Dec. 28, 2023

The Ride To The Rink - Balancing Your Ego: Confidence vs. Arrogance in Youth Hockey

Show Notes
Transcript

Ever wondered how the line between confidence and arrogance can make or break a young hockey player's career?Join Mike as he helps us navigate the delicate dance of cultivating a healthy ego in youth hockey. We're not just talking about puffing chests and swagger—there's an art to balancing self-assurance with humility, and it's crucial for players who want to shine individually without dimming their team's collective spirit. From leading by example in drills to handling the highs and lows on the ice, we delve into the strategies that help players boost their confidence without veering into cockiness. It's all about that psychological edge that can elevate a player's game and, ultimately, their path to hockey greatness.

In this episode, we also discuss body language. A missed shot or a penalty shouldn't slump shoulders; instead, we highlight the power of bouncing back with an attitude that inspires your teammates. We share insights on how to be the player everyone looks up to, the one who celebrates a teammate's success as loudly as their own. Whether you're crushing it on the penalty kill or just offering an encouraging fist bump, it's these moments that forge stronger athletes and tighter-knit teams. So, lace up for an episode that's all about striking that perfect emotional tone on the ice—one that says "I've got this," without ever needing to shout it.

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Okay, welcome to this ride to the rink.

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I really want to talk about and this is something that I see a lot in youth hockey players is the difference between being cocky and confident and having that healthy ego, like we want.

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You coaches want to see it, your teammates want to see it.

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Your competition doesn't want to see it.

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What we want to see is healthy egos.

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Now, that doesn't mean that you're acting bigger than you are.

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That doesn't mean that you're taking the role that you're the only good player on the ice.

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I think what we look for as coaches with healthy egos, and I think what your teammates want to see in a healthy ego is seeing a person that has the confidence to speak up, has the confidence to try to make plays, has the confidence to support their teammates when you're down, and support your teammates when you're down If you're not having a great game and your teammates are having a really good game, or somebody on defense or the goalie that healthy ego really resonates through the whole bench and coaches love to see that and players need that.

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Not every player has the ability to express their feelings and sometimes it's a learned behavior.

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So you could do this as a player.

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You could do it right now on your way to the rink thinking about what are some strategies I can do that.

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Don't make me sound cocky.

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But then I'm confident If you understand drills and you see a drill that you know and not every drill you're going to know coach puts a drill up and go oh, I know this drill, I've done it before.

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I was good at it last time.

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Get in the front of the line, be the first one out there to do the drill.

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Set the pace in a healthy way for your teammates.

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If you have a game getting played and you know there's a quality of that game that you're really good at, say you're a defenseman at the 14-you level and you actually are a pretty good body checker and you're somebody that can handle the physical aspect of the game.

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The healthy ego to me is seeing a player use that.

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Don't be light on your teammates.

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Don't be like, oh, just let them go if the puck's near them.

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Be heavy on them.

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Have that ego to say listen, this is what I'm really good at.

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If you're going to try to dangle me, I'm going to do what I really am good at and I'm going to put a body on you and keep you out of that position.

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So to me and again, I think a lot of players are afraid of doing that because not so much hurting their teammate, but they feel like competing against their teammate in practice is taboo I think it's actually the best thing you can do.

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I think the best way to get your teammates better and help you improve is to battle those teammates and use your ability that you know you have in a positive way.

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I think another good, healthy ego that we look for on the bench and again, not a raw, raw person, but somebody that's confident in the place where they want to be on the ice.

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They want to go on the penalty kill, they want to go out there and execute on the power play and then be able to show really good body language when those things don't happen.

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So if a play does not materialize that you thought you'd be really good at, you need to be able to wash that away, get back on the bench and then restructure this so that you can come back out again in a confident way.

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Players want to see that.

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They don't want to see droop shoulders and a player at the back of the line and at the end of the bench.

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Create a healthy ego in yourself to know when you walk in you're going to be a confident person.

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I think one of the things, too, from a healthy ego perspective and being a confident player, is also being a player that you know embraces your teammates Going there and make sure you let somebody else know how great they did or how great it was to see them on the ice early, or how great it was that you know you want to be with that person in line to do the passing drill or do a battle drill.

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You know, find a way to be a leader in those situations so that you know again, even if you're not the best player on the ice, having that swagger, having the ability to come in and feel like you can do it.

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Sometimes well, most times that's a mental thing.

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That's something that you can start to develop as you're going to the rink.

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A lot of that is like self-talk, a lot of strategies to go into competition, but in practice is when you can work on that.

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Your ride to the rink is when you can work on that and you can think to yourself okay, what are some strategies I can do to show my coaches and my teammates that I'm a healthy, confident, young man or woman that is going to go out and perform at the highest level I can.

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If you're somebody that's not a great passer, then think about you know really buckling down and when you do make a good pass, make people know that it's a good pass.

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Don't, when you make a bad pass, don't slam your stick on the ice and throw your head up and then let everybody in the rink know that you didn't make a good pass.

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Nobody knew you didn't make a good pass.

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Just have that confidence that your play was the right play.

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We talk about officials all the time.

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Right, when you see really good officials that are not that good at making calls, make calls Like they're just like if it's off-sides and they think it's off-sides they make it definitive that it was off-sides, even if they weren't sure.

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Same way a player has to think, you have to think, wow, maybe that wasn't the right play, but I thought it was the right play and I'm confident that I can make that play again.

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Coaches want to see that and teammates want to see that.

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Same thing with scoring.

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Scoring in practice should be fun.

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You don't have to point the finger at a goalie, but if you score, have some confidence in that, have some abilities, Say, listen, I just scored a goal, put your hands up, give a little hoot, whatever it is that make you feel good and let people know you just scored a goal, embrace the fact that you're scoring.

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That's a good thing, that's a positive thing.

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Keep doing those kind of things to kind of build your inner self-confidence and your ability to show that you have a confident player, that you're confident and you do have a healthy, positive ego.