Hockey Players Carry Many Things
...are really important, too, because they protect from the knee to the ankle. Hockey players are constantly hit with either a puck or a stick. The last piece of equipment on the lower body is a pair of skates. A hockey player can go without all the other equipment except for the skates. Skates are designed with many things in mind, like providing a hard shell to protect your foot while also being as light as possible. The design of the skates also maximizes the speed that can be achieved on them. The upper body equipment provides a lot of safety that shouldn’t be left out. Shoulder pads are a must if you are planning to play contact hockey, because they provide the needed padding to be able to withstand a hit to the boards and get right back up. Elbow pads are able to keep your elbows from cracking when you fall or hit the boards with a design that doesn’t restrict your movement. The helmet has become a very sophisticated piece of equipment from what started out as just foam in a hard shell. Now, helmets are manufactured with specially designed plastics and Styrofoam to reduce the shock the head receives resulting in very few concussions compared to years past. The helmets now look more attractive than they used to. The most important piece of equipment, in my opinion, which you should make sure fits you properly is your pair of gloves. I feel that in hockey, your gloves control your stick and have to be broken in just the right amount. The gloves protect your hands from the bone crushing hits. The stick is the most technically advanced piece of equipment a hockey player owns. Hockey sticks that were once just made of wood are now made of composite graphite or Kevlar. These are the same things used by NASA on the space stations. These advanced sticks now have the capabilities to propel a hockey puck to speeds greater than 100 MPH. A good hockey player has to have many mental qualities ranging from being able to comprehend different systems of play to having the heart and desire to play. A hockey player’s head is full of different emotions. I think the most important intangible items a hockey player can possess are the heart and desire to play the sport. Without these two elements, all the other elements a player carries are totally useless. The amount of heart a hockey player possesses is huge. You have to love the game so much that you are willing to sacrifice a lot without knowing the outcome of your hard work every time you touch the ice. The desire to play the game keeps you coming back every day to the rink just to work your butt off, shower, and then do it all over again the next day. Each hockey player must also exhibit courage. You probably wouldn’t think of this as a necessity to play the game of hockey, but each time you step on the ice you are required to put your courage on the line for an unknown outcome. I know I had to courage when I looked across the ice when the national anthem was playing. You would sometimes feel as if you were in over your head. It seemed like it was going to be a David vs. Goliath battle ahead. After the final note of the anthem was finished, the courage and desire to play took over and you would battle your opponent for sixty minutes. These sixty minutes could end up being an emotional ...