Up My Hockey with Jason Podollan
Up My Hockey with Jason Podollan
EP.152 - Unlocking Hockey Excellence: Mental Toughness and Personal Development with Vinny Maltz
This episode invites listeners to explore the intricate dance between mindset and personal development in sports. We engage in a thought-provoking conversation with mental performance coach Vinnie Maltz on how athletes can cultivate a growth mindset, embrace the mundane, and develop their unique operating manuals for success.
• The importance of individual processes in player development
• Developing a personal operating manual for sports
• The 'Quadruple A' framework: Acceptance, Awareness, Accountability, Adaptability
• Redefining mental toughness and pressure as a privilege
• The necessity of consistent practice of basic skills
• Encouraging open communication between players and coaches
• The significance of self-awareness in skill development
• The value of understanding one's strengths and weaknesses
• Cultivating the farmer's mentality for long-term success
If you're intrigued to learn how to amplify your performance through mindset and personal growth, don't miss this episode!
And I always loved when you brought that up because it's like that's exactly it. Right there is that you have to have that framework in your head of, if we're talking about personal development, it's personal to you, where nobody else knows your journey. We all know it like no one really knows. What background did you come from? How did you grow up? You know what have you worked on in your own process? How much time have you put into developing certain parts of your process? How often do you talk to your line mates about what you're doing in that play? And on and on. And if you talk to most players they stink at personally explaining their process. They can explain the team's process, but if you talk to them and have a dialogue of like, can you explain your process? How many of them can actually articulate that? They're better at articulating what everybody else is telling them and terrible at articulating what they think. What are we doing?
Speaker 2:that was mental performance coach vinnie maltz, and you are listening to episode 152 of the up my hockey podcast with jason padola oh, oh, oh, oh oh, who played 41 NHL games but thought he was destined for a thousand. Learn from my story and those of my guests. This is a hockey podcast about reaching your potential. Hello there, this is Jason Padolan and you are listening to the Up my Hockey podcast with Jason Padolan, and you're here for episode 152. So welcome to that episode. If you happen to be new here and this is your first time, fantastic. We love having new listeners to the program. And if you are an old faithful, we appreciate you just the same.
Speaker 2:It's amazing how many people have been reaching out, it seems, lately, just either saying you know, thanks for the podcast, or we appreciate the podcast. And now that I actually say that out loud, it actually has a lot to do with the UMH 68, which is a lot of invites are going out right now. So that's my invitational tournament in the spring where we develop and educate and also showcase some of the best talent in the Western provinces, and we're doing it under the Up my Hockey kind of holistic development umbrella, which is what makes the event, uh, unique in its own right. So, uh, with these invites that go out, people come back and you know they either obviously accept the invitation or they have to decline it for whatever reason schedule or otherwise. And there's been a lot of people in this uh response saying hey, thank you very much for the podcast. We listen to it all the time. Uh, when I'm out at tournaments now or weekends, there's players that come up and introduce themselves and say that they've been listening to the show. So it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 2:I mean, I operate in this little kind of microcosm of my office where I record these things and I'm really not out and about too much, unless it's for hockey and watching one of my boys play. I'm not the most social man in the world. So, uh, you kind of get lost in your own world, right? You? Just I'm doing the day to day, I do the work, uh that makes up my hockey run, whether it be the podcast, or, you know, serving my clients, or developing the programs, or or, or, or, right, the list goes on and on and uh, and you don't have a chance to have those conversations which I, I really really do value and cherish, and it's awesome when I am able to have the conversation or receive the email that says, hey, we appreciate what you do and thanks for doing it. And that is really what this vehicle is.
Speaker 2:This podcast is meant to be a way that we can give back to the hockey community or myself and my guests can give back to the hockey community in a free, low barrier way where you can learn, hopefully educate yourselves and apply it to your own journey, your own pathway and what you're doing. I think that's super important because there's information everywhere if you want to use it, and that's one of the things that I work with players on. When it's in a business environment, you know when people are actually paying for my services. One of the things that I work with players on when it's in a business environment, you know when people are actually paying for my services. One of the things that we're talking about is the ability to have a growth mindset, the ability to recognize opportunities, to learn to ask questions, not only from others but to yourself, about yourself and and as, maybe as crazy that sounds to some people out there this is like earth shattering stuff when it comes to development that piece of the puzzle, the piece of using information and applying the information, which I love and which I geek out about and which also Vinnie Maltz, who is the guest on the show today, geeks out about. We are definitely brothers from another mother when it comes to our perception of how this works, about how performance works, how our mental perceptions and awareness either hurt us or benefit us when it comes to our performance and also in our development, and we could legitimately talk forever and so, as far as Vinny goes, vinny is an ex-player. There's only a few of us, kind of in this field of, you know, mental fitness, whatever you want to call it that have played. You know most of the people that are involved, I would say, have not played and then have gotten certification or letters after their name, you know, through academia, which is 100% okay and I have zero issues with that serving a very valuable purpose to many, many athletes everywhere around the world. Yet, for some players, they do like to work with players or people who feel like they have been in their skates before, have been on the same road as them, have been in the locker rooms. They want to be to and can speak from personal experience when it comes to a lot of this stuff and Vinny is one of those guys.
Speaker 2:He was a hockey player. He was a drafted hockey player. He played in the QMJHL for the Olympic, the Hall Olympic, and he was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks. He was never able to play in the NHL games but he did play pro for a while. He was in the jungle, he was in the grind in the East Coast League and in the United League and in the Western Professional League. So you know he was working his ass off to try and get paid or to get paid to play this game that he loves. And then he transitioned into scouting and then he really understood the value of the mental game and then got into working with athletes and teams and has kind of gone up the ladder when it comes to that. You know he's now working with the Edmonton Oilers. He is the mental performance coach of the Oilers.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure exactly what the title is. I might've got that wrong, um, but he is. He is working, uh, at the NHL level. He has worked previously, uh, with the Danbury hat tricks and the uh and the. Who else was it here? I'll just look on his DB. Oh, the Indy fuel, um, he's worked with as well as the Danbury junior hat tricks, and yeah, I mean, and he's's, and he's working with athletes too, with his company called bloodline bloodline hockey. If, if, uh, if you want to check him out and see what he's doing he's been in the space for a long time and uh, and yeah, it's really fun to chat with him now there in and of itself.
Speaker 2:So I've had a few conversations with people talking to me about, like, well, why would you bring on, you know, allenstein jr, or why would you bring on you know, allen Stein Jr, or why would you bring on Vinnie Maltz, when they are in the same doing the same thing? You are, aren't you feel like you're, you know, promoting somebody else or taking away from your own business, and like that is such a fixed mindset way to think about business. At least for me, that is Like I have zero issue with talking to Vinnie and bringing Vinnie in and talking about what is important to him and how he helps athletes. There is a lot, or there are a lot, of hockey players in this world and some may be drawn to Vinny, and some of you today who are listeners in my program might think that you know what Vinny has to say and the way he says it is something that you're really drawn to and I encourage you to reach out to him. Like that's the way this thing works. Um, there's not one messenger for everybody out there, and the idea is is to allow players to play their best, and if that messenger is Vinny, and if that vehicle is is how Vinny teaches things, then by all means I am more than happy to promote Vinny. Uh, I think collaboration is fantastic.
Speaker 2:Anytime I have an opportunity to speak to somebody well, anyone in that regard, but someone in the same space who has been doing this and, in Vinny's case, who's been doing it for longer than I have. There's obviously things to learn from him that has made him successful, and the insights that he's had and the way that he goes about his business are things that I can definitely learn from. So there's that idea of the growth mindset, right, like I want to surround myself personally on the day-to-day with people who can teach me things. It's almost like a selfish thing in some respects, right, like how can Vinny help expand my world? And when you approach that relationship and the conversations that way, you end up asking a lot of questions. You end up being very curious about the person and where they're coming from, and, um and yeah, and you develop deeper relationships and you also extract information.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, as far as me being worried about not being busy enough or losing clients I mean, that is totally not my thing Um, it's, it's. I'm super grateful that it's going completely the opposite direction very busy, almost too busy, which is why I was doing the call out for associate coaches, which has been so fun, because that's attracted some amazing people and if you are actually listening to this and that speaks to you. I haven't done that announcement in a while, but if you would like to work within Up my Hockey and beside me or with me and help athletes in the growth mindset aspect, in their mental fitness aspect and growing strong, confident, with me, and help athletes in the growth mindset aspect, in their mental fitness aspect and growing strong, confident hockey players out there who are striving to reach the potential and know how to do it as they build their own personal operating manual, as we talk about in this program today, by all means send me an email to jasonmyhockeycom and I'd love to start the conversation with you. But as far as Vinny goes, yeah, so I got into what he does, who he is.
Speaker 2:This conversation we talk about mental toughness. At the end that comes to mind. We talk about the process of being a hockey player how important and vital it is to understand where you are valuable and how you provide value. It really simplifies the development process for you when you're worried about things, or not actually worried, but you're concentrating on things to focus on as far as your development is concerned. We talk about consistency when it comes to your development.
Speaker 2:What else do we talk about, my goodness? We talked about everything within that mental realm and we talked for an hour and 10 minutes. I didn't talk once about his own personal story as far as his career in hockey and how he got into the performance field. We just dove straight in to the conversation on the backbone of a Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl victory, so we use that as the launching point for our discussion and then from there, we went down the rabbit hole on the multiple of subjects that I think you're going to find very enjoyable. So, without further ado, let's bring on the conversation with mental performance coach and player development guru, vinnie Maltz. All right, well, here we are for episode. I believe it's 152. We have Vinnie Maltz, all the way from where are you right now, vinnie?
Speaker 1:Just outside of Philadelphia, voorhees, new Jersey, all the way from just outside Philadelphia mental performance coach Vinnie Maltz.
Speaker 2:Pleasure to have you on, vinnie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, Jason Sweet.
Speaker 2:So with the proximity to Philadelphia, maybe we'll just start there. Is there some allegiance to the Flyers at all?
