Sidelined from National League (NHL) hockey for a year now, defenseman Slater Koekkoek has opened up about his struggle with anxiety. For the professional athlete, this has translated over the years into the inability to eat before games.
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The one who played last season with the Edmonton Oilers shared his story on his LinkedIn page on Wednesday night. He described his problems as “a vicious circle”. Koekkoek felt the need to eat without being physically able to do so.
“I would say that I played the majority of my professional games without really being able to eat, if not at all, the night before and the day of the games. Hockey Night in Canada with an empty stomach? Let’s go, I guess,” said the 29-year-old.
If the Ontarian has chosen to share his story, it is to show people suffering from anxiety that they are not alone. At the NHL level, the performance pressure is immense. For Koekkoek, it was becoming “unbearable and unhealthy for his mental health” and his diet.
“I was getting comments from my teammates saying, ‘Hey Kooks, you know the meals are free’ because of my weight loss, without them knowing the pain I was feeling,” he said. he says.
“I was being told by GMs and coaches that I had to add some weight if I wanted to fight in the corners with the elite of the league, not to mention the energy it would take to do that. It was extra pressure.”
Koekkoek, un ancien choix de premier tour (10e in total) of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2012 draft has played 186 games in the NHL. The guard has a contract with the Oilers until the summer of 2023.