Speaker 1: I do not believe we need to introduce my next guest,
Speaker 1: Peter Bondra. Thank you so much for your time. It's
Speaker 1: such a pleasure and honor because I know you don't
Speaker 1: do this too often, so thanks for finding your time. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. I'm really happy to be here.
Speaker 1: It's pretty obvious that the power of the thought and
Speaker 1: what we actually write down works extremely well. Everybody have
Speaker 1: to create their own pet work, addict or whatever it's
Speaker 1: worked for them at that time. There was something which
Speaker 1: is I was learning, um during that period, what I
Speaker 1: can accomplish, and but I have to do. You have
Speaker 1: to put your mind and it doesn't come just like
Speaker 1: they have with it. What is the thing you appreciate
Speaker 1: the multiple Slovaki, It's just it's it's my home. So
Speaker 1: I mean, I appreciate all this, but you know, I
Speaker 1: think the morning Slovaki. I appreciate my family and they
Speaker 1: live here and when I come here and to see
Speaker 1: see them every year. When you start to do well, um,
Speaker 1: say you are on top of the game, how do
Speaker 1: you manage the expectations? Finally you got a big countray
Speaker 1: again and said, yes, I'm I'm happy. But now you
Speaker 1: learned expectations are even higher. I do want to apologize
Speaker 1: to our Slova listeners that we are doing this one
Speaker 1: in English, but um, you know, Peter is such a
Speaker 1: superstar in all around the world, so I thought, um,
Speaker 1: we give it a goal in English, and I think
Speaker 1: it's much more ntural for both of us. So UM,
Speaker 1: I believe, Um, google Wikipedia, anything you need to know
Speaker 1: about Peter, you can go ahead. There. We go straight
Speaker 1: to the point that we were just discussing, which I
Speaker 1: thought was amazing. So I'm going straight back to the point.
Speaker 1: So you're saying ice hockey is basically an individual sport.
Speaker 1: In a team sport, it is everybody. You know myself,
Speaker 1: I need to prepare myself for a season and I
Speaker 1: have to do my homework to have a good year.
Speaker 1: So even it's a team sport, everybody has to start
Speaker 1: on your own. How you get ready, So for me
Speaker 1: very important when I learned during my career I need
Speaker 1: to gain a confidence and how I gained a confidence
Speaker 1: is uh, for example, preparation for a season within the summer.
Speaker 1: So before a season started, I look back and UM,
Speaker 1: I asked myself, did I did everything what I need
Speaker 1: to do? And when I say yes, yes, yes, then
Speaker 1: I know I'm ready. So how you maintain confidence, it's
Speaker 1: very important. It was for me. I I created segments
Speaker 1: between the games. So each each game while you have
Speaker 1: a period of two or three days of preparation for
Speaker 1: the next game. So for me, was that segment very important.
Speaker 1: To make sure I sleep, make sure I eat right,
Speaker 1: make sure I train more than everybody else because expectation
Speaker 1: for my role on the team was high. So I
Speaker 1: need to perform when the game is um is come.
Speaker 1: So this is for me. That's how I sort of
Speaker 1: after my fourth first four years in national hockey, I
Speaker 1: learned about myself, who I am, who I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: And after that and when you learn how to prepare
Speaker 1: yourself for each game wasn't easy, but I think it was.
Speaker 1: I created a good career for myself. How did you
Speaker 1: learn this? Where you told to do that? Or is
Speaker 1: something you found out for yourself? Naturally? There was more
Speaker 1: naturally Obviously we all learn on mistakes easy way, no
Speaker 1: matter what somebody else telling you. You always um uh
Speaker 1: kind of sometimes stubborn because you think you know the best,
Speaker 1: but it's not always worked that way. And um, that's
Speaker 1: what I did. Um I give example, like I came
Speaker 1: to leak before actually internet wasn't running and all satellites.
Speaker 1: Um uh. My first game ever I saw in the
Speaker 1: National Hocke League. I was in it, so I didn't
Speaker 1: know anything but NHL. I was lucky. I just I
Speaker 1: give I had I had the opportunity to go. I
Speaker 1: I took to my pocket and I said, hey, I cannot,
Speaker 1: I cannot lose on this. I always come come back
Speaker 1: by myself around my ticket, and I'll be back. My
Speaker 1: mentality was, I didn't care if I had a knowledge
Speaker 1: now about a n NHL, about how I supposed to
Speaker 1: be ready or what I'm supposed to do. I'll be
Speaker 1: under a lot of pressure. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: be able to have a successful career. But because I
Speaker 1: didn't know anything about it, I just went and I
Speaker 1: tried to be my best, tried to learn as quick
Speaker 1: I can start from my language. I didn't speak any English.
Speaker 1: And uh, you go, and you have to be lucky
Speaker 1: to be surrounded with good people and and and I was,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure in your career you always somebody um
Speaker 1: help you to make that big step, no matter who was.