Speaker 1:As a kid I loved that man. As a kid I was completely diehard, all that stuff. Grew up playing like Little Flyers, Junior Flyers, all the Flyers teams that exist in the area and was a huge fan. And then, obviously, once you start getting into the pro game and you start, you know, playing the game at that level, then it starts to become more like, well, I love the team that I'm actually on or player or a part of or signed by, but I'll always have that. That place in my heart will always be there as a philly and always watching them. I still know you know Danny there, the GM and all that stuff, and you know a couple of guys there. So there'll always be that part where you know guys and you're still connected to them and stuff like that. So still a big fan of you know the people that they have there and what they're doing.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. So you actually grew up there able to still call that home and uh, and yeah, whatever you didn't didn't have to leave for what you do, yeah yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:No, you know it's. It's funny. I grew up yeah, philly, you know born and raised, grew up in the city and we moved over about. I was about 16 and a half when we moved over to jersey and I was here for about a about a year and month and change before bam juniors and hockey just took me right out. So you know, now now we're here raising the family and all that stuff, so it's nice so we're just on the heels of the super bowl.
Speaker 2:I mean, I know it's a hockey podcast, but does that city just go crazy? I don't follow football very much, but oh, it's crazy, like that's.
Speaker 1:That's the main thing for me, like I'm a diehard in my own way of like, you know, I love when they're gone. I was actually super die hard with my brother for like about six, seven years or we actually were. It was a thing we were getting together all the time, all that. But to your point, what it does to the city, right, like collectively, that energy that it brings, you know, I love. Right now everybody's a little bit happier for another couple more weeks until the residue, you know, goes off. We go back to the normal day-to-day. I hate you and the world sucks.
Speaker 1:What was me? Wah, wah, wah, but you know. But right now it's nice, the energy is great and you can just feel it right, it's a little lighter and so on and it's something fun to be a part of. And you know, from a Philly standpoint, the city is so passionate, it's just there. There's just so much culture and passion here that when you have something like this, that have something like this, that just kind of releases the mundane all the time, gives you something to be excited about. It's nice. It's nice and and as a you know, from a human performance nerdy side of me, I love the interviews that are coming out, you know, from the coaches to the players and how they're talking about their process and everything it's that. That's the part to me that's been really cool is to see how much they're releasing and just when you listen to their interviews and just to see how they just they've got it dialed in, they just get it they just get it.
Speaker 1:So that that's been the fun part, to see that philly eagles and it's like wow, listen to them.
Speaker 2:Like they are dialed, they get it that's what I was actually wanted to ask you about and kind of point at that direction, because I know that you are more uh, immersed in that. I am and I do. I mean, you know, I follow you on social and for anyone out there you should follow Coach Vin, because he's got some good stuff on there. A lot of times you do release, you know, whatever, like an interview or some other piece of context, and then you provide your own spin on it. So what has like? So let's dive into that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Like what are they talking about? What is or what individuals are, are, do you feel are actually working on the mental side of the game? And and I often find, as you know as well as I do, that those that are uh, when there's a culture around that side of performance, you know, like that good things happen doesn't always result in the championship, but you know, at least you know that you're doing doing the right things and and it seems like the pieces of the puzzle went together for the Eagles this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well. So there's one thing yeah, if you check out the page, I put up a couple of little stints, but there was a great interview. I think it was about 15, 16 minutes. The missus shot it to me and she's like, hey, you got to take a look at this. So I started screen recording and recreating and I'm like, oh my God, it was like literally gold, gold, gold, gold. But you know the big thing that you know.
Speaker 1:The two biggest takeaways that I really appreciated about the language whether it was you know from you know sirianni, the coach, or from you know hertz, of just like hearing him talk about the thing that you heard was unified was how much they talked about the mundane, boring stuff that we were all in. We were committed to it. It's nothing fancy's, simple stuff, but we continue to keep re-engaging with it and I think that's the first thing right Is that they accepted it for what it is. It's a profession. It's not going to be fun all the time. It's figuring out, having meetings, consistently talking to each other, making sure we're always on the same page, over-communicating, being very clear on what that looks like, making sure that we're always on the same page over communicating, being very clear on what that looks like, making sure that you know we're accepting of each other, that you know we're making sure the egos don't get too big. So it was just a lot of that type of stuff that I really appreciated that they dialed in on because it was so sincere and thoughtful.
Speaker 1:Right, like for me, I'm a big language guy. Language is my offense, like I'm always nerding out on trying to listen to interviews. Right, and that's what drew me to you, jason. It's like hearing you talk and the things you were like explaining, you know and putting out to the world. I'm like this guy gets it. This guy gets it. And that's where I always am looking for is who is speaking from a place of authenticity where they actually experienced it, not theoretical. Hey, I read about this and, oh, I've been listening to gary v or other people talk about this and now I'm gonna spit it out of. This is what you should be doing and, right, this is what you I'm looking for of, like, who has real human energy. That's like, oh, you lived it. You're talking from a place of practicality, application.
Speaker 1:You actually went through it, and that's the part that I love about with Sirianni and Hertz and a lot of the other players. You could tell there's this genuine like. It was hard but it was so worth it. And here's what we did. And it was the day-to-day and we were just always bought in.
Speaker 1:And that was the other side of it was that they truly cared about each other. Like that. They truly there was a you know it know it's funny, right the city of brotherly love and there was that brotherhood on the team of where you could feel that they understood. Yep, this is what we're here for. You know, this is what we're going to do, like I'm sure you saw that unbelievable clip from saquon earlier in the season of where he could have broken some record and you know he was like no, let the boys eat, let the boys eat. He's just like let the young guys eat.
Speaker 1:Right, he's like I don't care, I don't need my record because there's a guy as a leader that knew man, I know what I am, I know what I bring and the only thing I care about is that we're winning and we're having success. To me, I don't need the other stuff. I'm legit, I'm world class, I'm great, but it doesn't matter that I am like if we're not winning the ultimate ship if we're not there. I don't care about the other stuff, I just care about what's best for us. So it's like all these dynamics that I just saw with them, that was like wow. Like talk about a masterclass in a champion minded culture where they're living it. They're living it Like personally, selfishly. That's one of the things I'm hoping to do put it out to the universe is I'm here in Philly, all right, how do I get in there and just go talk to some of the guys. I'm like hey, I would just love to like pick your brains on what's going on in here because you truly, it's so real what they're doing, and to me it's like the acceptance of the mundane, the commitment to it, and then the culture of, yeah, we're in this together, we're all going to do it.
Speaker 1:The no egos and you know, jace, you've been around of teams, when you're on the team, of where your top guys and top veterans legitimately put off this energy as if they don't care, it's not about them, it's about us. How powerful that is the coaches when they do that, how powerful that is like. I think that's the part that really I gravitated towards in in like going like wow, like these guys are for real on how they did it. And then, obviously, how they won the last game.
Speaker 1:It was like it was so clear how prepared they were. They were prepared for anything, they were prepared for all, whereas I felt, like Kansas City was, they didn't know what was coming on the passing game. They prepared to shut Saquon down. They were like all right, we're going to take the running game away. But you could tell once they went passing, it was like they didn't know what to do. It was almost like whoa, like we didn't realize they had this in there too. So it's just so many of these dynamics that I just appreciated about, you know, in observing them in human performance, and it was like wow, like they really have it together.
Speaker 2:You talked about the value in the mundane. So what would be an example of that if we could shift that to to hockey and maybe I'll have a precursor with it. Just because I had, I had alan stein jr on. I don't know if you know, know, recognize that name or not, but he's, he's in the mental performance space as well, mostly with basketball primarily.
Speaker 2:And, uh, and he requested one of the great stories he told was he requested um at this one camp that Kobe Bryant was involved in. His name was on it, it was an ESPN thing or whatever that he was mentoring these NCAA players in the summer. He requested to watch Kobe Bryant work out because he knew that he heard all these things about Kobe and how he trained and what he did and what he didn't do and true to form Kobe's like, yeah, come watch me, it's at four in the morning or whatever, right, like before everything gets going. So Alan said he showed up there and of course he thought he tried to be early and Kobe was already there before he was even there, you know, and the lights were off everywhere else. But he said, like the first, whatever, it was half hour hour of the training that you watched was Kobe Bryant doing the most basic ball handling drills that you would ever imagine, you know.
Speaker 2:And and he said he just watched him and he was like meticulous and relentless in like his approach to, to the, to the easy, you know, and and I and I can't remember the, the, the quote, but it was pretty powerful like saying, like he asked him afterwards like you're the greatest basketball player in the world, like, why are you doing such easy? You know such easily easy stuff? And he said, well, that might be why I'm the best basketball player in the world, you know, like the master of the fundamentals. So, you know, is that what you mean by by, like you know, being falling in love with the mundane or doing the mundane? And, if so, like how would that apply to, maybe, a hockey player and how that would would would work for them?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no a thousand percent.
Speaker 1:Everything agreed. Yep, hit the love button. Love button over and over, right? You know one of the things that we always talk about. You know one formula we use, you know, in our you know pedagogy and all that stuff is like making sure that, okay, simplicity plus consistency equals sustainability.
Speaker 1:Right, the simplicity is what's the most important, valuable thing, that I know that, if I do it, and again when you're let me preface it by saying when you're looking to professionalize your mindset, that's what there's a difference between simplicity and complexity. Where simplicity is, I know this brings us value. I know that, when it comes to my role, this is the most effective thing I can do right now and be most consistent at. That's going to produce world-class results or keep me in the game, keep me contributing in a way that's meaningful to the whole. And so at the youth level, that could be more challenging because you're still trying to experiment, discover, figure things out, and so simplicity plus consistency means simplicity is what's the thing that you naturally do that brings value to the team. What is the thing that like? So, from hockey wise, it might be. Literally, it might be.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm really good at winning wall battles and getting the puck out and distributing the puck and making sure it ends up on centerman's tape. Or I'm a defenseman, I win the battle, I get up to our wingers, get it out first pass. So what you're able to do is I'm able to just win that battle, or I'm able to block shots and keep the puck from going to the net, and I'm really good at that. I'm able to block shots and keep the puck from going to the net, and I'm really good at that. I'm able to win face-offs, right. So there's all these different dynamics inside of the game.
