imapMyTeam Blog

Olympic Sized Pressure

On Saturday I watched the USA-Russia hockey game and thought about the immense pressure that all the players felt prior to this game. The Russians are skilled and expected to win on their home ice; the Americans are thought to be the most ‘complete’ team even though most believe the Canadians are the most talented team. The game was intense and after a regulation tie, went into overtime, then a shootout.

Although some others participated in the shootout victory hung in the balance on the performance of USA goalie Jonathan Quick, Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, USA forward T.J Oshie and Russian forward Ilya Kovalchuk. Pressure indeed. Playing for your country, Russian President Putin looking down from the Presidential box, political overtones present, even if unspoken- the game over in a flash with one mistake. High stakes while twenty plus of your teammates watch you perform from the bench rooting for you to pull it out.

After seven shootout rounds and the game still tied, Quick made a great save on Kovalchuk then T.J. Oshie ended the game with his 4^th goal in 6 shootout attempts!

How well do you perform under pressure?

Maybe you are not in the Olympics, but I would not be surprised if you were under pressure to perform more often than not. Your teammates counting on you to come through…

imapMyTeam.com can help you shine like Jonathan Quick and T.J. Oshie. In the center pane section there is a report called “How to Succeed Under Pressure” that will give you great insight as to the circumstances that cause you to feel pressure and how to rise to the occasion.

If you are looking to another lesson from this game, once T.J. Oshie scored the winning shootout goal he turned and pointed to his goalie, Jonathan Quick to acknowledge his part.


Who doesn’t like a teammate that understands the pressure others are under as well and willingly acknowledges their contributions?