Being the best hockey player you can be

Brett Rabideau
3/5/13

     For me, hockey has always been arguably the biggest thing in my life. I started playing hockey when I was four and have never stopped. I still remininse about the golden days playing pee-wee's and what not around ages 8-12. I loved playing with all my friends from school and practicing every day, it was one of the best times of my life. I always felt I was one of if not the best kid on the team back in those days, I would usually score atleast once every game. Then things got a little more serious for me as I started to participate in better competition, playing travel hockey. This was when turned even more important for me, and I needed to start to improve my game. One of the most important things you can do is to be in the best shape possible. This means you need to skate as hard as you can in practice and treat it like a game type situation. You can train hard off the ice and get in good shape, but being in good "hockey shape" is more important. I have always thought that you can run on the treadmill or run around but to be in the best shape possible you need to bust your a** in practice. Once your in the best shape you can be, then you can focus more on your skills in hockey but always remember that is the most important thing to make yourself perform at your peak. Aside from that, you also want to play better competition as I said I did, it will only make you a stronger player. I followed these basic steps and beilieved I formed myself into the best player I could be. I loved playing high school hockey and think I dominated the league because I worked hard as a kid and played better competition. I was fortunate enough to be named captain of the team my senior year and was on the "super seven" of the seven top players in western mass. Those were my greatest achievements in my high school career because I formed myself to be the best I could be.