Our Kids Play Hockey
Our Kids Play Hockey is a podcast that focuses on youth hockey, offering insights, stories, and interviews from the hockey community. It provides valuable advice for parents, coaches, and players, covering various aspects of the game, including skill development, sportsmanship, teamwork, and creating a positive experience for young athletes. The show frequently features guests who share their expertise and personal experiences in youth hockey, both on and off the ice.
The show features three hockey parents, who all work in the game at high levels:
- Christie Casciano-Burns - USA Hockey Columnist, Author, and WSYR Anchor
- Mike Bonelli - USA Hockey Coach and Organizational Consultant
- Lee M.J. Elias - Hockey Entrepreneur, Author, and Team Strategist
In addition to the main podcast, there are several spin-off series that dive into specific aspects of youth hockey:
1.Our Girls Play Hockey – This series highlights the growing presence of girls in hockey, addressing the unique challenges they face while celebrating their accomplishments and contributions to the sport. Each episode of Our Girls Play Hockey is also hosted by Sheri Hudspeth who is the Director, Youth Hockey Programs and Fan Development for the Vegas Golden Knights.
2.The Ride to The Rink – A shorter, motivational series designed to be listened to on the way to the rink, offering quick, inspirational tips and advice to help players and parents get into the right mindset before a game or practice.
3.Our Kids Play Goalie – This series is dedicated to young goalies and the unique challenges they face. It provides advice for players, parents, and coaches on how to support and develop young goaltenders, focusing on the mental and physical demands of the position.
Together, these shows provide a comprehensive platform for parents, players, and coaches involved in youth hockey, offering insights for all aspects of the sport, from parenting, playing, or coaching to specialized positions like goaltending.
Our Kids Play Hockey
The Ride to the Rink: Building Habits for Success: Insights from Luke Croucher
Show Notes:
In this episode of “The Ride to the Rink,” host Lee Elias is joined by Division 3 hockey player and online influencer Luke Croucher. Currently playing for Neumann University, Luke shares his journey from Canada to Philadelphia and dives into the importance of building habits for success in hockey and life. They discuss how small, consistent actions can lead to significant improvements and the mental fortitude required to maintain these habits. Luke provides practical tips on creating productive routines, overcoming obstacles, and maintaining motivation.
Key Topics:
- Introduction to Luke Croucher:
- Background as a Division 3 hockey player at Newman University.
- His role as an online influencer and content creator.
- The Power of Habits:
- Importance of daily habits in becoming a better hockey player.
- Insights from the book “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg.
- How 40% of daily actions are driven by habits.
- Creating Productive Routines:
- Building routines to support habit formation.
- Example of using a home gym and the importance of consistent practice.
- The concept that “time has memory” and “location has energy.”
- Mental and Emotional Aspects:
- Overcoming the lack of motivation and emotional challenges.
- Building confidence through consistency and showing up even on tough days.
- Practical Tips for Young Players:
- How young players can start building habits at any age.
- The importance of tenacity and not being afraid to make mistakes.
- Encouraging a mindset of continual improvement and risk-taking.
- Final Thoughts and Advice:
- The significance of parental support in helping kids build habits.
- Luke’s personal experiences and advice for aspiring hockey players.
Call to Action:
If you found value in this episode, please like, subscribe, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit OurKidsPlayHockey.com for more episodes and resources. Be sure to follow us on social media for updates and more helpful content.
Stay tuned for more episodes of “The Ride to the Rink,” where we provide practical advice and inspiring stories for young hockey players and their families. Thanks for listening!
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hello hockey skaters and goalies around the world and welcome back to another edition of the ride to the rink. It's lee elias with you, with luke croucher. Luke is a division three hockey player at newman university, right outside philadelphia, pennsylvania. He comes from kennedy's, also an influencer online. His channel is insane. You got to check it out, luke Croucher. Look him up on Instagram. It's Luke Crouch A. If you want to look for that, you won't have any problem finding him. But Luke wanted to talk to you all out there a little bit about the importance of habits and how it helped him get to where he wants to be today.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you having me on here and I'm super excited to talk about this topic. I think I am a byproduct of my habits and what a lot of people don't know is that it is not just me, it is you as well.
Speaker 2:You think about like the things like you do when you wake up in the morning. I always think, okay, what are the first like three or four things you do in the morning Probably brush your teeth, probably, you know, hop in the shower, go for a walk, whatever it is, maybe make yourself that cup of coffee. Those things are usually the same things you do seven days a week and I think a lot of people don't realize this. I read a book called the Power Habit by Charles Duhigg and that's kind of how I understood, like I wanted to know, like how can I become more productive, how can I become more effective? And it literally said 40% of the things you do throughout your entire life, every single day, are all revolved around habits. So I realized, like, as a player, if I can make my 40% of what I do on a daily basis more towards me becoming a better hockey player, then that's what I need to do. So I always preach this it's not. It doesn't take six to 12 hours a day in order to become a better hockey player. I'm saying it takes three to four hours a day. You go, you know, work out in the morning, you get on the ice, you go compete three to four hours every single day. That's about, you know, 30 to 40% of your day over a long period of time. If that and I think that's the bigger thing when it comes to you developing as a hockey player is that you realize that you are human, you have emotions. Human, you have emotions not all the time are you going to be motivated, like there's going to be times where you have a really bad game and you're not going to want to do anything the next day. Well, what happens is when you build habits is that it doesn't matter what you feel, it's just what you do and it's who you are.
