Leave No doubt

Team Canada update.

Well we have finished our 4^th week of training with the combined A and B national teams.  It has been a fun summer.  I enjoy the time with the national team and getting to know the different players involved.  It always seems different when we line up against each other during the season.  We are into the intra squad games and have played 3 round robin games.  Team 2 which I am part of ended round 1 in first place.  When your team is not playing the athletes are responsible for being the officials.  Here are Kelsey and Jamie after their ref duties.  They do everything 100 percent.  Even dressed in their official clothing.

I am reading a book right now called “Leave No doubt” written by Mike Babcock.  Mike was the head coach of the Olympic gold medal Canadian hockey team.  It chronicles his thoughts during the build up for and the two weeks of the Olympics.  The book has many great underlining themes.  I will mention two of then that stuck with me so far.

The first comment Mike made was about pressure and loving it.  By placing yourself in a situation to have success automatically brings pressure.  There are two ways to look at it.  1 is the fear of failure and the second is accepting and enjoying the moment.  Too often as the season gets down to crunch and the pressure starts to mount we look for ways out. Or look for reason or excuses for possible failure.  Instead of looking at the pressure as a reward for all the hard work and dedication we have put into the sport.  The Canadian Hockey teams had pressure.  Playing in Canada where anything less than a Gold medal is considered a failure.  Mike found ways to relish the experience.

Early in the book Mike said he has had a series of “dream Jobs”.  He never really set out to become the Olympic coach.  But he kept challenging himself.  His first job at Red Deer College was a dream Job.  Then as he moved up in the ranks they were all considered dream jobs to him. I too feel this way.  I remember all I was hoping to be is a high school coach.  I wanted to run my own high school program build it up to be a recognized program and to move athletes on to post secondary.  I remember the huge disappointment when I was turned down twice in the County of Flagstaff for two different high school positions. But in looking back I think that not getting those positions kept me motivated and made me search out different ways to improve myself so I could get the next high school position.  Then Rod Durrant called me. Something came up and he needed me to cover a weekend for him with Mount Royal Men’s college team.  Watching the warm-up and thinking how cool that was to be a head coach at a CCAA college for 1 weekend.  (We won both games over SAIT).  That was my dream job…then two years later talking with Ron Thomson at GPRC.  When I received the job offer to fill a 1 year sabbatical for David Kay I was so scared and excited at the same time.  I remember my first practice scared to give much feedback to the 3^rd year players…soon getting comfortable and making a mark on them.  That whole year was a dream for me.  Then when David retired from coaching I was offered the head coach position.  Three years in I was getting bogged down by some of the politics that come from institutions and I had to remind myself of my dream job.

Now I sit around the lunch table with the young national team athletes and listen to their excitement of being part of the National team and feed off their energy.  I am Head Coach at a great institution (Brandon University). I have tremendous support from the community and the school, I have to keep reminding myself how lucky I am.  I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be working with the National team, now this is my fifth summer.  I started to take some of the excitement for granted and reading Mike’s book put it back into perspective for me.