Practice, Work Ethic and Focus

In my opinion, three of the most valuable attributes to aspiring hockey players are practice, work ethic and focus. If you look at players such as Sidney Crosby in Hockey, Tiger Woods (when he was on his game) in Golf, Peyton Manning in Football, Steve Nash in Basketball, etc. etc. they all have an extremely strong work ethic, a laser like focus and have practiced a ton throughout there young careers.

If we look at Sidney Crosby as an example he was always on the ice practicing and was known as a rink rat in his hometown. He attended hockey school and did so with a purpose. He was (and still is) the first guy on the ice and the last one off the ice at practices. He has an exceptional attitude and is internally driven to get better and to be the best. Of course he has hit road blocks in his short career but those little speed bumps make him stronger and hungrier. Sidney was focused on his goal from a very young age and did everything in his power to acheive it. He practiced deliberately and that would include on-ice powerskating/stickhandling/shooting, off ice conditioning, nutrition, visualization, video analysis, among other aspects. He is not the biggest, fastest, strongest...but I can tell you now that he has worked harder and has been more focused than most (if not all) of his peers over his short career. He makes the most of his ice time.

What can the aspiring player learn from this?? If you want to be the best you can be...it starts with the right attitude and mindset. You need to be positive and not worry about who is beside or behind you in line at your sessions/practices or who you are playing against in your game.....'you get out of it what you put into it'!! To be the best you can be...you do need a great deal of icetime and when you do step on the ice you need to do so with the goal of being better after every session, practice or game. Giving it your all in a (laser like) focused manner with a 'leave it all on the ice' attitude as they say..... will help insure that you take your game to the next level.
Cheers
Kelly Reed