Speaker 1: Maybe parents, maybe your agent, maybe whoever. But and I
Speaker 1: was lucky. I was surrounding good people. And I show
Speaker 1: from day one when I arrived in d C. I
Speaker 1: will to learn. I'm willing to adjust. I'm willing to
Speaker 1: uh not necessarily to be be become American, but I'm
Speaker 1: willing to learn about the game and try to be
Speaker 1: my best. And when people see that, they will help you.
Speaker 1: They will push you when you need And I obviously
Speaker 1: I had some some I guess gaps in my career
Speaker 1: where I need that push, and I took advantage from it.
Speaker 1: I never looked back. Who is that one person that
Speaker 1: you refer to, well, from the beginning, it was my
Speaker 1: teammate Mike de Blanka. Um he was he was there
Speaker 1: ready for four years before I arrived in nine and
Speaker 1: because I didn't speak any English, and Mike was there
Speaker 1: to help me to uh to translate. Actually, for example,
Speaker 1: you're sitting in the locker room and the coach have
Speaker 1: a speech about the game tactics and um, I was
Speaker 1: sitting the first couple of months of the in the
Speaker 1: locker room of the season. I tried to pick up
Speaker 1: something from his his awards, but that was a tough.
Speaker 1: The coach just kind of point to Mike take care
Speaker 1: of him, and Mike knew what to do and that
Speaker 1: that was actually big help because to know what's the
Speaker 1: game plan and what you have to do to be
Speaker 1: successful in the game, make sure the team wins, you
Speaker 1: have to adjust. And that was and then, um what
Speaker 1: helped me just after four years kind of learned about
Speaker 1: myself who I am and who I wanted to be
Speaker 1: because NHL it's a tough sport and a lot of
Speaker 1: games and there's need to be prepared, not just physically,
Speaker 1: mentally as well, and I tried to find we talk
Speaker 1: about the confidence guidance. So I'll give you example what
Speaker 1: I did. I know it was was crazy thing what
Speaker 1: I did, but I I felt like if I put
Speaker 1: my mind into it or something I want to be,
Speaker 1: I can, I can I can accomplish And um that year.
Speaker 1: I was in the league for four years and like
Speaker 1: I said, I wasn't sure who I am in goal
Speaker 1: scorer or or a player who makes some place or
Speaker 1: offensive for the It's a player. I told myself. It
Speaker 1: was a lackout year. So we start a little bit
Speaker 1: later in the season. I think we started some time
Speaker 1: in December. So I told myself. I the short season
Speaker 1: was going to be how many games? Forty game season?
Speaker 1: So I told myself, I want to score twenty goals.
Speaker 1: This is my individual goal. And I did everything about
Speaker 1: that just to make sure I can accomplish the goal.
Speaker 1: But what I did, um, you know those sticky pads.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure you have them on the fridge, yellow,
Speaker 1: different colors, pink. So I put number twenty on the
Speaker 1: on the on a sticker, and I put everywhere on
Speaker 1: the fridge, on the alarm clock, on the car, in
Speaker 1: the bathroom. Any time of the during the day, I
Speaker 1: look on that number, remind me what I tried to
Speaker 1: accomplish the goal. And it's easy to say, this is
Speaker 1: not about the goals, actually goals when you celebrate the goal.
Speaker 1: This is about what I supposed to do, how I
Speaker 1: supposed to do, and what I have to sacrifice to
Speaker 1: do that. And obviously my family sacrifice because of that.
Speaker 1: But that that at that time that I was. I'm
Speaker 1: lucky and happy the family helped me to accomplish their goal.
Speaker 1: So the season went on, I start, we start winning,
Speaker 1: start scoring. So I put nineteen eighteen. It's just basically
Speaker 1: after I would say two and a half months, I
Speaker 1: ran out of the numbers, so zero, but I stay
Speaker 1: on that path. I means just work ethic, um, eating habits,
Speaker 1: trained habits, just basically everything what the hockey um ask
Speaker 1: you to do. So after a season, um, everything went well. Uh.
Speaker 1: The guy who's who comes from middle of nowhere at
Speaker 1: that time was Czechoslovaki and I was Slava Republic let
Speaker 1: the league in the National Hockey League in goal. So
Speaker 1: that was just something which is I don't know how
Speaker 1: I managed how I did, but just like I said,
Speaker 1: if you want something bad enough, you'll get it. You
Speaker 1: have it and you can accomplish. Well, you just said
Speaker 1: you don't know how you accomplished it. But it's pretty
Speaker 1: obvious that the power of the thought and what we
Speaker 1: actually write down works extremely well. And is that something
Speaker 1: you would advise the young hockey players to write things
Speaker 1: down and and really visualize them. Everybody have to create
Speaker 1: their own pet and work addict or whatever it's worked
Speaker 1: for them. At that time. There was something which is
Speaker 1: I was learning, um during that period what I can
Speaker 1: accomplish and but I have to you have to put
Speaker 1: your mind and it doesn't come just like the hand.
