{"id":839,"date":"2019-10-31T09:30:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T13:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/?p=839"},"modified":"2022-01-27T11:08:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T16:08:03","slug":"networking-is-a-lifelong-journey-of-curiosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/networking-is-a-lifelong-journey-of-curiosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Networking is a Lifelong Journey of Curiosity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Networking is not about taking or getting something, it is a lifelong journey of curiosity, of finding ways to help people. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSCA – How did you get your first job working in pro sport?<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1990s was\nfortunate to study at Concordia University and work in the Athletic Department\nunder Scott Livingston and Ron Rappel, learning the foundation of Athletic\nTherapy and Strength & Conditioning.  In my final year of university,\nI met Gaetan Lefebvre, the Montreal Canadiens Athletic Therapist, and I had the\nprivilege of being selected for their first internship. I was then able to see\nhow the theory was applied at the highest level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a brief period\nworking for Frappier Acceleration (Athletic Republic) I returned to Concordia\nas the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach and Assistant Athletic Therapists,\nas Scott left to be the New York Rangers S&C coach. I was meeting new\npeople in the field all the time and under Scott\u2019s leadership, we designed and\nran \u201cThe Hockey Conference\u201d, where I first met Peter Friesen, Peter Twist, and\nLorne Goldberg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a critical point\nfor upcoming S&C Coaches, try to put yourself into environments where you\nare volunteering or working at conferences or courses. You will develop a much\nstronger connection with people when you are a part of the group hosting these\nevents, as opposed to just attending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My \u201ceye-opening\u201d moment\ncame in May of 2002; the Carolina Hurricanes came to Montreal to play the\nCanadiens in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final. Pete Friesen was the Athletic\nTherapist and Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Hurricanes. I picked\nPete up at the team hotel as we were having dinner with Scott, during the\nfive-minute drive Pete, a complete ball of energy, had me convinced I needed to\nwork in the NHL. That prompted a night full of conversations and by the end,\nScott and Pete had lit the fire. Little did I know this would be the start of a\n17-year journey as the S&C Coach of the New York Rangers \u2026 and to this day\nRon Rappel, Scott Livingston and Pete Friesen are still close friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSCA – What skills do you\nneed to be successful in this area?\u202f<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without a doubt, your\npersonality and ability to interact with people is the single most important\nskill you need. We are surrounded by technology and innovation, but at its\ncore, this is a people business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second skill is having\nthe humility to understand that you don\u2019t really know that much. You must\ndevelop your own internal system for continual self-improvement. Be hungry for\nknowledge and willing to learn, we can gain insight in many ways, be a master\nat observing and soaking up information. I also feel that compassion,\ncommunication, and honesty are character traits you must poses if you hope to\nconnect with the people around you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you are centered on\nthese characteristics you must have a drive and work ethic that is second to none. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Bill Cower of the Pittsburgh Steelers sums this up nicely with three statements:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never quit <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work harder than everyone\nelse <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never be intimidated  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSCA – How did you network\nwith other S&C coaches in the NHL?<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are all busy, the\nschedule you keep and stresses you go through are not unique, everyone has\nchallenges. You must first understand and accept this, then make an active\neffort to continually engage with your colleagues, from the perspective of\ncuriosity and support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my case, I was exposed\nto this early on from the Vancouver Canucks S&C coach, Roger Takahashi (now\nin his 17th year with the team). Roger spent many hours of his own time working\nto organize the NHL S&C coaches (along with Mike Bahn, Phoenix Coyotes, and\nRay Bear, Atlanta Thrashers). Roger was the first president of the Strength and\nConditioning Association of Professional Hockey (SCAPH) and after working under\nhim I was fortunate to lead this group from 2014 through 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Networking is not about\ntaking or getting something, it is a lifelong journey of curiosity, of finding\nways to help people. When you figure out how to support someone, how to share\nyour knowledge and hard work in a way that improves people, others will be\ndrawn to you. Put yourself in situations where your work will expose you to\npeople and professions that you are passionate about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSCA – What advice do you\ngive individuals just entering the field who desire to work in the same area as\nyou? \u202f<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be curious, compassionate\nand a master of absorbing knowledge. Understand that there are many ways to\nfind a solution, an answer, or an idea. You control very few things in life but\nhow hard you work and your attitude towards yourself and others is entirely\nyour choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years ago, I ran into\na friend of my parents outside a hospital in downtown Toronto. I was not having\na great day and was taking my girlfriend to a doctor\u2019s appointment. My parents\u2019\nfriend was smiling, engaging and spent the two minutes we were together making\nme feel better about what I was going through. It was not until a few months\nlater I found out he had brought his wife to chemotherapy treatment that day,\nand shortly after she would lose her battle with Cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are moments in our\nlife when we are struck with the harsh reality of our true place in the world,\nof our miss-aligned moral\/social compass. My hope for you is that when those\nmoments happen you are open enough, humble enough, to see them for what they\nare and to use these opportunities to lift and guide you along your own journey\nto improve the lives of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a final thought, none of what I have done would be possible without my strong family, a great group of friends and a supportive community. I am fortunate to have an amazing wife and three incredible daughters. This is the most important thing in life, it is what grounds and supports us through the challenges that we all face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good luck and enjoy the journey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Networking is not about taking or getting something, it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":2456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,64],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2457,"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839\/revisions\/2457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianstrengthca.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}