Speaker 1:Where it's simple in nature, in terms of what you just described with Kobe is where and I see this all the time right, same thing with, whether it's NHL players or highly driven Division I, major junior and again I preface that because not all the youth or amateur are driven in that way and understand what it really takes to professionalize this process and we just just just described with kobe is that that's what he was, that's what any great player understands. Whether it's crosby, they all do the same things, right. You go down the line, matthews, mcdavid, you go through any of them, I'm sure they're all doing the same thing of fundamentally the simplest thing I can do right now is become really good at this play right now, where, over and over again, I'm observing in the game. I'm struggling to take the puck off my skate right now, I'm struggling to take it on my backhand, I'm struggling to chip it in this situation, I'm struggling to come off the wall right now, and they observe that and they go. Now I'm going to invest my time into that, I'm going to develop that. So it's simple.
Speaker 1:But the consistency comes from. Well, am I going to consistently do it or am I going to you know what shiny object syndrome? I could go work on this right now, or I could go develop this. Well, this coach just looked at me, this scout just saw me in the stands and said I got to go work on my skating. So now I'm going to completely get away from what somebody that I just met, because they're a NHL scout or they're a division one coach, whatever and I'm going to literally change what I've been doing in my process because this person of authority said something and that means that's it gotta add more new layers.
Speaker 1:So that's the challenge of where the simplicity of understanding as a player, what do you know in your own mind that you believe is valuable, worthwhile, worth working for, for the collective. And then the consistency is you're fighting the things that are in the nature of the game instagram, all these other places, right? Influences, family, other coaches, people telling you what they think you need to do as opposed to. Well, wait a second. I know that if I do this, I'm going to be really valuable to my teammates, to my team. If I just keep doing this over the course of a long season, I'm bringing a lot of value. And so that's the consistency part.
Speaker 1:But at the end of the day, it comes down to sustainability, right? You know, jason, it's like the part that everyone misses when, whether it's Kobe's you know what he's talking about there when it comes to the fundamentals, or you know the Eagles, it's the sustainability is what this is all about, and you can appreciate this, right? I think we talked about this before. It's like you've got to take on a farmer's mindset. You've got to take on you know what, if I'm developing this process from a sustainability standpoint, how is this going to keep me rolling through the years, through the months, right? How is this going to keep sustaining success over and over again? And that's what the fundamentals are.
Speaker 1:When you hear great players talk about that, what they've recognized is the game is the game. I can't change the conditions of what's going to happen, but if I'm physically, technically, super sharp on this basic fundamental movements that I need to do on the ice, it could be something as simple as okay, I'm a shooter and being able to move from my back into my forehand, or to be able to get into space and just consistently get to space and get open to receive a puck over and over again. And just that might only happen in a game, you know, three, four, five times total. But because I'm ready for it and I'm perfectly aligned and I'm the timing is good and my body position is good, and now every single time I get that chance even though it might be only a couple of chances, but every time I get that chance I'm ready it's incredible how much that could produce for you and the value that produces for others when you're bought into that fundamental aspect of I love perfecting that and that's the challenge we have in today's game, right, is that players overthink, overdo, they don't know their natural identity, so they think they need to do more.
Speaker 1:When all the greats say this over and over again and you can do the study online and you can look. They all say the same things. It comes back to your fundamentals. 80% of NHL, nba, nfl they would all say the same thing. It's just the fundamentals. I just do them over and over and over again so I feel so comfortable in my skin that it leaves room to think when I play but fundamentally I'm set Take a short break from my discussion with Vinny to talk to you about elite prospects in the UMH 68.
Speaker 2:One of the unique things about the UMH 68 Invitational is that the tournament is covered by my partner's Elite Prospects. Elite Prospects, as you know, is the database for young men and women to have their stats recorded their heights and weights recorded, where they've been, the awards they've won, you name it. If a coach wants to look you up, that is where they do it at Elite Prospects and there's only a certain amount of tournaments that they cover. They don't cover just anything. They choose. They're very picky and choosy about which tournaments they cover and when they do. Those stats last a lifetime. They will grow with you on your profile, and the UMH 68 is one of the tournaments that they covered, which is super fun and super fantastic, and it's something that I take a ton of pride in.
Speaker 2:At the events themselves, we have the live stream set up. I review the play as it happens. We make sure that we get the goals and the assists right. It is not up to the referee to guess on who gets them. It is actually done with some attention to detail. Same thing goes for the goalies and for the shots for and the shots against and all that good stuff. If we're going to keep track, you might as well do it accurately, and that's something that that we do very well at the UMH 68. So fun to have elite prospects involved. Another thing that they are involved with any player that comes to one of my events, one of my UMH 68 invitationals, they leave with an EP profile that is a premium account. This is $125 value through Elite Prospects. By coming to a UMH 68, you leave with a year membership to that. That is part of your participation and part of my partnership with Elite Prospects that that gets taken care of. So it's awesome to be working with Elite Prospects obviously a fast growing name in the sports, in the sports world, in the hockey world and to have the UMH 68 partnered with them and to have all my players that are coming to this leave with a premium account is pretty special. So, yes, thank you, elite Prospects, thank you for everything you're doing out there and for all of you who may have received an invitation or are looking to receive an invitation to one of the events, just know that it will be on your profile, the stats that you have, and you will also have a premium membership along with your registration.
Speaker 2:Now let's get back to the conversation with Vinnie Maltz. Yeah, there's a lot there, for sure, and so for me, like a natural one, is skating, which is one of the things when I do on ice. I still do on ice work with younger players and I see it at the junior level, but I guess I'm talking about even the pro level. But like, let's just talk about the younger players. Like you know, you will, in your head, have this idea that, let's say, an edge work drill is a U11, 12u type drill, right, and because that's when they started doing it. But yet now that they're 15 or 16 and they're playing somewhere else, they feel that they've they've passed that, they've surpassed that drill.
Speaker 2:And if you were to bring that back to them, it's like disrespectful, almost, that I'm not at that spot and that's the thing that I tell these guys. And like you're so not past it. And if you think you've got it, like there's so many layers to what that is that you can be adding to it to give yourself the opportunity to be the best that you can be, and so like, for me, that's how I unpack that idea like because I think skating and like some of these fundamental edge work drills can be something that gets overlooked or something that we check out on doing when we're doing them, or don't do them at all anymore, like Kobe, like similar to Kobe Bryant's ball handling drills and I'm not a basketball guy. I have no idea what those drills would look like, but I could imagine what they would look like right.
Speaker 2:So just anyone listening out there like that piece of it, right, because the growth and the craziness that we get to see in the NHL level when there's so many things happening in a dynamic, in such a dynamic, fast environment, that all happens because the fundamentals have been dialed and now they're able, because their body position is in the right spot, to be able to get off that edge and onto this edge and to do these things. So, anyways, I just I love what you're talking about there and I think, for me, when I talk about mindset, uh, because it's such, it's such a vast world, right, and I kind of like to like about it, but like, for me there's, there's an aspect of mindset that's totally training based and like developmental based, not even like performance based, but like how do I get better Right?
Speaker 2:So maybe maybe speak a little bit more on that, like how you feel mindset ties into personal development. Yeah, a hundred percent?
Speaker 1:Great question. So, first and foremost, you know, the biggest thing that mindset ties into is there's a nature physically to every player right.
Speaker 2:There's some players that just love to.
Speaker 1:I'm a goal scorer, but there's no proof to show your goal score. You know like I always love the infamous question I'm a goal scorer? Okay, how many goals have you had over the last three years? Oh, probably about 20. You're not a goal scorer Full stop, let's just put that away.
Speaker 1:But, cognitively speaking, from a personal development standpoint, to your point, what happens is and I love how you know you phrase that earlier of you know, when I talk to the players about helping them understand and they think you know, like, oh, that's so, you know, that's 12 year old stuff and all that the educational aspect of we're so good as a culture in hockey at giving you information and telling you how to do something, but what we're really lacking and we're really poor at is helping understand. Do Do you understand yourself, though? Do you understand how your body's designed? Do you understand how you think about things? Because, to your point, when you bring up those guys and they're struggling with the 12 year old thing and they're looking at that, what they're not realizing is oh, you do realize you have cognitive biases and distortions that are gonna get in your way, right, and you see it all the time with players of oh, this power play is stupid, this face off. What are we doing here? This is so dumb, bam, classic fixed mindset. The moment you say this is dumb and you didn't leave yourself open and curious in the idea to explore it, bam, you've ruined it for yourself. And that's the part where, educationally speaking, to your point, jason, like rule number one in personal development is okay. Am I aware of how my own mind interprets it? So, like another framework we use I call it quadruple A defensive zone system, and the idea is that acceptance, awareness, accountability, adaptability go through the four A's and I make a image similar to taking a baseball diamond Acceptance, acceptance. Except it's all a story, it's all a narrative.
Speaker 1:You're 16, 14, 12, whatever it is, you're 25. You have a schema, you have ideas in your head, you have experiences that you went through. So in your mind you're going to think, oh, this is, this is great, oh, this is what we used to do, or this is stupid, it makes sense. But, depending on the team, you're a part of the level you're at right, like anyone who knows anything about. You know the game right. There's a big difference between juniors and pro, big difference, right as far as sustainability, the difference of guys who's committed, all that stuff. So literally the perspective shifts and changes that when you're juniors, when you're younger, there's a lot of stuff you don't know about. The pro level you just don't know. You don't know what it's like to be at division one level you don't know. But when you're younger you think you do know.
Speaker 1:So that's first and foremost is accept. Oh, I'm going to have a story, I'm going to have a narrative in my own head. That's my own, but it's my job. If I'm really looking to develop my mindset and personally develop and improve this process, then it's my job. Okay, I know my story, I know what I think, but what does everybody else that I'm participating with think? What does the coach think? What do the other players think? What do my opponents think? That's what my job is.
