"I skate to where the puck is going to be."
- Wayne Gretzky
Legendary ice hockey great and NHL Hall of Famer
Even in his prime, Gretzky wasn't very fast, his shot was oddly weak, and he was last in the team in strength training. He would operate from his "office," the small space in the back of the opponent's goal, anticipating where his team would be well before they got there and feeding them passes so unsuspected he would often surprise them.
For a cover story in 1985 he told Time, "People talk about skating, puck handling and shooting but the whole sport is angles, forgetting the straight direction the puck is going, calculating where it will be diverted, factoring in all the interruptions."
What Wayne Gretzky described above is called "fast-forwarding" or the ability to travel forward in time and predict where, after seemingly infinite combinations of ricochets, the puck will emerge-the ability to make his way to the precise spot.
Fast-forwarding in sports involves the ability to anticipate the flow of play and stay ahead of real time. Athletes who fast-forward, anticipate where teammates and the competition are going to be. Using this technique provides a competitive advantage and makes other teammates' performances better.
In all walks of life, "fast-forwarding" is about anticipation, being steps ahead of others in thinking and visioning, and predicting outcomes from one's experience as quickly as possible. Great performers need talent, but they also need to anticipate effectively. That is what made Gretzky the best.
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