courage....My friend

Potential is a nice thing to have, but the trick is not just to have it, but also to actually use it. I see a lot of players who have great potential, but the ones who impress me the most are those who work towards using theirs. Sometimes this requires a little help from others. Not everyone has the opportunity to find his or her own abilities. If you do, than you are quite fortunate. Not everyone has the drive to push the limits and see just how far they can go to improving their own skills. This can be in a lot of different areas, but the most important is in everyday life. If you try to do your best everyday, than you are really doing something special. A lot of us are happy just to get through the day, let alone try to excel at everything all the time. It takes a lot of work just to improve one thing at a time. In hockey I see players who need time ………time to skate, and time to handle the puck. This has nothing to do with how much ice time a player may or may not get on the ice during a game. Most players could use more time skating. I mean just skating. You can get a lot of ice time on those blades at public skating, and there’s also some real benefit to using your roller blades when you have the opportunity. They don’t work so well in the snow, but we do get at least two months every year that it doesn’t snow. Stick handling on the ice and off will complement each other. You may not think a lacrosse stick would help hockey players handle the puck on their stick, but it does. It’s pretty good at boosting your passing and catching skills also. It also never hurt to read a book now and then either. Smart hockey requires smart hockey players. This year’s team is a lunch box crew. They come to practice and work hard. Every time I see them on the ice they seem to be getting faster and smarter. It comes out very nicely in the games we play. This past weekend’s game saw the team win against a team that we had lost to early in the season. This time our team was a little quicker, and a whole lot smarter than on our last go around. Just the fact that we played so much better was a nice achievement, and the win really topped it off nicely. They show a great desire to play well and to work at their game every moment they are on the ice. I saw a lot of potential in each one of these players at the beginning of this season, and I am seeing that potential turn into improved abilities each week. The team shows a lot of heart and improved confidence. Regardless of what the final score is at the end of each game, the effort level is very impressive. I do hope this continues throughout the season, and throughout each player’s life. Each one of these hockey players is a star in their own right, and works towards raising their own level of play each week. I have the great fortune of coaching them and watching them improve step-by-step, game-by-game. Hockey is a great game, because it allows each of us to do great things. Hockey is a game of courage because it takes courage to try. Without trying we may never know our true potential, and that my friend is how the cookie crumbles.