Speaker 1:I have to accept that we all have our own perspective. We have our own story, and then I've got to become aware. That's where the awareness comes in now. Well, let me go do the work, let me go find out. Well, what is my story? Man, yeah, I do think that edges are dumb. Why do I think that? Why do I go to that place? What is that all about.
Speaker 1:You have to get curious about your own me against me, right, like we always, we all have our thing me versus we, versus me against me. Like it's being able to, like, have that self-reflection in your mind and go wait, why, why, where did that come from? Why do I even think that's dumb? Like, why, what do I know? Like. And you have to have that honest conversation with you. And that's where accountability comes in. Is that you realize, like, you know what, cognitively speaking, that's my own bias. That's the way I see it. It doesn't mean it's it's goofy, right of like. We don't recognize that. So we have to be accountable to you know what?
Speaker 1:For me, this face off doesn't make sense, or this play doesn't make sense. But let me go get curious and find out, let me get better, because it's on me, because that person that I'm participating, whether coach or line mate, they don't know that. I think it's stupid. They don't know my parents when they sit in the car and we're driving and they're saying things about well, coach, he did this and he did that, yeah, yeah, he just doesn't like me. How do you know that? You don't know that information? And now you're in the car having this conversation about something that literally you don't know. I catch players on this all the time, especially when I was working more with you know more youth players. I'm like, how do you know coach was thinking that? Did you talk to coach? No, okay, well, how do you know? Your parents seem to know this, like as a fact. How do they know? Well, I don't know. Like, well, you should ask your parents how do they know that? Did the coach talk to them? Is information that came from that? And so you know? That's the part right.
Speaker 1:Accountability, because then, once you've gathered, you accept that it's all narrative. You become aware of your narrative, right, you become accountable to your narrative. Now you can adapt. Now you can hit home runs where now adaptability comes in. And now it goes. You know what? Yeah, I don't know the information. I've got to go figure that out. So now it changes. Now you go back to acceptance. Either A, I go talk to coach, or B, I didn't go talk to coach. Okay, awareness oh, now I'm aware. Oh, wow, that's what coach was thinking. Huh, okay, now that's better, right. Then accountability oh, all right. Well, here's what I can do to participate with that. You know what? I should go talk to my line mate, because he probably didn't talk to, he probably hasn't talked to coach about that. I did. And now, bam, we go back to adapting. And so it's just this constant feedback loop, right, that we get to create from this quadruple a defensive zone system, because you have to defend against this to your point mindset.
Speaker 1:If we're talking about personal development, then it's personal, it's your own development. Like I had a um during covid. I had a great uh podcast we were on with I'm brain farting right now from Colorado Avalanche, captain brain farting right now. Landis Scott. Landis Scott, right, had him on and it was great conversation, right when we talked about what basically he talked about.
Speaker 1:In there was there's the team system and then there's your personal system. And so what your responsibility is, the team system is going to be given to you. The coaches are going to tell you, the organization's going to tell your role, they're going to tell you everything. But the way I always explain it to our guys now is well, your personal system is this, it's your own portfolio. So wherever you go youth, juniors, college, pro, it doesn't matter you have to walk in with your personal system, your your own system, and go. Oh hey, here's how I think, here's how I see things. I've got it all locked in right here, because when you go on the journey, we all know you're going to be a part of different cultures, different mindsets, different ideas, systems, all this stuff. So if you don't, if you're not true to who you are, if you don't know what yours is and you don't have your own portfolio, then adapting to others, all you're going to keep doing is changing and going like, oh well, I've got to believe this, I'm going to believe this, as opposed to well, wait a second, here's what I believe, here's why I believe it. So let me come to them and hey, coach, can we talk about this? Here's kind of what I learned, here's what I was a part of. So now, how do we develop that? And I always loved when you brought that up, because it's like that's exactly it. Right there is that you have to have that framework in your head of, if we're talking about personal development, it's personal to you, where nobody else knows your journey. We all know it. Like no one really knows.
Speaker 1:What background did you come from? How did you grow up? You know what? Have you worked on in your own process. How much time have you put into developing certain parts of your process? How often do you talk to your line mates about what you're doing in that play, and on and on. And if you talk to most players, they stink at personally explaining their process. They can explain the team's process, but if you talk to them and have a dialogue of like, can you explain your process? How many of them can actually articulate that? They're better at articulating what everybody else is telling them and terrible at articulating what they think. What are we doing? What are we doing If we're talking about personal development? What are we doing? It's way too far to people. You're about to participate, think now you got power. But if you don't know how you think, if you don't have personal development, what do you have?
Speaker 2:right, yeah, I know that. Uh, yeah, the terms you use are. It's funny. And now I'm like reflecting on our, on our first conversation, and for those listening, like vinny was super. I can't remember if I reached out to you or you showed to me. I don't remember that first reach, like reflecting on our, on our first conversation and for those listening, like Vinny was super. I can't remember if I reached out to you or you showed to me. I don't even remember that first reach out, but like we ended up getting on a phone call and it was this, you know whatever it was like fireworks.
Speaker 2:We talked for like 90 minutes and, yeah, we were bouncing stuff off each other.
Speaker 2:But but you, even bringing up and holding that book in front of you, like that like one of the one of the pre, like one of the fundamental things that I talk about with the players that I work with, and like right from day one, I say, like we're building your personal operating manual.
Speaker 2:I call it your POM, Cause you need to know you and you need to know how you operate to be the best player that you can be and and so like that's. I mean, I mean almost exactly what you're saying there, and it's so funny how nobody knows that right, they haven't written a page in that book yet. Now, it's all based off of superstition, it's all based off of blind routine, it's all based off of what maybe other people have said. And, uh, one of the things that I kind of and I think this encapsulates sort of the idea of what I mean for everyone listening out there and I've said this to players before is like when you're at the nhl level or the pro level I I mean any pro level really you started getting paid to play hockey. You guys have figured out a little bit about what they need to do to be able to perform consistently.
Speaker 1:Some better than others, of course, even if that's myself included in that process.
Speaker 2:Some guys have figured it out. But if we use that as like the environment that we're imagining ourselves in, and we go into an NHL locker room and it's 30 minutes before a game, you will vastly see differences in where people are at Like. There'll be a guy with his equipment fully on and his helmet on staring at the floor. There'll be a guy that's not even in his gear yet stretching in the middle of the floor. There'll be a guy that's in the weight room riding the bike. There'll be somebody having a shower. There'll be somebody telling a joke in the room. Somebody will be playing music, dancing. Now, is anybody wrong in that scenario? No, right, but they figured out what they need to do to get themselves physically, mentally, emotionally ready to play that game Now. So my thing with, like, a younger player, a junior player, is they've never thought about what it is they're doing or why they're doing it.
Speaker 2:You, know so like, if you can, and maybe that's even to your point earlier of, like you don't know what you don't know. Now you have to ask the right questions, right, like, how do I get prepared for this? And when we start actually asking those good questions, we're forced to find good answers. And then now you're comfortable in your space, which is isn't that one of the greatest reasons for having good performance right Is knowing you and not being somebody else in an environment that you think you're supposed to be? So anyways, I don't know, I just kind of had some verbal diarrhea there, but it's kind of crazy listening to you, and that's what I try and get these guys to think about. Like, what is you 30 minutes before a game? You're going to play your best game. What are you doing? Are you the guy looking at the floor with your gear?
Speaker 1:on. Or are you the guy you nailed? Beautiful, because, like, one of the frameworks we'll always use to your point is, we always talk about questions, stories, conversations, boom, right, are you asking meaningful questions, are you? What is it really for your process? What does it mean, you know, to you personally? Right, then that develops a narrative. Now you have an idea. Oh, wow, that answered for now what I needed. Boom, now I have a narrative that I can go play off of. Well, now go have a conversation. Right, don't keep it to yourself. Share, share with your coaches, share with your line mates, share it.
Speaker 1:So now, teaching, one of the best ways to absorb information. Number one, right, so that solves that problem. But number two, now, the others participating with you. Now, we're all aware of what you are actually thinking. And so, jason, you know, like that's one of our biggest struggles in the industry is that we just haven't solved that constraint that goes on between the authority bias. Right, there's a lot of coaches that feel. Well, I told you, do as I say, not as I do, right, like we've talked about, right, of why we feel that we've been able to get into the space and have, you know, the success that we've had is because players can feel, oh, they're still doing what I'm doing, they're still in it, the way I am Like you're working out all the time, you're working just as hard, you're improving your process, you're getting better as a mental performance coach, you're figuring it out right. And that's the part where a lot of this, from a leadership standpoint, is how much are we diving into that and understanding? Okay, let me ask questions that really meaningful to see. Make sure the narrative in the locker room or the team where is that going? And then let's have dialogue over and over and over again and keep that flywheel going in that framework. Right, but to your point, that's that's the challenge with so much of this space is that we're we're aware of these types of things, that we know they can work, but we haven't appreciated how much work it actually takes to do this type of work. Like the old framework is still there. Go to practice right, boom, put on the board. This is what we're going to do. Everybody execute. Great, we're going to do video now video.
Speaker 1:I've had NHL guys over the years. Right, I won star in league. I remember having a conversation with him years ago and talking to him. We're just catching up all this stuff and he goes and says to me point blank he's like you know, what's amazing to me about this league is how much, when we're doing video, I'm just getting eaten Like you didn't do this, you didn't do this, like mistake after mistake, and not once are they pointing out the three or four things that I did do that were actually really good, that nobody else on the team can do, but I'm doing them, but it's not being pointed out.
Speaker 1:And so we got into this philosophical conversation about exactly that of where that's the challenge we're having is that players today, they invest in themselves so much, they do so much work. The irony right, they do so much work to be unbelievable. Yet if you really think about leadership, how much does leadership do that amount of work on themselves to catch up with what players do? They do a ton of work to serve the organization, the players, and they're figuring out for the team what's best, but how much are they really figuring out for themselves? Wait a second, can I make this more efficient for myself? Am I making this harder than I need to be? Do I need to just have more conversations with the guys as opposed to just thinking I'm solving the.
