Ozzy Batty 293 Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 One of the biggest challenges is when you are the new player on the team and everyone is so much better than you. The excitement of getting drafted, traveling to another city and stepping on new ice in a new arena. It made me feel on top of the world! Then, a couple of days later I got taken even higher. I was drafted by Los Angeles and went there to sign my new contract. I was going to get paid $1.5M per year for 3 years. I had never seen that much money in my life. I thought the world was at my feet. I could have anything I wanted. But then I went back to Bratislava. I was a nobody there. Yea, I was part of the new draft class and was just another face on the ice. These guys were bigger....and better than me. So I started to practice, alot. I mean, every free minute I had was spent on the ice or in the weight room. We had an indoor track that I ran countless kilometers on. I knew the only way to get better was to practice. When anyone asked if I wanted to hang around and put in more minutes on the ice, I agreed. When the goalie asked if anyone wanted to stay after practice and give him some more net-time, I volunteered. I knew I had to get better, I knew the only way to do that was to practice. I saw my teammates scoring goals and getting assists....and here I was, just skating around in circles. I will be honest, I was not really concerned about my stats but I knew that if I was not scoring, was not getting assists, then it decreased our chances of winning. So it is literally a win-win situation...I get better and score goals and have assists and it helps my team have a better chance of getting that elusive victory. Slowly, every so slowly, I started to get better. I actually started to score goals and get those assists that helped my teammates score goals. I hate to admit it, but I wanted to get in double figures for both. I wanted to be able to double digits for goals and assists. I wanted to see that personal success and hope that it translated into overall team success, to get those victories. I had a game, earlier in the season where I scored 2 goals. I still can not believe I was able to do that. But since then, my goals have been few and far between. The assists were the same, but I started to see that number climb. I finally hit 10 assists, then 15. But the goals were still slow in coming. Then we played Oslo. I seemed to be in a grove in that game. I scored my 1st goal of the game, and 10th overall, with 9:23 gone in the 1st period. Then with 16:58 gone in the 3rd period I ended the scoring in the game where I was able to score my 11th goal of the season. More importantly, we won the game 4-3. Finally, I broke that double-digit barrier. I know I still have a long way to go in my career. I am still considered the "new kid". But I am starting to feel like I am actually a part of the team. I feel like I am more than just a bench warmer who watched everyone skate around me in circles. So 46 games into the season I finally have it, 11 goals, 20 assists for a total of 31 points. Yea, that means I am 8th in points for the team. But it is a start and I know that by practicing I will continue to get better and become the best teammate I can be. Word Count: 643 Week Claimed: 9 Jul 2023 Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/137902-making-progressbut-still-not-there/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt thunder 444 Posted July 9, 2023 Share Posted July 9, 2023 Review: Wow, just wow, I really like how you write and also how much you are good talking about emotions or just feeling in general, in fact I think i have never seen a lot of media spot talking about the psychology of a player, and to be honest, I think it really works. You are a good writer, and I am also sure you will be a good player, keep it up with the good work. In the end this review gets a solid 9 out of a 10. Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/137902-making-progressbut-still-not-there/#findComment-990543 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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