Insurmountable odds

by barbaragarn

It’s the beginning of the third period and your team is down by eight points. You have just two subs on the bench and the refs have been hassling your team the whole game while your opponents get away with bloody murder. 

What do you do? How do you keep going? 
Do you give up? 
Do you play halfheartedly, just holding off the inevitable? 
Or do you keep giving your all, even though you know there is no chance? 

I hate that feeling. I admit it: I hate psyching myself to play hard and give it amy all when I know that it won’t make any difference.

So I try to focus on the moment and not the game. Maybe I got outskated to every other puck… but I will try to get THIS one. 

I think about what my goalie friends have told me: you have to shake off every goal and act like the slate is perfectly blank, and start from there. It’s good advice.

Please share your stories about when your team was facing insurmountable odds, and what how you got through to the end of the game.

You gotta try this

by barbaragarn

We are always looking for good workouts. I started running to improve my hockey game, but running is SOOOO BORING. 

So this week, I went to “Skyrobics” at SkyZone in Plymouth, an “indoor trampoline park.” Wow! What a great workout! I wore my heart monitor and it said I burned 710 calories in an hour–and I wasn’t even doing all the exercises. There were no kids, just about 12 adults getting a great workout. 

It was a lot like starting hockey… everyone there looked like they were better than me… I was hesitant to try but it looked like a lot of fun… And the surface was even unstable and worrisome, just like the ice was that first time! But of course, like hockey, I got the hang of it. 

It’s a GREAT workout–I mentioned hockey to the class instructor and he said, “I was a hockey player for 13 years and THIS is the most aerobic workout I’ve ever done. I thought I could handle this but five minutes into my first class, I was ready to throw up…!”

It’s tiring, but like any other class you can push yourself as hard as you like. And it’s all bouncy!! Super fun.

SkyZone has a facility in Oakdale, too. Apparently both also have “3-D Dodge Ball.” There’s a ton of vids on YouTube. I mentioned the Skyrobics to a work colleague and she said, “I’d rather play dodge ball. I want to hit people and watch them suffer.” (Haha, yes, she actually IS a hockey player!)

It’s pretty intense. It would be a great place to take some hyper kids for an afternoon, too. Very reasonable pricing (they don’t have a big electricity bill to keep the ice cold!) and a discount for beginners.

Try it! We are hockey players–we are all about fun exercise!