Speaker 1:I think he's thinking this and I think he's thinking this as opposed to hey, man, what are you thinking? Like? Can you tell me what you're thinking and maybe I can adapt around that? Or you know, let me look at this team and go. You know, we're a pretty fast team and I want you guys all to be physical, like we're not a physical team, even though I'm driving myself nuts to make you physical. Why don't we just change the system and structure and make it about speed? You know, these are the things right, that natural alignment that I think is super challenging in this process and, to your point with it. Like it's just we're not asking these meaningful questions over and over again to just keep getting to that same place. So we all want the same thing, but we're coming at it from a different lens.
Speaker 1:Players want to do what's best for the organization, but they're not clear on what they want. And leaders want to do what's best, but they're not following a process that the players can relate to. Like it's like a lot of players, I can feel the BS really quick, like they can feel it right. It's like you walk into that room and they know whether or not, you're for real or not, and if they can feel you're not real, gone. So, and to your point, younger players. It's even harder for them because they have all these people that they feel are real. Oh, my agent said this, my dad is saying this, or mom's saying this, my coach, my skills coach, is saying this, my strength coach is saying this, everybody's saying these things.
Speaker 1:But when you get older and you get, you start going up the pyramid, you start to realize more and more it's like I can't keep listening to them. I got to do this on my own, like this is on me and that is not being taught If you look around. That's the advantage we have. The competitive advantage, quote unquote is we're working on developing that for them so they can prepare for that. And I've been at this for years, right, like you know, like my history, like over a decade, and I still sit there at times and I go like I can't believe this isn't changing man. I mean it's great for us, it's great for what we do. We're going to have plenty of work for a while, I think still. But I'm like amazed that it's not being like hello, like don't you get it, like and they don't. They don't Like it's good and it's bad.
Speaker 2:What a balancing act, though, right, like, and especially for younger players, and that is one thing I'm trying to arm them with them with, and I think that's where confidence comes from. Like what you're talking about is like understanding your manual right as you build it, where you are empowered and where you're not right, and owning the things that, that that you can, so you can walk into an environment and feel somewhat in control, because when do you not feel confident is when you don't feel it in control, right, or you don't feel ready or whatever the case may be. So, like helping them understand that. But yet, you know, I think some people out there listening are like, well, so you didn't say this, but like, the extreme of that is like you don't listen to your coach and you don't listen to your agent and you don't listen to mom or dad, and and that's not what we're saying Like, we're saying like you need to listen, but you need to listen with a filter. Right, there has to be a filter on that, and only if you're self-aware enough can you be attacking that with a growth mindset.
Speaker 2:Hear it, how do I apply this to me? What is useful in this information? And use it and discard the rest. And again, that's where I think that fine line is right. Like it is tricky. It's a tricky slope, but if you don't even know that you're trying to navigate that slope, you're lost, right. So now, if at least we have the conversation, now you're like okay, what is there for me in this? And if you attack these things from that growth mindset spot and you understand what that is, my God, you're already ahead of the game.
Speaker 1:Bingo. You nailed it, and that's precisely why it's a skill. Is that step one? Well, man, I didn't even think about being self-aware in my process. I didn't even think about what do I think about? That's never even been a thing. So I, where am I processing, thinking about, what do I think about? That's never even been a thing. So I start to align and I put down and I reflect, or I have somebody supporting me, helping me through it, and then you kind of wrestle with it.
Speaker 1:Well, what about this? And you know how many players you've had right? It's like they want to argue and they're like you can see. It's like you're getting in your own way, like you're you're asking the wrong thing or you're focused on the wrong thing. You're're not. Well, what does that matter? What, in this instance, when coach makes that comment, how does that impact you? What? How does that stop you from continuing to execute and go do what you know you're supposed to do today? Like you, you're the one who chose today not to eat right, not to get to sleep, not to go work on the skills. That had nothing to do with coach yelling at you and saying what coach said to you. Your feelings are getting in the way.
Speaker 1:But the process did you actually do the thing or not? I had one young player who was terrible at the nutrition aspect and all we did was baseline we call it my high five where it's like let's just go with the baseline. Where's extra energy that you're not getting day to day? Or how about we do this? How about we just focus on your nutrition for three or four weeks and let's see if you start to think better? Do you have more energy when you go play? Do you feel way better? Problem solved of just helping that player to think more about and be thoughtful about the nutrition consistently. And next thing you know they're like oh my God, I have so much more. This feels great. And bam, literally 60% of the issues were solved right then and there, because now they weren't going in feeling drained and exhausted and this person was annoying me because now they had energy. It was like, oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, no big deal, and it literally shifted their perspective and their mindset. So it's stuff like that, right Educationally to your point.
Speaker 1:You know, jason, with this process, that that's the challenge is, there's so much nuance baked into understanding that you don't know what it actually means. Yet Number one educationally, people don't know we can means yet number one educationally, people don't know we can call whatever we want mindset, mental performance, thoughtfulness, mindfulness just there's tons of names. We can put labels on it but at the end of the day, the fundamental root of it, like you know, we and I we talk about this all the time of like your thought process will never be faster than your belief system. It just won't be like whatever that processing of like how you think about things. It'll just never be faster than your belief system. It just won't be like whatever that processing of like how you think about things. It'll just never be faster than your belief system. What do you actually believe?
Speaker 1:And to your point earlier, like you said, you said it perfectly the best players, the most committed players, they know they want this. So their belief is I want to improve, I want to get better. So who works with us? The top players? Because in their brains already they're thinking I want to be better. So I'm going to look for every advantage I can that's out there to help me be better.
Speaker 1:But the issue is with a lot of other players that aren't committed yet. They don't know whether or not? Do they really want to play college level? Do they really want to play junior level? Do they really want to play pro? They haven't answered that question fundamentally yet, and because they haven't now, it's everybody else's fault.
Speaker 1:Well, this person's this, this person's that, whereas the ballplayers Kobe Bryant, any one of them, right and I'm not talking about that you make it to the NHL, you make it to Division I or you play major junior. I'm just talking about the mindset of I accept it for what it is. I may fail at what this is, but I'm going to do the work because that's what I want to do. I want to live my life as a high-performing individual and I'm committed to this process and I'm going to do the work. And that's what we're not ringing the bell on is. We're all trying to go on and do the same thing, and on Instagram, youtube, we're all trying to say these things, but at the end of the day, the fundamental root of it is how many of these families, players, coaches, right, whoever it is how many of them really want to do the work that's required to be involved in this chaos, because it's an insane game in so many ways.
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful game. It's a super fun game, but when we talk about the team collective aspect of it, it's nerve wracking, it, it's super challenging, and that's the part, right, that we don't appreciate enough of like, yeah, it's hard to do all that stuff like and at the source of it is your thinking, your thought process, like do you work on how you're viewing things and seeing things? Are you reflective, are you understanding that, so you can get better at that? Oh, I used to think this way, but now I, man, that was a silly way to think. Are we talking about that? Just like we talk about the power play or the PK? And, oh man, it's not working and we're all. We spend hours, right, the coaches? Right, we'll spend hours. This is the problem, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, and he's not doing this. No-transcript. Five on five hockey and away we go, yeah for sure, oh for sure, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:Uh, oh yeah. There's so many things going on in the hockey locker room, which is why it makes it one of the most beautiful games in the world too.
Speaker 2:You know, like the accountability to each other, and I even I even frame that underneath mindset too, is like how, like why, why being a good teammate matters for you, not only for your own personal like excellence and for your own personal advancement, but also for, like the like, why the success of the team actually matters. I mean, like, like those principles of that, sometimes we don't really get it. We almost feel like somebody else's success in that environment is to our demise and, and that's a belief system that you're talking about that is now holding us back from being our best. Well, so let's unwind where that belief came from and talk about what is maybe a more, a more serving belief system. That is actually true, you know, to the mechanism and I love that. I mean, the philosophy behind it all and the psychology behind it all is like I love it, I just geek out on it, and it's the thing that vast majority of people just aren't drawn to naturally. So that's why there's so much opportunity there. I think, when you can't expose them to them, like the lights go on and it's, and it's like holy, wow, this is a big deal.
Speaker 2:Um, the example I use, and and I, I had him on the pod and then he did. He had a bad connection and and we never were able to get it re, uh, reorganized again. But it was a Nathan Gerby and so I know you know him and for those of you out here that don't, he played in the NHL at standing at a towering five foot four. He was the shortest position player to ever play in the sport and we're talking like recently he played and he wrote an article in the Players' Tribune which I highly recommend anyone to read and I use it as part of my program and he talks about all the crazy stuff that he did, right, like growing up and the crazy stuff that his dad made him do. And you know, like the intense workouts and like his philosophy, like going into a game to try and run over the biggest player in the other team, every single game. You know as kind of like proof that I mean he wouldn't be stopped. But there was one line in the article where he says I believe that my size would not dictate my future and to me, like when I use that, I'm like that's it, that's everything.
Speaker 2:If he didn't believe that, none of the other shit he would have done, he wouldn't have been the hardest working guy in the gym. He wouldn't have pushed the cars around the parking lot, he wouldn't have ran over the biggest guy in the ice, because it wouldn't have meant anything, right? So, like I know Mike and was his belief system correct? Well, it was correct for him. Everyone else in the world thought it was wrong, right.
Speaker 2:So it's like the belief is what you choose, like it really is a choice. And so why don't we build ourselves with belief systems that serve us and what we want for our goals, because if they're in the way, we're in our own way Right. And for want for our goals, because if they're in the way, we're in our own way right. And for Nathan Gerby, he had a belief system that allowed him to do the things required for him to play in the NHL, and I just don't think there's a like. That's such a little beautiful example, because I think it's so black and white in that scenario that he would not have played if he believed anything else yeah, 100, 100.
Speaker 2:Just take a quick moment here from the podcast to chat about Up my Hockey and what's happening for the 25-26 season. I know a lot of you coaches listen to this podcast. I know there's a lot of administrators as well. If you do not have a mental fitness program for your team or for your association academy, look no further than Up my Hockey. We have grown and we are expanding further than Up my Hockey. We have grown and we are expanding. We're going to have coaches underneath the umbrella along with me and we can serve all the competitive teams that you can bring to us. That is the idea is that the players grow their mental fitness along with your program or association as they advance through the age groups. They advanced through their mental fitness programming without my hockey.
