This past weekend I was at a business conference where I was surrounded by people who are “light years” ahead of me in terms of their success.

It reminded me of my first game at college. I was so nervous to begin with that I could barely tie-up my skates. Then I go out for my first shift and I see Cammi Granato, who had just come back from leading the US team to the gold medal in Nagano Olympics, lined up across from me. There I was - a virtual nobody - standing across from one of the most successful female hockey players of all time.

When you are surrounded by greatness, either on or off the ice, you have to make a choice:

–> You can be intimidated OR you can be inspired.

There are always going to be games when you have to play against players and teams that are bigger, stronger, faster and better than you are.

But their success didn’t happen overnight.

They didn’t just start out at the top.

It took them a ton of hard work to get there.

Their success gives us something to shoot for and helps us to believe that we can achieve greatness too.

So when you are surrounded by greatness, instead of being paralyzed with intimidation, be inspired to take action. Start taking your hockey performance to the next level day in and day out and soon you will be the one that other players are intimidated by.

Make the choice to be great.

- Coach Kim