Principles of the 24-hour athlete: How meal planning, journaling and OT can give a prospect an edge

The 19-year-old who arrived in Hamden, Conn., in 2013 was skilled with the puck.

He could skate as well as any 1994-born Canadian defenseman.

He took over games with his talent.

But in 2012 and 2013, his first two draft-eligible years, NHL Central Scouting left him unranked among North American skaters.

No NHL team considered him worthy of selection.

Advertisement Devon Toews started his college career at Quinnipiac as an undrafted defenseman who left his watchers wanting more.

The first two years, hed be the first guy off the ice, last guy on the ice wouldnt do any extra work, Quinnipiac strength and conditioning coach Brijesh Patel recalls.

But he was still one of our best players because he was talented.

As a freshman, Toews scored one goal and 16 assists.

In 2014, the New York Islanders drafted the 20-year-old in the fourth round.

The left-shot defenseman scored 20 points as a sophomore.

Before his junior season, Toews approached Patel with a query.

Could he help him get faster? Patel had been waiting for this.

He knew the defenseman had multiple levels of improvement.

But it had to come from Toews.

By then, Toews was buying into a notion Patel had been selling: the mindset of the 24-hour athlete.

Something to prove Quinnipiac is an NCAA heavyweight.

The Bobcats beat Minnesota to win the 2023 championship.

Under coach Rand Pecknold, Quinnipiac has won the most league games in the ECAC for the last five seasons.

For all that, Quinnipiac is not top of mind.

None of the players from the U.S.

National Team Development Programs most recent Under-18 and U-17 rosters has committed to Quinnipiac.

We might not get the most skilled players, Patel says.

We get guys who dont mind the grind, who are willing to get uncomfortable.

And theyre not going to shy away from it.

Connor Cliftons a great one.

Willing to do anything.

Those are the guys that get attracted to come to Quinnipiac.

Because they understand they can go from undrafted player to potentially signing a pro contract.

Toews fit the Quinnipiac profile.

He played for multiple teams in British Columbia before settling in with the Surrey Eagles of the BCHL.

As a skilled and slight puck-moving defenseman, Toews found himself overlooked.

Advertisement My whole career has kind of been a late-blooming career, Toews says.

Thats motivation to me.

I thought I had the ability to play at this level and to keep moving up levels throughout the ranks.

I was always a smaller guy, kind of put aside.

Toews, now 31, is 10 years removed from his third and final college season.

He averaged 24:35 of ice time per game in 2024-25, 11th among NHL defensemen.

The 2022 Stanley Cup champion concluded the first season of a seven-year, $50.75 million contract.

None of this might have happened without a change in attitude.

Clock never stops Patel has been at Quinnipiac since 2008.

He has helped train 17 rosters of players who push hard on the ice, in the weight room and in class.

Not all of them initially understood that each component depends on the other.

Success doesnt happen in a vacuum, Patel says.

Their ability to improve their sporting ability doesnt just happen in the arena or in the gym or in the weight room, wherever theyre going to compete and whenever theyre going to train.

Its getting them to understand that the things they do outside the gym and outside the arena are going to directly impact the things they can do when theyre in the gym and in the arena.

Because we might train we might practice for two, three hours a day.

Sometimes, your habits you have off the ice or away from the gym can undo exactly what you did within those two or three hours of what you did in the gym.

As an example, Patel cites a typical player who endures training and practice.

Fatigue and soreness are initially expected.

All of that work can go to waste, however, if the player continues full gas without a step back.

The body strengthens during recovery.

Proper diet, hydration and sleep are essential.

The whole concept of being a 24-hour athlete is just truly understanding that just because you train and work out for two or three hours a day, thats not the only time youre an athlete, Patel says.

You have to think like an athlete the rest of the day.

Because all the effort you put into developing discipline and habits are going to directly impact your ability to be the best you can be when you get to the rink and the gym.

Advertisement During the season, the Bobcats usually work out at 9:45 a.m.

Practice follows, typically from 11:30 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

The players are not given a wake-up time.

But they are instructed to leave enough time for breakfast.

A sample meal could be an omelet, oatmeal and blueberries.

On-the-run players with morning class could cut a corner by mixing protein powder and peanut butter into oatmeal cups.

If they do not eat enough in the morning, they will be underfueled for workouts and practices.

That would compromise the entire window.

A player practicing on an empty stomach, for example, might run out of gas at the end of the session.

In the next game, Pecknold might hesitate to use that player for a last-minute shift.

Protein shakes are available after workouts and practice.

Lunch is sometimes served after practice at the rink.

Then players usually go to class.

They are on their own for dinner.

Patel tells players who want to gain weight to eat until they feel stuffed.

The 24-hour clock does not stop ticking for players at night.

Homework, study sessions and socializing must be completed promptly.

Sleep is non-negotiable, especially for still-growing players.

A 2 a.m.

video game binge unspools the progress made earlier.

Sleep, Patel says, is the cheapest way you can recover.

To promote good sleep hygiene, Patel suggests deep breathing, stretching, meditation, journaling and turning screens off early.

He does not hold anyones hand.

You cant do it for them, Patel says.

You cant create the conditions for them.

You need to teach them and empower them to have ownership over their own process of their development.

This is how Toews found another level.

Working overtime Every Tuesday and Thursday, a 21-year-old Toews dedicated himself to extra speed work under Patels watch.

Others joined in.

Soon enough, Toews was leading a group of teammates.

Advertisement Away from the weight room, Toews started eating better.

He committed himself to recovery.

He spent more time developing his skills in practice.

He added muscle.

He got faster.

A good college hockey player became a difference-maker.

To this day, Toews tells Patel that what he learned in the weight room made him a better pro.

You could be great, but you need to work on these habits, Patel recalls telling Toews earlier in his career.

At some point, he must have just been sick and tired of it.

Or he started to believe in himself.

I dont know what that answer is.

But it is this concept of being a 24-hour athlete.

Its this concept of understanding that you can be more and do more.

But its a direct result of the discipline you develop in committing to the process of development.

It was probably not a coincidence that Toews scored a career-high 30 points in his junior year.

On April 9, 2016, Quinnipiac lost to North Dakota in the championship game.

One week later, Toews signed his entry-level contract.

You make your opportunities, Toews says.

You learn from your failures and the things people have done to you.

I have no ill will on anyone.

Ive been cut from teams where I feel like Im part of it.

It just motivates me to keep going, keep pushing through and get to the level I want to be.

You may think this around-the-clock process was hard for Toews to follow.

Yes and no, according to Patel.

We dont say things are hard.

We say theyre challenging, Patel says.

If theyre challenged if they have the right mindset and we shift it we can overcome that challenge if we have a high degree of effort we place toward the task.

But if we view things as obstacles and theyre just hard, sometimes a wall just gets put up and were like, Ah, Im not going to do that.

From Patels viewpoint, words matter.

They impact the mind, which impacts body language, which impacts performance.

So in the weight room, players greet each other with, Great morning.

Positive diction rules the day.

Advertisement As for other principles, Patel insists on three: accountability, respect, work ethic.

If you bring those three things to practice, Rand can help you get better, Patel says.

If you dont work hard and dont compete, thats going to take away from your ability to get better.

If youre not treating yourself with respect by staying up late, by not eating the right foods, by not speaking to yourself in a positive way, thats going to directly impact your ability to perform.

So we get them to understand how everything is connected.

That ultimately goes to the concept of the 24-hour athlete.

Everything matters.

Its not just one thing.

Everything matters.

(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic, with photos from iStock).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.