Speaker 2:It is a staple on curriculum that you can add to any academy, any association, any team, and I'm being so serious when I say that if you aren't doing this, you are missing out on a huge competitive advantage, but also on a personal, individual player advantage. If you want to have a culture set from the start of the year uh, that the players and the coaches can get behind uh and and get excited about uh, you would be amazed how many problems go away, how much more resilient the group is, how much more they look after each other, how much more they're dedicated to their own individual development, how much more competitive practices are. The list goes on and on. Uh, uh, when players start coming and arriving to the rink with the mindset required to be their best, not only as an individual, but as a team, uh, so, yeah, this is fun, it's all I mean.
Speaker 2:And and let's not forget the fact that, although we do want competitive advantage, uh, in competitive sports, uh, you're also giving your players the gift of mindset which will last with them outside of the rink and after they're done playing the game. So, yes, if you want to get involved in this for next season, now's the time that people are planning for it. So coaches, managers, reach out, association heads, presidents, gms, by all means get in touch directly on the website or to me at jason at upmyhockeycom, and we will make sure you get, get taken care of and on the schedule for next year. Now let's get back to my conversation with vinnie maltz and and that's the challenge, right there, right it.
Speaker 1:It's like you know, I remember talking to one player about this years ago in that way and I don't think you might have shared about Ross Colton, right, we had a good discussion about this of how when he was in college, he felt like he was considered almost crazy because of his belief in like meticulous detail. And then he gets to the NHL and it's like, oh, he's in heaven. He's like, wow, there's other people like me. This is cool and to your point, how many years, growing up as a local guy, I'd hear the scuttlebutt and, oh, he doesn't get it, he's this, he's that and oh, he's he's challenging the work with and there was no issue there, it was, he was just dialed, he was super intense.
Speaker 1:So imagine, right, how many people, oh, oh, look at you being a hero in the gym. Or oh, this guy, johnny, tough guy, always trying to be work so hard, outworked, everybody how many people get annoyed by that energy of like, oh, my god, but then it's that person. Their belief is so strong in what they are that, literally, it's like the people that don't believe that they revolt against like, oh, why are you so serious about?
Speaker 1:that. But then, but then they want, they want to watch the instagram video. They want to feel better of like oh, I watched jason, I watched the video they put out. Oh, I get it now. I get it now. Okay, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm gonna be okay now and it's like no, you're not gonna be okay what you don't understand is whoever it is that's in our cultures are driven.
Speaker 1:They're quote unquote, if you want to call it crazy a little bit Because, not because in an unhealthy way well, some may be unhealthy at times but in a way that's like positive for them in their spirit. Their spirits align with. I love this so much, I'm so passionate To your point. It's meaningful, it means so much to me. I'm in on this and that gets lost in translation. All this because now guys like us are out there putting things out and people will hear our message.
Speaker 1:And I don't know how often you're dealing with this, jason, like where it's like oh, oh, that sounds so simple, I'll just go do that. That sounds so easy. And it's like well, I know how it sounds and what I just said, but that's going to take months for you to develop that if you truly want to change that. But it's not as simple as it just sounded. Like what I said, like it's going to take a lot of work for you to undo your natural instincts and your fixed mindset and all the other things that like the influence around you day to day. Yes, in this moment, right now, people listening. Yeah, You're in it. You're listening to us, you think this is great. You're probably turning to your kid and going see, see, see I tell you that all the time and you're having this fun conversation in the car or you're watching it, whatever it is, and you feel so good about it, great. But as soon as we're gone and now you're on to the next video, or you're on to the next thing at work, or you're on the next thing at the house, you're forgetting about it real fast, whereas we don't forget, we do this on to the next thing and we go back to work. We go back to work every day. It's reflecting and making sure how's my process, is it working? How do I replicate, how do I do it again? And that's the challenge, right? Is that? You know? You look at youth hockey in general, right? How many coaches are, week to week, changing up their practice plans and doing something completely different and new all the time and they think, because they're being novel, oh, you've got to always change it up. Yeah, you can change up the things, but you change them up fundamentally doing the same thing, not focus on something completely different this week and next week and now they never actually got deep roots into anything. And that's the hard part, right. It's like people don't realize that the next level of what that is is it's to point earlier. It's boring, it's mundane, but the only way to actually change and develop it is because you're living your reality.
Speaker 1:You're personally committed to a certain part of your process. I'm going to make this shot work or I'm going to make this play work, whatever it is. And because you're spending each day thinking about did it work? Did it not work? Why didn't it work? Okay, if this worked today, great. Well, maybe that won't work tomorrow because we're playing a different opponent. Well, I have to do it differently. And you stay dialed into that over and over and over again and that to people. But what do you mean? We're not doing new stuff. Why aren't we doing more stuff? And it's like you don't get it of, like that's the challenge with all this is that how can I figure out how to stay connected to the consistency of this idea that I know this works for me, this is what works for me and my process. And I got to say Dial didn't know that.
Speaker 1:And that's a whole other mechanism that's so hard for people to appreciate because farmer's mindset it's boring. How many people want to just get up, go to work, do the same stuff all over again for 12 hours, go sleep and go again and do it again? Because they're looking at it in a long-term investment of? I'm not just looking at this, this for now, I'm looking to see where this takes me in the next decade and that just it's. It's a hard mindset shift because there's so many camps and clinics and summer teams and advisors and coaches and there's so many wonderful things of. I just need that person to solve it for me, as opposed to to no. You need to see first what do you want, what do you believe, what do you want to do first, then build out and and to your point earlier, it's the educational process. That's where we're lacking in behind, because we're not teaching that every day of no, no.
Speaker 1:If you want to say you want to play AAA, if you say you want to play major junior, if you say you want to play D1, you say you want to play D1, you say you want to play pro, you can do that right now. You don't have to wait till you're there. You can start acting like that now. Are you doing the things necessary to figure out. Well, this behavior is that way, but this behavior is not. Are you really figuring it out because you want it? Versus well, I say I want it because everybody else wants it.
Speaker 1:But really I don't want to work that hard and that's a really hard thing to answer for a human being, because you know it's ego, it's, you know, it's the what's the word I'm looking for? It's the FOMO, right, it's the shiny object syndrome of oh, we got to have that too. Like, oh, they have it. So I have keeping up with the Joneses. Like, oh, they have it. So I have keeping up with the joneses. Like, oh, your kid, oh, your kid's an amazing player. Oh, what did you do? Their kid's an amazing player. What do you mean? What did they do? That has nothing to do with your process. You can ask them for some advice, but your kid and you're they're going to go on two different journeys. What are you talking about? What did you do? Like we're trying to go ask that person. It's like you're not that person. Why are you talking to that person? Like it's great to hear some insight? You're not that person, because if you were, you know it right the uh, yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's, there's.
Speaker 2:So there's so much there, like the one thing that I I, when I'm listening to you talk, I'm thinking about a conversation I had with brad larson, who was head coach at columbus, the assistant coach, just recently in calgary and and and our conversation he was talking about. You know guys coming through his door as a coach and you know, whatever asking questions or wanting an opinion or not knowing, you know, usually it's an increase in minutes or they want these things right. And so you know he was just speaking that you know, be prepared If you want to ask those questions, that's awesome, but he's like, be prepared for answers. You might not want to hear. And and if you get an answer, you might not want to hear. What are you willing to do about the information given?
Speaker 2:And and he said on that stage, even like the nhl stage, how rare it was for, like, the feedback provided, like, let's say, you mean to use the example earlier of getting the puck out, you know, on the half wall, like maybe there was a winger that's having problems with that and he wants to earn more minutes, but the coach feels that he can't trust him in these environments enough, so he needs to go work on that. He said for four players to be continued to work on that. He's like the first week 99% of guys will be out there working on that stuff, but he said the amount of guys six weeks later that will be working on that, that, he said, are almost zero. And he says it blows his mind how, like guys forget or can't be consistent or stop with the process, uh and again. So I'm saying this to my listeners who are not nhl level probably barely any of them and and so we're now we're talking about developing this consistency, to be not distracted, to have simplicity, to have you know, this idea of building my personal operating manual and being consistent to that. How do we give them some insight or some actionable thing to do that?
Speaker 2:And I will preface this one other way I'll say when I'm working with players, I think that just the awareness that this could be a weakness of mine is sometimes enough to get you over the hump. You know, to be able to look in the mirror and say you know what I'm not consistent enough, like when I'm motivated I do things, but when I'm not motivated I don't. Sometimes, when you're not motivated the next time. That realization of that allows you to get over that hump and be like this is my opportunity to now get better. This is my opportunity to grow in this situation. Sometimes it is just that simple. Be like this is my opportunity to now get better. This is my opportunity to grow in this, in this situation. Sometimes it is just that simple, but anyways, I I'll. I'll give you the mic and say, like, how do we help young players become more consistent in something that sometimes NHL level players can't even do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no amen. And that right there, clip it of like that is so spot on, of like how many players? It's exactly it, you know, same, same thing, whether it's professional players, division one players, all the high level same idea. You've recognized something and you got to put the time in. But, that being said, I always look back on a mentor of mine. Nick Peterson said it perfectly the process is the shortcut. The process is the shortcut.
Speaker 1:So, fundamentally, what you want to engage with is it's funny, right, hockey's already doing it. You have a 1-2-2, a 2-1-2, or a D-Zone system. So, for yourself, you have to have some kind of framework. You can choose whatever you want, but mentally, you have to create some type of framework that you use, that you can engage with daily to remind yourself okay, here's what I'm doing. So for us, right, we'll use the most basic framework that we use is I am what I do and I do is identify, direct and own. So identify, okay, what's the one skill set, the one play, the one concept non-negotiable that might happen from coach that I need to be good at or else I won't have the ice time, whatever it is? You identify that thing as a target, right, because I always like to use the analogy anybody watching, right, I'll go. Right. Now I'm putting my if you're listening, I'm putting my fingers down you can't see them and I'll say how many fingers am I holding up? How many fingers? And so players are kind of guessing and they're trying to figure out, or how many fingers am I holding up? All right, so now I put up, I've got two right. So the idea is that if you have a target, if you identify, I'm going there. So you think about it like a GPS. If I know the address, I'm going to. Well, now it doesn't matter how I'm going to get there. I know I can get there. I might hit traffic, whatever, but I know now that's the destination.
