Sports & Gaming
Play Sports. A Lot
Lesson time 05:48 min
Wayne’s family’s love of sports provided the perfect environment to dream big dreams and learn valuable life lessons.
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Topics include: The Power of Formative Experiences
Teaches the Athlete’s Mindset
NHL star Wayne Gretzky shares his journey and his approach to a winning mindset, from tapping into your true passion to committing to success every day.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] WAYNE GRETZKY: How sports played a role in our lives is pretty much very simple-- it was everything. My dad really felt that sports was such a unique part of life, and that if you did sports, no matter how successful you were at it, that you learn so much by participating on teams and being in an environment of learning how to be unselfish and learning how to be competitive and understanding what's the difference between winning and losing. And he really believed that was all part of life. It didn't matter if it was ice hockey, box lacrosse, baseball. The competitive spirit and the passion in our house was exactly the same. [MUSIC PLAYING] Well, I grew up in a little town that at the time was 60,000 people, a place called Brantford, Ontario. My dad was a little bit of a hockey player. My mom was probably the better athlete. She grew up playing fastball. And they always say that the genes come from the mother, and we always reminded my dad of that. Right from a young age, 2 and 1/2, 3 years old, I started playing hockey, and I really never put down a hockey stick from that time till I retired at the age of 39. That was our life, whether it be ball hockey on the street, whether it was a hallway in my grandmother's farm with a sock that was rolled up with the little hockey sticks. And I spent a lot of time shooting pucks or makeshift pucks at my grandmother. My mom sacrificed everything in the house so that my dad could afford to buy hockey equipment, baseball gloves not only for myself, but for my three brothers. My sister was a track and field athlete. We didn't spend a lot of time going on family vacation. That was never something we could do, because someone was either playing a lacrosse tournament, a hockey tournament, a baseball tournament. And so our family vacations were based around the world of sports. We got to see a lot of Ontario through the game of baseball, lacrosse, and hockey. And we were lucky enough that our parents were 100% committed to taking us kids to whether its practices, games, tournaments. And we were lucky enough that we had great parents that were part of our lives from day one. And so for me, my dreams and ambitions were through the game of hockey, to be able to go out and see the world. Brantford to go to Vancouver seemed like it was on the other side of the world. Brantford to go to Nova Scotia seemed so distant. To go to places that my family couldn't afford to go to, basically. And so for me, that was my dream of one day making the world a smaller place through the game of hockey. And I always had that same dream. One day, I wanted to travel and see every city that was around. And, as you know, today the world is a much smaller place. But in those days, the world was a big place. [MUSIC PLAYING] My first NHL hockey game was 1967. [MUSIC PLAYING] Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens. It was the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Oakland Sea...
About the Instructor
Over his 21-year career, Wayne Gretzky not only rewrote the NHL record book, he also set himself apart as one of the most accomplished professional athletes of all time. Now “The Great One” shares the moments and mindset that made him successful so you can aim for greatness in your own life. Learn the power of an athlete’s mindset and tap into passion, motivation, and dedication. Get ready to take your biggest shot yet.
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Wayne Gretzky
NHL star Wayne Gretzky shares his journey and his approach to a winning mindset, from tapping into your true passion to committing to success every day.
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