Speaker 1: We don't do whatever, but you have to it's a
Speaker 1: it's a process. We talked about it actually with a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago that people, especially with in today's
Speaker 1: social media, they think, Um, for some reason people things
Speaker 1: come easy to us, and that's not the case. You
Speaker 1: work hard to make it look easy. No matter what
Speaker 1: you do, you have to work hard. And you know,
Speaker 1: like I'm talking to my boys, play hockey, huh and um,
Speaker 1: my first thing after we discussing game, talk about the game,
Speaker 1: would just my son play, did you work hard? And
Speaker 1: he said, if he doesn't give me a straight answer,
Speaker 1: I know there was a gap or something. He wasn't
Speaker 1: not necessarily cheating, but just didn't didn't give And because
Speaker 1: you can control how hard you work and everything no
Speaker 1: matter what project you're working, but you cannot control sometimes talent,
Speaker 1: you know, it comes with that. But when you work hard,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure at one point you're gonna get awarded.
Speaker 1: And you know. So, so this is just sort of
Speaker 1: message which is I would probably send to young kids
Speaker 1: and just make sure you country what you're doing and
Speaker 1: put your mind into it. And um, and for your kids,
Speaker 1: you talked about if you talk about hockey players, what
Speaker 1: my message would be education. This is more important than
Speaker 1: anything else. I'm so glad you're saying this. This is
Speaker 1: has to be a priority on that because I know
Speaker 1: new era of the parents, hockey players, kids, they they
Speaker 1: want to accomplish what you accomplish. Maybe what to stand
Speaker 1: on trying to accomplished, but doesn't come right away. And
Speaker 1: uh no, everybody is lucky like b R you know,
Speaker 1: but sometimes you know, thanks, we have to have a
Speaker 1: plan B and education. You're not gonna get lost anywhere
Speaker 1: whatever you do on your next step in your life.
Speaker 1: Plus it takes actually the pressure away from the from
Speaker 1: your performance because you know, okay, you give your best,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, if it doesn't work, hey,
Speaker 1: I can still do a million other things. And I
Speaker 1: think that's something we have in common that after we
Speaker 1: retired because of the education, it just gives us so
Speaker 1: many opportunities to do pretty much what whatever we decided
Speaker 1: to put our mind into. Yeah, there's no limit. I
Speaker 1: told my kids, you study all your life. I will
Speaker 1: pay for it. So and if you don't take advantage,
Speaker 1: then I don't know what you can do because material
Speaker 1: stuff it's not as important what you've given this this
Speaker 1: But no, but the education is there for all the life. Um.
Speaker 1: This podcast is called the Real DNA and that means
Speaker 1: we talk about the the and the values that we have.
Speaker 1: What are the ones that you appreciate actually in other
Speaker 1: people that you have around here? So I just mentioned
Speaker 1: hard work. It's just several times this is going to
Speaker 1: be number one in my case. But um, well honestly,
Speaker 1: I think that's just uh, you need to be honest,
Speaker 1: you uh and they're respectable. Um. In my case, I mean,
Speaker 1: whoever I talked to, I have to be um, you know,
Speaker 1: um kind of respectable to people. Make sure that people
Speaker 1: have a feel they know me. My job actually with
Speaker 1: Washington Capitalists meeting read a lot of people and I
Speaker 1: have to maybe have an only a couple of minutes
Speaker 1: time to meet somebody. I need to show my personality
Speaker 1: who I am right away. Make sure that moment for
Speaker 1: the guy whoever meet me, and that uh time, it's um,
Speaker 1: you know, enjoyable, maybe rememberable, remember for his uh um
Speaker 1: at that moment. So yeah, this is sort of little
Speaker 1: things like that goes a long way, and I think
Speaker 1: that people will like you, give you a safe respect back.
Speaker 1: Just please compare being a player to being a GM.
Speaker 1: What's more difficult because people in my position they don't
Speaker 1: want to believe me that actually doing TV it's much
Speaker 1: harder than being a player. So please say it from
Speaker 1: your perspective. What was your experience like I did? I
Speaker 1: was GM for Team Slovakia for four years and the
Speaker 1: Olympics UM two thousand tenements. Who was We had a
Speaker 1: great tournament and as a player, I can go up there,
Speaker 1: I can maybe control part of that or make some
Speaker 1: changes right away. But when you're sitting on the top,
Speaker 1: there's nothing you can do, nothing you can do. I
Speaker 1: cannot believe that I learned about myself who I am.
