The Player Every Beer League Team Needs

Why doesn't anybody hang out after beer league games?

Speaker
0:00

Your

Bear

League

team's

probably

not

a

group

of

unfriendly

people.

You

show

up,

you

play,

then

everybody

scatters

after

the

game

to

wherever

they

go

after

games.

And

you've

been

doing

that

that

way

for

years.

Maybe

now

you're

kind

of

wondering,

why

doesn't

anybody

want

to

hang

out?

The

problem

isn't

that

your

team's

antisocial,

the

problem

is

you're

missing

one

very

important

person.

Hi

everybody

and

welcome

to

another

edition

of

the

Beer

Leagueer

podcast.

Now,

I've

already

made

a

video

previously

about

what

to

do

if

your

team

just

really

isn't

for

you.

If

people

just

don't

get

along,

if

you

just

have

personality

conflicts

on

the

team,

you

know,

if

you're

stuck

on

a

bad

team,

how

do

you

handle

that?

This

is

not

being

stuck

on

a

bad

team.

This

is

you're

on

a

team,

everybody

gets

along,

or

at

least

most

of

you

do.

You

like

these

people,

but

you're

just

trying

to

figure

out

why

isn't

anybody

doing

the

fun,

non-playing

hockey

stuff

that

you

hear

about

beer

leaguers

doing.

Doesn't

really

mean

you

have

the

wrong

team.

You've

got

probably

the

right

team,

you're

just

missing

the

glue.

That's

what

this

episode

is

all

about.

How

to

be

the

glue

guy

on

your

beer

league

team.

Uh,

full

transparency

on

this

topic.

This

is

something

that

you

know

we

cover

a

lot.

Uh

kind

of

this

locker

room

talk

on

these

podcasts.

This

is

something

I

saw

come

up

and

have

a

lot

of

discussion

in

the

hockey

players

subreddit.

If

you

don't

check

that

out,

I

highly

recommend

it.

There's

a

lot

of

good

stuff

on

there,

a

lot

of

uh

veteran

hockey

players

on

there,

people

that

have

played,

I

think,

all

kinds

of

different

levels

of

hockey,

uh,

but

also

a

lot

of

new

players

come

on

there

to

ask

questions,

and

a

lot

of

beer

leaguers

are

on

there

just

kind

of

wondering

about

beer

league

stuff,

stuff

like

this.

Like,

hey,

I

hear

about

people

going

and

hanging

out

with

their

team.

My

team

doesn't

do

that.

What

the

heck?

Is

it

just

my

team,

or

do

people

not

really

do

that,

or

what's

the

deal

with

that?

So

that's

something

that

came

from

this

that

prompted

me

to

go,

hey,

this

is

something

we

talked

about,

that's

something

I

know

a

little

bit

about.

Maybe

I

can

shed

a

little

bit

of

light

on

it.

All

right,

so

first

thing,

define

what

is

the

glue

guy.

So

the

glue

guy

doesn't

have

to

be

the

best

player

on

the

team,

the

loudest

player

on

the

team,

anything

like

What is a glue guy?

Speaker
2:20

that.

It's

the

person

that

decides

the

team

should

hang

out.

I

mean,

it's

really

just

a

decision

that

this

person

makes

and

vocalizes,

it's

the

person

that

brings

it

up

after

games,

maybe

before

games,

if

you're,

you

know,

team

needs

to

get

ready

and

make

it

a

known

thing

so

people

know

that

that's

something

that

you

want

to

do.

It's

the

person

that

that

talks

about

this

kind

of

stuff.

It's

not

just

going

out,

but

I'm

using

that

as

kind

of

the

example

through

all

this.

It's

hanging

outside

of

hockey,

it's

doing

non-hockey

things.

When

I

say

glue

guy,

I'm

talking

about

off-ice

glue

guy,

not

necessarily

what

you

would

consider

glue

guy

on

the

ice,

just

to

make

that

clear

for

everybody.

Uh,

really,

like

I

talked

about

that

this

came

from

that

subreddit.

One

of

the

things

that

was

brought

up

there

that

I

think

made

a

really

good

point

is

teams

that

are

social,

so

teams

that

hang

out

outside

of

just

playing

hockey,

it's

really

just

one

or

two

people

making

it

that

way.

