Character Lessons From One Of Canada’s Greatest Hockey Players
Building good habits. The privilege of pressure. Learning from failure. Earlier this month, our entire school was very fortunate to hear from Hayley Wickenheiser, one of the best Canadian hockey players in history and our 2019 Stransman Speaker. Every part of her speech captivated the boys, and it also reflected the character values we are working to instil at Crescent.
With seven world championships, six Olympic appearances, five Olympic medals (including four gold), and now working as Assistant Director of Player Development for the Toronto Maple Leafs while also attending medical school at the University of Calgary, Ms. Wickenheiser’s life story is an impressive one. She described her journey from humble beginnings on a backyard rink in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan to becoming one of the world’s most acclaimed female athletes. She spoke about how what really matters in life is what we do when nobody's watching. She told the boys, “All the work that you do, day in and day out, is about building good habits. In moments of truth, those established habits come into play. We do the work when no one is watching to enjoy the moments when everyone is watching.” This is certainly how we approach character development at Crescent. Practising our character is about doing the little things well, when the stakes are fairly low, so that when we are called to make more difficult and public choices we are equipped to take on that risk.
She also reminded the boys, and particularly those who are feeling the weight of an enriched course of study, that “pressure is a privilege” because you don’t feel pressure if you don’t have people supporting you and expecting you to do your best. When asked what her greatest lesson from failure has been, she answered by describing her first Olympic experience, when her team did not bring home gold. “I went into an Olympic depression,” she said. “Everything I thought I was, was wrapped up in hockey. The greatest lesson was, you are not what you do. You are so much more than that as a person. I lost more games than I won. I just won the right ones. When you fail, you fail forward.”
As a parent myself, I know how difficult it is to let my kids experience setback. Whether they forget something at home, or leave a project to the last minute, it is tempting to solve the situation for them. However, my own greatest learning experiences in life have occurred in a moment of discomfort, followed by a period of support and reflection. (I would be happy to describe in a different setting why I triple-check my hockey bag before leaving home to play men’s league hockey.) More than ever, I believe, our boys need to experience “non-catastrophic failure” – mistakes and mishaps that lead to new insight and greater maturity. Without these, the risk is that our kids remain too dependent on us for far too long.
Ms. Wickenheiser’s visit was sponsored by The Leadership in Sports Endowment in Memory of John Stransman P’03, ’05, which was established to promote sportsmanship, leadership and good coaching practices in sports at Crescent School. The endowment allows Crescent to bring in insightful speakers each year to address students on the development of values and character through sport.
Inviting keynote speakers into our school has long been a Crescent tradition. That tradition was deepened this year by Ms. Wickenheiser’s visit. For not only did her message reinforce what we believe about sport and character, but her presence at our school reminded us all of the important role that women play in teaching and leading our boys.
Vertitate Stamus et Crescimus.
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She also reminded the boys, and particularly those who are feeling the weight of an enriched course of study, that “pressure is a privilege” because you don’t feel pressure if you don’t have people supporting you and expecting you to do your best. When asked what her greatest lesson from failure has been, she answered by describing her first Olympic experience, when her team did not bring home gold. “I went into an Olympic depression,” she said. “Everything I thought I was, was wrapped up in hockey. The greatest lesson was, you are not what you do. You are so much more than that as a person. I lost more games than I won. I just won the right ones. When you fail, you fail forward.”
As a parent myself, I know how difficult it is to let my kids experience setback. Whether they forget something at home, or leave a project to the last minute, it is tempting to solve the situation for them. However, my own greatest learning experiences in life have occurred in a moment of discomfort, followed by a period of support and reflection. (I would be happy to describe in a different setting why I triple-check my hockey bag before leaving home to play men’s league hockey.) More than ever, I believe, our boys need to experience “non-catastrophic failure” – mistakes and mishaps that lead to new insight and greater maturity. Without these, the risk is that our kids remain too dependent on us for far too long.
Ms. Wickenheiser’s visit was sponsored by The Leadership in Sports Endowment in Memory of John Stransman P’03, ’05, which was established to promote sportsmanship, leadership and good coaching practices in sports at Crescent School. The endowment allows Crescent to bring in insightful speakers each year to address students on the development of values and character through sport.
Inviting keynote speakers into our school has long been a Crescent tradition. That tradition was deepened this year by Ms. Wickenheiser’s visit. For not only did her message reinforce what we believe about sport and character, but her presence at our school reminded us all of the important role that women play in teaching and leading our boys.
Vertitate Stamus et Crescimus.
See all of Headmaster Fellin's Open Mike Blogs