Speaker 1: I started screaming. I was yelling on their free or
Speaker 1: just but from distance. I was in a special box.
Speaker 1: But I was so nervous. I don't know. Um, I
Speaker 1: think I uh, it's much easier to play the game.
Speaker 1: I can tell you that. Oh, so you're saying it's
Speaker 1: much easier to Yes, Yes, that's what I'm saying. So okay,
Speaker 1: I thank you for confirming my my idea here. I
Speaker 1: know you came a little bit prepares. Tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit about what you were just about to tell
Speaker 1: me right before we started to record. Oh, well, this
Speaker 1: is my old notes. Um. I sometimes I do like
Speaker 1: a motivation speeches, not as much. This is not what
Speaker 1: I tried to make a little bit, but I got
Speaker 1: some stuff writing now I saved them. So this way,
Speaker 1: this way when I'm gonna like today, I brought my notes.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what's there from what year, but I
Speaker 1: have him here in the case I have to look
Speaker 1: at refresh my memory. Yes, tell me something about that
Speaker 1: confidence that I saw that I thought it was a
Speaker 1: very interesting confidence, very important to anybody, like if you
Speaker 1: want to be successful. I mean I give you example,
Speaker 1: like actually I did um a couple of things with
Speaker 1: I was a gem of Team Slovakia. So I've been
Speaker 1: talking to a lot of players would be come and uh,
Speaker 1: and I learned this kind of European players, UM, don't
Speaker 1: have that confidence. I felt like they just they go
Speaker 1: play and they are not sure what's going to happen
Speaker 1: out from the game. If you ask me I'm going
Speaker 1: to play a game, I know I'm gonna win, I
Speaker 1: can tell you. Or so for example, I ask you, UM,
Speaker 1: give your name, Yarrow. Are you going to score a
Speaker 1: goal tonight? You're gonna win the game. Those guys usually
Speaker 1: there's no confidence gonna say, well, I will try, I
Speaker 1: maybe I will be lucky. Yeah, but you know that.
Speaker 1: But if you ask me if I'm gonna score a game,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna win a game. I said, I look at
Speaker 1: you a new eyes, and I'm gonna say I will
Speaker 1: score and I will be winning the game. So this
Speaker 1: is different, but it's based on on a lot of
Speaker 1: hard work. This is not just you can say it,
Speaker 1: but you have to believe, uh, you're gonna win the
Speaker 1: game when you go to play. Because even for for us,
Speaker 1: we're gonna play Russia or Team Canada. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: then Chara or Maryan Hossa or whoever, or myself, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say they are good. No, I'm good as them,
Speaker 1: and I'm even better and I know I'm going to
Speaker 1: be winning that game. So stuff like that is very
Speaker 1: important when you go to the game, especially sometimes even
Speaker 1: from coaches. I worked with some coaches from Slovakian coaches,
Speaker 1: and I know we're gonna have a tough game. And
Speaker 1: and I sometimes the energy from the coach first couple
Speaker 1: of sentences, even he maybe doesn't believe because it's um
Speaker 1: whoever grets killing you Crosby Wedgkin. You know you need
Speaker 1: to be a believer. And do you think it's something
Speaker 1: we gained in America that it's impossible to learn in
Speaker 1: New York, Because that's one of the reasons I went there,
Speaker 1: and I don't think I would have ever gotten the
Speaker 1: confidence if I stayed in Slovakia. Actually, well, when you
Speaker 1: around people like the team provide a lot of services
Speaker 1: you just you should take advantage from, for example, nutritions, psychiatrists,
Speaker 1: you gain something and then you start um kind of
Speaker 1: learning some new things, you try some new drinks, and
Speaker 1: on the end of the day it's working. And you're
Speaker 1: probably right because the culture when I play in the
Speaker 1: National Hockey League for seventeen years, like I said, our
Speaker 1: goal was every year to win a cup and nothing less.
Speaker 1: So I mean why I should go to season telling uh,
Speaker 1: coach telling ourselves we just want to be second or third.
Speaker 1: I don't understand this or or eight for example, and
Speaker 1: in some cases national team Slovaki national team. UM tell
Speaker 1: me though, because I think there is a fine line
Speaker 1: between being confident, confident and saying right, I'm going to
Speaker 1: win this game or this match, but at the same
Speaker 1: time being humbled and respecting the opponent, because I think
Speaker 1: that sometimes can be a little bit tricky. Of course,
Speaker 1: and especially I can I can I can see on
Speaker 1: the young guys, Um, they don't have a media sort
Speaker 1: of experience and saying right time, right things. It's very important.