It's

generally

not

uh

all

the

team

you

know,

everybody

on

the

team

knows

each

other

from

outside

of

hockey

and

stuff

like

that.

There

are

teams

that

are

like

that,

but

in

Beer

League,

usually

it's

not.

Usually

it's

you

met

playing

hockey.

Maybe

you

have

one

or

two

buddies

that

you

know

from

outside

of

hockey

that

you

brought

in,

and

a

couple

other

people

have

that,

but

it's

usually

not

the

vast

majority

of

people

know

each

other

from

other

things

besides

hockey.

So,

really,

it's

just

one

or

two

people

trying

to

make

this

a

more

than

just

on

the

ice

social

club,

trying

to

do

something

a

little

bit

more

with

it.

So,

really,

like

I

said,

it

doesn't

have

to

be,

you

know,

anyone

that's

like

the

former

pro

or

the

best

player

on

your

team

or

anything

like

that,

or

even

a

good

player

that's

on

your

team.

It

just

has

to

be

somebody

that

takes

the

time

and

care

to

do

little

things

like

bring

some

beers

for

everybody

after

the

game.

So

you

decided,

hey,

I

want

my

team

to

do

fun

stuff,

I

want

to

hang

out

a

little

bit,

I

want

to

make

hockey

more

than

just

show

up

to

play

and

then

head

home

right

away.

What

can

I

do?

I

want

to

be

this

glue

guy.

All

right.

Bring the postgame beverages

Speaker
4:20

Pretty

simple

steps

to

have

here.

One,

parking

lot

and

post-game

beers.

However,

your

team

does

it,

wherever

you're

at,

if

it's

in

the

locker

room,

if

it's

in

the

parking

lot,

something

like

that,

be

somebody

that

brings

those.

And

when

I

say

parking

lot

beers,

post-game

beers,

it

doesn't

always

have

to

be

beers.

That's

usually

what

it

is.

It's

beer

league.

I

mean,

that's

what

we

talk

about,

you

know.

Grab

a,

I

guess,

depending

on

the

size

of

your

team

and

how

voracious

of

drinkers

they

are,

a

12-pack,

24-pack,

something

like

that,

uh,

whatever.

But

I

mean,

there

are

plenty

of

non-drinkers

out

there,

so

it's

also

finding

that

out

to

include

those

people.

Are

the

people

that

don't

drink

on

your

team?

Maybe

nobody

on

your

team

drinks,

and

bringing

beers

is

a

terrible

idea,

but

everybody

wants

some

post-game,

you

know,

Gatorades

or

Power

Aids

or

whatever.

That

can

be

the

thing.

Uh,

nothing

too

crazy

because

people

have

to

drive

home.

But

you

know,

something

like

that.

I

mean,

it

it

depends

on

your

team,

depends

on

your

situation.

But

being

the

person

that

facilitates

this

as

much

as

possible

is

not

a

hockey

skill

you

have

to

have

uh

if

you

want

to

make

this

happen.

So

this

is

something

that

anybody

can

do.

The

other

big

part

of

it

is

talk

about

it.

Say,

hey,

you

know,

after

the

game

tonight,

you

know,

stick

around.

Uh,

we

can

go

out

and

grab

some

food

from

somewhere

that

you

know

is

is

still

open,

or

uh,

Tell people the plan ahead of time

Speaker
5:40

you

know,

like

part,

like

I

said,

parking

lot

beers

or

hang

on

the

locker

room

or

something,

but

vocalize

it,

let

people

know.

And

if

people

don't

want

to,

you

know,

aren't

planning

on

it

because

people

have

stuff

to

get

down

to,

hey,

next

week,

same

thing.

You

know,

we're

gonna

try

doing

this.

Or

if

all

of

your

games

are

super

late,

you

know,

be

be

the

person

that

says,

hey,

you

know,

we

have

in

two

weeks,

we

have

a

game.

Instead

of

being

at

10:30,

we

got

a

nine

o'clock

game

in

two

weeks.

I'm

bringing

uh

bringing

some

post-game

beverages

for

that

game.

So

everybody

make

sure

you're

hick,

you

know,

clear

your

calendar

for

that

night.

