Aug. 22, 2024

The Ride To The Rink - How to Deal with Pressure as a Hockey Player

Show Notes
Transcript

Feeling the weight of expectations on the ice? In this insightful episode of The Ride to the Rink, we delve into mastering the mental game of hockey and managing the pressures from coaches, parents, and scouts. You’ll gain practical strategies to help young athletes recognize and address their stress and anxiety, understanding that these tough feelings are not only normal but temporary.

We emphasize the importance of self-awareness and open communication, guiding you on how to have courageous conversations with those who influence your sporting life. This episode highlights the significance of building resilience and viewing stress management as a skill akin to perfecting a slap shot or a breakaway save.

By learning to manage pressure effectively, you’ll be better equipped to handle challenges both on and off the rink. Join us to transform how you handle stress, enhancing not just your performance, but your overall well-being.

Key Points Discussed:

1.Understanding Pressure:

Pressure, stress, and anxiety are normal parts of playing hockey. The fast-paced nature of the sport often leads to these feelings, but they don’t last forever.
Recognizing that everyone experiences these emotions is the first step toward managing them effectively.

2.Self-Reflection and Awareness:

It’s important to ask yourself what feels right and what doesn’t when dealing with pressure.
Developing self-awareness helps in identifying what’s causing stress and anxiety, allowing you to address these issues constructively.

3.Communicating Your Feelings:

Open communication with coaches or parents is crucial, especially if something doesn’t feel right.
Writing down your thoughts and having an open discussion can lead to better understanding and support.

4.Building Resilience:

Dealing with pressure is a skill that, like shooting or skating, improves with practice.
Viewing stress management as a skill helps in handling life’s pressures, both in the game and beyond.

5.Proactive Emotional Health:

Learn to respond to stress in a way that enhances your confidence and success.
By building resilience, you’ll be better prepared to thrive in all aspects of life, not just hockey.

Pressure is a natural part of hockey and life. By mastering the mental game and learning to manage stress, you can deve

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hello hockey skaters and goalies around the world.

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Welcome to another edition of the ride to the rink.

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You know, this week on our kids play hockey the the long episode we talked about how to deal with pressure from coaches, parents and scouts.

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Uh, and it's a pretty long episode.

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I hope you listen to it because we address you as the players a lot in that.

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But the one thing I wanted to kind of reiterate on the ride to the rink is just how to deal with pressure generally throughout the season.

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Right, and the first thing I want to tell you is that pressure or stress or anxiety you know we use a lot of different words to describe these emotions Look, first off, very, very normal.

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All right, they're very normal things to fear, to feel.

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Excuse me, hockey's a high pressure environment, right, things are moving all the time, constantly.

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It's a lot of chaos.

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You're going from rink to rink to rink, practice, practice, practice.

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It's a fast paced life and it creates a lot of stress, pressure and anxiety and I want you to know it's normal to feel those things right Now.

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How you compartmentalize those things and deal with those things is part of the strategy, but I first want you to know it's normal to have those feelings, and you also have to know and remember this those feelings don't last forever.

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Sometimes, when you're a kid, it feels like certain feelings can last forever and they're never going to end.

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And as you get to an adult you start to realize they will pass right.

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The good, too, like the good feelings.

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They come and they go and you kind of learn how to deal with that.

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You have the power as a young person to kind of learn, or start learning, how to do that now.

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So just remember that part of this episode if you're feeling any of those emotions, that no matter what you're feeling, it will pass right.

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It doesn't last forever.

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It's important to know that.

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The next thing, too, is this If you're in a situation where your coach or your parents are causing what you feel to be a lot of stress or pressure, I want you to sit down and ask your question what feels right?

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Are you being motivated by this or is it causing you anxiety?

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Does it feel right?

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Okay, I think too many times we feel it and we don't really ask a lot of questions about it.

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Why am I feeling so stressed?

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If it doesn't feel right?

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Maybe take a minute and write down what doesn't feel right about it or what you don't like about it and go to your coach, schedule a meeting, go to your parents to discuss it or talk to them about this is what I'm feeling and this is why it doesn't feel right Now.

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Listen, it takes a lot of guts to do something like this.

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It's not easy to go up to someone and be vulnerable and say look, I'm scared, I'm feeling pressure, I'm getting a lot of anxiety about the game this weekend.

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Or or a coach, I get a lot of anxiety because you don't play me in these situations.

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It takes a lot of guts to A acknowledge those feelings and then B guts to A acknowledge those feelings and then B write them down and then C go to somebody with them.

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A good coach will listen to you.

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Good coach will take those, and if the coach doesn't want to listen to you and take them, that's okay too.

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Go to your parents.

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They'll support you right?

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The point is this, my friends the emotions you're experiencing, the anxiety, the pressure.

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You are going to experience that emotion throughout your life Okay, it's a normal part of life.

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Going to experience that emotion throughout your life Okay, it's a normal part of life.

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The goal for you is to get better at dealing with it every time, to understand it's normal to feel these emotions and that your ability to respond to those emotions is incredibly important.

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And it's a skill.

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It's just like a skill like shooting or passing or skating or making saves.

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The more you do it, the better you're going to get at it, and the more you practice it, the more proficient you're going to get at it.

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So, no, pressure is normal.

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It's not all sunshine and rainbows all the time I wish it was but it's not All right.

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Learn how to deal with that pressure so that pressure doesn't get you.

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I always say this.

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I said it in a lot of Ride the Ranks Understand your emotions so you can control them.

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Otherwise they will control you.

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I have felt it, especially as a young kid, when some of that pressure just grips you to the point you feel like you can't even move.

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Normal.

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You got to learn how to deal with that.

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You got to learn how to feel that and understand it and move past it.

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That Normal you got to learn how to deal with that.

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You got to learn how to feel that and understand it and move past it.

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That's part of the opportunity that your youth.

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Hockey provides that you can get better at this stuff, that you can learn how to deal with it.

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So in the future, whether you're playing a high level of hockey or you're just in the real world quote unquote dealing with it, you'll have those skills built up.

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Okay.

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So that's going to do it for the ride to the rink today.

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You'll have those skills built up, okay.

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So that's that's going to do it for the ride to the ring today.

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Remember what feels right, what doesn't feel right.

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Convey that to the people that care about you.

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They care about you, not the people that you think are competing with you negatively.

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Go to the people that care about you and say this is what I'm feeling, this is how do I work through this feeling?

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Coaches, parents, you'll help them work through it.

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You're listening to this too, I know.

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Find out what that is and you'll do great.

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Your ability to identify your emotions and your feelings is really important to getting past them, to learning how to deal with them, to work through them.

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Okay, that's today's Ride to the Ring.

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Remember, above all I believe in you.

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I believe in you.

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You should, too.

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I want you to leave with that every episode I do.

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Okay, have a great week, have a great skate and remember to enjoy hockey, because it's the greatest sport in the world.

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Skate on.

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We'll see you on the next Ride of the Ring.

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We'll see you on the next Ride of the Ring.