Speaker 1:So rule number one is identify. Where are you going? What's the target? Just pick one, and again valuable, something that will happen repetitively, at least three times a game. It's going to happen multiple times a game. It could happen three to 10 times a game. It could be something as simple again, chipping, pucks out, making that pass initially right. It could be something so simple. That's like you know what, by me doing that, it's getting me out of defensive trouble, or by me doing that, it's creating offense right, or as a goalie, it might be by me doing that, communicating to my players in front of the net. It's helping them to have eyes behind their head.
Speaker 1:You pick your thing, identify, get a target, then direct. So now it's okay. What are all the variables? What are all the ways that, if this is the process, okay, well, I'm going'm gonna let's use a simple one, right, I'm gonna chip pucks out every single time today, or I'm gonna get pucks up as soon as I get back there. I'm gonna boom, move to get the puck and move it right away. Cool, direct, all right. So I'm gonna chip the pucks out Direct. So what direct is? Those are the just like in the GPS. Those are the little directions that go with it. Right, so, 12 miles here at, or 12 kilometers right here, 14 kilometers there. Right, so, 12 miles here or 12 kilometers right here, 14 kilometers there.
Speaker 1:What you're doing is now you're creating the images, the narratives, the ideas and the concepts that are based in reality. So, if I'm trying to chip the puck out, okay. So what are the constraints? What are the challenges I might deal with? Well, if I receive it on my backhand, I'm a lot weaker than if I'm on my forehand, I get it out pretty easily. Great. So now I know, belief system knows I get it out easily when it's on my forehand Cool. So I don't even have to think about the forehand because I already confidently know and believe I get it out easily. There's enough evidence to prove. I know I don't need to work on that because I'm good at that, but my backhand, that's challenging, okay, cool. So if it's challenging the backhand, what's challenging? Is it the way I'm receiving the puck in a situation? Is it when a defenseman comes down on me to get it out? Is it the area that I'm in? I just get nervous, right?
Speaker 1:What you want to develop is the ability to recognize. Is it a physical thing of how I physically might move through the situation? Right, so how my body's positioned in that situation that I need to work on. Is it a mental thing, a decision I'm making? I'm overplaying it or I think I don't have enough time when I actually do Right? Or is it just emotional? I'm afraid to get it on my back, like please don't give it to me. Like it's just an emotional reaction. I just don't have confidence and please don't give it to me there. Please don't give it to me there. Please don't give it to me there a way of going. You know what I can work on that, okay. So now I've directed it. These are the constraints, these are the challenges I might deal with, right and so, or you know what I'm really good at receiving on my forehand, so how can I move and direct it in the today's game? I'm gonna get on my forehand. I'm gonna keep position repositioning myself today so I can get on my forehand and, bam, get it up and out right, like you can see it. But what you're doing is you're acting as your director.
Speaker 1:On the duality of hockey I think we talked about this, right. I'm like you've got to see both sides of the game right. You've got to see it as I might. I'm weak at this, I'm not great at it, but I'm strong at this, and so if you can identify both sides right Offense, defense, winning and losing hot, cold. Reality is based in two sides, if you can see how well, this is challenging, but I'm really strong at this Now you can flip it and go. How am I going to direct this? Like, okay, so if I'm in a challenging position, this is what I'll do, but if I can bend the game and be in a consistently strong favorite position, well, I'm going to do that all day long. So you've identified the target.
Speaker 1:You've now figured out, you've directed in your own head right, even talking through it, you're spending that time as we're talking through. That's what the player wants to do is imagine, see yourself through it. But as you're imagining those ideas, don't imagine fairy tales, don't think about fantasy. Think about real world challenges. That just happened last practice. What happened in the last game? What do you actually know is real? That's happening right now in your reality. Right, is real, that's happening right now in your reality, right?
Speaker 1:We call it the 72-hour rule of you always want to look present. You want to look at three days before, three days after. You don't need to go anywhere else, like just where am I now? What evidence have I had over the last 72 hours? What evidence do I have of where I'm going the next 72 hours? Simple, stay present. And so the idea with that is for the players to recognize. Okay, so these are the challenges, or this is what's working, good, awesome, now I'm prepared for whatever.
Speaker 1:And then the last part is owning it is. Reflect on it. Okay, you just did it, you just played a practice, you just did a game. Did you do it? What happened? What did you observe in reality? That just happened. Did it work? Did it not work? What did you think about? Or what didn't you think about? What were the directions? Was there traffic? That was like, oh, wow, I didn't even think about this. But the next time, the next game of practice, I'm going to think about that. I'm going to improve this part of how I chip it out. Or, wow, you know what I thought about chipping it out of my backhand and I realized, oh, I just physically, I just wasn't getting it under enough. But today, when I did that, oh my god, it worked. So you know what next practice I'm going to work on getting under it. And just now, kobe Bryant, I'm going to boom, develop that over and over and over again, because that's so much easier. Like that, I had an aha moment. I got to make sure I get that down on that reflection and rinse and repeat.
Speaker 1:So identify, direct and own is all about identify what that target is. Direct is okay. See all the variables, think it right, really understand. You could come back to the. You know those, uh, the questions, you know the stories, being able to come conversation like dig into that right, what is that right there, that's the meat and then own it.
Speaker 1:Did I do it or not? Don't have coach tell you, even though it feels good. Don't have your parents tell you, even though it feels good it's nice to hear from them, but from yourself Did I do it today or not? Be honest with yourself, self-assess yourself and say did I do that or not? Yes, I did that today or no, I didn't. And here's why. And if you could just get a framework, get a system in your own head or in your own process that is going to reflect on your process that you are committed to now, you can build upon that self-awareness mechanism that we've been talking about. But if you don't have a system, you don't have a process to walk through your own brain and your own head and your own thoughts, it's not going to work.
Speaker 1:So, fundamentally, a simple way identify right, put the target on there. What is it? Boom, I know where I'm going. Direct it. Put all the different variables that might happen. Think it through how I'm going to do it today, what's going to happen, what I need to prepare for and then reflect on it when it's over, right.
Speaker 1:So before identify it, before think about where it's going before, then go play, do and then own it afterwards. Did it happen or not? And why not? Or why did it happen? And if you just keep that loop, going to your point six weeks, that's amazing how much I've seen players right. That's. That's literally why we've stopped working with players is because what I observed was you're not doing the work. So, like what are we doing here? You're not. You're not really interested and invested into what this is. You just want to go on the ice and play skills, and well, that's fine. But if you really want to change your mindset and thought process, that's the work. You have to know how you think about it and then keep on battling. For how am I going to think about it later with this updated software? By going in reality, right, not imagining. You know, jason, like visualization, game seven, stanley Cup. Why are you imagining that You're not in game seven, stanley Cup? Like, imagine where you are right now. Like, what are you doing now?
Speaker 2:Not this fantasy that you're having in your head and you think that's visualization, right, right, yeah, the uh, I, I for everyone listening. I think the, the underlying theme here is a way that I phrase it is at some point you can. You can play hockey, which is 100 fine, it's an amazing sport. Play hockey all you want, but if you want to be a hockey player, that's when you're adding in this nuance and the details and and and the strategy really of of everything else that happens. And I think the, the younger, and it's not it's not being maniacal about it, but like the younger that somebody does get that process of like I, it's not just me showing up up the rink when mom and dad dropped me off, and it's not just me doing my workout, when I'm told to do the workout, but it's me applying this level of awareness to the practice, to the workout, to my time outside of those things where I'm maximizing what it is that I want to do, which is be great. You know, like, how can I be great? How can I get better? And without the uh, without the ability to reflect and without the ability to plan and execute, like we're completely missing huge opportunities there. So, like, that's what I get excited about and I hope that other people listening to this right now like players that maybe you're doing well, maybe you're not doing well either camp. If you haven't thought about what you can bring to a regular team practice when it comes to your own individual skill, even something as simple as that, what can you do in today's team practice that the coach has designed, that you know you are focusing on something for you specifically. Wow, like that's double ending the practice. Now you've had two practices instead of one, right, so it's like I just want everyone to understand like that, like that's what we're talking about. We're just talking about intentionality and awareness within that, and you can spike your development curve drastically by understanding that concept.
Speaker 1:Yep, amen, amen. And that's the challenge, right, like to your point, jason, what we're all dealing with is a lot of people are like, oh, it's another thing. Right, we went through with strength and conditioning for years. I remember back in the day when them just started out with strength and conditioning 20-something years ago and I was doing player development stuff and I was already kind of thinking mindset stuff there of like, well, here's why we do the squat, because when you're in this position on the ice, or here's why we launch, or why why you'll do bench and all that stuff, right, so I was already thinking about that.
Speaker 1:But that's the issue. I think that a lot of people are oh, I gotta add another thing to this. As opposed to well, no, it's quite the opposite. Like, what this thing does is it makes you more efficient, it makes you more mindful of oh, I don't have do everything. You start to learn how to process of elimination, well, what works, what's actually helping me and useful for my process and what is not. You're auditing your process. As opposed to, yeah, players are doing so much now.
Speaker 1:But the issue is, it's like the diner menu effect. Right, they were talking about something like yeah, you walk into the diner and there's tons of things to eat on the menu. But you know you love that gyro sandwich. That's man, when I come here, this is not. That is so good, it's good. So that's what you're trying to fight for is like, if you know that's good, go eat it. Not well, I don't know, maybe that other, I don't know and then you grab the other sandwich and then you're like, oh man, I should have grabbed the Euro.
