Bad, Average, Good, or Great: What Players Have to Be

What does the Renaissance have to do with high-level hockey? The Renaissance was a time of excellence in human achievement. It was a moment where certain people—men like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo—lived truly great lives. In this high-level of hockey, we too are after something similar. We are after excellence. We are after greatness.

There are many ways to play a game. This is true both in hockey and in life. On one end of the spectrum is the person who is indifferent, not caring what the outcome of their apathy might be. On the other end is greatness, the quality that defines all of the people we consider to be personal heroes. And in the middle of those two extremes is where the vast majority of people live. 

The question that might be on your mind is this: what makes a player great?

What makes a person great?

In this article, I will discuss the four types of players, concluding with a word about how the Renaissance can teach us what constitutes true greatness.

Bad Players

The bad player is, in many ways the simplest one to define. They are the ones who just don’t care. They are completely indifferent about having real success. But one thing that makes the bad player sometimes challenging to spot is that they often appear to do well. They might act and speak confidently. They might play the game with skill. But all of this is in the service of one thing: their ego. They care a great deal about what others think about them. But when it comes to having strong personal standards, they have a severe lack. 

The bad player is the one who does the right thing when others are watching. But when left to their own devices, they will always choose the lazy and selfish route. Bad players, more than anything else, are masters of hiding behind the mask of competence.

Average Players

The second kind of player is the average one. These are the ones who take one thing very seriously: they care about the game. They are committed to performing as effectively as they possibly can, and their competitive spirit is often able to carry them very far.

This is something to be commended. While the bad player is in desperate need of a firm and to-the-point challenge, the average player is, at the very least, committed to something. They care about the team and they care about their success as a player. But in many cases, the average player is unwilling to do what it takes to bring them and their team to the next level. Because although they might care about their victory, they dismiss the need for hard and consistent practice.

To have real success requires putting in the hard work. It means dedicating long hours daily to the honing of your craft. But the average player gives only the bare minimum when it comes to investing the time and energy to do well. It is excellent to be competitive, but this fighting spirit is not enough—there must be a deeper drive.

Good Players

What sets the good player apart from the average one is very simple: the good player is willing to put in the effort. They will show up to practice, dedicating themselves wholly and completely to the task at hand. They will not settle for mediocrity but will always push themselves and their teammates to greater and greater effectiveness in the game.

The good player is characterized by their obsessive focus on one task. It is not enough to just win games. It is important for them to play as well as they possibly can. This level of dedication is only possible if a person has a greater motive than mere competitiveness. There will usually be a deeper intrinsic desire. The good player certainly wants to win. But more than that, they want to prove to themselves that they have what it takes to perform to the highest possible capacity.

And prove it they will.

Great Players

After hearing about what defines the good player, you might wonder what separates the good from the great. After all, the good player pours themselves out for whatever they are dedicated to doing. With a singular focus, they pursue their goal until they have reached it. This relentless consistency is very commendable. And yet, there is still one thing missing. As important as it is to remove distractions in an effort to be the best that you can become, the player who can truly be called great is the one who has all of this drive and yet remains well-rounded.

The Renaissance architect and thinker Leon Battista Alberti famously said that “a man can do all things if he will.” He along with many other Renaissance-era artists and philosophers were known by the title of Uomo Universale, or Universal Man. No one would doubt the skill of an artist like Leonardo da Vinci—he was undeniably one of the greatest artistic masters of his day. But what makes his life and success so much more impressive is the fact that he could balance skills in many different areas.

The good player then, is the one who remains attentive not just to the game, but also to all other aspects of their life. They pour their energy into warm-ups, general fitness, and nutrition. They refuse to allow their academic career to fall to the wayside. They cultivate personal interests and enjoy healthy hobbies. And they do all of this while remaining top players, totally dedicated to excellence.

Conclusion

Few people live at the extremes. Most likely, you are somewhere in the middle. And even if you don’t play hockey, these categories can apply to whatever your life circumstances are. Wherever you are, and no matter how you have lived in the past, you have the possibility of a very bright future. It just means a choice—one which must be renewed every day for the rest of your life. 

It means a choice to “do all things” with excellence.