Beats by Dre ran this ad a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_i3Lcjli84

Recently - I was asked by an athlete on how to prepare for a game in front of a big crowd. I told that athlete to prepare the same way you would as if it were any other game.

Being mentally prepared is equally (if not more) important than being physically prepared.

I look back to times I played my best and most importantly at the times I didn’t play my best. When I do this I realise that is was my mental preparation that dictated how I played that night. It wasn’t really too much with anything else.

Playing defense, in my younger years, I would get riled up and allow chirps or slashes get under my skin. I would then be way off my game. However, I started to approach hockey in a mediative way - allowing these things to come and go. Allowing for people to say things to me or a coach to make a comment and be ok with it - knowing that the next shift was all that mattered.

Now this was a constant battle I had with myself in my brain from a young age about controlling my emotions. As a younger hockey player I took a lot of penalties - largely due to allowing emotions to control me. But, as I understood the outcomes I adopted visualisation techniques to help me before the game. I would visualize the opponent