Dion Phaneuf: Stepping Up to the Challenge
31 July 2009
Team Canada is calling Dion Phaneuf’s name and he’s ready to answer the call.
“When you wear your country’s flag on your chest,” says the Calgary Flames defenseman, “in sports there’s nothing like it.”
Phaneuf, along with teammates Jarome Iginla and Robyn Regehr, is one of just 46 NHL stars invited to Team Canada’s Olympic Orientation Camp. When the training camp ends and the cuts are made, 23 players will be left standing to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
He’s well aware of the pressure involved in playing for Team Canada because he’s been down that road before. Phaneuf won gold and silver at the Junior Hockey Championship and took home another gold in 2007 at the IIHF World Championship in Moscow. He is also well aware that making this Olympic squad will be his biggest challenge to date.
“It’s a great honour to be invited,” said Dion. “But it’s just the starting point of a long road of trying to make that team.”
Phaneuf’s rigorous physical and mental training regimen puts him in a very strong position to not walk, but run down that long road. “You might not always feel like getting up at seven in the morning and going to the gym for two and a half hours, but you do it,” explained Phaneuf.
In addition to conventional hockey training, Phaneuf boosts his overall athleticism with boxing to build his cardio and tennis to accelerate his foot speed. “You try to do different things that are good for the sport that you play in,” he explained.
He also lives by the philosophy that one can never be good enough or ever stop improving. It’s that kind of focus that has earned this blueliner the reputation of being one of the league’s hardest hitters.
“You want to push yourself to become the best athlete that you can be,” he says. “To do that you have to push yourself to get into the gym and do what it takes.”
He now faces the challenge of representing his country in front of the world. The pressure is obvious. But as he’s already shown through his training, where there’s pressure and challenge, that’s exactly when Phaneuf is ready to shine.
“When you wear your country’s flag on your chest,” says the Calgary Flames defenseman, “in sports there’s nothing like it.”
Phaneuf, along with teammates Jarome Iginla and Robyn Regehr, is one of just 46 NHL stars invited to Team Canada’s Olympic Orientation Camp. When the training camp ends and the cuts are made, 23 players will be left standing to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
He’s well aware of the pressure involved in playing for Team Canada because he’s been down that road before. Phaneuf won gold and silver at the Junior Hockey Championship and took home another gold in 2007 at the IIHF World Championship in Moscow. He is also well aware that making this Olympic squad will be his biggest challenge to date.
“It’s a great honour to be invited,” said Dion. “But it’s just the starting point of a long road of trying to make that team.”
Phaneuf’s rigorous physical and mental training regimen puts him in a very strong position to not walk, but run down that long road. “You might not always feel like getting up at seven in the morning and going to the gym for two and a half hours, but you do it,” explained Phaneuf.
In addition to conventional hockey training, Phaneuf boosts his overall athleticism with boxing to build his cardio and tennis to accelerate his foot speed. “You try to do different things that are good for the sport that you play in,” he explained.
He also lives by the philosophy that one can never be good enough or ever stop improving. It’s that kind of focus that has earned this blueliner the reputation of being one of the league’s hardest hitters.
“You want to push yourself to become the best athlete that you can be,” he says. “To do that you have to push yourself to get into the gym and do what it takes.”
He now faces the challenge of representing his country in front of the world. The pressure is obvious. But as he’s already shown through his training, where there’s pressure and challenge, that’s exactly when Phaneuf is ready to shine.
