Shownotes
The primary focus of this podcast episode is our enlightening conversation with Anthony Morando, a distinguished strength and conditioning coach renowned for his expertise in training elite athletes, particularly within the realms of hockey and collegiate sports. Throughout our dialogue, we delve into the intricacies of athletic preparation, emphasizing the significance of tailored strength and conditioning programs that cater specifically to the unique demands of hockey players. Morando elucidates the pivotal role of consistent training and the importance of developing a holistic understanding of fitness, which transcends mere physical strength to encompass overall health and well-being. We also explore common misconceptions surrounding youth training, providing valuable insights for parents and coaches alike. Ultimately, this episode serves as a profound exploration of the methodologies that underpin successful athletic development, underscoring the necessity for dedication and a strategic approach to training.
If you’ve ever felt frustrated by slow progress or wondered if your effort is going unnoticed, this conversation will remind you why consistency still wins. The work matters — even when it’s quiet
Bio
Anthony Morando is a strength and conditioning coach and performance professional with deep experience developing high-level athletes across hockey and collegiate sports. Before moving to Grand Forks as an EXOS Performance Manager, he served as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at Boston University, supporting the men’s hockey and women’s golf programs from 2011–2015. Earlier in his career, he spent more than six years at Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning, where he trained and managed NHL and other professional hockey players—while also running an annual summer pro-camp. Morando has also contributed at the professional level, spending time with the San Jose Sharks during their 2014 development camp.
Anthony began his coaching career at Boston College (2006–2008) as a graduate assistant strength coach with BC Football, where he implemented training programs, supported nutrition and performance initiatives, and assisted with special teams on game days. He holds multiple industry certifications, including CSCS and CSCCa, along with RPR (Reflexive Performance Reset), FMS Level 1, TRX Level 1, EXOS Performance Specialist (XPS), and CPR/AED/First Aid. Anthony and his wife, Monique, live in Grand Forks, North Dakota, with their four children—Mickey, Sonny, Ralphe and Edi—and he lives by the principle: “Chance favors the prepared.”
Behind every visible success are thousands of invisible reps. This episode pulls back the curtain on the unglamorous work that creates meaningful results — the practice sessions, the repetition, and the patience required to improve when no one is applauding.
Takeaways:
- The significance of maintaining a consistent training regimen cannot be overstated for athletes striving for excellence.
- Recognizing the unique physiological differences among athletes is essential for tailoring effective training programs.
- An athlete's success is heavily influenced by their work ethic, accountability, and consistent effort in training.
- Developing a strong foundation in youth sports is critical for future athletic success and lifelong fitness habits.
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Transcripts
You.
Speaker B:This is Sharpening youg Edge with Chuck and Eric.
Speaker C:In this episode, we're going to be.
Speaker B:Speaking with Anthony Morando.
Speaker B:He's a strength and conditioning coach and performance professional with deep experience in developing high level athletes across hockey and collegiate sports.
Speaker C:Welcome.
Speaker A:Welcome to another episode of Sharpening your Edge.
Speaker A:I'm Chuck Verdolino along with my co host Eric Melanson.
Speaker A:And today we have strength and conditioning coach who has experience in developing high level athletes.
Speaker A:Welcome to the show.
Speaker A:Anthony Mirando, my man, welcome to the show.
Speaker C:I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule.
Speaker C:You've got big shoes to fill after Monique was just here.
Speaker C:She's great, man.
Speaker C:She's awesome.
Speaker C:And I told her that I look forward to meeting here sooner rather than later.
Speaker B:That's high caliber.
Speaker B:High caliber, buddy.
Speaker C:I had to think back at the beginning of this podcast how long we've known each other and it's been like 25, 30.
Speaker B:Got our first tattoo together.
Speaker C:That hurt.
Speaker C:Yes, we did.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And old forties.
Speaker C:Forties uncle.
Speaker B:Forties uncle.
Speaker C:Right now X. X. Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That was a good time.
Speaker B:Shadiest.
Speaker B:One of the shadiest places I've ever been to.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:Awesome.
Speaker C:Well, we got a lot to unpack here, so I'll just, I'll jump right into it.
Speaker C:I mean, you've worked at every level, youth, collegiate sports, and you've trained NHL players.
Speaker C:I know you're super close with a lot of the boys from bu.
Speaker C:So what pulled you into like strength and conditioning first off?
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:I know you spent a lot of time in the weight room with Big Cat at Malden Catholic, but you were a big hockey guy.
Speaker C:So how did you initially get drawn to strength and conditioning and what was that pivot like to hockey for you?
Speaker B:I think initially with strength and conditioning.
Speaker B:I always say this, right?
Speaker B:I'll always credit us how we grew up, right?
Speaker B:So we're kids born in the 80s, grew up in the 90s, watched a lot of Rocky, watched a lot of Rambo.
Speaker B:So that's the initial phase.
Speaker B: Watched a lot of the: Speaker B:I think that after playing three sports at MC and playing the sport at Bridgeton and playing the sport in college, I always wanted to be around it no matter what.
Speaker B:And that, that just seemed like my jam.
Speaker B:I love to train, I love to stay fit.
Speaker B:And I think it's a huge component to success for athletes.
Speaker B:Not even for athletes, just for anybody in general.
Speaker B:I think fitness is life.
Speaker B:And with strength and conditioning, you can apply it to sport, you can apply it to the military, you can apply it to everything.
Speaker B:So that just kind of caught my eye.
Speaker B:It's a different way of serving.
Speaker B:It's a different way of serving people, helps people.
Speaker B:So that's what really drew my attention.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:I think what I loved about the weight room in high school, I think the reasons why I loved it in high school, the same reasons why I love it now, it was a place where everybody could be everybody's welcome.
Speaker B:Didn't matter who you were, didn't matter who you knew, didn't matter what you did.
Speaker B:You can train, you get a level playing ground, and what's truly measured is accountability and effort, and those are both specific to any sport.
Speaker C:I love it.
Speaker C:And you had some pretty awesome mentors along your career, right?
Speaker C:I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Mike Oil and the success that he's had before.
Speaker C:You guys met after at bu and what pulled you into the hockey world?
Speaker C:Was it Mike specifically?
Speaker C:Was it before that, or what was it?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think.
Speaker B:Well, Mike has a lot to do with anything I say, to tell you the truth.
Speaker B:He's a huge mentor.
Speaker B:He always will be.
Speaker B:I'll always give him credit for everything.
Speaker B:And I think that what drew me to hockey was that I had a decision if I wanted to leave Boston or not at the time.
Speaker B:And I took a trip.
Speaker B:And when I came back from that trip, I just decided that maybe it wasn't the right time to leave.
Speaker B:So I decided, hey, I might as well ask him, can I do an internship?
Speaker B:Can I work for free at bu?
Speaker B:And when I interned from Mike two years prior to that, I worked with a ton of hockey guys.
