Things I Have Taken Away From Watching the Summer Olympics
Some things seem to be universal traits among all good athletes regardless of the sport they play. Successful people in all walks of life have some things in common. I think ice hockey is certainly no exception.
Good athletes are lean! The athletes in all the sports look lean and fit. None of them look sloppy. For that matter none of them seem to slouch either. So stand up straight and have some pride for Christ sake! Being lean means having less tissue to oxidize. An instant increase in endurance with no additional time or energy spent on training. Simply by being lean your VO2max and lactate threshold will improve. Also, an instant increase in relative strength and power levels is nice. An automatic increase in acceleration and speed is a pretty good side effect if you ask me.
In addition to all of this you will have a nice boost to your long term health. Lean people are much less likely to have problems with diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. A healthy bodyweight is much friendlier to your joints as well.
Good athletes are healthy! This feeds off my first point pretty nicely. Take care of yourself, your joints, and your back. I did not notice many athletes with wraps or extra pads. Think about it for a moment...were there any sprinters or triple jumpers wearing a knee brace? How about a gymnast? Beach volleyball? Maybe its time to give that knee brace up. You stumble around with it like a little kid with his teddy bear and blanky. Its likely a mental crutch that does nothing for you but enable you to remain weak.
This goes for all you 'bad back guys' as well. Listen to your strength coach. Stop picking up and putting down the weight with a rounded back. This goes for your hockey bag as well. Bend your knees and hips for once. When you do things like that your strength coach is thinking to himself, "why does this guy always go around bent over like he is waiting for a warm sperm deposit?". OK, so that was harsh but maybe you will finally get my point! So instead of stretching your back because it sore you should stretch your hips and shoulders like your strength coach says. Amazingly your back pain will go away. Did you see any Olympic sprinters lying on the ground stretching their back? Beach volleyball? Weightlifters?
Good athletes are articulate and neat! Again have some pride in yourself. Speak clearly and stop mumbling incoherantly. Look people in the eye and speak clearly when you talk to them. Provide intelligent answers to questions. For instance, if you meet somebody new and they ask you what your name is say your name clearly and shake their hand. Don't look down and the floor and mumble "um Mathew". That is unless you want them to call you um Mathew. None of the Olympic athletes that I saw being interviewed said "um" or looked down at the ground while talking. Also, they all have neat hair cuts. Nobody was brushing their flow out of their face to compete or be interviewed. Your parents have spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars so you can play ice hockey. Have some pride and represent them well.
