As a bench coach, you give up the
right to have friends and frenemies in your league. What you get
instead, is an extended family. The ruleset changes. Everyone's
business becomes your business, you become accountable to everyone.
But what do you do when, unlike Annamiettinen, you have no prior experience
with dealing with sibling rivalry, twenty different personalities and
all the emotions in the world in one moment?
Jedi mind tricks.
Our travel team has been called the
dark horse of Finnish derby. What is a dark derby unicorn made of?
Common goals, determination, sweat, practice, practice, practice. One
important factor behind our league's development during the past year
has also been training our brain muscles and mental strenght.
As a bench coach, I try to provide
skaters with Jedi tools and to encourage them to pick their own
brain. I can tell you when to call the jam and give you a strategy
for winning the lead, but the commitment, the drive and the will have
to come from inside each and every skater. I can tell you to find
your own motivation, but I can't find it for you.
