One of the areas that we at Paul Vincent Hockey (PV Hockey) focus on is what we call “taking ownership of your game”. Being accountable to not only your team and teammates, but also to yourself. As a player in today’s game, you owe it to yourself to understand your game and be accountable for it. In today’s highly skilled and highly competitive game, every advantage that you can take advantage of is a plus. We have been training players for over 40 years and no program in Massachusetts has a track record of development like ours. We take tremendous pride in making sure that we maximize your potential and that starts with skating, skating and more skating.
Every summer, you’ll find a poem called “The Man in the Glass” on the back of our jerseys:
Man In The Glass
When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what the man has to say.
For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.
You may be like Jack Homer and chisel a plum
And think you’re a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.
He’s the fellow to please-never mind all the rest.
For he’s with you clear to the end.
And you’ve passed your most difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.
You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.
One thing you cant do as an athlete is lie to yourself, others maybe but not yourself. Take ownership of your game, look in the mirror and be proud of who is smiling back at you. Stronger edges might mean the difference of winning the race to the puck, getting your stick on a shot on the PK or being able to make that extra move before you move the puck up ice, letting your teammate get open. We don’t want players playing whack a puck, its not a hand grenade.
You can be assured of one thing, Coach Vincent has been the leading skills coach in the country for close to 50 years and will be ready to bring a transformational program to help take your game to the next level, that is the easy part. A Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame member, class of 2017, a Stanley Cup Champion, a Division 1 college coach national champion, Prep school championship, won the Quebec tournament, but that is not what will make you the best that you can be, on and off the ice. Looking in the mirror and being accountable to yourself and buying into PV Hockey’s skills development program will help you achieve your goals.
Your skills set is exactly that, your skills set. Not your linemates, not your opponents, yours. Take ownership of it and understand your strength and weaknesses, you will be able to take your game to the next level. We believe it is critical to work from the feet up as hockey is a game built off of skating.
The incredible development of the average skater over the past 50 years is amazing, some of which can be credited to the advances we have seen in technology/skates but a bigger part of it is the breaking down of the stride and progressional drills that we use to build off your base. Here is an example of how we get you to do a skating drill in stages: Only moving to the next step after mastering, understanding and feeling that level first. It needs to be like breathing to you, natural and easy. This way when the pressure kicks in or you are having a bad few shifts, you have the confident to “trust your game” and stick to the process. A process that is built through great teaching and coaching.
It used to be the exception to have an elite skater on a team, whereas today you may see a majority of the players at that level. The NHL has that, D1 to a lesser extent and right on down the line. The point here is simple, if you can’t skate, you can’t play in today’s game. Understanding why a cross over is really a cross under, as the “under” skate is where all the power comes from. Getting and keeping your hands away from your body, not crossing over when playing D on a guy and skating backwards, always trying to stay in an athletic position, on and on. All parts of your game that you need to “take ownership of” and practice to the point of it being natural. Remember, the mother of all skills is repetition. But the add on here, that we insist upon, is repetition done correctly through great teaching. Doing the same
thing wrong, over and over again 100 miles an hour accomplishes nothing, nothing outside reinforcing bad habits. Take a look again at the above video and you can see it clearly.. Take “ownership of your game”, be accountable to yourself and be the best player you can be. Another key point, “your best”. We will help you identify that and strive for it. Again, your best. We are just as proud of a player who gives it his all, plays club hockey in college or 4th line on his high school team, so long as he knows he did his best, that is the guy you will like when you look in the mirror. Your best is all you can strive for….
No better place and time to start then today and with us at www.pvhockey.com