01:02:22.751 --> 01:02:28.617
How amazing to give them the opportunity to do that, and what that will do for our young people and our young people.

01:02:28.617 --> 01:02:30.523
We talked about young players right now.

01:02:30.523 --> 01:02:33.494
If they're talking about this now, what are?

01:02:33.514 --> 01:02:34.940
they going to be like in five years?

01:02:34.940 --> 01:02:35.360
Brilliant.

01:02:36.103 --> 01:02:37.188
It's going to be amazing.

01:02:37.911 --> 01:02:47.865
And I will say this, paula, that having worked with six to kind of 10 year olds over the last few years a lot more than normal, they're better at this stuff than the adults Right.

01:02:47.865 --> 01:03:00.637
And it's like I do wonder, in 10 years, when that kid's 18 and they've had 10 years of really mental fitness training, I mean, are they going to school me in terms of, like you know, coach, you're really not in touch with your emotions right now.

01:03:00.677 --> 01:03:07.362
You could do stronger than that, and then it's going to be on me to be like you're correct.

01:03:07.362 --> 01:03:11.818
After this episode comes out and I get a time out, then I might be a little more excited.

01:03:11.898 --> 01:03:19.081
I will say you know, but I think you know, coach, you gotta go take a time out, but again, I think it's just you're absolutely right, paul.

01:03:19.121 --> 01:03:24.510
It's like okay, we're, you know, we're hopefully inspiring the next group of athletes that are going to.

01:03:24.510 --> 01:03:25.896
Just this is how they were coached.

01:03:25.896 --> 01:03:27.403
Like I don't know how I was coached.

01:03:27.403 --> 01:03:32.447
My coach never skated me into the ground or you never disciplined me for something outside of my control.

01:03:32.447 --> 01:03:46.105
Like there are things that you know you have held people accountable for and things that you have to coach kids up on, and I think it's just a matter of saying if you can make better people coaching our kids, the more and more we get that, the better the sport becomes.

01:03:46.105 --> 01:03:50.039
And maybe, you know, I think in a lot of ways, the bigger the sport becomes Right.

01:03:50.039 --> 01:04:01.242
So you know, if you're a governing body, you're like I want more kids playing, that's my goal, is the goal, and more healthy kids playing, not, you know, you don't want to kind of detract from what the sport can bring to you.

01:04:01.242 --> 01:04:11.581
And if you told to any governing body in Canada or the US that we have a program we can put in place, it's going to give you more athletes for longer periods of time and it's.

01:04:11.581 --> 01:04:18.001
And if you told me it was like a new shooting technique, everyone would do it Right.

01:04:18.001 --> 01:04:19.952
So I was like, oh my God, you could use like that.

01:04:19.952 --> 01:04:23.230
You know, like the stick they have now that has a little curve in it so you get more leverage in it.

01:04:23.230 --> 01:04:26.762
People are like that's a wacky looking stick, like I would never use that.

01:04:26.762 --> 01:04:32.114
But until somebody starts using it and scoring like 50 goals a year, all of a sudden somebody's like oh, that's a good stick.

01:04:32.114 --> 01:04:33.699
Like all of a sudden the stick changes right.

01:04:33.699 --> 01:04:37.117
So you know, straight-bladed sticks to curved sticks, it's the same idea.

01:04:37.117 --> 01:04:45.407
It's like okay, we have a new tool that's going to retain more people and make the level higher, you know, and in this case healthier.

01:04:45.407 --> 01:04:46.952
You got it.

01:04:46.952 --> 01:04:48.016
How do you not looking at that?

01:04:48.536 --> 01:04:48.858
Yeah.

01:04:48.858 --> 01:04:51.804
And you know, athletes and home coaches win.

01:04:51.804 --> 01:04:54.028
They do just not at all cost.

01:04:54.835 --> 01:04:56.003
I love that's a good statement.

01:04:56.003 --> 01:04:57.751
So, paul, at least I'm going to close this out.

01:04:57.751 --> 01:04:59.762
I didn't give you a chance for any final tips.

01:04:59.762 --> 01:05:01.331
I know we're a little over time, but did you?

01:05:01.331 --> 01:05:03.559
Did you want to say anything to the audience before I close this?

01:05:05.583 --> 01:05:08.331
Oh, I feel like it did.

01:05:08.331 --> 01:05:08.952
No, I'm a little.

01:05:09.052 --> 01:05:12.021
I feel like it did too.

01:05:12.061 --> 01:05:13.927
No, I had something in my mind, but no.

01:05:13.927 --> 01:05:14.648
I'm good yeah.

01:05:15.010 --> 01:05:17.960
Okay, well, liz, you two have been fantastic guests Again.

01:05:17.960 --> 01:05:20.230
I love episodes where I learn a lot.

01:05:20.230 --> 01:05:28.641
That means I know it's going to be a good episode for the masses out there, and I just want to thank you both for coming on today, paul and Jessica for being part of Kids Play Hockey.

01:05:28.641 --> 01:05:30.445
This was a great episode, awesome.

01:05:30.505 --> 01:05:31.336
Thank you so much.

01:05:31.356 --> 01:05:43.250
All right, if you want to hear all of the episodes, they're at ourkidsplayhockeycom or we're Everly listen to podcasts and if you like this, please give us that five star review on Spotify or Apple or wherever you listen, and join our Facebook group.

01:05:43.250 --> 01:05:57.152
Our Kids Play Hockey Pivot Group Got two questions to answer and, as always, if you need to email us with anything, if you want to learn more about Hone Athletics team at ourkidsplayhockeycom and I'm guessing it's HoneAthleticscom still to this day right, absolutely All right, everybody.

01:05:57.152 --> 01:05:58.036
Have a wonderful week.

01:05:58.036 --> 01:05:59.706
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01:05:59.706 --> 01:06:03.041
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01:06:03.041 --> 01:06:12.501
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01:06:12.501 --> 01:06:17.699
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01:06:17.699 --> 01:06:21.947
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01:06:23.036 --> 01:06:27.336
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