"What kind of baggage are you bringing into the rink that might affect you as a coach and how your players react to you?"

For Jonathan Gautier and Fred Perowne, two people who have spent their lives around hockey and established a foundation that brings the game to non-typical hockey countries around the world, the point is culture. 

Monoculture, permaculture, dominant culture and cultures of collaboration - every location they visit has its own unique traits and traditions. When you enter these cultures, it's powerful to be instrospective and consider the internal culture you're bringing to these locations and, for most of us, into the dressing room every day. 

Jonathan Gautier told a story at Saint Andrew's College about the confidence he received from a coach who told him about the impact he was going to have on the game. He was 15 years old and it didn't make a lot of sense at the time, but it sure does later in life. 

Gautier might not be on the bench or on the ice these days, but he's sharing the positive culture of hockey all over the world. He went to university after hockey and dealt with serious injuries and was ready to leave hockey entirely. It was his coach at Concordia University who convinced him to stick around the team and ultimately offered the chance to play in Yugoslavia, which is where he met Fred - who was a teammate as well as the coach. 

And that's where the idea for Hockey Without Borders began. The essence of their organization is to make people feel the positive effects of the game because they've felt those effects. They have a meandering path, a non-traditional path, but there are very few people who have a normal path. Everyone is unique and the way in which they find themselves at the end of the day is unique to everyone. 

For Fred and Jonathan, it's about balance and finding ways to be a better coach and a better person. How do you re-tell your own story? How do you bring in the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional components of yourself into your coaching approach?

For Gautier and Perowne, your story has a huge impact on your style as a coach. We shouldn't be hiding that story from our teams, we should embrace it and feed it. This is the path to true wellness and a free, authentic self. 

Sounds like a powerful coach.

Noteworthy Timestamps:

• 0:30 What are you bringing to the rink?
• 1:35 Background
• 3:00 Hockey in the Himalayas
• 3:50 Hockey without Borders
• 4:30 Where sport and culture meet
• 5:10 Cultural and emotional intelligence
• 6:45 - Gautier’s story
• 12:00 Why?
• 13:00 Finding balance
• 16:05 Beyond Boarders Coaching Program