It is normal to feel panicked; you should feel a little panicked at this point, that is normal.
If you have not been keeping up with your training over the last 2-months at least – that means training a minimum of three days per week in the gym plus some speed and stamina training on top of that (no going for a rollerblade a few times a week doesn’t count).
If you are right on top of your training, you are doing a proper goalie-based training program, not a bodybuilding program or a football training program or the exact same program as all the skaters you know, if your 300 yard shuttle run is timing in under 60 seconds and you have added at least three inches to your butterfly flare in the last 8-weeks, then you are looking good.
You can stop reading now and just go straight to the gym.
If that is not you, then you better read this all the way to the end, because it is your best chance to salvage your season.
Before I tell you exactly what NOT to do, I want to make it clear. I know you are not just lazy. I know you are highly motivated to show up this season and impress your teammates and coaches. You want them to notice right away that you are an asset to the team, that you are not the same goalie you were last season.
You want them to see how you take the ice with confidence, to see how calm and effortless you make it all look, how you can be more patient and let the play come to you rather than chasing the puck – – basically you will be like the Carey Price of your team.
I know that is what you want and I know there are reasons you are not there right now – maybe it was an injury, a family vacation, your summer job has been eating up all your time or maybe you have been ‘going to the gym’, but not doing the specific drills that will translate on to the ice for you. Even if you have been using that groin machine – that won’t help you on the ice.
Okay, here are the 3 Things You Must NOT Do…
1) Do not beat yourself up about it. Hey, for whatever reason, what’s done is DONE. You cannot go back in time, you cannot use the FluxCapacitor to send you back to May 1st.
All you can do now is look forward. It isn’t about what you haven’t done – it is about what you are GOING TO DO.
2) Do not for one second think that you can work twice as hard for the next month and ‘catch up’. Trying to catch up is a one-way trip to injury-ville. And I am not trying to scare you with this. This is based on my 23+ years of experience including my time working at the sport medicine clinic helping athletes recover from their injuries – many of which were caused by exactly this idea of trying to ‘catch up’.
So what you get when you try to catch up is minimal results (because you are actually just burning yourself out) on the ice and more often than not an injury which either compromises your performance or takes you off the ice altogether for 2-3 weeks minimum. And you have to know it is going to be tough to be your team’s go to goalie when you are constantly injured. Not to say you won’t get your chances – it’s just that you cannot win a game when you are not in the game. You cannot argue that.
So put the idea of ‘catching up’ out of your mind – I will give you the three things you should do tomorrow- so stay tuned.
3) Don’t go one minute more before you do this NOW! Write down (yes, actually write it down) how you want to be performing on the ice by the end of this year (not the end of the season, but by the end of December). You will just be fine-tuning in the new year as you head into play-offs.
Picture it – picture it vividly. Are you going to be an acrobatic goalie who has the entire crowd and your team on the edge of their seats with your second effort saves? Are you going to be smooth and relaxed? Are you going to look forward to starting against the best team in your league or will that opportunity make you anxious?
What habits will you use to enhance your success? Will you drill down your nutrition, your sleep habits, even your mindset?
What will you do to make that vision a reality? Will you…
• Utilize every minute of your on-ice time focused on executing with precision rather than going through the motions?
• Spend your training time becoming a better goalie rather than just going to the gym and ‘working out’?
• Practice meditation (I use the HeadSpace app) to learn how to quiet your mind?
• Schedule out your weekly on-ice and off-ice training, so you know exactly when you are going to invest in yourself as a goalie, rather than waiting until you ‘found some time’?
• Start minimizing junk food from your diet, so you develop the habit of fueling your performance with premium rather than that low grade stuff?
Take 5-minutes and write it down. Include your vision and three tangible action steps you will do to achieve that vision. Then post it somewhere you will see it.
If one of your tangible action steps is to dial in your ‘goalie training’ then check back tomorrow when I give you three things you can do that will give you lots of bang for your buck.
See you then – now go do your homework.
Cheers,
M
PS – like that “Back To The Future” reference?