Speaker B:When I realized there's an NHL athlete, major junior athlete, collegiate hockey player, they put in a ton of work, and their sport is a marathon opposed to a sprint.
Speaker B:I was always used to a sprint, so I had a little bit to learn, and I fell in love with that process, too.
Speaker B:I really enjoyed training those guys.
Speaker B:Those guys were.
Speaker B:And women, too.
Speaker B:I trained a lot of females at the time, too, because they were always around.
Speaker B:So I got a really good sense and feel on, I guess, the anatomical creature that a hockey player is very similar, probably.
Speaker B:I like to compare it to UFC fighter, to be honest, because the energy system development and the anthropometry, there are some similarities.
Speaker B:And, yeah, I just said, hey, you Know, I like, this is cool.
Speaker B:And then when I intern, they win a national championship.
Speaker B:So I go, well, that was fun.
Speaker B:Let's do that again, right?
Speaker B:And the boys were awesome.
Speaker B:The staff was awesome.
Speaker B:I felt like my second week at bu, I felt like I had worked there for five or six years.
Speaker B:I fit in well, right?
Speaker B:I'm a Boston kid.
Speaker B:Where we grew up, it's very close, and I just.
Speaker B:It's the home.
Speaker B:It was a hometown team and it was cool.
Speaker B:And then those years at BU were pretty special.
Speaker B:Those years at Mike Boyle strength and conditioning are really special as well.
Speaker C:Yeah, awesome opportunity.
Speaker C:I'm a huge.
Speaker C:Chuck knows.
Speaker C:I'm a huge BU fan.
Speaker C:Grew up going to the games.
Speaker C:You knew that.
Speaker C:And my kids are getting the pleasure of training at Mike Boyles facility now.
Speaker C:So it's.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:It's cool.
Speaker B:It comes full circle.
Speaker A:So when the layperson here, strength coach, they're like, all right, we're going to the weight room, we're going to lift some weights.
Speaker A:And you said UFC fighters, you compared them to hockey players.
Speaker A:And the fact that with UFC guys, if you have too much bulk, you often see those guys gas out pretty fast, right?
Speaker A:And today too, if you look at NHL players on the street, if you didn't know who they were, you wouldn't know they were hockey players based on some of their physiques.
Speaker A:You think other than maybe Anders Lee, who's got tree trunks for legs.
Speaker A:So there's a different sort of being, quote, in shape for hockey, right?
Speaker A:You could train your whole life, but you step off the ice for a couple months and you go back on, you're completely out of hockey shape.
Speaker A:So what does preparation really mean for a hockey player?
Speaker B:I think preparation for a hockey player, it's twofold.
Speaker B:I think one is how do you keep them prepared in season, and then how do you prepare them in the off season?
Speaker B:And I think with hockey, since, you know specifically, that's what we're going to be talking about, we have to tighten up the slack that basically as loose during the season.
Speaker B:I know specifics.
Speaker B:I try to really get away from the 45 degree angle striding when I'm off the ice with them specifically because it's a pattern that they perform constantly on the ice.
Speaker B:So I really try to restore their groin muscles, restore those imbalances when they get off the ice when it comes to training.
Speaker B:So we're not sitting there driving our leg 45 degrees.
Speaker B:We're not going on a skating treadmill.
Speaker B:We're not trying to specify movements that are relative to the ice.
Speaker B:In the months of April, May, June, July, when we hit August, we might get more specific to those movements.
Speaker B:I think with hockey players, we do do a lot of isometric work to enforce them in lower, lower positions, to lower their center of gravity under load so they can maintain that time under tension.
Speaker B:Another thing that I know that I do specifically what a lot of hockey players is, we do a lot of deadlifting, a lot of hinging, but a lot of single leg patterns, a lot of double leg patterns, but a little.
Speaker B:A lot of reactivity work.
Speaker B:And when I say reactivity, reactivity can mean our plyometrics are reactive off of a cadence.
Speaker B:They're variated with multiple combinations of bounds, jumps, and hops.
Speaker B:That's jumping on one leg, jumping on one leg, landing on the other leg, maybe jumping on the same leg, landing on the same leg.
Speaker B:And then I guess to wrap that one up.
Speaker B:Conditioning, conditioning is always the number one priority when it comes to this type of athlete.
Speaker B:In anaerobic conditioning, both have to fit the realm.
Speaker B:The easiest way I like to describe that is shift the shift.
Speaker B:We're going aerobic.
Speaker B:And I know, right?
Speaker B:I'm keeping it simple here.
Speaker B:Shift the shift, we're going aerobic.
Speaker B:Defenseman is going to have that 48 to 53 second shift.
Speaker B:That forward is going to be anywhere between 28, maybe to 34, give or take, right?
Speaker B:Just spitballing.
Speaker B:But either way, we're training those specific intervals with tactics, bikes, sprints, sleds, and then we can't forget the entire hockey game, that 60 minutes that surrounds the game.
Speaker B:So that steady state conditioning is a must for our hockey players.
Speaker B: ady state conditioning on the: Speaker B:That's not the case, really.
Speaker B:Now we need to maintain an oxidative, systematic heart rate.
Speaker B:And when I say that, we have to be able to have a conversation while we're working out.
Speaker B:That's the type of heart rate we have to keep.
Speaker B:And we want guys and girls to males and females to have that component as well, so they maintain the fitness.
Speaker B:I think that combination of work capacity sustains the athletic performance of a hockey player.
Speaker C:That's a.
Speaker C:That is a lot of awesome information.
Speaker C:Obvious.
Speaker C:You've had a ton of knowledge.
Speaker B:I think at the end of the day, too, guys, I always want to get this out there.
Speaker B:I've been on a lot of these suckers and I always try to leave this message, like you have to just, whatever you're doing though, you have to continually work your ass off.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:You gotta work on.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:That's what it comes down to.
Speaker B:We can't have, we can't get away from high intensity days either.
Speaker B:Like the myths of, oh well, we're gonna get her training.
Speaker B:Well, good training is good training.
Speaker B:Bad coaching and bad training is bad coaching and bad training.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So we got to get after it too.
Speaker B:You're playing a sport and you have a privilege and opportunity to really exhaust yourself in the right realm.
Speaker B:So I just don't want to ever lose the fact that you got to work your ass off.
Speaker C:I think if you're gonna, if you're gonna find two people that agree with you, it's Chuck and I, that's for sure.
Speaker C:I mean, it's one thing I just preach to my boys.
Speaker C:Just go out there and work where I just put the work in.
Speaker C:Just be gritty, put your head down and just go to work.
Speaker C:Bring your lunch pail.
Speaker C:So you touched on a couple of things that some misconceptions.
Speaker C:But what in your experience and your career to this point, and from my understanding of it thinking back, like it's kind of bookended at this point by you step into it training at BU with Mike Boyle and learning and then winning a national championship off the bat.
Speaker C:And then last season you were coaching the high school boys to a Minnesota state championship, which I was just talking to your wife about.
