What separates the Elite from the rest?.......WORK
After my many years of watching & training goaltenders, it still amazes me how many do not have any idea how difficult it is to be/become an elite athlete, and, more importantly, how much effort it really takes.
Understand, putting in the work not only means working hard at practices but also your pre-practice/game day preparation, off ice training & mental training where you build your confidence, ability to focus and manage all the stresses of a hockey goaltender.
Here is a comment I saw on Twitter today from a pro hockey player: “today, I am 30 years old & I finally realized, no one screwed me out of making the NHL. I screwed myself; I did not put in the TIME and the WORK”
Perhaps those goaltenders, whom I mentioned at the beginning, think that doing what everyone else is doing will get them to where they want to be. Unfortunately, “wanting to”, “wishing” or “would like to” does not cut it in the competitive world of an athlete. And, so I wonder sometimes, how much talent goes to waste simply because of lack of effort.
At about this time I can hear someone saying, “but it is so difficult to put in the effort every day plus I’ll have to sacrifice (give up) many of the things I enjoy doing”.
Here is what long-time coach & author Allistair McCraw has to say on the topic of “sacrifice”.