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Goldman: I remember reading about how you did some Yoga training. What did you learn about the mental side of the game from doing Yoga? Rinne: “My first goal was just to see if it could help my mobility and that kind of physical stuff. But now I’ve done it for three summers, and while I don’t do it every day, it’s a part of my off-season training. The more you do it, the more you realize that when you’re in the right state of mind, the more your body is willing to do. But when you’re stressed out, or mad, or you have a million thoughts in your head, your body doesn’t function the way you want it to function. You can learn from those simple things.” Goldman: Everyone knows what it’s like to be in the zone. How would you explain it in your own words? Rinne: “Yeah, it is a hard question, but I think those are the moments when you say after the game you felt you were in it. You notice that feeling after the game, because when you go into the game, you feel good about yourself. Usually it happens during a game when things start going your way and it starts by building up some confidence. You feel big, you feel fast, you feel like the game is slowing down, and you see the puck well. All of those things work together, and so I think it’s something that happens naturally. It’s a really hard thing to notice in yourself before the game, but in the game you feel it, you feel relaxed, you’re in the right frame of mind. You feel like on any given night you’re going to win the game, and when things start going your way, your confidence builds up. A lot of times when that happens, it also is kind of contagious and your teammates start feeding off it.” Goldman: How do you personally find ways to dig out from not being confident? Rinne: “Confidence wise, I had a great learning experience in Milwaukee during my first season in North America. We went all the way to the Calder Cup Finals and it was an unbelievable experience. I had a really good year, and it was my first year playing a lot of games. We went to the finals and played against Hershey and I was playing great. We were up 2-1 and I had a shutout and things were going well, but then all of a sudden I had a bad game and the series was 2-2. I was a young guy and the first time in that situation in North America. So I think they won the series 4-2 and I was never the same after that fourth game. I had a great coach in Claude Noel [Winnipeg], and he was the one who sat me down and saw how I lost my confidence and how I was nervous, and even a bit scared, just to play the next game. He had a great influence on me at the time even though we ended up losing in the finals. Moving forward, he had a big influence on me, just about how to deal with individual games, or how to deal with a bad play, or how to deal with not scaring yourself. I think I learned a lot from that, and obviously there are still moments when I lose my confidence, but I think at this moment I’m better at dealing with those moments. When I remind myself that this is just a hockey game, and we’re pretty fortunate just to be playing, it helps. I know it’s a cheesy thing to say and it’s a cliché, but that’s just the way it is. That was a good learning experience for me about confidence. When all of a sudden you have a good season and you’re in the finals, you can still totally lose your confidence, and all of a sudden you don’t even want to play. I think that was a good experience for me, and I still remember the way I felt, so it’s a good reminder.” Goldman: You said you discovered a lot about yourself. So if you were to look back since you started with Nashville, what have you discovered about yourself as an elite athlete that has become an important lesson as a reminder? Rinne: “A lot of times you have to remind yourself that you have to enjoy the game and have fun. That’s when you start having a tough time; when you get too down on yourself or too low. It’s so true, you have to enjoy the game. I don’t know if I remember any single moment, but I’ve always learned from the older players just the way they handle themselves at any given moment. As a young player, it’s an emotional roller coaster when you let individual games and results kind of define who you are. If you win the game, you’re on top of the world, but if you lose, you feel awful. I think in my first few years in Nashville, looking at the older players and how they handled themselves at different times, they were the backbone of the team. I think all of those things help a lot when you’re able to spend time with older guys who have been through a lot of the same stuff you have. Just keep your eyes open and always learn from other players. Obviously everyone is different, but I feel like that’s what works for me.” Goldman: Besides being pretty laid back and relaxed, you seem to have a simple approach to the mental game. How important is it to keep things simple in a world where more and more goalies are being over-technical? Rinne: “Yeah, I try to keep things simple, and I’ve always been so competitive that my only goal is to win games. The technical things never really get into my head. If I’m doing something wrong, I know I can fix it in practice, so I never stress about those things. If I have a sloppy stick or something one night, but we end up winning the game, I don’t really worry about it because I know the next day I’ll go out with Mitch and work on those things. When you play a lot of games and there’s a lot of pressure and stress, you have to be kind to yourself. You have to know the moments when you have to be in a game mode and when you can be relaxed, and I think the sooner you realize that, the easier it gets. It’s a long season and a tough grind, so I feel like you can’t just live and breathe hockey 24-7. I try to take things pretty simply, but at the same time, there’s a lot of processing in my head and in my own thoughts. So I do try to stay relaxed and also have that fire in you, and I think that’s my take on keeping things simple.” Goldman: How do you find ways to just play and live in the moment? Rinne: “I think for myself, it starts when you’re passionate about something and you get fired up. But I think it’s important to remember that living in the moment is easier said than done. You can’t worry about what might happen during the game, or what people might think about you, or anything like that. Everyone is going to go through things like that, and it’s just human nature that the more you play and the more you’re in different situations like that, the easier it becomes.”