Speaker C:We were on the couch watching here, celebrating with you because.
Speaker C:Because that was awesome.
Speaker C:But having trained hockey players for it for a long time at multiple different levels, what do you see some common mistakes are that they're making in their off ice training because there's a lot of them.
Speaker C:And everybody's got a platform nowadays, right?
Speaker C:Like with Instagram and Facebook, everybody's a strength coach.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that's the common mistake, right?
Speaker B:There is, there is, there's so much information and then it's, this is bad, this is good, this is good, this is bad.
Speaker B:Look, if you got 27 guys on a hockey team, I will tell everybody until they're blue in the face, whether they agree or not.
Speaker B:Every kid on that team is different.
Speaker B:You're gonna have some kids who are gonna be a double leg back squat kid because of the neutrality of their spine.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:You got your lord daughter curve, your curve.
Speaker B:You a natural arch in your back.
Speaker B:And these guys are gonna look better back squatting.
Speaker B:Some of these guys are gonna look a lot better Front squatting.
Speaker B:Some of these guys maybe shouldn't even two leg squat.
Speaker B:Maybe they should hex by deadlift instead of.
Speaker B:Because the axial load isn't going to fit their.
Speaker B:It's not, it's not going to fit their anatomy.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I always like to look at guys and I got Indiana's strength coach a while ago for football, Penn State, couple different schools, kids a freaking genius.
Speaker B:He made this presentation off of how our thorax is built and it was called tanks and rockets.
Speaker B:Some guys are going to be long and explosive, some guys are going to be short and stocky and on a hockey team, on a football team, on whatever.
Speaker B:And sir, here you're going to have all kinds of differences, differences in anatomy.
Speaker B:So I think the specifics come with how well you coach.
Speaker B:When we watch TV, when we watch Josh McDaniels, the OC of the team of teams, okay?
Speaker B:When we see him, he's got his script, he's looking at things and he's probably manipulating 10 different ways how he can, what, score a touchdown.
Speaker B:When I used to look at Coach Quinn, he'd have three or four different ways on how to get the puck in the net, right?
Speaker B:So we have to be that too.
Speaker B:We have to be.
Speaker B:We have to call audibles.
Speaker B:We have to know that this guy is a unilateral squatter.
Speaker B:And he's going to be a unilateral squatter because it doesn't create any back pain, there's no hip pain, and they can play hockey, right?
Speaker B:So I think that's the first thing I really dive into, Eric, is how well can I actually coach a human?
Speaker B:Because these exercises, these data analytics, all these, everything that is out right now, they're all tools, right?
Speaker B:They're shiny, bright, it's like you, but you still need the right person to use them.
Speaker B:So I trust my eye, I trust my ear, and I trust my heart.
Speaker B:Because all three of those need to work simultaneously to put these people in the right position to be successful train.
Speaker B:So I think that might not be like the sexy answer for people, but you got to be a good freaking coach and you got to know anatomy and you got to know anatomical function.
Speaker B:When I say anatomical function, I don't mean the jackass on Instagram that's juggling two kettlebells on Bosu ball.
Speaker B:Sorry, sorry.
Speaker B:This is where my, like, little.
Speaker B:It comes like my mini Joe Rogan, right?
Speaker B:But it's.
Speaker B:I want to see hockey players on one leg because 99.9% of the time they unilateral.
Speaker B:We need to teach them how to be anti rotators, meaning we need to give them exercises that are going to resist torque.
Speaker B:Because if we don't, then again we're just creating repetitive patterns off the ice and eventually we're gonna have a low back or hip injury.
Speaker B:And I want to try to really bulletproof their shoulders as much as possible because anybody who's playing hockey, they gotta.
Speaker B:I think people have to understand.
Speaker B:Highest collision rate, least amount of padding.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Highest collision rate, least amount of padding.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So when Scott Stevens hits.
Speaker B:When Scott Stevens hits Erik Lindrose a lot.
Speaker C:It's a lot of mass.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker B:That's a lot of.
Speaker B:That's a lot of pop.
Speaker B:And the other thing is too, I think extra shoulder work, extra posterior chain for the upper body, A lot of extra shoulder proof work goes into consideration due to the fact that the boards can always beat you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Great equalizer.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Something Eric and I, and I'm sure you heard growing up was lifting weights stunts growth.
Speaker A:Don't lift weights when you're young.
Speaker A:So what, what age do you think players should begin structured strength training?
Speaker A:And what should that specifically look like?
Speaker B:Great question.
Speaker B:Specifically, I think what we always.
Speaker B:I know what I always do and I know what my staff always does now is we follow the long term athletic development model.
Speaker B: eated, it started in the late: Speaker B: and I think: Speaker B:There could be stuff going in right now.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But either way, I think following the long term athletic development model or the American development model, which one's Canada, one's America, they have these stages and these stages of train to train or learn to train.
Speaker B:They differentiate a little bit.
Speaker B:But learn to train is basically our middle school kids.
Speaker B:And when I say that, that's like that sixth to eighth grade zone.
Speaker B:Those kids who are just getting at that bantam level or late peewee, I think those kids are the.
Speaker B:That's where the bread and butter can really occur.
Speaker B:And they can start training, they can start pull ups, they can start split squatting, they can jump, they can land, they can sprint, they can do push ups, they can learn how to lift weights correctly, but in a light format with a fundamental pattern.
Speaker B:I'm not excluding the peewee of squared age at all.
Speaker B:I think with those kids, it's play as many sports as possible, have as much fun as possible.
Speaker B:We do have a group for those kids.
Speaker B:But those kids do obstacle courses, game, small area games for about 45 minutes.
Speaker B:We're not doing a whole lot of weightlifting with them.
Speaker B:Technically, weightlifting should occur at the peak height velocity phase.
Speaker B:So your PHP is your maturation process for males and females.
Speaker B:Males is going to be anywhere between 12 and 15.
Speaker B:Females is going to be anywhere between 11 and 14.
Speaker B:So that's when they're going to maturate.
Speaker B:That's when the process starts, where they're hitting puberty.
Speaker B:And that's when you say, okay, natural anabolic hormones, that window is open.
Speaker B:Their conditioning demands are increased because they're growing, their growth hormone is higher.
Speaker B:And then it's like, okay, I can load this kid.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day, I don't think anybody's growth is getting stunted.
Speaker B:I think that's an ancient myth.
Speaker B:Just like coffee is going to make you short, right?
Speaker B:And nobody ever talks about what's going to make you freaking tall, guys.
Speaker C:I wish collectively, we're all about 5, 10 on this podcast at the most, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, collectively.
Speaker B:But yeah, I just think that if the patterns are good and they're fundamentally performed under good coach and supervision, I think kids can lift weights.
Speaker B:I just, I'm not going to back squat a six year old, but I could give them a little bit of feedback, a stimulus with the goblet squad, have them hold something on their chest and teach them.