Speaker 2:So it's more about ingraining just those patterns into your lifestyle I always refer to like hey, if you're really struggling to build a habit, make a small routine behind the habit. So, for example, the toughest thing for me is I built this basement when I was like 16, 17 years old. You might've seen it on my Instagram where, like, you're shooting pucks in in this basement and what people don't realize is that basement was empty for two or three years. I built it and I didn't realize that I needed to build habits to get into the gym. It wasn't that I need to make the gym, I need to build the habits for the gym and I think that was the biggest thing for me is learning that. And that small routine is like okay, maybe I eat, maybe I go for a walk, I try to do something to almost like warm up, hype myself up and then get into the gym.
Speaker 2:So always try and think about small routines that you can kind of build to build that habit up and that's it. That's it. Those small little tasks, those boring tasks, are what you need to do in order to get better. But if you get them out early on in the day, you're really going to, you know benefit and whether that's it might not be working out, it might be shooting pucks, but find the same time, the same place every day. Time has memory, location has energy. Those are the two big ones, that's good.
Speaker 2:That'll help you out a lot. Time has memory. Location has energy. Okay, If you go into an environment where there's like a gym, walk into the gym. There's people already working out. You're probably going to be the next person working out as long as you get into the environment. That's why half the battle is actually showing up. So hopefully that helps and understand that you are human. Habits is what's going to help you as a hockey player, rather than the emotions of you being a hockey player.
Speaker 1:So I love it, luke. And you know, what's funny is I'll tell you, for those of you listening out there, when you do build a habit whether you said it's shooting pucks every single day, going for a walk you'll know it's built because the time will come to do that and you will feel very uncomfortable if you are not doing the habit that you have built up. I remember, as you said, shooting in my garage 500 pucks every single day at the exact time, every single day. Man, if a day went by and I didn't do that, I felt like something like an, like an a limb was missing off my body. But that's the power of these things. And you know you take 500 shots a day. That's a lot of shots. A week, it's a lot of shots in a season. Real quick from you. What, aside from the gym? Um, what are some of the other habits that you've built up in your game that helped you get to where you are today?
Speaker 2:That's a good point. I think some things that this is this got me stuck. To be honest it's. I think the big thing for me is just like realizing that you kind of just have to have a little bit of a tenacious mentality. You can't be afraid at making mistakes. I think the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing today is because when I was like 10 to 15 years old 13 years old was kind of like the prime of my career I was like really, really confident. And then I realized like my 14, 15 year old year like humbled me. It was because I just was afraid to take risks.
Speaker 2:I remember like throughout my whole junior career I was always that defensive centerman. I was always that defensive forward. I never, even though I had the skills to do something, I just simply didn't take the risk. Like you're allowed to try and slip it through a stick, you're allowed to toe drag, you're allowed to try and make a play, hold on to the pucks more and just do those things.
Speaker 2:And I think now I've approached college, I think if anyone sees, like you know, looks up at these prospects, you'll realize like my first year of college was one of my best years because I literally came in and I was like I got to just like drop my expectations and just go all in and just like, don't be afraid to make plays, have that confidence and do and doing so, and that was like one of the best years of my life. And I'm not saying my, my past years have been better. Um, what I am saying, I was a winger and I was just on the loose and I just wanted to make plays and get ambitious and I scored one, um that was like one of my highest goal, um goal scoring seasons. So, um, if you can take that away, that's uh. That's one thing is just be tenacious, don't be afraid to you know, get after something and uh and you can build a habit of doing that.
Speaker 1:This is a mental habits work as much as physical habits. And then, yeah, look my last question for the audience. We're talking to youth hockey players, 18 down. This is an important one. What age do you have to be to start?
Speaker 2:building habits. What age do you have to be? You already have habits, it's just which ones do you decide to do Right?
Speaker 1:Right, and that's what I'm getting at right. There is no age. So if you're if you're 10 years old, you can do this. If you're six years old, you can do this. If you're 17 years old, you can do this. This is not something. As Luke said, you don't have to wait to start. You make a decision to start and you can do that right now. Luke said you don't have to wait to start.
Speaker 2:You make a decision to start and you can do that right now. Yes, and it's that. That, that first little couple of weeks, it's that first. You know, it's the first initial like where you actually have to go through the emotional rollercoaster of like wow, like if I want to get to this gym, I don't want to do it right now, but I really need to build this habit in order to do so. If I want to get to what you go, or I want to get to where I want to go. And I think that's the big thing is that these habits, they require some sacrifice. Like, in order to get one thing, you got to sacrifice another, absolutely, and doing so like that might mean you don't feel as good on one day and you still go to the gym, but that that moment, right there is where you actually build confidence is on the days you don't want to do it and you do it. You build that confidence. And I started to realize that as I got a little bit more consistent, um and showing up for myself.
Speaker 1:Well, I I think that's great advice for the kids listening and parents. If you're listening with your kids, too, you can just look at them and start nodding, because I'm sure you've been telling that to them as well. But uh, lou Croucher, this has been great. I really appreciate you coming on and for the kids listening, great advice. Make sure you check him out. Lou Croucher um on on across social media, but his channel is one I think you're really going to love. If you love this show. He is a great way of speaking to you out there in a way that's going to inspire you but also educate you on pathways forward to becoming the best person you can be, which, as you know, makes you a great player at the end of the day. Luke, thanks so much for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:No worries man All right, that's going to do it for this edition of the Ride to the Rink. Remember all. All right, that's going to do it for this edition of the Ride to the Rink. Remember, all of them available at ourkidsplayhockeycom. But for those of you listening out there, skating out there, having fun out there, always enjoy the game and remember to skate on.