Speaker 1: We all made the mistakes. I made the mistakes. I
Speaker 1: learned from it. But obviously, no matter what you're saying,
Speaker 1: you always respect your opponent. Uh. You know. At the
Speaker 1: same time, when you when you go up there and
Speaker 1: start playing, you need to go with confidence. So even
Speaker 1: when you win, you always try to find when you're
Speaker 1: commenting opponent because uh, they might have a bad day,
Speaker 1: good day, whatever. But what I'm saying, they always when
Speaker 1: you when you have to kind of appreciate it. How
Speaker 1: hard do you want and you give a kind of
Speaker 1: I would say, positive feedback to uh, to your opponent.
Speaker 1: Tell me one thing that I struggled with throughout my
Speaker 1: care year. When you start to do well, um, say
Speaker 1: you are on top of the game, how do you
Speaker 1: manage the expectations and not lose that appreciation that you
Speaker 1: just said that? Okay, I actually had to work really
Speaker 1: hard for that, because to me, what happened was that
Speaker 1: it started kind of started to become a routine that
Speaker 1: everyone was ex expecting me to be in the quarter semis,
Speaker 1: and I lost that joy and the appreciation that I
Speaker 1: actually want to imagine it was like, oh, yeah, you
Speaker 1: should win. Imagine well it's yeah, and my case, your
Speaker 1: case was that, but in my case, okay, for example,
Speaker 1: you sign a contract for two three years, four years
Speaker 1: period and finally you get a big contract and he said, yes,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm happy. But now you learn the expectations are
Speaker 1: even higher and you have to uh perform, you have
Speaker 1: to do even more. There starts coming leadership to the
Speaker 1: play and you need to be if you felt you
Speaker 1: all said, then now you you put you put you
Speaker 1: off to the next level. When if your performance even
Speaker 1: and uh and preparation and expectations are high from the coaches,
Speaker 1: from ownership of the team, so you have to give
Speaker 1: it more and that you push yourself to as far
Speaker 1: as you can and you learn then everything is possible
Speaker 1: and so you were given harder always comes back to
Speaker 1: the hard work. And I'm so glad you're you're saying this.
Speaker 1: Now let's go a little bit back to Slovakia, because
Speaker 1: I'm so proud that we've got on our podcast, I
Speaker 1: have to say our Slovakian superhero because of let's go
Speaker 1: to the moment where I don't know if you actually realize,
Speaker 1: but we are very similar because you guys were the
Speaker 1: reason why we did so well. A few months later,
Speaker 1: we even had our dresses made based on your hockey
Speaker 1: dresses and that was the whole motivation behind that. So um,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say the matches that you guys, games
Speaker 1: that you had to win and all that. I want
Speaker 1: to go to that point finals the puk is on
Speaker 1: your hockey stick, what are you thinking in that moment?
Speaker 1: To be honest, I don't feel this moment. I felt
Speaker 1: the moment more when the Russia tied the game laid
Speaker 1: on the third period. I never felt that way. I was. So,
Speaker 1: let's let's see this. This is more instinct. There's no
Speaker 1: way I can aim. I can This is just the
Speaker 1: instinct which is you you have as an athlete, and
Speaker 1: some of them, some of the players are have a
Speaker 1: better instinct or you know. To me, we just came
Speaker 1: in the right time and I just took advantage from
Speaker 1: the shot and maybe and that goal what I didn't score,
Speaker 1: we score as a team. We really that was for us.
Speaker 1: We did everything that we could do, and through a tournament,
Speaker 1: we got together as a team as a group and
Speaker 1: we all believe we're gonna win it. And that's I felt.
Speaker 1: That came from my stick. But there was a team
Speaker 1: goal and talk about that feeling whether Russia tie the game,
Speaker 1: I this is. I never had that same feeling ever.
Speaker 1: I felt. I had my legs and the cement I
Speaker 1: was that was so heavy. I was nervous from my stomach.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what to say. I started walking on
Speaker 1: the bench up and forth and tried tried to tell everybody,
Speaker 1: which is, I don't think I I believe that I
Speaker 1: could what I was saying. I told everybody, Hey, if
Speaker 1: somebody told us before the game, four or five minutes
Speaker 1: left in the game, we are tied. If somebody told
Speaker 1: us before a game, we will take that. That's such
Speaker 1: a cool speech. So and you just walk and you're
Speaker 1: not sure what's happening. You just I was, like I said,
Speaker 1: my head heavy, was heavy, legs, I was step on
Speaker 1: the I said, I just I just went through it somehow,
Speaker 1: And that goal just was a great leaf for for
Speaker 1: all of us and for Slovakia. We really we celebrate
Speaker 1: well that tournament. Congratulations on your side. Well and it
Speaker 1: was I mean, these are the moments because this was
Speaker 1: during summer, so I think that's when we were playing
Speaker 1: still semifinals against France and we kind of I knew
Speaker 1: we were we were having a good team and we
Speaker 1: are on the right way. Uh. Was there point in
Speaker 1: the tournament where you start to slowly realize that, oh gosh,
Speaker 1: we are having a good chance here or there's no
Speaker 1: such thing in hockey? Yeah, you like again you cannot say, um, clearly,
Speaker 1: you don't you know what's gonna happen, you know, just
Speaker 1: the one game. But like I said, you believe I
Speaker 1: felt from aginning as when he got there. As a group,
Speaker 1: I felt some chemistry that's which is kind of um unique, unique,
Speaker 1: and that's probably in your case. You guys built together
Speaker 1: doing it and it happens once in a life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's just the pieces, puzzles and small Frank, it's
Speaker 1: just got together like that and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: the results was a celebration. Since we touched open the
Speaker 1: tennis a little bit. What about you and tennis, because
Speaker 1: I all, I keep hearing I cannot prove because I
Speaker 1: haven't seen you. Unfortunately, Um you are, let's say, our
Speaker 1: best hockey tennis player, not necessarily, I'm not sure. I
Speaker 1: don't play as much tennis because I start playing gold more.