Speaker B:I don't think that's going to bother the human body, but the LTAD model and the ADM model do make parents woman fuzzy.
Speaker B:And it gives us a base of research to launch off of when we are creating a program.
Speaker B:Hey, we're in a learn to train stage.
Speaker B:These soon to be bantams are going to be able to do A, B and C because they're going to hit this peak height velocity.
Speaker B:So I think the LTAD ADM guide us in the right direction when it comes to answering the question.
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Speaker C:All that development stuff and starting at the right age and everything, it's obviously critical that, that like the drive and the focus are there and the hard work and continuing.
Speaker C:So you had the opportunity to coach some super special players over your time.
Speaker C:And thinking back to it, Jack Eichel sticks out my brain just because I've seen him as a person and I've seen him in the weight room and he looks like an absolute animal in the weight room.
Speaker C:So having played, seeing guys play at that level and train them in the gym, what are the, some of the intangible things that separate those that are like the good from great.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:Like you have a really good hockey player.
Speaker C:Obviously he's playing at BU at the Division 1 level.
Speaker C:But what, what separates that guy from Jack Eichel?
Speaker C:Like where, what is that?
Speaker B:I think Jack I had a year with Jack was lucky to be in that position.
Speaker B:The first thing I can say about Jack is we just had a really good relationship.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Other people trained Jack before he got to bu.
Speaker B:Jack did train a Mike Ball strength conditioner with kid named Ben Bruno.
Speaker B:He trained with Ben.
Speaker B:Ben did an amazing job with him.
Speaker B:Jack hit puberty at a younger age.
Speaker B:Jack was a specimen when he was before he even came to be here.
Speaker B:And then I think with Jack the number one priority was don't get him hurt because he can pull a lot of weight.
Speaker B:He's high, high.
Speaker B:His muscles have some high energy.
Speaker B:He's explosive.
Speaker B:He's extremely explosive.
Speaker B:He's a, he's phenomenal.
Speaker B:And when you look at that, you go, okay, I've seen this type of athlete before.
Speaker B:I Saw it when I was young.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:Yeah, don't get him hurt.
Speaker B:So Jack worked really hard.
Speaker B:He was the complete package.
Speaker B:He worked really hard.
Speaker B:He was.
Speaker B:He's a nice kid.
Speaker B:He still is, right?
Speaker B:If you can still reach out to him if he needs something.
Speaker B:He's always been great.
Speaker B:Even when my kids were born, he's always done the little things, and I don't like to ask those guys for anything.
Speaker B:So he's a great person.
Speaker B:He worked hard.
Speaker B:What separates him from these other people is he simply.
Speaker B:He's got this.
Speaker B:He's got this genetic, natural gift when it comes to playing hockey.
Speaker B:When I think people think that they can work to get to that level, that's God made right there, and that's special.
Speaker B:Not saying that you can't work to get to an optimal level of yourself.
Speaker B:Understand, there's not many Jackson, Connor McDavid's out there.
Speaker B:There's just not.
Speaker B:It's a rarity, right?
Speaker B:So when you see it, especially in a strength and conditioning position, you don't want to be the guy saying to him, oh, you could get on 10 more extra pounds.
Speaker B:No, dude, we gotta keep you healthy.
Speaker B:How's this feel?
Speaker B:Your numbers are gonna be good no matter what.
Speaker B: But I think Everybody knew in: Speaker B:He's going to the Oilers or he's going to the Sabers.
Speaker B:So what do we have to do to keep him healthy?
Speaker B:And I think with him, too, I think people Forget he was 17 years old at the time.
Speaker B:We have to keep him happy.
Speaker B:We have to make sure he's having fun here as well.
Speaker B:And there's got to be a likability factor with an athlete like that.
Speaker B:And then there's got to be a likability factor with the black ace.
Speaker B:You got Jack, who's going to play every single night, but then you got six or seven kids who aren't playing, and then you got your.
Speaker B:Your middle of the pack, guys who are playing 15, 6, 16 minutes a night.
Speaker B:So everybody's so different.
Speaker B:His work ethic was stellar, but so wasn't the rest of the first line, second line and third line and fourth line that year.
Speaker B:That's why we're in a national championship.
Speaker B:Does it help having that phenomenon?
Speaker B:No, of course it does.
Speaker B:But I think people can't forget we had excellent goaltending in, excellent defensive core, and we had excellent forwards, and we had the youngest team in the country.
Speaker B:So all those kids worked hard they just built different athletically.
Speaker B:Some are skilled, very skilled.
Speaker B:They needed to put weight on.
Speaker B:Some were in tip top shape, but they didn't have this.
Speaker B:They didn't have the skill that they needed to have.
Speaker B:So how do you train those guys?
Speaker B:You get the most out of them by working, working them the hardest they possibly, possibly can.
Speaker B:Getting the most out of them with specifics that they maybe need.
Speaker B:We look at some of the defense men and I said, okay, guys, like some of you guys need to get a little more pep.
Speaker B:And you step, we're going to do an extra day of speed work.
Speaker B:And when you're a strength coach in the college setting like that, when you only have one team, I mean you can do anything you want with them.
Speaker B:NCAA regulations, you have your eight hours or whatever, but you can do a whole lot of individual work with the guys.
Speaker B:You can get guys, hey, some guys want an extra work, forearm work, because they feel like their shot wasn't strong enough.
Speaker B:Okay, so we're gonna get in a barbell, we're gonna do certain things.
Speaker B:Again, I hope I'm answering that question.
Speaker B:Jack's the name that pops up a lot at bullshit.
Speaker B:But we had a lot of guys go to the NHL within that five to six years that I was there and I just, they were all just so different.
Speaker B:He was phenomenal.
Speaker B:And then you had some of these other guys who were just really good hockey players and they got to that.
Speaker B:They got to the league too.
Speaker B:And they worked really hard.
Speaker B:They were just very blue collar.
Speaker C:I mean, I think we talked one of our other podcasts, buddy of mine who was who coached at Lowell and as a scout and he sees the same thing.
Speaker C:Like you look at the NHL in the first two lines.
Speaker C:Your top six are probably all first round picks.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So the.
Speaker C:Everybody's going to need that bottom six, those gritty players that fill a role.
Speaker C:That's one of those.
Speaker C:Chuck and I hit it all the time.
Speaker C:Like it's one of those only sports that like, you're a role guy.
Speaker C:Like you just play your role, whether you're a bottom six dude, you're going to be a fourth liner, you're going to go out there and you're just going to grind and your role is to grit and get in front of that net and tip pucks and everybody plays their role.
Speaker C:And then that's why I just love this game.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:You talked about how you trained your methods for training future NHLers like Jack Eichel and other professional players.
Speaker A:We have a wide audience.
Speaker A:We have parents of youth players and we also have D1, D2,3, D3 athletes that listen as well for maybe a young kid or a parent of a young kid or someone trying to make that next step into high level competitive NCAA hockey or even junior.