You're

you're

gonna

be

home

late.

I

mean,

that's

it's

it's

putting

it

out

there,

it's

letting

people

know

uh

that

that

that's

gonna

be

a

thing,

just

so

it

it

gets

out

there.

Like

I

said,

vocalize

it,

vocalize

it

so

it

is

is

out

there

in

the

locker

room,

so

people

know

of

it,

so

it's

not

a

surprise.

Because

if

you

after

the

game,

just

try

and

go,

hey,

uh,

I

know

it's

already

11

o'clock,

but

do

you

want

to

hang

out

for

another

hour

and

a

half?

Uh

please,

you

know,

just

telling

you

about

it

now,

probably

not

gonna

happen,

honestly.

Maybe

some

people

can,

but

a

lot

of

people

can't.

But

if

you

let

them

know

that's

gonna

be

a

regular

thing,

a

lot

more

likely

to

have

happen.

So

something

to

think

about,

especially

because

uh

fall

winter

beer

league,

uh,

when

this

uh

podcast

is

going

out,

is

getting

ready

to

start

up

probably

in

a

month

or

so.

So

something

to

talk

about

before

the

season

starts

or

right

in

the

first

game

of

the

season.

Let

people

know

you

want

to

do

this.

Another

thing

to

notice

if

you

want

something

like

this

to

happen,

if

you

want

to

make

your

hockey

team

a

little

bit

more

social,

is

really

there's

kind

of

for

what

we're

talking

about,

glue

guys,

there's

kind

of

two

different

The fun guy and the useful guy

Speaker
7:19

types

of

it

uh

that

you

need

to

have.

You

usually

need

both

of

these

guys.

Uh,

you

usually

need

kind

of

the

fun

guy,

and

that's

the

person

that

is,

you

know,

has

stories,

telling

jokes,

uh

probably

busting

balls

of

people,

stuff

like

that.

That

person,

you

need

the

fun

guy,

then

it

also

really

also

helps

to

have

the

useful

guy

uh

as

part

of

this.

Who's

the

useful

guy?

Well,

the

useful

guy

is

the

person

that

is

maybe

the

person

that's

bringing

uh

the

beverages,

maybe

it's

the

person

that's

remembers,

hey,

these

couple

guys

don't

drink.

I'm

gonna

make

sure

they

have

Gatorade

so

they

can

stick

around

with

us.

Maybe

they're

the

ones

that

brings,

you

know,

some

post-game

snacks

that

people

like.

Uh,

maybe

they're

also

the

ones

that

just

has

stuff

in

the

locker

room

that

people

need

after

a

game.

You

know,

they

have

like

helmet

repair

kits

and

things

like

that,

just

so

people,

you

know,

stick

around

and

like,

oh,

well,

I

was

gonna

fix

uh

my

helmet

at

home,

but

hey,

I

can

sit

here

and

and

put

in

some

new

screws

uh

and

hang

out

a

little

bit.

They're

the

person

that

kind

of

has

that

stuff.

You

kind

of

have

those

two

types

of

people,

uh,

that

is

two

different

types

of

people,

but

it

can't

be

the

same

person,

it

can

be

one

glue

guy

that

does

all

this.

So,

again,

if

you're

trying

to

be

the

person

that's

getting

your

team

to

get

to

do

more

fun

stuff

and

get

to

hang

out

more,

you

might

have

to

kind

of

take

on

both

of

those

roles

for

that,

or

maybe

it

can

help

encourage

other

people

to

help

out

with

some

of

those

types

of

things

that

you

need.

Because

there

really

is

kind

of

those

two

types

of

people

that

I

think

really

help

drive

that,

to

help

push

for

people

hanging

out,

people

feeling

more

comfortable

hanging

out.

Uh,

and

you

know,

once

they

start

doing

that,

it

kind

of

snowballs

with

it.

Okay,

so

one

of

the

I

guess

this

could

be

one

of

the

more

difficult

things

that

you

have

to

do

if

you're

going

to

be

the

glue

guy

in

your

Honagie

team,

is

some

of

the

I

guess

you

would

call

them

The social skills that actually matter

Speaker
9:13

soft

skills

that

you

need.

