Real-Life Communication -- Solution
The point of your speech is to motivate people to follow their dreams of becoming professional hockey players. What better way to do this than tell them about all the advantages of this career path, and the benefits offered by your team specifically? After all, you're out there representing your team and encouraging new talent is part of your job.
One key advantage, especially for this school audience, is the promise of a good education. "We pay for their total education while they're with us. For every year they play with us, they get a year at their choice of university, which includes tuition, books, room and board," says hockey coach Peter Anholt.
You should point out that a good education is essential for hockey players, because when they no longer play professionally they'll need a second career to move on to.
You should also tell your audience what it's really like to play hockey.
"We play 72 games a year, and we practice every day after school. We have curfews in place. There are pressures and sacrifices when playing hockey, like when your peer group is going out to a party and you can't," says Anholt. "The upside is great, though. You can get all your schooling paid for, or you can turn pro, and in some cases be a millionaire in one or two years."
Make sure to include the point that being a hockey player is not all fun and games. "It's important to realize it's not all glamour. It's 95 percent work and five percent glamour. People think it's 95 percent glamour and five percent work," Anholt observes.
"Players have different pressures on them than a 'normal' kid. They have pressures to perform both at school and on the ice from their coaches, management, team, scouts, [a] pro team if they're drafted already, their agents, parents, and even girlfriends. They really learn what pressure is very quickly, and they have to learn how to deal with it quickly."
As part of your motivational speech, you may want to include key points similar to these:
- It's important to remember that although the final results of a game are very important, it is still only a game. Life is kind of like a game, isn't it? Sometimes we lose, and sometimes we win. It's easy to get depressed if things aren't going well. But when this happens, ask yourself, "Is this going to matter five years from now?" Most of the time, it won't. So don't be so hard on yourself. We all make mistakes. The key is to learn from your mistakes and try not to make them again.
- What happens if we hit a roadblock in life? Do we give up on our dreams? If that were the case, there wouldn't be a single successful person in the world, because everyone experiences roadblocks. The key is to keep going when everything is crashing down around us.
- Remember that as you begin to succeed in hockey or in other areas of life, you will be faced with even greater challenges.
- We have only one chance to live our lives, and what we do with that chance is decided by our character. What is character? Character is what we do when no one is looking. What do you do when no one is looking? Would you be proud of your character?