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Written by RYan

Sunday, 10 April 2011 17:38

Great Information for Athletes -  Ryan's Blog Claude Ruel was a Montreal Canadiens coach for many years and when I played there he ran a hockey conditioning camp for us players in August. These "getting ready" for training camp sessions were open to current players and young prospects and became a peitri dish for me as I watched these younger players. Claude through an injury only had sight in one eye.  Claude could not see through his right eye and everyone knew this. So I quietly watched how the young players during these sessions would react to this. Claude would always have a good hard skate at the end of every ice time. During this skate Claude would stand in the middle of the ice pointed towards the one end of the ice. Claude would blow the whistle and that ment that all players would skate one complete lap behind both nets and then rest. The interesting thing was that Claude could only see if players were skating hard on one half of the ice. The half of the ice that his eye didn't see out of was where I focused my attention. I broke these Young players Into two groups. The One-Eye skating group or the Two-Eye skating group. Some of the young players would skate hard on the side of the ice that Claude could see and then coast or relax on the side of the ice that he couldn't see. It became an interesting study for me over the 9 years I played for the Habs. As you might imagine, few of the One-Eye skaters ever made our team. Extrinsic motivation, waiting for people on the outside to keep us in line very seldom gives us our desired dreams. Intrinsic motivators are key to a prolonged HUNGRY spirit. (New book on this subject HUNGRY coming out in 4 weeks.) Question of the day: Are you a One-Eye player or Two-Eye player? Thought to Ponder: "That which holds our attention Determines our action." William James