Speaker 1:Players are. That's the analogy of what players are doing is they're not realizing. Is you know? And especially if you've seen this, the higher up you go. I'm always amazed at how much, when I initially consult with a player and I talk to them, they know what they need to do. They know the answer already. They already know what they need to improve and change. It's just they haven't had the confidence to believe in it. That it's that simple or wow, like that's all I have to do. Yeah, I know it sounds simple, but now we got to work on it Because you're going to have other ideas and you're going to have to battle for well, coaches think something different.
Speaker 1:So do you know how to go articulate to coach? What specifically you're thinking? Because that's not normal. That's not normal to go talk to coach, but if you're going to allow coach to keep telling you and you don't have the courage to go talk and say well, here's what I think, and you know I'm a little confused, coach, so there's a constraint there, right, you're going to, you're going to lose out on that.
Speaker 1:So I think that's the part where it's not another thing, it's the thing in terms of efficiency process, to really be able to take everything and audit it and say what actually matters to my process and the age old confidence. Everybody talks about confidence, right, and it's like to your point earlier, like how can you be confident in something if you don't know what? That is right, like we always talk about I think you know it's greater than I, or I think is, or I know it's greater than I think you have to know. You have to know, like it's not a, I think two, no, no, it's a, no, no, I know. No, no, it's two, it's two, and that's the way the brain works. Is you have to know in your process I know this is what I'm going to go do, and then let the game reveal itself of you know what. This is, what I think it was, but for some reason it's not working.
Speaker 1:But a mindful athlete, that's what they're so good at, and I think that's the constraint we're all dealing with is it's not another thing, it's not a oh well, now I got to go do more. I got to do mindset work. I got to do strength addition. I got to go do skills. I got to work on my skating. No, like no, the opposite. If you are dialed, this is what I teach other guys that are dialed. It's like well, since you're dialed, we're going to teach you leadership. We're going to teach you now how to be a coach and how to influence and help others around you on your team so you can have more fun with your teammates. Right, you're gonna enjoy the game more if you're now helping others. Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're dialed. But what about? Everybody else is participating with you. You get to help now with that. Oh, cool all right, sweet, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I was listening to that, I mean I've had some my own personal experiences with with coaches that I mean I hate to put it as a hierarchy and I don't know where I am in this hierarchy, if there even is one. But you know, like somebody that was, I was into high performance in psychology and I was somebody that would self-assess and do these things right, I mean as a player, and I ran into coaches that just weren't like that at all, you know I mean. So now you walk in with this ability to communicate or at least least a perceived ability to communicate where you're at and what you want to do, and understand the macro idea of, hey, we want a team that wins, yet I'm an individual in this environment that also wants to move on and succeed, and then you kind of get a door slammed in your face at different times. So why I bring that up is because, yes, I do teach and promote and advocate for for players to be able to communicate. It's a lost art, even more so than it ever has been.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, why do you do the things you do? And and and and why? You know what. What do you do and why do you do it and what do you feel about that and why and all the rest of it. And even though, like that is amazing for the individual athlete, you I mean gosh Vinny how many times do you walk into, deal with a strength coach or deal with the coach or deal with whatever like if you don't understand or have an idea of where they're coming from, you're screwed right. So, like this helps that too, because you have to manufacture and create relationships if you want to get anywhere in this, and the more you understand where your coach is coming from, the better you are going to be able to interact in that relationship. So, I don't know, I think that's almost more paramount than any of it is the interpersonal scenarios, whether it's with your line mates, your teammates or with the coaching staff, the guys that are making decisions. There's a game of chess to be played if you want to play it.
Speaker 1:A thousand and you nailed it right. One simple story that I recall over the years and this has happened many times one of our Division I players in the summer goes and works with his skills coach. Right Shooting coach has a shooting coach he's working with, goes in, starts working. It's a couple of weeks into it and he's telling me what they're working on. I'm like oh hold on.
Speaker 1:Are you working on everything that we identified about where your shots are coming from? You know you're coming off the wall. You're coming in. Did you tell them about that? Oh no, no, I haven't talked to them about that. I mean, hold on.
Speaker 1:So you know, in your process we've done all this work for the last six, seven months this year playing. You know how you've been thinking through it and you're going to work with this shooting coach in the offseason and you're not telling them what you were thinking and what you needed to work on. That you naturally found, through playing Division I hockey Like it's legit hockey. You discovered it for yourself. You know this works and you're not sharing that with the person that's about to train you and they're just going to go do their thing and go rogue and develop whatever they want to. That's to your point. What a massive constraint of like. What are you doing? And I gave it to him. Oh, okay, okay, sorry, sorry, I'll go talk to him and create a little thing for him to like here, bring this, use this as a highlight to remember, to keep you dialed in. But what are you doing? You got to go talk to him about that and that's to your point.
Speaker 1:Why so much of important? Of no one, right? No one's going to tell you you have to walk in and go. Hey, oh, strength conditioning coach. Okay, cool skating coach. Hey, well, here I want to use this. You're going to be the expert, but I'm using it, this, to develop these patterns, these thoughts, this kind of stuff that I'm doing in the game. Can you help me develop? I'll still do the fundamentals of what you're teaching, but I also need you to teach me how to improve this, because this happens to me multiple times a game when I play Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I love it. I know that your constraints for time are very complex. Yeah, yeah, I'll let you go, maybe we'll just leave you with one thing for the audience. I don't know where you want to go, but I like kind of asking sometimes what your definition of mental toughness is or what your definition of mindset is and why that's important to athletes. And maybe we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. I love it. No, mental toughness to me, honestly, is it's accepting the conditions for what they are and being willing to say you know what it is, what it is, and I love doing this. I love it's the old, it's the old, you know, become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:I think what we don't recognize is and I give this analogy to players all the time it's not about learning how to process the feel good stuff. If the feel good stuff worked and that's all it was everybody would be doing it and there would be. We wouldn't exist. There wouldn't be anything to exist. Reason why we exist because we know the higher up you go, you're managing where 80% of the season is going to feel uncomfortable. There's going to be conversations that need to be had. There's going to be my body's breaking down on me. There's going to be the overwhelmingness of like whoa, this is intense, you know. There's going to be so many changes coaching change. There's going to be so many variables media and now you're getting lambasted and it's embarrassing publicly. Many variables media and now you're getting lambasted and it's embarrassing publicly.
Speaker 1:So the mental toughness is recognizing. This is what I signed up for and I love being a part of this right Pressure is a privilege. So I love the fact that I get to be in this and it's going to be hard, and I understand, like I have no problem with the hard, but that's what I'm developing is oh, this is what I signed up for, right, like you'll appreciate this, how many times I've had a you know NHL coach or a college coach hits me up and starts complaining about something? I'm like wow, I'm coaching in the NHL. Wow, I'm coaching Division One college. Wow, life is so hard. Wow. And they just start laughing and they're like you're right. And it's where what we have to realize is we are choosing to participate in this.
Speaker 1:So mental toughness is that you know you've accepted the conditions for what they are. This is what you signed up for. And then you're recognizing oh, it's hard, that's okay, because in order to do anything worthwhile in this life, it's hard. Let's stop thinking that love is easy, positive is easy. You have to fight for those things. It's hard, but you love it. You love fighting for the heart yeah, perfect, I love it.
Speaker 2:Um, well, you have a great day. I really enjoy the conversation, as always. I know that, uh, my listeners will will have extracted a lot from that and, uh, best of luck with everything you're doing. We didn't even talk about you and your journey, but I mean, that's the way it goes. We uh, maybe we'll have a part two and three, but yeah, it was a ride. Love what you're doing, a continued success and uh, yeah same, appreciate you man.
Speaker 2:Thanks brother thank you so much for being here for the entire episode, uh, but a little over an hour with vinny, I had a blast. Vinny, uh, is super pumped up and passionate about what he does and I think that's fantastic. I think there is an energy to high performance. I think that there is definitely a feeling behind it and Vinny has been through it. He's been through it with a number of players and he brings the energy every day to every conversation. It's something that gets uh him psyched and uh, and I really appreciate him sharing his stories and his you know his outlook on it.
Speaker 2:Again, like I said at the start of of this, of this, um, this conversation, or I guess in my, in my lead up to our conversation, that there are many messengers out there. There are many different messages and some are very similar. Like parents come to me all the time, you know, after their players taking a program or having a call with me and saying, oh, I just loved hearing what I've been saying reinforced. You know that. You know we say very similar things. I'm not pretending that I don't say similar things in many coaches and many parents out there. That's not really the point. The point is, does it come from somebody that is going to apply the information, or is it delivered a different way that perhaps they now hear it differently? So whether it's the way the message is delivered, whether it's who the message is delivered from, the message is delivered, whether it's who the message is delivered from, I don't know. I don't know the exact secret sauce. I just know that sometimes players notice and sometimes they will execute, and when they do those things, they will get results. So whether that's from me, coach Pods, about my hockey and my mental fitness program and the Peak Potential program and all the things I do, I might be the person for you, and if I am, that's fantastic. Maybe it's one of my associate coaches, that's the person for you, and if that's the case, then fantastic. Maybe it's Vinnie Maltz and that's the person for you and that's fantastic.
Speaker 2:The idea here is that let's get better, let's get on the bus of personal development, of personal growth, of how to be the best player you can be, how to understand what your process is, what your personal operating manual is, how you can eclipse developmental timelines by doing things that you aren't doing right now. They're going to help you be the best player you can be. So by all means, look up vinny at bloodlines hockey, you know. Check out the up my hockey website. Search for a local sports psychologist in your area or somebody who does the things that similar things to what vinnie and I do. It's all good.
Speaker 2:We are all in this to help the players get better, help our sport become better by providing better environments with better mindsets, so things go positively and people view challenges as opportunities and find solutions to problems and not exasperate them. Oh, my goodness, that was a hard word for me to say, but I think you get the point. So, vinny, I really appreciate you coming on. I really appreciate what you do for the hockey community and the life and energy you bring to it, and I know you're doing a ton of great things for the players you work with and for everyone else out there. Dive into it, dive into personal development, dive into the idea of mental fitness, what it can do for you, what can it do for your game, how it can help you with your outlook, with your attitude, with your life. And you know what my closer is Until next time, you play hard and keep your head up. This is Jason Padilla without my hockey.