What has hockey given me?

This is a question that I’ve pondered on and off for a long time. Maybe part of it is that during conversations with family and non-hockey playing friends I often get asked why do I still play, despite my rather lengthy list of injuries and the commitment hockey takes.

 

As a player, I’ve lived by the ethos that I will do anything that the team asks of me and commit myself 100% to the season. Before having kids it was easy to make that commitment and now, where I still make it, I always factor in the desires of the family. As long as they are happy for me to carry on playing and putting that level of commitment in, then I’ll always sign. Additionally I ask myself if I have the spark and the desire to put in that level of commitment. If I can’t give 100% of myself, physically and emotionally, then there’s no point me wasting my coaches time, my teammates time and my time. Yes, during the season there are times when you want to say “fuck it” and give up, but there’s always been a desire to give two fingers to those thoughts and battle on.

 

Hockey is a sport that takes a lot. An awful lot. Not only is there the games and trainings during the season, but there’s also the conditioning work that takes place during the summer, during the season and any functions that the team has for fans and so on (OK I don’t attend many nights out, because I’m old and ugly and need all the beauty sleep I can get). Hockey takes up your weekends from September to April. The season literally consumes you and your free time and mind.

 

But what has hockey actually given back to me?

 

I’ll try and look at this from beyond just winning and friendships, though the first thing hockey has given me are the friendships, but it has given deeper meaning to it as well.

 

There’s nothing quite like sharing the comradery of a team and the fan-base that the team has. During the years I’ve played, I’ve made friends with people I probably wouldn’t have hung-out with and have discovered great personalities through the game. This in turn has opened me to be more accepting of people and has allowed me to in greater or lesser extent let go of some prejudices that I may have subconsciously held.

 

Hockey has also given me a family. Literally. I met my wife on a team night out when I was playing for the Southampton University team. Since meeting her and ultimately marrying her, we have had two wonderful children and she and the kids have added more meaning to life. But in addition, hockey has given me another family in the community that has been built around the team I play for.

 

Hockey has given me work ethic. The game in itself is honest. If you don’t put the work in, you will find the result on the scoreboard and you’ll feel quite shitty about it and yourself. The same applies to work outside of the rink. The game has taught me a lot about how to approach challenges and how to tolerate stress and disappointment. It has taught me that you keep going until you reach the ultimate goal.

 

It has given me resilience and perseverance: I’ve had a fair few injuries and I’ve persevered through them, always wanting to come back better and stronger. At times it has been difficult, sure, but at the end of the day I’ve learnt to rise above the pain and fight my way back into game shape. Hockey has also given me a higher than average pain threshold. Being able to play a game with a severe disc prolapse, playing a whole season with a fully torn labrum and ruptured bicep tendon takes some guts but you push through it, because you want to help the team win.

 

Additionally the game has taught me about health: About 4 years ago I realised that if I didn’t change the way I trained, the way I ate – and more importantly what I ate – I would not last a year. Since then I have discovered a healthier lifestyle and have managed to cut out many habits I had in the past. Because of hockey, I am now more conscious about the dietary choices I make on a daily basis and the way I listen to my body and maintain it – even if at times it seems like I disregard the body’s warning. I’m not an elite athlete, but I would like to think that I approach training and diet from a more athletic point of view.

 

 

 

Yes, hockey does take and demand a lot of you, but if you look beyond, it does give back an awful lot as well. I consider myself fortunate to be able to play and keep learning more.

Only two months till the puck drops

I realise that I haven’t actually updated the blog for a while due to training and everything else taking precedent. I thought that instead of me rabbiting on about what workouts I’ve done and what I’ve been doing in the gym, I’d do a look back to last year and see what lessons I have learned.

 

I think one of the biggest changes and improvements I’ve made is carrying on from the work I did with my physio Matt Radcliffe last summer. For those that don’t know me that well, I have a ridiculous dip in my back which caused some hip problems as my spine was pressing down on a few nerves. Anyways, the work we did on rehabbing the hip also involved fixing my posture, which now helps me with the work outs and skating. My lifts at the gym are more effective and I am actually working the appropriate muscle groups with the exercises I do, instead of lifting like a duck due to my back. Skating wise the hip problem has eased itself so much in the last 12 months that I have regained my full stride again and I am happy that (for most of last season already) I was able to play pain free from the hip.

 

The other major improvement has been my stamina, which has been improved by doing more cardio. If you remember, this time last year I was recovering from the twisted ankle I sustained when I ran into a pot hole on the road. So between now and the start of the 2011-2012 season I could not do any cardio or leg work until about a week before the season started. I’ve also done a lot of speed, agility and quickness work (SAQ) this year to diversify the type of exercise in hopes of improving my foot speed. I don’t know if it has worked in terms of pure speed, but my legs actually feel ‘lighter’ when skating.

 

It’s definitely been a better off season than last year and one with less injury trouble than before. Only the niggling little bits from the car accident bother me on occasion (shoulder and neck), but otherwise I feel fine. I’m due to undergo, yet another, neurological exam to make sure that everything is working all right in the old noggin given the relative short time span between the two concussions (March 2011 and January 2012).

 

In case you haven’t seen my Facebook and twitter pleas, I have been nominated for a Sher-Wood ambassador programme and I’m in desperate need of some votes. So I was hoping that you could click on the link below (perfectly legit) ‘like’ the page and vote for me. At the time of writing this, I am currently 8^th. Your support would be greatly appreciated and thank you to those who have already done it.

Whilst you are there, could you give my teammate Adi Smith a vote as well as to a promising young hockey player, Lucas Marsh a vote too. Those guys exemplify this blogs’ ethos of live, eat and breathe hockey.

https://www.facebook.com/NekotiSherwoodAmbassadorProgramme/app_406909062688689