Posts Tagged "ice"
The Laraque Lesson.
(January 25, 2009 - Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images North America)
FULL DISCLOSURE – I’ve recently developed an interest in the great sport of Hockey. What’s weird about that? Well, I’m a 26 year old white male living in Montreal and up until about 6 months ago I couldn’t name more than three hockey players. When you live in Montreal, you’re expected to know, live, and breathe hockey. My recent interest developed cause I moved in with three friends who are avid hockey fans. Not to mention all my other friends watch hockey, so naturally, when there’s a party at our house it’s usually centered around a hockey game. In fact, as I write this, Montreal is losing 3 – 2 to Ottawa (UPDATE: they lost).
What I like the most about hockey is not who’s who or the stats of the game, but rather the funny things that can happen during a hockey game. Things that have nothing to do with the rules of hockey or even the actual game of hockey. Something that comes to mind recently was when Plekanec scored a goal and was celebrating and he fell face first on the ice, tripping Markov in the process who was making his way there to congratulate him on the goal or, like, when fans dress in green spandex and make fun of players in the penalty box.
These are the moments of hockey that make me keep watching. Lately I’ve been interested in the story of Georges Laraque. Laraque is known as the Habs’ goon, put on the ice to intimidate opposing hockey players. Georges Laraque is also Haitian and, as we all know, Haiti has lately been devastated by a massive earthquake. Another interesting fact about Georges Laraque is that he hasn’t scored a goal in the past 2 years… that is, until January 14th, 2010, one day after the Haiti earthquake hit.
Again, I remind you, I don’t know much about hockey, but something happened to Laraque. Something we can take a lesson from. See, Laraque was now playing a different game. His reason for playing hockey changed. It wasn’t about intimidating others or starting fights, now it was about those devastated in the destruction of Haiti. Laraque looked at the big picture. He wasn’t paying attention to the stats, he wasn’t overthinking things, he was in the mindset where he needed to trust himself and make things happen.
Laraque dedicated the goal to his people in Haiti, mentioning the goal was a miracle. Now, what can we learn from this? What can we take from Laraque’s situation that we can apply to our everyday lives that’ll help us love what we do? See, we have to look at the big picture of things. We need to find, in ourselves, why we do what we do. The reason you do what you do needs to inspire you, it needs to fuel you, it needs to give you the energy you need to perform. That’s what happened to Laraque on the 14th, his reason for playing hockey changed and the new reason gave him the energy and focus he needed to make him perform better than usual. Now, let’s not confuse Laraque’s success with Laraque’s performance. True success is playing at the top of your game and not the outcome or stats of a game. It’s the journey, not the destination. Scoring a goal is the outcome of good performance and the performance is what we’re all there to watch.
What to take away from this is that we all need to find a reason that empowers us in the morning, every morning, when we wake up. That reason, like I mentioned, needs to inspire you, it needs to set your insides on fire. You need to find that something that’ll fulfill you. Here’s the thing: that reason has nothing to do with any physical aspect or goal. If Laraque was playing hockey on January 14th so that he can higher his stats as a player, get a better contract, and get paid more money, then I doubt he would’ve ever scored at all. No, Laraque was inspired and emotional about his reason for playing hockey. He wasn’t playing for money, contracts, stats, he was playing to inspire others, he was playing so that Haiti, at it’s darkest, could shine just a little bit. And shine it did cause, after Laraque scored, the crowd broke into a giant standing ovation, yelling “La-Raque! La-Raque!” as loud as ever. These simple things, these simple reasons, they’re the reasons that change our world. Find your reason to change our world and do it and don’t look back. Whether you succeed or not doesn’t matter, what matters is how you got there.
Laraque was always very philanthropic - donating to various charities and increasing the well-being of his community Today, he continues to help out and raise awareness of the Haiti earthquake, in order to get aid to the people who need it immensely.
Again, I encourage whoever might be reading this to donate to help out those in Haiti. An easy way to donate is to simply text the word “HAITI” to 90999, which in turn sends a $10 donation to the Redcross. You can also donate via the Redcross. Obviously, anything counts.
Read MoreFollow Me