Speaker 1: But when I trained for a season, tennis was my
Speaker 1: part of the training. So for example, I went to
Speaker 1: Jim do whatever workouts I had to schedule for the day.
Speaker 1: Instead kind of running born in cardio sometimes running whatever
Speaker 1: five miles or maybe less. Uh. I tried to find
Speaker 1: go on the tennis court, find a find a kid
Speaker 1: like ten, twelve year old, fourteen year old kids we're
Speaker 1: they have really good good shots, low shots and keeping
Speaker 1: the play so and for me it was just those
Speaker 1: ply metrics because you're staying down and you go up
Speaker 1: and forward to a side. I think that helped me
Speaker 1: with my skating, keep mean ability, and I felt that
Speaker 1: tennis to give me a lot. Okay, so you did
Speaker 1: like the proper drills that we normally do. We hit
Speaker 1: some balls, but you know, like if I play with you,
Speaker 1: you can control the points. Like those kids like twelve
Speaker 1: year old, I'm pretty sure they you know, or thirteen
Speaker 1: years old, they already have the shots and that they
Speaker 1: they just keep keep pushing it. So I ran to
Speaker 1: the side and I tried to just give it back.
Speaker 1: I tried to be a wall, and you know, but
Speaker 1: that was Yeah, that was part of my training. I know.
Speaker 1: We talked about it a little bit a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. Um, what do you think it's more difficult
Speaker 1: tennis and individual sports or hockey? Team sports? Definitely tennis. Oh,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff happened in your head. I
Speaker 1: cannot imagine what your thoughts are before and doing a game,
Speaker 1: and how much, um you go up and down and
Speaker 1: how much made my change. And obviously you have a
Speaker 1: plan and you had for the game, but just when
Speaker 1: you engage in the game, a lot of motions they're
Speaker 1: probably what's what I like to ask you that question,
Speaker 1: what's what's happening when you play? Because that's just I
Speaker 1: cannot believe it. Yeah, I mean mentally, of course, it's
Speaker 1: tough because all the pressure is on yourself. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, you are also in control. So if
Speaker 1: you have a great day, perfect, if you have a
Speaker 1: bad day, you still it's in your hands. Where it
Speaker 1: must be so frustrating sometimes when you're having an unbelievable
Speaker 1: game and then your team for some reason doesn't click
Speaker 1: together well and our case, yeah, well I can blame
Speaker 1: a teammates when you lose, you I just kidding, always
Speaker 1: do that. Probably would always blame the coach or someone else.
Speaker 1: You know. In your case, you use the game, you
Speaker 1: you control it. I mean the team sports like when
Speaker 1: you have four lines plus two goalies and there's always
Speaker 1: a game is based on mistakes, and if you make
Speaker 1: the less mistakes, you more discipline and there's a good
Speaker 1: chance you might win a game. And that's what probably
Speaker 1: in the tennis as well. How do you keep keeping
Speaker 1: shape these days? So we know it's tennis, golf, anything
Speaker 1: else because you're always superci uh kind of unless the drink,
Speaker 1: but drink someone. It's kind of bad habits I create
Speaker 1: after my career. But um, I do a little bit
Speaker 1: of everything. So um uh. For example, well, now gyms
Speaker 1: are closed, I I do spin classes twenty minutes. One
Speaker 1: hour is too much, but in twenty minutes I can
Speaker 1: accomplish a lot. So and I'm active when when I
Speaker 1: play golf, especially lost I would say, since um we
Speaker 1: had a crisis with virus. Uh. When I play golf
Speaker 1: in the US, I never said in the car, I've
Speaker 1: been walking all the time. It's actually good car. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so usually do like seven eight miles walking eighteen holes
Speaker 1: of playing goal. So that kind of helped me to
Speaker 1: kind of because obviously I'm freaked, so I didn't want
Speaker 1: to touch anything. So so when you're walking, you only
Speaker 1: away from everybody and so but yeah, I do a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything. I still play tennis, you know, um,
Speaker 1: you know, so I you know, soccer. When I retired,
Speaker 1: I tried to play soccer. I signed for Soccer League
Speaker 1: and that was just I think it was a mistake
Speaker 1: because it took me from one week to recover the
Speaker 1: next game with my strain muscles because strains and everything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's different movements and your body is not built for it.
