Coming back

It has now been nearly a month since the season finished and since then I’ve had a break from updating the blog, to focus on other things than hockey and rigorous training. Needless to say that I haven’t just sat on my back side with a pack of chips (or crisps as the Brittons call them) in hand, but I’ve been doing other things that have taken my mind off the game for a while and tried to keep myself in some sort of shape, so I don’t have to start an uphill climb in a few weeks time. Well to be honest it will be an uphill climb but atleast it won’t be as steep as it was last year.

There have been interesting things happening and a real buzz going on with things related to hockey that have, quite frankly given me more of a boost for next season. There has been things going on that have made me realise that some of my dreams and aspirations are not as lofty as I first thought. It will be definitely an interesting period to get myself into shape for the up and coming season again and I’m starting to hit the gym with a vengeance in a weeks time to start the training properly.

There have been things that I learnt from last season and things that I know I can, and have to do better and more effectively to start making a difference. I think I found my motivation again when I was staring at a slogan at the gym that stated that “Endurance wasn’t built in a day.” I think this statement is very true for myself and serves as a good reminder of the hard work hockey players will need to carry out off the ice, as well as on it.

Even though the season didn’t go the way any of us really hoped for, I think that there were lessons there that we all can learn from. On a more positive note we didn’t come at the bottom of the table and we never have done in the past few years. I think one of the more positive things to come out of our recent AGM (apart from a raging hangover) was that guys seemed pretty committed to get to the playoffs and with new faces and old faces coming back in, we seem to have a good enough team to challenge for a playoff spot next year. My own personal goal is always to get to the playoffs and bring back something more than taste of bittersweet disappointment, but to achieve that, it needs a whole teams’ support.

Speaking of the AGM, I managed to (somehow) scoop up the team top point scorer, despite failing expectations I’d set myself and having a pretty much an off season by my own standards. Though having said that, statistically yes my season was bad, but in light of other things that I did, I think I played the best hockey I’ve done in a long while. I was able to agitate and I wasn’t shying away from board play, or at least not as much as I used to. The other award I picked up was the Players Player of the year award, which I’m grateful for and would like to thank all my team mates who voted me for the award. It’s a great honour to get that level of distinction from the people you spend a lot of time of the year with. Knowing my temper and the type of person I am in competitive situations, I can be a bit of a dick to be honest, but I appreciate the guys for giving me their votes.

Though if I’m completely honest I would much rather exchange both trophies for a trophy being presented to the team at the end of the playoffs. That would be better than winning any amount of individual awards, or then winning the awards at the end of a season where we’ve scooped the championship.

I will start documenting my way back to the land of the gym and all things hockey related soon enough. But for now: Bring on the pain!