Schneider looks to stay healthy

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
You know there were a lot of frustrated players when the Kamloops Blazers’
2007-08 season came to an end.
It’s doubtful, however, if any of them were any lower mentally than
defenceman Mark Schneider.
Lower than a snake’s belly? Geez, that snake was taller than the Empire
State Building compared to Schneider’s mental outlook when the season ended.
His problems began when he dislocated a wrist in a seemingly innocent
collision with then-captain Ryan Bender during a pre-training camp skating
session. That resulted in Schneider missing all of training camp and the
first 10 games of his rookie season.
Later, he would take a puck to the face.
And, finally, he suffered a knee injury during a mid-February practice. “We
were doing a breakout drill in practice,” he recalls. “I skated around the
net, hit a rut and that was that.”
That was the end of his season. The knee injury cost him the regular
season’s last 14 games, including a Feb. 22 date in his hometown of Brandon,
and four playoff games.
In the end, he got into only 34 games. And the 6-foot-1, 175-pound
defenceman whose game is moving the puck and making plays managed just two
points.
“It was tough . . . definitely,” says Schneider, who won’t turn 18 until
Nov. 10.
It was so tough, in fact, that Schneider sought help during the summer.
“I went to a sports psychologist and got some serious help with that,”
Schneider explains. “My mental game just wasn’t quite up to par and I wanted
to make sure I got my head glued on straight and that I was coming back here
with the right mindset.
“I was struggling with confidence and I just wasn’t sure if I was able to
play in the this league. But I got that all figured out and things are
rolling now.”
Schneider spent time with Tom Skinner, who isn’t a true sports psychologist
but has English degrees and teaches at Brandon University. He is a former
athletic director at BU and has ample coaching experience with Hockey
Canada, Hockey Manitoba, various levels of minor hockey and in Germany.
“We just felt Mark needed to try and develop some mental preparation skills
that might help him along the way,” Mark’s father, Ken, says. We actually
connected him with Tom Skinner.”
Ken Schneider points out that Skinner “also spent time providing some sports
psychology with the basketball programs at BU.”
Ken is a former WHL centre who spent three seasons (1979-82) with the
Brandon Wheat Kings, so he knows something about what it takes to play the
game at this level.
Last season was a tough way to learn it but Mark now realizes the mental
part of the game “is definitely important; it’s probably almost as important
as off-ice training.”
Schneider also gives credit to Bobbi Schram, who guides his offseason
training program.
“She noticed that I was struggling with my confidence,” Schneider says,
adding that “Dad was part of it, too.”
So . . . does Mark feel better?
“Oh, definitely,” he says. “A thousand times better . . . there is lots of
improvement. I now know that I am able to do the things I’m here to do.”
In hindsight, Schneider says getting injured before training camp was the
worst thing that could have happened, simply because he never was able to
catch up to his teammates. It’s kind of like starting the school year in
late October.
“That was the biggest letdown,” he says. “You’re pretty much behind the
8-ball and you’re in trouble right off the bat.
“It’s a whole different ball game now.”

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca