Dangles13 373 Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 If you had asked me last year if being a hockey player was hard I probably would have laughed in your face. I mean it's only a game that I've been playing since I was old enough to walk so how could it be hard? Many people who are not fans of the sport of hockey would likely share that viewpoint as well, it is only a silly sport after all. I've always taken hockey for granted, it has been a part of my life for most of my days and I've always been naturally talented so I didn't think about the work it would take to become a professional player. When I left Yellowknife I had a calm swagger, I thought I could walk into the VHLM and be a star right out of the gate and that kind of hubris left me very humbled after my first few days with the Yukon Wild. Please do not take this as an admission of laziness, I have always been dedicated and I've never shied away from hard work but this is more about the fact that I was ill prepared for the amount of work it takes to make it in this league. When I landed in Yukon my coaches put me through some paces and they soon discovered several issues with my conditioning. As a larger player I have always tried to conserve energy by coasting whenever possible and trying to exert as little energy as needed so that I could play more minutes, the downside to that thinking as I recently discovered is that I was not ready to skate with the high motor players found in the VHLM. Not only were they much faster than I was but they skate at those speeds for roughly twenty minutes a night and I was getting tired after twelve, not my fondest memories. Coach gave me a rigorous program that got my stamina to a respectable level and I was able to play my game for longer and more effective periods of time. I was not used to travelling to games which was yet another factor that caused me to get tired quite quickly, we used to ride the bus for a weekend tournament to another city but I was not used to travelling from city to city each and every night. I don't travel well and it makes it hard for me to get rest in between games, some of my teammates can sleep on a bumpy road doing 90km an hour and I'll wake up when we roll over a speed bump doing 5km an hour and I hate them for it. My coaches in Yellowknife were only able to get us for 1 hour practices once a week and those mostly entailed simple drills without much explanation. When I attended my first practice I was very embarrassed, I showed up in full gear to a power play practice. Coach wanted us to watch some film and go over some new changes but I thought he wanted us to do it on the ice like my old coaches always used to, I don't think I will ever live that down. I guess that's all I have time for right now, I've got to head out to practice as the playoffs start tomorrow and we are working out some kinks. I hope that any rookies reading this learn what it takes to make it as a professional hockey player and don't walk into this life unprepared for the rigours of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Review: Best of luck next season. I had an atrocious first year so things do get better. As for the article, could use a a picture or something to break it up, it's a big wall of text currently. Keep it up and you'll be getting better in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyinAmerica 2,880 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Claimed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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