Um

and

really

what

this

is,

is

it's

just

helping

people

feel

more

welcome,

feel

more

connected

on

the

team,

that

it

isn't

just

something

you

show

up

to,

play,

leave

right

away,

that

you

do

feel

a

little

bit

more

like

a

family

uh

or

a

group

of

friends

with

stuff.

And

there's

a

couple

different

ways

you

can

do

that.

Um,

one,

I

mean,

this

should

be

a

no-brainer,

but

you

know,

if

you're

playing

on

like

a

beginner

team

or

it's

a

brand

new

team

or

you're

in

like

a

draft

league

or

something

like

that,

where

your

teams

change

all

the

time,

make

sure

you

know

everybody's

name.

You

know,

make

sure

you

know

everybody's

name

on

the

team.

It

sounds

ridiculous,

but

there

are

teams

out

there

where

people

don't

know

the

names

of

everybody

they

play

with.

So

learn

the

names.

Nicknames

are

fine

if

they're

real

nicknames

and

not

just

one

that

you

gave

somebody,

you

know,

going

like,

oh

yeah,

that's

uh

that's

Steve,

that's

Jim,

that's

uh

Gray

Gloves.

Because

I

don't

know

his

name.

Yeah,

that's

that's

not

that's

not

cool.

Learn

everybody's

name.

Simple

thing

to

do.

You

know,

be

encouraging

to

people

without

being

uh

patronizing

How to chirp without being an ass

Speaker
10:29

to

them,

bust

balls

for

people

definitely

helps

if

you're

self-deprecating

with

that,

uh,

if

you

can

make

fun

of

yourself

first.

That

definitely,

definitely

helps

break

down

a

lot

of

the

barriers

there

with

that

so

that

you

can

start

busting

balls

of

people

and

hopefully

not

try

to

not

be

in

a

mean

way

with

it.

I

mean,

hope

you

should

know

the

people

on

your

team

of

how

far

you

can

take

that

and

encourage

others

to

do

the

same

thing

with

it.

And

kind

of

the

flip

side

of

that

is

also

kind

of

being

the

peacekeeper

on

the

team.

So

if

Be the locker-room peacekeeper

Speaker
11:01

people

do

get

pissed

about

stuff

on

the

team,

it

doesn't

boil

over

anything.

You

know,

I

mean

it's

it's

beer

league,

it

doesn't

matter,

but

it

does

matter.

You

know

what

I

mean?

And

there

are

people

out

there

that

get

super

competitive

with

things

and

get

super

pissed

and

then

can

drop

it

right

away,

but

that

can

unfortunately

trigger

other

people

that

get

pissed

with

them.

So

kind

of

being

the

peacekeeper

there

uh

really,

really

helps

with

that

because

it

helps

keep

everybody

you

know

in

a

good

mood.

You're

playing

hockey.

I

mean,

you

you

paid

to

play

out

there,

so

nope,

nobody

wants

to

have

a

bummer

of

a

time.

So

that

definitely

helps,

and

all

those

can

kind

of

work

together.

Knowing

people's

names

can

make

it

easier

to

kind

of

bust

balls

for

people,

and

if

you're

encouraging

players

and

being

positive

about

things,

it

can

make

it

easier

to

be

the

peacekeeper

with

it,

and

if

you're

beaceeper,

it

can

make

you

know

it

it's

a

circular

thing,

so

all

those

can

kind

of

work

in

conjunction

with

each

other

to

to

really

kind

of

help

I

think

start

that

ball

rolling

and

set

the

stage

for

what

I

think

you're

trying

to

accomplish

uh

on

your

team.

An

important

thing

to

remember

if

you

are

trying

to

get

people

to

hang

out,

if

you

are

trying

to

uh

to

make

it

a

more

friendly,

more

I

keep

saying

family,

but

it's

not

really

family.

It's

in

like

the

uh

fast

and

the

furious

family

kind

of

connotation,

uh

away

of

family

of

things,

is

you

know,

to

also

understand

where

people

are

at

with

things.

You

know,

not

everyone's

able

to

hang

out

after

games,

not

everyone's

able

to

hang

out

every

night,

not

everyone's

able

to

stay

out

super

late

after

games.

