likes and dislikes about big international tournoment

just wondering whats your favourite and your most unfavourite thing about big international competitions
i'll start it off

thing i hate
about internationals are the breathold warm ups, they break me down,its a lot of mental strain trying to stretch your lungs whie staying relaxed before a game.

thing i like the most
Is feeling your body like a machine,you really get down to the basics.
eating,sleeping,peeing everyday same routine.
in everyday life we seem to forget the primal workings of our bodies.

i'd like to hear some of your views

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top of de mornin to yeh

i've got a pearler for you steve. if you don't like long breath-holds in your warmup... don't do them?


personally i like seeing old friends, playing proper hockey (ie where everyone on your team is fit enough to be in the right place and knows the gameplans properly)... and just like any tournament, hopefully getting a couple of decent smashes in on someone before the comp is through.

dislikes... muggy pool atmosphere, admin hiccups that stuff up or affect the competition, when theres not sufficient space for everyone to stash their gear properly on poolside. oh, and having slack players on the other teams paint their sticks poolside and leave black or white marks all over my sticks, meaning i have to paint mine as well.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

Got to agree with Liam on the breathholds. And Liam, when you say seeing old friends, do you mean old friends, or old people who are friends?

Likes:
- Pretty much everything, especially that the training is over and it is time to play
- Catching up with the other hockey heads that you only see once every two years.

Dislikes:
- Having days off during the tournament. Sheffield: 3 games in 6 days was a bit much.

Not really a dislike, but something that has puzzled me about worlds... and I don't have an answer: Why are the kiwis always such antisocial buggers at worlds? Are they afraid that talking to other teams in a friendly fashion is weak?

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Faster than a speeding puck...

I think you've pretty much nailed it there Liam, and I agree with you too Jols. The social side of World's is definitely one of the highlights.

Having the training done and dusted is a good one too, knowing that all the hard work you've put in over the months, all the sacrifices that you've made have been worth it.

However, I don't mind the breatholds, but I have been told that the lack of O2 impairs judgment on these things! Maybe I've done a few too many in my time??

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Breathing is overrated!

"i've got a pearler for you steve. if you don't like long breath-holds in your warmup... don't do them?"

its probaby just a nerves thing liam,i have tried not doing too much of a breathhold warm up before a big game and as hard as it is for me i'd never miss it.
in the first 3 mins of the game its just mayhem and no matter how hard the warm up is its always nice to have bouncy stretched lungs form the start.

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top of de mornin to yeh

Sounds like me at my first worlds... chicken with it's head cut off for the first minutes of the game.

It gets a lot better when you realise that it is in fact just a game.

You will find that even though you take the game (and yourself) less seriously, the strange upside is that you get better at it.

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Faster than a speeding puck...

I have to agree with jols.
Everything about the worlds is great. One or two weeks of good hockey and catching up with people from all over the world. Nothing beats that.

The only dislike I have, is all the administrational **** we have to take care of, although Romain does most of that. Very time consuming at the beginning of the tournament if your team doesn't have a manager.

They give you all this money but no manager, hmm priorities

you wanted honest comments deeperone, I consider you to be one of the most narrow minded people on this forum.
Only thinking about the money, that is a sad way of life if you ask me.
And yes, we don't have a manager, as we don't have a volunteer for that, and prefer to spend the money on other ways to grow the sport.