Today was 'the day after', body felt well used. Lucky it was raining so that, even had I wanted to, I couldn't break my resolution to have a skate-free day. I know my body appreciated the break. With the change in weather (cooler, wetter, with moments of warm humidity between the cool periods) and the tiredness, physical stress (ie training) could easily lead to illness. It was like this the day after my first late Sunday ice training session (starting at 10pm). Next time I'll be even more prepared. Know thyself.
It was a bit funny last night. Out of fifty skaters plus coaches I might have been the oldest on the ice. Maybe a third were truly of the next generation to me. No-one seemed to have an issue with this (including me). I found myself happily chatting away with my fellows whether 17 year old bantams hanging out to turn 18, twenty something year old apprentices, 30 something year old goalies. But, on reflection and through the prism of my general lassitude, I can see how there might have been a few differences.
Considering I learned the lesson of COMPETE when 17 (my last game of school footy) and never really lost it from that time once the battle was truly joined (ie I 'engaged'), my style last night (see previous post) might appear a bit hesitant/stand-offish. Most obvious in the battles, when tended to look for the free ice or the interception point, leave the board to my partner, etc, but evident elsewhere also (eg. not pursue the puck to the bitter end in the full ice pairs, choosing to skate on rather than chase down the errant pass in the triplets, etc). Especially weird when think that the aim was to display oneself before the coaches and stand out somehow (amongst fifty players!).
At times I was aware of the coaches watching through a viewing window onto the ice, had few doubts that I registered on them by my age, beard and Oilers sweater if not my hockey ability, don't think it affected my on-ice decisions at all. Maybe I should have let it do so?
The draft is such a challenge. Not that it was impossible to do (I could at least understand and tolerably perform the various drills albeit not as a star), but the challenge of knowing one might be lacking (and probably so, according to the criteria most likely to be judged by) was not disincentive enough to turn me away. In this case, fear of failure didn't really stack up against the risk of not having a go.
Even at this point, though, well worth the effort. From my perspective, I backed myself by putting my body and my ego on the line. So all my effort is not just puffery. That's comforting to know. And, perhaps less egotistically, I got to see the level on display that I will have to aspire towards over the coming year if am to be successful at whatever the next opportunity is that comes my way.
Afterall, at 47 it's not the time to apply the brakes!
No comments:
Post a Comment