Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 October 2014 14:18
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
I had the great fortune to be invited to spend this past weekend with the St. John’s University hockey team. As much as I hope to give and share my knowledge with others, like the Johnnies hockey program, it is the gifts these young men bestow upon me that reawaken my own understandings of things.
Kevin Ziegler, along with two of our Navy SEALs friends, Lou Nebel and Justin Walker, visited the Johnnies in hopes of helping them with a problem they have identified within their program. The players and coaching staff believe that in the past, they have lacked a bit in self-confidence and mental toughness.
To start the process, we asked each of the players to develop an individual mission statement; a why they exist, a why they play hockey. I think when each of us are very young, we play to be part of a group. We play because the game is fun.
As we grow, one of our missions is to a greater understanding of many things. Maybe the most important of these life understandings is an understanding of self. It is an understanding of purpose, of why we exist in the first place. This is, of course, a topic contemplated by philosophers for many ages. That said, it is a topic that each of us wrestles with in our own lives.
I thought a bit more about this as we instructed our students this weekend. I came home and in watching the news shows, was reminded again how important this topic is as another high school student committed murder in his own school. I don’t know what was bothering him, but I suspect that at least in part, he lacked an understanding of his purpose.
Purpose is as basic a motivation as there is. Why do we want to play the game? Why do we get out of bed each and every day. Without a strong purpose, we can easily be swayed to unhealthy and unproductive choices. Often, those that are not moving forward are doing so because they don’t know where or why they even want to move forward.
I thought about this topic and even if it was relevant, being that many of the people who read this are young. Then I thought about the school shooting and I thought maybe our youth of the Minnesota hockey community need to start thinking about this sooner in their lives.
To our hockey players, do you have a why? Do you know what is important to you and your life? It is not easy to know and understand when you are young. But it is important to try and understand what it is that is important to you. It is important to understand your why. This is your base, the purpose is what holds you up and supports you, especially when times are difficult.
If you know why you play, you will more likely persevere through the bad times or the times when coaches are critical, etc. If you know why your life is important, you get through the times when there is a relationship break-up or something other not-so-pleasant in your life. And unpleasant times happen for us all. It is how we get through it that counts, and getting through it often requires an understanding of purpose.
Without purpose, it is easy to quit as we don’t know why we have started out in the first place. With purpose, we are hard to discourage. We are almost impossible to hold down.
The St. John’s players were asked to give great contemplation to these questions. They shared their thoughts with their entire team and coaches. Some had great and refined thoughts. Others were in development and still others admitted they struggled greatly with this very question. Through it all, they gave those in attendance the gift of themselves, a piece of their inner selves.
For me, it reminded me how very lucky I am. I was able to take a team of coaches to St. John’s and positively impact some young lives. I have no question in my mind that this weekend will forever change the lives of many of these players. And some I believe greatly so.
And that is my purpose; to have a positive impact on others. These young men and their willingness to allow us into their lives was a gift to me. It allows me to fulfill my purpose and for that, I am grateful. And to know – at least to believe – that some of these young men’s lives will be changed in a positive way forever, well for me, there is no higher purpose.
It is always amazing, that when we set out to give, we often receive more in return. That’s how I feel today … a very lucky man. And to all of you, think about your purpose. It is your base, your solid rock from which you play the game of life. With a good base, you’ll be hard to knock off course.
Kevin Hartzell was most recently the head coach of Lillehammer in Norway’s GET-Ligaen. A St. Paul native and forward for the University of Minnesota from 1978-82, Hartzell coached in the USHL from 1983-89 with the St. Paul Vulcans and from 2005-12 with the Sioux Falls Stampede. His columns have appeared in Let’s Play Hockey since the late 1980s. His new book “Leading From the Ice” is now available at Amazon.com.