Speaker 1: So I felt like golf or tennis is more I
Speaker 1: can be uncontrolled, which is tennis probably you can get
Speaker 1: hurt too, because if you if you don't kind of
Speaker 1: pace yourself or especially with the upper body, you've got
Speaker 1: to be careful. So a little bit of everything. So
Speaker 1: I I prefer to walk more than than riding any car.
Speaker 1: So my kind of personality or I'm more kind of
Speaker 1: not necessarily relaxing I don't know how to sit on
Speaker 1: the sofa. Yeah, I think we have the same I
Speaker 1: mean I think the athletes in general that you always
Speaker 1: have to be doing something and kind of always feel
Speaker 1: like we're on the move now almost coming to in it,
Speaker 1: I promise. But since we've got this beautiful background here okay,
Speaker 1: and we both know where this is, um, it's obviously
Speaker 1: Slovakia where we come from. There is one other thing
Speaker 1: we've got in common, and that's pop Er, where we
Speaker 1: both grew up. What are the things you appreciate most
Speaker 1: about our country and something that you actually maybe miss
Speaker 1: a little bit when you guys are away. Well, definitely
Speaker 1: I missing my family, there's no question, and the place
Speaker 1: where I grew up and this is my home, and
Speaker 1: the US it's my home away from home. So it's
Speaker 1: a different. But coming back the summer months are unbelievable
Speaker 1: and poper and high judges. Um, I would say low eighties,
Speaker 1: low or low humidity. You cannot be that when especially
Speaker 1: for any activities you want to do. And I'm going
Speaker 1: to translate that that's so uh compared to you, for example, Washington,
Speaker 1: where you have ninety hundred degrees humid and uncomfortable, and
Speaker 1: sometimes you feel like to stay more indoors than outdoors
Speaker 1: yere if you if it's a little harder day, if
Speaker 1: you go to mid eighties, you can go to Capalaa
Speaker 1: or you can go for like you can you can.
Speaker 1: You don't do that often, I reckon I do I
Speaker 1: I wish I have to do more often. I usually
Speaker 1: do two free trips um a year, which is not okay, well,
Speaker 1: some more when I get sounds good. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of nice places where I haven't been yet, and
Speaker 1: it's on my bucket list what I want to do.
Speaker 1: But and also I forgot I'm now because of no
Speaker 1: spin classes. So I like to ride a bike. So
Speaker 1: for example, I decide to last week take a trip
Speaker 1: to Stas the front place of alcohom Mizza. That's a
Speaker 1: good trip. And I started six o'clock and I realized
Speaker 1: and started smuc it's I don't think I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: it because it's gonna be dark. Of course, started six pm.
Speaker 1: I know you see that was not preparation grabbing popera.
Speaker 1: I thought you would know after I would say forty
Speaker 1: five minutes, which is a gain to starty SMA, which
Speaker 1: is probably what I want to say, ten folve kilometers uphill,
Speaker 1: I decided to go back because there's no daylight. Also
Speaker 1: talking about MINA, we must not forget you're doing UH
Speaker 1: such a cool thing, something I really enjoy being part of,
Speaker 1: and that is a charity golf tournament every beginning of
Speaker 1: August and just helping so many kids throughout the Slovakia.
Speaker 1: So I think it's a it's a really cool thing
Speaker 1: and well done for that. Where did the idea come from? Well,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you for your support. You came and help
Speaker 1: us your tennis racket, and you address raised a lot
Speaker 1: of money for the kids what they need to help
Speaker 1: financially and whatever they they've been asking for. But when
Speaker 1: I play, UM, I had a charity around the d C,
Speaker 1: and when I retired, I said, well I want to
Speaker 1: help here in Slovakia. I think the money will go
Speaker 1: will go for good costs and Uh. The idea was
Speaker 1: to create a golf tournament and UH invite uh. Uh
Speaker 1: No I say celebrities, but people like I was more
Speaker 1: contry on the hockey players to help to support. But
Speaker 1: every year beginning great guests including you and UH and
Speaker 1: the same people coming back and they want to come back.
Speaker 1: They circling current calendars even before we almost I've heard
Speaker 1: my uh day free for I believe that it's August
Speaker 1: seven one, but for Saturday and uh and August uh.
