ADM Kids

One of the greatest tennis players in history gave a stirring commencement speech to some of the brightest young minds in the United States in June.

What does that have to do with youth hockey?

Plenty, as it turns out.

Roger Federer’s June speech to Dartmouth graduates went viral because of his humility as well as the broad lessons it can teach about the importance of resilience and being well-rounded.

“I thought it was awesome,” says Guy Gosselin, a player development manager for USA Hockey. “I grew up watching all kinds of sports. Here's a guy that is humble and grateful for any opportunity he ever had in the sport. He just has empathy and great advice on how to deal with peaks and valleys.”

After both of us had watched the full 25-minute speech, Gosselin reflected on some of its best messages and how they apply to 10U hockey players.

Federer won 20 Grand Slam titles, and his consistent style of play often made it look like he was having an easy time on the court.

But he bristles at the notion that his play was “effortless,” calling it a “myth” that doesn’t consider all the preparation and hard work that went into his success.

“Hopefully, like me, you learned that ‘effortless’ is a myth,” Federer said. “I didn’t get where I got on pure talent alone. I got there by trying to outwork my opponents. I believed in myself. But belief in yourself has to be earned.

“Yes, talent matters. I’m not going to stand here and tell you it doesn’t. But talent has a broad definition. Most of the time, it’s not about having a gift. It’s about having grit. In tennis, a great forehand with sick racquet head speed can be called a talent. But in tennis... like in life... discipline is also a talent. And so is patience. Trusting yourself is a talent. Embracing the process, loving the process, is a talent. Managing your life, managing yourself... these can be talents, too. Some people are born with them. Everybody has to work at them.”

Even with all his natural ability, Federer told his audience, he had to work tirelessly to remain on top and to win matches. The same is often true of hockey players at a young age. They might be told they make it look easy, Gosselin says, but the reality is that their success is a combination of ability and work.

“Effortless is a myth is a great message. That’s a great way to put it,” Gosselin says. “There’s an end product that we're talking about here, and then still it's not a guarantee without work.”

In his speech, Federer brings up a fascinating statistic: Even with all his success in major tournaments and in winning 80% of his matches, he still lost a lot. And, in fact, he only won 54% of his points. That’s a slim margin, and it requires a player to get over losses both small and large almost constantly.

"You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments," said Federer. "That is, to me, the sign of a champion, the best in the world. And, not the best because they win every point. It's because they know they'll lose again and again, and have learned how to deal with it.

"You move on, be relentless, adapt, and grow."

“I think good hockey players especially as you get older, you learn how to deal with your failures. That's a huge asset to have,” Gosselin says. “For Federer, it was becoming a master of overcoming losses, whether it's a point or it was a match. And that's huge, you know, because you learn from your mistakes.

Gosselin referenced another all-time great, Wayne Gretzky, who has said that his Edmonton Oilers team had to go through losing in the playoffs for several years before they broke through and won four Stanley Cup titles in five seasons.

Along a similar but not identical line, Federer talked about managing adversity. This goes beyond losing a point, a match or a hockey game.

“The truth is, whatever game you play in life, sometimes you’re going to lose ... But negative energy is wasted energy,” Federer added.

“You're going to lose plenty of games. There's adversity all over sports. There is adversity in everything we do and that's OK,” Gosselin says. “He's talking about managing his life and the discipline you have to learn to have, and those are some great virtues. You’re going to have to deal with possibly getting let go at work and understand that life is bigger than the court or the ice.”

In youth hockey, players might have to learn how to handle the disappointment of getting cut from a team or having a smaller role than they (or their family) envisioned. It’s imperative that our young athletes learn to fight through that adversity.

“My personal opinion is we had to deal with that adversity because there wasn't any other option,” Gosselin says of the hockey landscape when he was young. “So we learned how to deal with the bumps in the road because that's all we had. Where else were you gonna go? You know, you had your team and that was it.”

Battling through adversity isn’t easy.

“I think the reward, when you get past that adversity, and you succeed, for me it would be a lot more rewarding than just taking the easy exit,” Gosselin says.

Federer also talked at length about the support from his family, his longtime manager and others who encouraged him along the way – when times were good or bad. That support, Federer said, gave him the ability to be a good person in addition to being a great athlete.

“I always say we're looking for good humans in hockey. That’s a big deal in, in our game,” Gosselin says. “The good ones stick around, and others get weeded out. College coaches don't call me and ask me if, you know, do you think this kid is a good player? They want good humans. Everyone knows that they can play.”