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Introduction

Hey, my name is Connor, and I thought I would make a post unlike any other posts I have ever seen on this site before. I am going to give you guys a behind the scenes look at what it is really like to be a professional athlete, and it's not all glamorous. In this post I will talk about what I myself have experienced becoming a professional athlete and what I have had to deal with over my years of battling for opportunities. If this post sounds interesting to you, continue reading and I will tell you my entire story from start to finish, and I will provide you lots of insight as to what it takes to make it as an athlete.


Chapter 1 - About Me

My name is Connor Hicks and I am currently playing in the OHL/CHL (Canadian Hockey League) as a goalie for the former Belleville Bulls. I got drafted in 2013 and am going into my second season with the team. My main goal as an athlete is to make it to the National Hockey League as a goalie and have a career as a hockey player. I have played for many teams throughout my life and it hasn't always been an easy road. Growing up I played competitive hockey throughout all minor hockey going from A to AA to AAA, to getting drafted to Junior, then getting drafted to the OHL which was a big accomplishment of mine. My next goal is to get drafted to the NHL and it didn't happen this year but I have been working extremely hard over the summer and will continue to work hard over the next season and hopefully will have a chance at getting drafted this coming year.

Being a professional athlete isn't as easy as you would think. A lot of people think "They are so lucky because they get to play hockey for a job" but it is a lot more than just playing hockey for a job. It's really hockey as a life. If you choose to be a professional athlete, you have to really want it. You can't just kind of want it, you need to live sleep and breathe it. There are tons of other people just like you who are willing to take your spot if you stop believing you can do it and they will without a second thought. Being a professional athlete, what you want doesn't really matter anymore if you know what I mean because you can't do whatever you want. You can't go out once a week to get lets say Mcdonalds. Well I mean I guess you can, but this brings me back to my point that you have to really want it. I sometimes instruct summer hockey camps for local kids and I use this analogy with them. Being a professional athlete is like being a high performance car. If you want your car to perform its best, you need to fill it with performance fuel. My team has diet coaches that set up meal plans for us to stick to. I can't tell you the last time that I drank anything other than water. Being an athlete isn't just eating and drinking well, but it also consists of hours and hours every single day in the gym improving your physical performance. It's summer time right now so we are in the off season for hockey, but that doesn't mean we just sit at home and do nothing all summer. Most of us are in the gym or on the ice at least once if not twice every single day. For me personally, I am at the gym with my personal trainer working on a bunch of different types of workouts for about 3 hours daily, then I have 2 hours of goalie specific training with my goalie coach on the ice every second day. Being good takes time and a lot of effort and its definitely not an easy path if you choose to take it. There are certain levels of physical strength and ability that you must meet in order to even participate at training camps. Training camps are a whole other story of fitness. They will push you to your limits like you have never been pushed before. At training camp they have you go through a variety of different workout tests and the hardest one by far is the bike test to see how much stamina you have. It is so hard that I have seen a few guys pass out after doing the test because of the physical exertion. This is where they give you mask that provides you with oxygen so that you can perform the test at your highest ability. Long story short, being an athlete isn't just a matter of hopping on the ice at game time and playing a game and just going back to a normal routine. It involves hours and hours of training yourself and your mind to be better. Putting the right food in your body is really important, and the amount of work that goes unseen by the daily eye off the ice and at practice is incredible. As an athlete, you always know that there can and will be someone who wants you to fall so they can take your spot, so you have to keep pushing and to never stop no matter how bad it hurts or how much you want to just sleep and have a normal life for a day.


I will add to this post tomorrow so keep your eyes opened.

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