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jacobcarson877 · 11-28-2023, 07:24 PM

Olivija Agate has been working hard to get into game shape for the beginning of the season. There is such a higher level of expectation in the SMJHL than her leagues back home. It will no longer be enough to simply work the hardest. She’ll have to start learning to play the smartest. She’s spent a lot of time, usually late at night watching film. A ton of Kraken games, watching her more veteran teammates playing, learning how they see the game, and writing down their quirks, things she can take advantage of, and cover for.

She has also been spending a lot of time with the team dietician, learning about how her body processes food, and how she can hijack a bit more performance out of her body. She has elite skating technique to rely on, and needs to learn to leverage that to make up for her average strength and physical capacity. She’ll need to bulk up quite a bit, and lift some weights more often, but if she can be average physically, she can rely on a better game sense and determination to carry her to success.

There has been limited media coverage of the SMJHL to start, as a lot of the rookies are taking their PR classes. There is a lot that you’re not allowed to say in your answers, pretty much everything that could be considered an answer to questions. It will be hard to bite her tongue, but if this is what it will take to have a good, or not bad, reputation in the league, she’ll get pucks deep and get shots on net.

One thing that people have pointed out as a weakness when it comes to Agate’s game, is her lack of commanding shot. For some this might be a worry, but taking shots is not her priority. There will always be people who are better than her on the ice at shooting. So why take the shot, when she could instead create the opportunity for them to utilize their greatest tool? She is however required to shoot in practice, and it is a bit embarrassing watching her little lobs compared to the zingers some of her teammates are launching. Maybe she’ll need to boost that aspect of her game just to feel less bad about herself.

While her English is pretty serviceable, she wants to make sure that she can connect with her teammates in their native tongue. There is no point in isolating yourself by not accepting the culture that you’ve been placed into. So she spends a couple hours a week with a tutor, who is targeting some of the weaknesses in her understanding. Verb conjugation is hard, and English isn’t an easy language to pick up, but her teammates are thrilled to hear all of the new lessons she brings each week, and then they all complain about how stupid this mutt of a language is.

Finally she’s been spending a lot of time in her own head. Change is scary, and it can be hard to find the time to rationalize these emotions, so she tries to carry a pocket notebook around with her, just jotting down what she’s thinking throughout the day. No formatting, no goal, just writing. Then at the end of the day, she puts herself in that headspace, and writes down her relevant thoughts in a formal format into a main journal. She reviews her thoughts in the morning upon waking up, and reminds herself of everything she needs to cover that day, entering the day with motivation and renewed spirit.