Think Tank Sports Larry Rooney

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode. Today we are still on the series Think Tank and I have Larry Rooney with me. Larry, how are you?

I'm doing great today. Mike, how are you?

I'm doing great. It's so great to reconnect with you. I remember when you were part of the Buffalo Sabers. You might want to share that little experience that you had with probably one of the toughest guys we had with the Sabers.

Yeah, that was quite an experience being an amateur athlete, college athlete, college hockey player, and stepping into pro hockey where the physical side of the game and fighting is first introduced. Yeah, absolutely. That was a great experience for me going to the Buffalo Sabres camp back in 1991, I believe your first camp as well, Mike, or maybe that was about your fourth or fifth camp. We were drafted the same year in 86, but yeah, I ended up getting in my first pro fight with Brad May, Buffalo Sabre pugilist and great NHL player that served a big role for that organization and many others.

It sure did. But we're going to talk more on the think tank side of things here. We're going to kind of segue into that because you've been on a couple of our zoom calls and leadership calls and I think it's just so great to have you and your background working with kids. So we tell people this is not scripted. This is, you know, real talk. So shoot away. I'm waiting for, you know, what we have to talk about today.

Yeah. So again, thank you for having me on. I've been very fortunate to reconnect with you during our post hockey days. I've been in education for over 20 years, about half those years at a private school just outside of Boston, at Thayer Academy, for a couple years at a public school system in my hometown of Milton, Mass. And for the last six or seven years at Catholic Memorial School in Boston, Mass. So I've been around our youth, whether it's middle school age student athletes or high school age student athletes over the last 20 years, coaching them, teaching them, mentoring them, helping them with academics, athletics, the social part of being involved in a school environment, being part of a team. So I've been very fortunate to be in that role in my career. And it's amazing how much I learn as a teacher, coach, role model, even a parent from others. And how much we learn from others where we think we're the teacher and we're the coach and we're providing all of that kind of learning experience. But how much I've learned from all of the students, student athletes that I've taught and coached and mentored over the last 20 plus years. Quick backstory. I grew up in South Boston, Mass. One of 11 boys of an Irish Catholic family. So yes, I have 10 brothers. I'm very fortunate that we're all close and I think many of the basic values that I learned came from my family. Grew up as a student athlete, going to the Boys and Girls Club in South Boston, playing hockey and baseball, learning the great values of education and sports and being a teammate was fortunate enough. Playing at Thayer Academy with great hockey players like Tony Amonte and Jeremy Roenick, and then later going on to coach at Thayer Academy and coaching some NHL players such as Brooks Orpik and Brian Gibbons and Paul Carey. So I've been around this great game of hockey, but more importantly around youth athletes that have been able to be part of their lives as young student athletes. And it's been so beneficial to me. After playing at Thayer Academy, I went on to play college hockey. Very fortunate to have received a Division 1 college scholarship at Providence College, graduating in 1991 and going back to 1986, similar to the year, I believe, Mike, you were drafted by the Buffalo Sabres. I guess I had some God given talent that was recognized by some NHL organizations and I was drafted in the NHL Draft in the fifth round of the 1986 NHL Draft, went on to their camp in 1991 and that's where I, I first met Brad May and yourself and many other professional athletes, professional hockey players. But it's really been over the last 20 years of being in education and surrounded by young student athletes that I have flourished and really enjoyed the opportunity that schools and families and teams have provided me with getting to know those young men and in some cases young women, but young men on a deeper level of who they are as people and helping them face those challenges that arise in their lives. Some of those challenges come within the sport of hockey or baseball. Many other times it comes with family background, experience or just kind of the social or mental side of playing sports or being part of a team or being part of a community, a school and where they are today and where they want to be in the future. And many of those teams and players, I have great memories and fond recollection of where they had successes and where they had challenges.

This is what I want to ask you. Larry, I got to ask you this question. So what are the. Well, first of all, one more brother you could have had a full on ice game with you just short a goalie with 11, you know, siblings in the family.