Speaker A:What don't we see behind the scenes that elite players do differently in the gym than anyone else?
Speaker B:I'm going to say the answer to this question is simple.
Speaker B:Show up every day.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:Show up every day.
Speaker B:Sunday isn't off, Saturday isn't off, Friday isn't friggin off.
Speaker B:You got to show up every day.
Speaker B:Every day you should be doing something to build your game.
Speaker B:And when I say every day, if you're playing hockey and you're going to want to try to make it to the next level, you should be ripping pucks every single day.
Speaker B:Like you have to continue to refine your skill.
Speaker B:But then what is going to refine your skill?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Obviously performing that skill is a must.
Speaker B:It's a must have.
Speaker B:But then how are you going to continue to supplement that?
Speaker B:And that's what the weight rooms for this two, three players that I can name off the top of my head that I used to see every summer and they put the work in every single day.
Speaker B:And the young kids, I tell my young guys this all the time.
Speaker B:I guys, I have a bantam team right now that I absolutely love, right?
Speaker B:These kids are going to hang banners because of their cohesion, because of their attitude and they show up every day and they're kids and they love it, right?
Speaker B:They just freaking love it.
Speaker B:They put on, they love their little 90s rock which is my parents.
Speaker B:Oh, it's awesome, right?
Speaker B:Like yeah, can we this, they call me Ammo, right?
Speaker B:Ammo.
Speaker A:Ammo.
Speaker B:And actually freaking Jack in our goalie OC they made that name up.
Speaker B:They put that name together 11 years ago now.
Speaker B:But these kids, these kids, I tell them all the time, if it's important, do it every single day.
Speaker B:So that's what it comes down to.
Speaker B:Are you working on the anti rotation?
Speaker B:Work your core work, right?
Speaker B:Are you foam rolling?
Speaker B:Are you stretching?
Speaker B:Are you eating the right snack before bedtime?
Speaker B:Are you sleeping eight hours a night?
Speaker B:Are you hydrated?
Speaker B:Those things, that's an everyday deal even for us, right?
Speaker B:You need to find a way to do something every single day if you want to keep the shitty tide away.
Speaker B:And that tide is coming.
Speaker B:That tide can come for everybody.
Speaker B:So it's if you're playing hockey, that little devil's going to creep in and say you don't have to do this today.
Speaker B:Well, you do.
Speaker B:You just do.
Speaker B:So I'm sorry if that answer is too basic, but you gotta do something every single day if you want to make it.
Speaker B:It's just gonna happen because you guys know you have parents.
Speaker B:Okay?
Speaker B:Like, we got parents.
Speaker B:Some are here, some are.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day, like, they're not gonna do us for us.
Speaker B:They're not gonna do that for us.
Speaker B:I want my kids to work their asses off, but at the end of the day, what I'm gonna say is gonna shut down.
Speaker B:Like, you gotta be.
Speaker B:You have to do it.
Speaker C:I tell my.
Speaker B:We all gotta do it, dude.
Speaker A:I can't.
Speaker C:I tell my kids all the time.
Speaker C:Not all the time, thankfully.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:I can't care more than you.
Speaker C:Like, I can't try for you.
Speaker C:I could teach you all the things in the world, show you these things, but I can't try for you.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:In the hockey world and really in the, like, growing up in lifting weights and stuff like that, just in sport in general, at least it's getting better now, and I think technology has helped that.
Speaker C:But recovery is something that often gets overlooked, Right?
Speaker C:Or at least it did.
Speaker C:It's getting better now with the Normatex and the Theragun.
Speaker C:All these, like, every whiz, bang tool, the ice tubs.
Speaker C:But what does effective recovery for a hockey player look like?
Speaker C:Like, what are some, like, staples here that we.
Speaker C:Yeah, that they should be doing.
Speaker B:Yeah, the.
Speaker B:The local university has every recovery tool in America.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So when you go on a tour, they're going to show you all that best things in the world that money can buy.
Speaker B:Let's go back to Rocky 4.
Speaker B:Sunlight, long walk, jog, little meditation, maybe ever.
Speaker B:Maybe 24 hours without your phone, sleep, take a hot tub.
Speaker B:Here's the thing.
Speaker B:Not everybody's got access to an infrared freaking sauna.
Speaker B:Not everybody's got access to the bells and whistles at all.
Speaker B:All these universities.
Speaker B:Now, again, hey, I'm not against any of it.
Speaker B:I'm just saying, what if you don't have that?
Speaker B:Our high school team doesn't have that.
Speaker A:I was gonna say go out for a walk, take in some sun.
Speaker A:It's free, right?
Speaker B:It's free.
Speaker B:It's free.
Speaker B:And it worked before.
Speaker B:And I think keeping that mentality, too, I think we owe that to our ancestors.
Speaker B:And when I say ancestors, guys, I'm not talking.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, I mean, in a way, I'm talking 10,000 BC, but simultaneously, I'm talking About the.
Speaker B:We're paying homage to people who didn't have this as well.
Speaker B:Like we have to honor that too.
Speaker B:Hey guys, high school hockey team, we don't have 15 saunas.
Speaker B:Drake may isn't buying the O line asana right now.
Speaker B:We don't have that.
Speaker B:But we have foam rollers, we have stretching tactics, we have steady state conditioning, we have dynamic warm ups.
Speaker B:And if we do that consistently and build it in a routine, you got a good recovery tool.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But it's not sexy.
Speaker B:But it's sexy when you can flip it like that and you can go, no, we have a consistent freaking routine.
Speaker B:This is what we do.
Speaker B:And then we warm up 380 times a year as well.
Speaker B:So like it all comes together, it encompasses everything.
Speaker B:But consistency is what it comes down to.
Speaker B:Your recovery is only.
Speaker B:You're only going to recover and regenerate.
Speaker B:If you're recovering, your regeneration tactics are consistent.
Speaker B:I tell the kids all the time, if you're going to normal attack today, then you're normal attacking today, two days from now and two days from now or else it isn't going to do.
Speaker C:Well.
Speaker B:My legs feel good if I just do it once.
Speaker B:Yeah, but they're not going to feel good if you play a game two days after.
Speaker B:So yeah, I mean it's again, it's, it's finding those simple solutions.
Speaker C:Consistency and consistency.
Speaker B:Yeah, Consistent, simple solutions.
Speaker B:We have to find everybody's different and every single facility is different.
Speaker B:I mean this facilities that I've had the trained kids, I've had to train them underneath the leeches.
Speaker B:What am I going to do?
Speaker C:Adapt.
Speaker C:Right, right, right.
Speaker B:Not everything is white collar.
Speaker C:Know that you want us the caveman concept, whatever you can.
Speaker C:And we talked to Monique about this too.
Speaker C:Is that the.
Speaker C:I'm a huge believer in getting 1% better every day.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Do David Brailsford's aggregation of marginal games.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:So I think that's huge.
