PAUL BUCZKOWSKI       Bio       Setting Goals       Respect       Back to School       Professionalism       Those in the know       Turn It Positive       Finding a Job       Eye Protection       Playing Injured       Gearing Up       WCHL vs. CHL       Europe v. N.A.       Specific Training       Training Camps       Road to Success       Dedication       Life in the WHL SANDY LAMARRE       Bio       Season to Forget       College vs. Junior       Sportsmanship       Game Prep       Conditioning FORBES MACPHERSON       Making the Jump BRIAN PATAFIE       Bio       Stretching       ICE PATRICK POWERS       Is Hockey Just a Sport? ANDREW ZOPPO       Be Tenacious
	PlayYourGame.com is proud to have Paul Buczkowski as a feature writer. From the WHL to the NHL, Paul will bring insight to every aspect of the game, as a sport and as a career. Respect By Paul Buczkowski The year is underway, and I am watching from the sidelines. Since being retired, I am able to look at the game in a whole new perspective. I have had a chance to help coach and have also had the opportunity to help and teach more and more kids the game of hockey. This year I have especially noticed that there is a major change in the amount of respect that players are giving each other on the ice. This may have been happening over the last few years, but I have really noticed this year that cross-checks and checking from behind are quite common. I think that over my whole career, I was checked from behind only once. There have been some players that I have played with that have been repeatedly hit this way over the course of a season. I think that it comes down to RESPECT. Respect, I believe, has to be earned, but in order to receive, you also have to give. I always played hard and always played fair, and I think that is one reason that I was respected throughout my career. I am not saying that I was always the aggressor. I am saying that because I played hard and fair, other players respected me and took it into consideration when they lined me up for a hit or when my back was facing them six feet from the boards. Some players play with reckless abandon and have no control on the ice and often make poor decisions about hits from behind and using their sticks in unfair ways. I know for a fact that even myself has had other thoughts when approaching these types of players. I also have noticed that these types of players are targets, and even though they are usually the ones dishing out the dangerous hits, they are also the ones who do most of the receiving of these hits. My point is that play hard and play fair, but you have to give everyone on the ice the same type of respect. Treat your opponent as you would like to be treated. I understand that you might have to take a penalty, and I encourage the big hit, or even taking someone down on a breakaway. But if you do not respect your opponent, they will definitely not respect you. After teaching some 15 and 16 year olds this year, I was astonished by the amount of slashing and hitting from behind that had occurred even while doing drills. I was always taught that there is a time to be quiet and a time to be heard. At one point or another, every player will have to at least once earn the respect of their opponent. This could be done either physically or mentally. You will have to decide and I am confident that you will know when. Here are my quotes for the month: "It 's simple. If you see a guy's "numbers", you don't hit him!" - Unwritten rule of hockey "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think of you." - John Wooden Paul Buczkowski 1 Year CHL 2 Years ECHL 3 Years Europe 6 Years WHL
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