How Hockey Influenced Me
What is something that has influenced your life? Who is someone that has influenced your life? Most people say that their parents or guardian has the biggest influence on them. Some people will say that a random celebrity they look up to has the biggest influence on them. Hopefully these influences are positive. Influences play a major factor on people. People on average usually have many influences. For me, the people that influence me the most are my parents. Something else that has a big influence on me is hockey, and that is what I’m going to talk about here. Around fourth grade, I stopped playing football. I wasn’t the best player, I got knocked around a lot, and I never got playing time. I was a kid that loved to play a sport so I wanted to play something else. One day, I was introduced to a professional ice hockey player by one of my elementary school teachers. His name was RJ Umberger. RJ Umberger was the main person that influenced me to play competitive ice hockey. RJ Umberger is a professional ice hockey player that was born and raised in Plum Borough. Main points are that I got to watch him play, in 2008, against the
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Pittsburgh Penguins a couple times. After those games, he would come and see me and a couple others to sign autographs and talk. He told me I should give ice hockey a try and that I would definitely like it. Now, I’ve been playing ice hockey for the past eight years. Hockey influences me on a mental, physical, and social level. These influences are important to me because they helped form the person I am today. If I had never played competitive hockey, I probably wouldn’t be the same nineteen year old that I am.
Nolker 2
Before I begin, the two people that influence my life on a daily basis are my parents. After that, my closest friends have influences on me. Most of these are positive influences. Besides my parents, hockey has the biggest influence on me. One of the three biggest ways hockey has influenced me is on a social level. Out of the eight years I’ve played ice hockey, the first five years I played in an amateur league. This means kids from all over the area played on the same team. This means that every year that I had played; it was with a different group of players. This all helped me make new, long lasting, friendships with new players quickly. It was very important that we all became friends quickly because we were teammates for the next seven months. After every transition to a new team, I still kept friendships with the teammates from previous teams, and while making new ones with my new teammates. Another way hockey has influenced me in a social way is that it helps me in being a leader type of player. As a long time defenseman, I tend to notice the little things that my defensive teammates and offensive teammates do that can be improved on. Communicating these issues and using the leadership ability, which I like never use ever, is important for me and my teammates to be better players. Hockey has helped me become social and make lasting friendships outside of my school friend group.
Second, a big influence hockey has on me is an athletic influence. Since I started playing around 12 years old, I learned ways of becoming a better athlete when I was young. Like I mentioned in my intro, I got knocked around a lot when I played football. I started playing hockey around the time I really started growing, so I became the enforcer player that I am today. Everything from proper nutrition to exercise, I learned and performed at a young age. This has had positive effects on me as I became older. I am in better shape than I would be if I never
Nolker 3 played hockey. This is because I trained to try to be the best player that I could be. That has positive effects on me today because I am in above average shape. If I never would have played hockey, I would have been sitting in my room all day playing video games. Definitely would be in worse shape than I am in now. Being in good shape is especially good for me because I have family members on my dad’s side that have serious back problems. The issues are with the spine to be exact. These issues are hereditary; so this means that they are passed down through the family. Chances are that I will develop these serious spinal issues; although, the better shape I am in, the chances of preventing or delaying the issues are greatly increased. Moving on from my back problems, learned to eat foods that would help me prepare properly for practices and games. I have benefitted from this by having knowledge of, and consuming a proper diet to help strengthen my body; therefore keeping me at a healthy weight. This also helps me because I can potentially avoid serious health problems that stem from bad diet. Examples of these problems are high cholesterol and diabetes. Overall, hockey has had a very positive influence on my health.
Thirdly, another big influence that hockey has on me is an influence on the mental part of me. The biggest reason this shows is that playing hockey is a huge stress reliever for me. For a lot of people, their best stress reliever is working out or running. Mine is playing on the ice. This can be a misconception sometimes because at times, hockey can be stressful in itself. Close scoring games or post season games can be stressful; although that stress doesn’t affect me too much. Whenever I’m stressed out from anything, hockey is the best way to help control and decrease my stress. Hockey always helps me out when I am stressing out over exams, big decisions, and relationship issues that I have. There are many more ways that hockey helps me
Nolker 4 mentally. I remember during finals week of my senior year in high school, I played hockey over twelve times during finals week and the week before. This is because hockey helps me manage my stress. I got good grades on all of my finals, and hockey is a big reason why. Another way hockey is good for my mental state is because I can take out intense anger on the ice. Anytime I become overwhelmed with anger, for whatever reason, I take it out on the ice. Whether that is by taking hard shots, or checking other players as hard as I can, it help out immensely. To me, hockey is one of the best ways to relieve stress and clearing your mind.
Lastly, one more way hockey influences me is by using my ability of visualizing. As a civil engineering major, I must prepare to create and input designs of road systems, bridges, and many other things. All engineers in my field have decent, if not excellent abilities in visualizing. That requires a high talent of visualizing. Hockey helps me increase my ability to visualize. As a defenseman, I have to view and visualize ways to beat the enemy team. Usually by how my teammates and I can set up in the offensive zone and scoring on the other team. How can we skate and pass the puck around to the point where the other team is fatigued and confused? A big part of this is predicting the next move. Where will my teammates skate? Which of the four other skaters on my team should I pass the puck to? Where will the other team be at a certain time? What is the strategy of the other team? This helps me gain the ability to visualize better. Exploiting my ability to visualize on the ice will help me in my near future as an engineer.
As you can see, hockey has a big impact on my life.