Speaker C:And you hit on it so many times.
Speaker C:I mean it's.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:From your aspect, like what a.
Speaker C:Parents.
Speaker C:Parents.
Speaker C:So we'll shift off of the player and onto the kid.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:What are these parents like?
Speaker C:What have you found throughout your career?
Speaker C:Maybe more specifically now that you're pretty heavily involved in the high school program there in the youth program.
Speaker C:What do you find that the parents misunderstanding the most?
Speaker C:Like for strength training for their players.
Speaker C:Do you ever see that parent be like, well, have you thought about maybe they need to do some more curls or anything like that?
Speaker B:I will say this, I am so lucky when it Comes to the parents of our hockey players.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:They're great.
Speaker B:And you might not hear that often, maybe not at all.
Speaker C:It's a rarity.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:That's a sad state of affairs for youth sports, but that's neither here nor there.
Speaker B:Our hockey team, East Grand Forks High School Hockey, have a really good relationship with the coach, with coaches, and with the parents, because I'm in a position where there's a business I have to run, Right.
Speaker B:And then in addition to that, there are relationships that I want to keep.
Speaker B:And going to their banquets, going to their games, buying a coffee for one, having a coffee with one of the dads.
Speaker B:A lot of the dads actually train with me in our adult groups.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I think, again, time and consistency creates those relationships.
Speaker B:And I think one of my goals with those kids in the initial phase of it, which was about 60 years ago, six years ago, was not really want to embed myself and build around this community.
Speaker B:And so that's what I've really done.
Speaker B:So I think the parents have never been an issue for me.
Speaker B:They never really have.
Speaker B:I actually value them a lot because they give me a lot of support.
Speaker B:And I think that they're also a little older than us, Eric.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker B:Just a little bit older than us.
Speaker B:So that they're from a similar generation, which is helpful.
Speaker B:And a lot of them have played sports.
Speaker B:So I am.
Speaker B:I'm extremely lucky.
Speaker B:And then the parents who do make a squawk, not every sport, every athlete has them.
Speaker B:I think what I have found is if you just give a solution to what they're looking for, it usually pacifies the situation.
Speaker B:A lot of parents think sports specific training is the end all, be all.
Speaker B:And what you really need to do is you need to tell them what specific actually means.
Speaker B:And then once you do give them a little bit of education usually calms the waters pretty quick.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker B:I think hockey gets a bad rap with parents.
Speaker B:And I think it's two reasons.
Speaker B:A.
Speaker B:Every piece of information in the world right now is the.
Speaker B:We're desensitized to it.
Speaker B:So if somebody sees somebody yelling at a hockey game, it's.
Speaker C:And it's on the.
Speaker C:It's on the Internet.
Speaker B:Hey, man, look, the guy's on.
Speaker B:He's fine.
Speaker B:He'll be fine.
Speaker B:You don't need to get in a fight.
Speaker B:Then it turns into this kid's bashing that kid.
Speaker B:Whatever.
Speaker B:That's just stupid.
Speaker B:Chances are those people on that video didn't play a sport.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:Or they didn't make it.
Speaker B:And then I think, but with hockey, that happens in every single sport.
Speaker B:Go to a wrestling tournament, go to a dance tournament, go to a cheer tournament.
Speaker B:You get crazies everywhere.
Speaker B:And usually if they're getting too high on something, it's because they just.
Speaker B:They might not be educated on the entire process.
Speaker B:So what I really try to do is I try to stay away from.
Speaker B:There's two things I really try to avoid is I try to stay away from.
Speaker B:Oh, great, here we go.
Speaker B:I just try to say, here's an opportunity for me to educate a couple more parents and make a little bit more money.
Speaker B:And then I really just try hard to.
Speaker B:I mean, the curtain's up, so, hey, come watch a session.
Speaker B:Come watch a session.
Speaker B:This is going to be more than just lifting weights, and you're going to see why.
Speaker B:And when they can see that it's a holistic hour of preparing the human body for A, B, and C. They go, oh, that was a lot different.
Speaker B:I didn't expect that.
Speaker B:So it's education, using your education to a positive, I guess.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:No, I think that's critical.
Speaker C:I mean, we're so apt to just go into confrontation mode and not like, education mode, and try to explain things to people.
Speaker B:The other thing, too, if we wanted to back up the other thing with the play, is too, what I'm really learning now, because now what you're gonna hear is you're gonna hear guys around our age now go, kids, you know, they're so different.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're different.
Speaker B:They're different.
Speaker B:But I have kids, you have kids, we have kids.
Speaker B:So I don't want to say that about my kids.
Speaker B:And then my kids are little and they're still coming up.
Speaker B:So, like, these kids, what these kids need now more than ever is they need constant solution.
Speaker B:And when I say that, I mean the days of chest up, it's gone.
Speaker B:Hey, Juice, I got a kid.
Speaker B:Kid's Last name is O.J.
Speaker B:but I call him Juice because it sounds like O.J.
Speaker B:right?
Speaker B:It's like, oh, Juice, keep your chest up.
Speaker B:But then I'll give him two reasons why that's what these.
Speaker B:I think that's what athletes right now need.
Speaker B:They need those extra two reasons.
Speaker B:They need a little bit of reassurance, and they need to know why they're doing what they're doing.
Speaker B:And if they do, you're good.
Speaker B:That's my biggest gold mine find right now, is offer constant solutions.
Speaker C:I love that.
Speaker C:I think that's great.
Speaker C:I mean, now I'm going to apply that to parenting as well.
Speaker B:Just offer constant solutions.
Speaker B:That's what it comes down to.
Speaker B:Because if you do then not a confident, we're not in a, a very confident society right now.
Speaker B:We're just not.
Speaker B:It's just.
Speaker B:And it's not political.
Speaker B:We're just not.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:And then a lot of hockey players that you get, especially at the 12 to 15 year old age, some people have never trained before.
Speaker B:So, so our goal with that East Grand Forks community is I want these kids at 11 and 12 years old and that's what we're doing.
Speaker B:And that's why like these kids by the time they're seniors, like they're gonna go into a college weight room and they're gonna, they're gonna be fine.
Speaker B:It's cool they developed.
Speaker B:But I think part of the development process now is offering constant solutions.
Speaker B:Some kids might need four, some kids might need one.
Speaker B:That's where the honor coaching comes in.
Speaker C:I love that.
Speaker C:I'm going to take that away.
Speaker B:Same same with the parents.
Speaker A:And now let's take a quick break to hear from our partners.
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Speaker A:Is there another piece of advice you might give to a 12 year old hockey player?
Speaker A:And how would that maybe differ than something you'd say to a 17 year old chasing college hockey or the junior level?
Speaker B:I think the first thing I say to any kid is, hey bud, just show up.
Speaker B:Let's just get there first.
Speaker B:Just keep showing up.
Speaker B:Keep knocking on that door a little bit every day.