Oh my gosh, we actually had 12 boys. My mom lost a boy at birth. She's at this point 60, 63 years ago. So she gave birth to 12 boys. But yes, you're right, we at least had a soccer or a football team.

Well, in the think tank, I want to know, like, what is the biggest challenge that you have? Like, what are some of the toughest challenges that you have when you're working with young athletes today?

Yeah, you know, if you ask me that question 5, 10, 20 years ago, I'd probably answer it along the lines of sports and kind of athleticism and skill set that they bring to the game. Again, the more and more I've coached kids and the more and more that I've gotten to know young men and women, but young men in the game of hockey, the more I coach them away from the game of hockey about what's going on in their personal lives. I believe that young kids today, adolescents today are faced with the biggest challenges through self value, self respect, self confidence, having to live up to societies, values that don't always provide them with a great environment to flourish in education or in sports. And I think there's a big mental, a lack of mental strength and self esteem that goes on in student athletes. So communicating with these kids, getting to know them on a deeper level, building rapport, building trust, being able to know their family background, their experiences, what's going on in their lives and really getting to know them on a deeper level of their thoughts, their feelings, their goals, their values and things away from the game of hockey, away from the score sheet, away from the X's and O's and the pressures that just come with being an athlete today, I think are different from the days that you and I grew up in. So it's just fantastic to get to know kids and families on a deeper level and know where they're coming from. I just see so many more kids today facing anxiety and stress and depression, trying to live up to society's expectations of them and sometimes overlooking their own values and strengths that they have in doing that. So that's been the biggest change over the last 20 years in working with young Student athletes today.

You know, I'm so happy. You know, I wanted to hear you talk because a lot of the times I'm doing all the talking. So that was fantastic. So I hope coaches or parents that, that are out there, you're listening to a person who's a great character person, he values things within his life, he builds relationships. And that's everything that we look for with a coach. It's not about X's and O's and winning. Larry, you played at the highest level. You played, you know, you're with an NHL training camp, Division 1. You repped it out in Boston. And that's what the message is here. So when we talk about what is that think tank, it's about sharing ideas for people to learn from. And tell me the one thing that you love about coaching the kids.

I love the kids. I really do. At times it's frustrating when you don't, you know, kind of get what you want from them. But in the big picture, when you reflect back after a season, just being around those kids and around the locker room and on the bench and helping them achieve their goals, sometimes that'll come with some, it will come with challenges and adversity, but helping them understand that, going through that process, trying out for a team, making a team, having a role on that team, being a great teammate, being a. Being a accepted part of the community and team, and knowing that from year to year that role may change, that's so satisfying for me of getting to know these kids on a deeper level. So the most satisfying, gratifying part for me is getting to know the boys. And then like a Brooks Orpik or others that have coached and moved on. But not just these young men is seeing how they have success in the future within the game of hockey. Going off to college, starting jobs, starting families, that's the most satisfying thing for me.

Well, Larry, it was so great having you here today. You gave us a lot of nuggets to take with us. And I hope the parents listen, because sometimes I listen to coaches and it's about we have to win. You know, I talked to high school coaches in different sports, and now we have to beat this team or playing this private school, and it's nine to one and we're going to keep our best players in and we're going to beat them 10 to 1. And I think that listening to a person that's been at your level, you gave us a lot of great takeaways. Larry, thank you so much for being here.

I appreciate the opportunity. I look forward to speaking with you more and sharing some ideas and learning some more ideas from others within the think tank. Thank you, Mike. Thank you.

If anybody wants more information, go to Hartman Academy. We are going to consistently bring on people to our show. We're not just looking for professional athletes or we're looking for anybody that has something on their mind that they want to talk about. Go to Hartman Academy. Go into the Contact Us area. Send us a message. Love to help you, Larry. Thanks again.

Have a great day.

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