Hockey has influenced me to be more social, healthy, and clear stress. Not to mention that hockey helps me exercise my ability to visualize, of which I will use in my career. Everybody has influences, good and bad. I am
Nolker 5 definitely happy that hockey has those influences on me. Occasionally I ask myself, what would my life be like if I never played hockey at a competitive level? Without hockey, I would probably be in less of shape that I am today. I probably would have stuck to baseball, which was another sport I played when I was younger. My grades over the years might be slightly better because hockey took up a lot of my time during the school years. I definitely wouldn’t have as many friends as I do now. In general, I would be a different person if I never played
hockey.
Pittsburgh Penguins a couple times. After those games, he would come and see me and a couple others to sign autographs and talk. He told me I should give ice hockey a try and that I would definitely like it. Now, I’ve been playing ice hockey for the past eight years. Hockey influences me on a mental, physical, and social level. These influences are important to me because they helped form the person I am today. If I had never played competitive hockey, I probably wouldn’t be the same nineteen year old that I am.
Nolker 2
Before I begin, the two people that influence my life on a daily basis are my parents. After that, my closest friends have influences on me. Most of these are positive influences. Besides my parents, hockey has the biggest influence on me. One of the three biggest ways hockey has influenced me is on a social level. Out of the eight years I’ve played ice hockey, the first five years I played in an amateur league. This means kids from all over the area played on the same team. This means that every year that I had played; it was with a different group of players. This all helped me make new, long lasting, friendships with new players quickly. It was very important that we all became friends quickly because we were teammates for the next seven months. After every transition to a new team, I still kept friendships with the teammates from previous teams, and while making new ones with my new teammates. Another way hockey has influenced me in a social way is that it helps me in being a leader type of player. As a long time defenseman, I tend to notice the little things that my defensive teammates and offensive teammates do that can be improved on. Communicating these issues and using the leadership ability, which I like never use ever, is important for me and my teammates to be better players. Hockey has helped me become social and make lasting friendships outside of my school friend group.
Second, a big influence hockey has on me is an athletic influence. Since I started playing around 12 years old, I learned ways of becoming a better athlete when I was young. Like I mentioned in my intro, I got knocked around a lot when I played football. I started playing hockey around the time I really started growing, so I became the enforcer player that I am today. Everything from proper nutrition to exercise, I learned and performed at a young age. This has had positive effects on me as I became older. I am in better shape than I would be if I never
Nolker 3 played hockey. This is because I trained to try to be the best player that I could be. That has positive effects on me today because I am in above average shape. If I never would have played hockey, I would have been sitting in my room all day playing video games. Definitely would be in worse shape than I am in now. Being in good shape is especially good for me because I have family members on my dad’s side that have serious back problems. The issues are with the spine to be exact. These issues are hereditary; so this means that they are passed down through the family. Chances are that I will develop these serious spinal issues; although, the better shape I am in, the chances of preventing or delaying the issues are greatly increased. Moving on from my back problems, learned to eat foods that would help me prepare properly for practices and games. I have benefitted from this by having knowledge of, and consuming a proper diet to help strengthen my body; therefore keeping me at a healthy weight. This also helps me because I can potentially avoid serious health problems that stem from bad diet. Examples of these problems are high cholesterol and diabetes. Overall, hockey has had a very positive influence on my health.
Thirdly, another big influence that hockey has on me is an influence on the mental part of me. The biggest reason this shows is that playing hockey is a huge stress reliever for me. For a lot of people, their best stress reliever is working out or running. Mine is playing on the ice. This can be a misconception sometimes because at times, hockey can be stressful in itself. Close scoring games or post season games can be stressful; although that stress doesn’t affect me too much. Whenever I’m stressed out from anything, hockey is the best way to help control and decrease my stress. Hockey always helps me out when I am stressing out over exams, big decisions, and relationship issues that I have. There are many more ways that hockey helps me
Nolker 4 mentally. I remember during finals week of my senior year in high school, I played hockey over twelve times during finals week and the week before. This is because hockey helps me manage my stress. I got good grades on all of my finals, and hockey is a big reason why. Another way hockey is good for my mental state is because I can take out intense anger on the ice. Anytime I become overwhelmed with anger, for whatever reason, I take it out on the ice. Whether that is by taking hard shots, or checking other players as hard as I can, it help out immensely. To me, hockey is one of the best ways to relieve stress and clearing your mind.
Lastly, one more way hockey influences me is by using my ability of visualizing. As a civil engineering major, I must prepare to create and input designs of road systems, bridges, and many other things. All engineers in my field have decent, if not excellent abilities in visualizing. That requires a high talent of visualizing. Hockey helps me increase my ability to visualize. As a defenseman, I have to view and visualize ways to beat the enemy team. Usually by how my teammates and I can set up in the offensive zone and scoring on the other team. How can we skate and pass the puck around to the point where the other team is fatigued and confused? A big part of this is predicting the next move. Where will my teammates skate? Which of the four other skaters on my team should I pass the puck to? Where will the other team be at a certain time? What is the strategy of the other team? This helps me gain the ability to visualize better. Exploiting my ability to visualize on the ice will help me in my near future as an engineer.
As you can see, hockey has a big impact on my life.
Hockey has influenced me to be more social, healthy, and clear stress. Not to mention that hockey helps me exercise my ability to visualize, of which I will use in my career. Everybody has influences, good and bad. I am
Nolker 5 definitely happy that hockey has those influences on me. Occasionally I ask myself, what would my life be like if I never played hockey at a competitive level? Without hockey, I would probably be in less of shape that I am today. I probably would have stuck to baseball, which was another sport I played when I was younger. My grades over the years might be slightly better because hockey took up a lot of my time during the school years. I definitely wouldn’t have as many friends as I do now. In general, I would be a different person if I never played
hockey.