Speaker B:That's all.
Speaker B:Keep showing up.
Speaker B:And then I think when we're talking to younger kids too, we have to, I think what you guys are doing are good because you're trying to pull examples of the athletes that I guess I'll say I've trained.
Speaker B:We've trained.
Speaker B:I say we because there's a lot of people that have been on my road that have trained the people that I've had an experience with.
Speaker B:So I never want to seem like it.
Speaker B:I never want to be like, yeah, well, I did this.
Speaker B:And for, I think that telling these kids that you got an opportunity.
Speaker B:Matt had an opportunity too and this is what he did when he was a kid.
Speaker B:I think giving them that example gives again.
Speaker B:That gives them that reassurance.
Speaker B:I think it's important to tell a good story for kids.
Speaker B:I think it's really important to tell a good story for kids.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:You guys ever see Game of Thrones?
Speaker B:You watch the guy.
Speaker B:Okay, you see that last episode when Peter Dinklage is.
Speaker B:Everybody loves a good story.
Speaker B:The kids thrive off of the stories and you can tell too.
Speaker B:When they haven't, we'll have a little turf talk for nutrition.
Speaker B:Hey guys, I remember a time when I was talking to Matt Nieto who's now a penguin, and you're looking at that and they go, oh, he plays in the NHL.
Speaker B:All right, Then you throw out Evan Rodriguez's name and they go, oh, he's on the Panthers.
Speaker B: be on the Florida Panthers in: Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:And these are the reasons why.
Speaker B:But that's not a knock on him.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:I'm just saying you tell us, you pull stories from your experience, and I think the kids really love that.
Speaker B:And I think that would be the additional component opposed to just showing up.
Speaker B:I think that really resonates with me.
Speaker C:That's huge.
Speaker C:I mean, I know my kids would take to that.
Speaker C:I do that.
Speaker C:Part of this podcast is to get those stories out there and to grow the love of the game.
Speaker C:And so they have, like, successful careers, not only as players, but as people.
Speaker C:So looking back on your strength, your career to this point as a strength coach and human performance, like specialist, what has the lesson that.
Speaker C:What's the big lesson that you've learned that's.
Speaker C:Or the biggest lesson you've learned that has had an impact on how you coach today?
Speaker B:I think everybody's going to say that you have to care.
Speaker B:Well, I would hope you do.
Speaker B:But I think the biggest lesson is finding.
Speaker B:Finding the joy in exercise, teaching kids that health and wellness should be a habit, not a burden.
Speaker B:I think that's the big one first, guys, because if they don't like the weight room, if they don't like you, you got a problem.
Speaker B:And I'm not saying, hey, have the kids just shit on you.
Speaker B:I'm not saying that we.
Speaker B:I got a healthy, fair and demanding principle with myself, right?
Speaker B:Like, you're a Marine.
Speaker B:I'm not going Marine style on them.
Speaker B:But I'm also not taking it easy on Sesame street, like, where it's fair, but it's demanding.
Speaker B:If you're late, if you're late, you got a penalty ride, and that ride sucks.
Speaker B:Don't be late for me, because I'm not late for you.
Speaker C:Fair, consistent, right?
Speaker B:I'm gonna give.
Speaker B:I'm gonna give you everything I got for an hour and a half, I think, keeping the kids accountable.
Speaker B:But there's got to be a likability factor to training at 6:30 in the morning.
Speaker B:And if there's not, you can't lose them.
Speaker B:So you can't.
Speaker B:You just can't be a douchebag.
Speaker B:So I need.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:It's got to be that healthy balance.
Speaker B:Like, I jump, you jump.
Speaker B:Because I'm going to jump.
Speaker B:Because I can get in here with you guys and I can still train, right?
Speaker B:I Jump, you jump.
Speaker B:And I think if they know that, I think that's something that I'll always carry with me.
Speaker B:But yeah, that mutual respect, really taking care of them the best you can, you're never going to have.
Speaker B:Every kid's never, it's never going to be perfect.
Speaker B:But a lot of these kids aren't going to play hockey after high school.
Speaker B:Health and wellness should be a habit, not a burden.
Speaker B:This gym is going to teach you how to live a better life.
Speaker B:When you get a job, this gym could give you a job.
Speaker B:You might go into a career with this.
Speaker B:If you do get to a higher level with hockey, this stuff becomes more prevalent and important.
Speaker B:But either way, like this needs to be a habit.
Speaker B:I don't want it to be a burden.
Speaker B:So that's why I do want them to fall in love with being healthy because that's my job.
Speaker B:So it's a good habit that can stick.
Speaker B:I think, I think, I think when people hear my voice, they're gonna know that I do value fitness and it can be applicable to absolutely everything.
Speaker B:And we're just, we happen to be talking about a great sport like hockey right now.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's great.
Speaker A:You bring up the life lessons for, not just for health, but like any good coach you see out there, any good teacher, right.
Speaker A:Just the 1% of the 1% is going to make it right.
Speaker A:But as a teacher or a coach, especially with the youth, right.
Speaker A:You want to teach them life lessons as well that can stick with them because like you said, many, many don't make it past high school.
Speaker A:So in sports.
Speaker A:So a couple wrap up questions.
Speaker A:We've taken up a lot of your time, so is there anything maybe we failed to mention that you might have wanted to bring up?
Speaker B:No, I always do better with questions.
Speaker B:Guys, believe it or not, I'm very shy when it comes to talking about the athletes.
Speaker B:I just am.
Speaker B:I never want to seem self centered when I talk about them because I never put myself in a position where I never feel like I, I don't know.
Speaker B:I know that, I know that I've been around a little bit and I know that I put guys in good positions, but it doesn't ever feel like work to me because I love it and I still love it.
Speaker B: e been doing it since I think: Speaker B:So I love it.
Speaker B:I value it.
Speaker B:It's a big part of my life and all I feel like I've really done is share that.
Speaker B:So it just, it makes it very Organic and natural.
Speaker B:And I would encourage anybody in this profession to just, I don't know, I mean, stay humble and.
Speaker B:And keep it that way, because I feel like if you do, your career will sustain.
Speaker B:You get to hit bumps, you're going to make mistakes, but if you can find them that natural place where it comes from, you're not.
Speaker B:You're probably never going to lose a customer.
Speaker B:It's from a business standpoint and just from an athletic performance standpoint.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker B:You probably won't.
Speaker B:Because people.
Speaker B:Yeah, because people are going to know.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:They transact.
Speaker B:Are you there for a transaction?
Speaker B:Are you there for a transformation?
Speaker B:And at the end of the day, like, it's both.
Speaker B:You're gonna have to make money to do what you're doing, but you're not going to make any money if you don't transform people.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So care about it, do it the right way, stay consistent with it, and chances are both T's are going to connect.
Speaker C:I mean, love what you do, and you'll never work a day in your life.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, you gotta love what you do.