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's it's a great feeling when you
Speaker 1: help someone and uh, you know, and especially those people
Speaker 1: in the crisis right now in era where we live,
Speaker 1: they sometimes they've been forgotten and we have to remind
Speaker 1: ourselves uh to help him and uh and and like
Speaker 1: I said, it's a great feeling when you when you
Speaker 1: do that. And I hope you had a good time,
Speaker 1: and I hope when you draw home you said, hey,
Speaker 1: that was a good day and we help Somebodey absolutely
Speaker 1: so I had the biggest smile on my face driving
Speaker 1: back home. And it's one of the events that you
Speaker 1: just can't wait to to be around for next year,
Speaker 1: because like you said, it's such a great energy, wonderful people.
Speaker 1: And thank you for for doing this for our country,
Speaker 1: because I think everyone that's been part of it for
Speaker 1: the last many many years really enjoys it. And it
Speaker 1: all goes to a beautiful cast. Yeah, those days I
Speaker 1: don't have to call anybody, It just before you try
Speaker 1: to build the first few years and now everybody just
Speaker 1: coming back and you know, and like I said, you said,
Speaker 1: the smile is on the face and they really want
Speaker 1: to be helped. I want to be part of it. Well,
Speaker 1: it is privileged for us to be part of it
Speaker 1: because of the year energy. I promised. This is the
Speaker 1: last question scene since we both I think, are very
Speaker 1: proud to be where we come from. What is the
Speaker 1: thing you appreciate the most about Slovakia. It's my home,
Speaker 1: So I mean, I appreciate all this, but you know,
Speaker 1: I think the Mordern Slovakia appreciate my family and they
Speaker 1: live here and when I come here and to see
Speaker 1: see them every year, and um, I think we have
Speaker 1: a beautiful country here. The people are good people here.
Speaker 1: Um uh so I I like, I didn't plan to
Speaker 1: live in the States for so many years. That just happened,
Speaker 1: and so I grew up in the United States. Um.
Speaker 1: And my family, which is more important, they grew up
Speaker 1: their their home is there. So but um a new
Speaker 1: world now if I say that you can live anywhere
Speaker 1: you want and you can manage. So I for the future,
Speaker 1: I definitely want to spend more time here. Because I
Speaker 1: felt this is this is my home. Well, we would
Speaker 1: for sure love to have you here more often. And
Speaker 1: thank you so much Peter for your time. It was
Speaker 1: a true honor. Thank you. But on the end, I
Speaker 1: just want to like as an athlete, I forgot to
Speaker 1: mention if I didn't have a family support in my
Speaker 1: life and kids, I don't think I could accomplish what
Speaker 1: I accomplish, and which was not much, but for for
Speaker 1: me was enough to be happy what I did. And
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes the family have to sacrifice for whatever
Speaker 1: you do, and especially I learned, uh that their schedule
Speaker 1: was around my schedule. Uh, and that's kind of tough.
Speaker 1: Now when I retire, obviously I can I can be
Speaker 1: more on my family and help them more. And now
Speaker 1: we make the plans not necessarily based on my schedule,
Speaker 1: but what ever we decided, it's based more on the kids. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you mentioned that, because yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: think people realize and appreciate how much sacrifice the people
Speaker 1: around us had to make. But when we talk about
Speaker 1: the sacrifices, what is the biggest thing that they had
Speaker 1: to adjust to Probably just the waiting around my wife.
Speaker 1: She couldn't have a career. I mean the probably um,
Speaker 1: the person next to you, which is probably the only
Speaker 1: one could could do it, because it's not manageable, you know.
Speaker 1: And so and also which is I appreciate most. I
Speaker 1: had the kids in the age where they saw me
Speaker 1: play that they understand or understood what I was doing
Speaker 1: at that time. So that was just something amazing, which
Speaker 1: is it's hard to explain, you know, but when the
Speaker 1: kids come to a game, you know, they are there
Speaker 1: and they age thirteen fourteen, and they they know what
Speaker 1: I'm doing, and there was something really special. Was it
Speaker 1: more pressure maybe because they were no? Really, I just
Speaker 1: I was happy they know what because sometimes when you
Speaker 1: probably already have the kids and they didn't see your
Speaker 1: career because career it's kind of short and you and
Speaker 1: your career a little bit early whatever. But I was
Speaker 1: fortunate to to the kids know what I did. So well.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned the subject because, like you said,
Speaker 1: pretty much when we are the athletes, the our other
Speaker 1: health has to kind of sacrifice everything and they can't
Speaker 1: really have a career, and it's not easy to find
Speaker 1: someone that they will do that for you. Sure, that's
Speaker 1: that's tough, but Yeah, so for sure that for me
Speaker 1: h m hm, that was a big help. Yeah, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for mentioning them as well. Thank you
Speaker 1: thanks for having me Hi there. I hope you have
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's episode of the Real DNA podcast. Don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe either on Spotify, EPO Podcasts, or wherever you
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