Hockey captain and management major developing skills that can be taken anywhere
by Matt Jardin |
Nils Rygaard has wanted to play professional hockey ever since he discovered the sport when he was 3 years old. To do that, he simply follows the best opportunities, which brought him more than 4,120 miles from Norrköping, Sweden, to UAA to play for the Seawolf hockey team. (Photo by James Evans / University of Alaska Anchorage)
Both on and off the ice, Nils Rygaard has proven himself to be a skilled leader. The only exception being when he discovered hockey in the first place.
When he was just 3 years old, Rygaard started playing hockey because his older brother did. Since then, Rygaard - the second of three sons - has made the sport entirely his own. His brother no longer hits the ice, preferring to hit the basketball court instead. But Rygaard estimates that he's kept playing hockey almost every day since he began.
What's more, Rygaard's rigorous dedication to practicing his favorite sport isn't likely to change anytime soon. Constant training is the only way he can stay sharp enough to reach his ultimate goal of playing hockey professionally.
Aside from keeping on top of his training, the path to Rygaard's dream involves simply following the best opportunities. That strategy is what brought him to Janesville, Wisconsin, all the way from Norrköping, Sweden, to play for the Janesville Jets in 2013.
Following the best opportunities is also why Rygaard came to UAA in 2016 to play as a forward for the Seawolf hockey team.
"The coach gives a lot of trust and ice time and that's how you develop and take the next step," he explains. "I feel like the opportunity here was an investment. It's why I 100 percent wanted to come here. At the same time getting my college degree is a big thing I want to have in my life."
Rygaard is a proven leader both on and off the ice, serving as one of the team's captains and as a business management major with an economics minor. (Photo courtesy of Skip Hickey / UAA Athletics)
For Rygaard, it's not enough to just play the sport, but it's also important to take on a leadership position. It's a role he feels right at home in, having served as team captain for almost as long as he's played hockey.
On the UAA team, Rygaard is one of four captains chosen after a team-wide collaborative process. At the beginning of each season, the players list the names of four of their teammates and reasons why they'd make good captains. Then the coaches make their final selections after taking everyone's input into consideration.
"It feels good to know that the guys trust and believe that we're going to be able to do a good job as leaders and do what's best for the whole team," he shares.
Rygaard's comfort as a leader extends beyond the ice and into the classroom as a business management major with an economics minor. While the boardroom is almost certain to follow, he will already have had years of experience adapting his hockey captain approach for positions outside of the rink.
In addition to the leadership qualities he developed from hockey and class, Rygaard says his most important skill is also the simplest one: maintaining a positive attitude. (Photo courtesy of Skip Hickey / UAA Athletics)
For instance, Rygaard's ability to collaborate with his teammates, maintain a structured training schedule and set up measurable goals are the very same skills he uses to communicate with professors, fit in school work with hockey practice and not get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work he has to juggle.
In addition to all of that, Rygaard's most important leadership philosophy is also the most simple one, and that's to maintain a positive attitude.
"My way to get everybody ready and focused and motivated has just been to be happy and have a smile on my face. That positive energy can do a lot for people," he describes.
A positive outlook is just as universal as an education in management and economics, which will certainly prove useful when Rygaard looks for the next opportunity after graduation this spring. Understandably, he's hoping that opportunity brings him closer to home - either with a job back in Norrköping or Stockholm, or a position in one of Europe's many professional hockey leagues.
"As much as I like the United States, it's going to be nice to move back. But I learned so much about myself by doing this and putting myself outside of the usual," says Rygaard. "Overall, my experience here and at UAA has been phenomenal. I grew as a human being and I developed so many hockey skills and I got my degree. Combining all of those together is my main goal. I'm super excited to see where I can go."
(Photo by James Evans / University of Alaska Anchorage)
Written by Matt Jardin, UAA Office of University Advancement
"Hockey captain and management major developing skills that can be taken anywhere" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