Speaker B:And I read this book called Be so Good they can't ignore you.
Speaker B:It's good to be passionate people.
Speaker B:You got people.
Speaker B:What's your passion?
Speaker B:Well, I'm passionate, but I also, I have a purpose.
Speaker B:I don't just run around with a pom pom and suck at what I do.
Speaker B:Like, you know, I got a purpose.
Speaker B:I got strategies to being successful.
Speaker B:When it comes to being in a weight room.
Speaker C:I mean, I like to define it as kind of your why.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Like, for me.
Speaker C:But my why in the UI can change over time as your priorities shift in life and things occur.
Speaker C:But like, for me now, and probably for the foreseeable future, my why is going to be my kids.
Speaker C:That's why.
Speaker B:A thousand percent.
Speaker C:And it's not only to give them every opportunity that they deserve, but it's also to set the best example for them that I can.
Speaker C:And that's, to me, that's the most important things.
Speaker C:But we talked a lot on this hour plus, and you dropped a whole lot of nuggets on us.
Speaker C:But overall, and this is something we ask all our guests, so we won't compare your answer to Monique's.
Speaker C:But what is your definition of development?
Speaker C:That can be like, mental, physical, combination thereof.
Speaker C:Like, what is your definition of development?
Speaker B:I think definition of development is from your starting point to your finish point.
Speaker B:Did you improve?
Speaker B:Did you improve?
Speaker B:And if you felt like, did your numbers improve?
Speaker B:I Mean, we have a certain amount of tests that we give these kids.
Speaker B:Did their numbers improve?
Speaker B:How was your attendance?
Speaker B:And then overall, how was your experience?
Speaker B:I think if you can capitalize, did you physically improve?
Speaker B:Was your attendance?
Speaker B:Was it 88% or above?
Speaker B:And how was your experience?
Speaker B:I mean, those are my three answers to development.
Speaker B:Because if their experience was good, if they were there a lot, chances are they physically got better.
Speaker B:And that's really all I have control over, guys.
Speaker B:I think injuries, no matter what, we're never going to prevent an injury.
Speaker B:It ain't happening.
Speaker B:The guys out there that are making a ton of money, I call them the Joel Osteens of fitness, right?
Speaker B:You can keep selling it as much as you want, man, but it's not happening.
Speaker B:Like I said, you go into the boards and if somebody hits you from behind, you're gonna get hurt.
Speaker B:Can't prevent that.
Speaker B:No bench press or overhead presses, you know, prevent that.
Speaker B:So we got to be realistic with that.
Speaker B:And we gotta just got.
Speaker B:Train, train.
Speaker B:You need to train.
Speaker B:Everybody needs to train.
Speaker B:No matter what, you've got to be in the tip top shape to play the sport.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day, we're not playing the sport for you.
Speaker B:And we're not, we're not miracle workers either.
Speaker B:You're gonna get hurt.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:Injury risk reduction, right?
Speaker C:Just remove percentage points of risk is all.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:If you.
Speaker B:I got a kid right now or hurt his foot pretty bad, but he trained his ass off and he's gonna bounce back from his surgery pretty fast.
Speaker B:I mean, because he was in shape to do it, he's not gonna bounce back if he was 300 pounds overweight.
Speaker C:My oldest just broke his collarbone this past weekend in Florida playing.
Speaker C:Broke it in warm ups and played the whole game.
Speaker C:Even scored.
Speaker C:Yeah, Kids tough, but yeah.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:It's funny, I reached out to the gym and I was like, hey, is he good to.
Speaker C:To still train?
Speaker C:And they're like, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:Bring him in.
Speaker C:And I talked to him, I talked to him after his.
Speaker C:His first amended training day, and he was like, it was terrible.
Speaker C:My legs are killing me.
Speaker C:So it was, I was like, I told you, dude, just because your arms in a sling doesn't mean it's not going to suck.
Speaker B:Always worse.
Speaker B:It's always worse.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:That was awesome.
Speaker C:I mean, I truly appreciate you carving out an hour for us.
Speaker C:I know you got a busy schedule.
Speaker C:It was great.
Speaker B:Yeah, of course, man.
Speaker B:Well, I appreciate you guys having us on.
Speaker B:That's pretty unique, probably, that a husband and wife can do it And I'm glad you got to meet Monique.
Speaker B:She's a special person, a special athlete, and I'm glad I got to share my thoughts with you guys.
Speaker B:When it comes to whatever you want to call it, development, fitness, I mean, it's.
Speaker B:It's a cool thing.
Speaker B:I love what I do.
Speaker B:It's fun, and I hope to continue to help people.
Speaker C:I love that about you.
Speaker C:And I think having spent some time with Monique, that's.
Speaker C:She's incredible as well.
Speaker C:You guys are definitely the power couple that we've.
Speaker C:You can kind of hang your hat on that.
Speaker C:And no, I think you're batting.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker C:You're punching above your weight classes.
Speaker C:It's pretty good.
Speaker C:You're doing it.
Speaker C:But we all are, right?
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker C:At least all three of us on this call are.
Speaker C:And take special women.
Speaker C:But in between her Instagram videos of selling houses and your experience in the community and just your love for East Grand Forks, I think you're making it hard to not want to move out there and just ingrain myself in the community, like, with.
Speaker C:With the two of you guys.
Speaker C:And I think it would be a hard sell for.
Speaker C:To move Haley out to Minnesota, but we've at least got her in a good region now up in New Hampshire, so.
Speaker B:But, yeah, we're good.
Speaker B:We're all.
Speaker B:We're doing a good job.
Speaker C:I couldn't be more proud of you.
Speaker C:That made us.
Speaker C:That made us who we are, and I couldn't be more proud of you.
Speaker C:And I appreciate you spending this hour with us.
Speaker C:So thank you from the bottom of you guys.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker B:I appreciate.
Speaker A:Thanks.
Speaker A:And one last thing, too.
Speaker A:If the audience wants to reach out, if they're unsure of things, they want some guidance or resources, is there any way they could reach out and get it from you?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Two easiest ways to reach out right now.
Speaker B:Social media always works.
Speaker B: est: Speaker B: And simple email, amobu: Speaker B:That's the easiest way.
Speaker B:But Instagram usually works.
Speaker C:Slide new DMs.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's where.
Speaker B:I mean, it's.
Speaker B:I try to use it for education content, which I do, and I.
Speaker B:There's a lot of things I like to follow because, again, from.
Speaker B:If you're using it for that standpoint, it's.
Speaker B:It's really effective.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's tool, like you said at the beginning.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It's tool.
Speaker B:Good tool.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:Share with a friend, coach, parent or player if you think they may be interested in benefit from this podcast.
Speaker C:If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Speaker A:And make sure you're following us on all those platforms as well so you can keep up to date with our guests, our topics, and our corporate partners.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening to Sharpening your Edge, presented by CB3 Hockey Development, and we'll see you next time.