Some

people

maybe

never

can,

you

know,

maybe

I

mean

there's

people

that

work

late

nights,

there's

people

that

have

super

early

mornings.

Understand

that,

not

giving

them

too

much

crap

about

it,

you

know,

and

kind

of

meeting

people

where

they're

at

with

these

types

of

things,

along

with

that,

with

all

the

stuff

that

we

said

before,

kind

of

knowing

where

people

are

coming

from.

Uh,

you

know,

some

people

have

super

high

stress

jobs

and

going

to

Beer

League

is

their

way

to

de-stress.

And

so

there

are

some

people

that

have

a

lot

of

stress

that

this

is

their

physical

activity

to

get

it

out.

Hopefully

they

don't

take

things

too

far,

but

that

might

mean

them,

you

know,

yelling

about

stuff

more

or

getting

overexcited

about

things,

and

that's

kind

of

where

that

peacekeeper

role

can

help

with

that

stuff,

is

kind

of

helping

buffer

that

so

it

doesn't

get

other

people

pissed,

it

doesn't

cause

any

problems

and

things

like

that,

uh,

because

you

kind

of

know

where

they're

coming

from.

So

that's

a

lot

of

it

is

really

again

meeting

people

where

they're

at

and

getting

to

know

that,

getting

to

know

that

about

people.

Hopefully,

that

gives

you

kind

of

the

playbook

of

what

you

need

to

either

be

the

glue

guy

or

help

someone

else

be

the

glue

guy

or

work

with

other

people

so

that

you

have

more

than

one

glue

guy

You don't have to do it alone

Speaker
13:46

on

a

team.

You

know,

if

you

can't

be

it,

encourage

somebody

else

to

be

it.

Maybe

you

can't

be

the,

you

know,

the

the

funny

storyteller

person,

but

you

know

somebody

else

that

is,

encourage

them

to

be

that

person

on

the

team.

You

know,

encourage

these

things

from

people.

And

it

doesn't

have

to

be

one

person,

it

doesn't

have

to

be

two

people.

It

can

start

off

with

that,

it

can

be

everybody.

Everybody

can

have

a

part

of

this,

everybody

can

do

different

things

to

help

be

the

glue

guy

on

the

hockey

team.

If

you

can

get

that,

that's

great.

That

that's

an

amazing

thing

to

have.

If

you

don't

have

a

glue

guy,

find

a

glue

guy

or

become

that

person.

Look

for

the

person

that

brings

beer

unprompted,

who

everybody

says

hi

to

whenever

they

come

in

the

locker

room,

and

the

person

that

everybody

misses

when

The teammate every team wants

Speaker
14:29

they're

not

around.

You

want

to

have

that

person

on

your

team,

and

honestly,

even

if

that

person

is

not

good

at

hockey,

you

always

want

to

have

that

person

on

your

team.

So

be

the

glue

guy,

name

the

glue

guy,

find

a

glue

guy.

One

of

those

things

should

be

able

to

happen

on

your

team.

And

remember,

you

know

what?

If

you're

trying

to

do

this

and

nobody

else

wants

to,

like

I

said,

I

did

do

a

video

previously

about

what

to

do

if

you're

stuck

on

a

bad

team.

Because

if

you're

wanting

to

be

somebody

that

wants

to

hang

out

and

do

stuff

outside

of

hockey

and

the

whole

team

just

does

not

want

to,

well,

maybe

maybe

you

should

go

check

out

some

of

the

uh

the

ideas

from

that

video.

I'd

love

to

hear

what

you

think

about

glue

guys.

If

you're

the

glue

guy,

if

you

have

a

glue

guy,

how

do

you

define

it?

Things

that

people

on

your

team

do

that

help

your

team

be

a

more

fun

social

activity

versus

just

show

up

for

an

hour,

play

hockey,

and

get

the

hell

out

without

talking

to

anybody.

Love

to

hear

about

it.

Drop

me

a

note

down

in

the

comments,

head

on

over

to

thebeerleaguer.com.

As

always,

that's

where

you

can

leave

me

messages,

check

out

past

shows,

anything

like

that.

Always

love

hearing

from

you

guys.

Thanks

a

lot.

Catch

you

in

the

next

one.