At KassaiLaw we consider ourselves lucky to love our jobs, but everything comes at a price: it can result in forgetting to eat, stand up for long hours, or to make space for free-time activities. We have to be more conscious than ever before about taking care of ourselves and setting boundaries because failing to do so can eventually lead to burnout. Because of the increasing challenges lately in work-life balance, we wanted to show you that we also spare time for other things than work.

This time, welcome our beloved colleague, Andras Szabo, the CEE assignee at KassaiLaw.

• You grew up in Hungary, which is not a typical winter sports country, what led you to hockey?

My father used to play hockey, but then gave it up for several years. He took it up again when I was 12 years old because my uncle and his friends were also playing nearby at that time and invited him to join them. As a child I thought that it was too aggressive, but as I got older I realized that it might be a fun game and wanted to try it. It is indeed.

• What are the most appealing characteristics of hockey which made you play it for 11 years?

It is a father-son activity on one hand, but I have another great answer to this question: I read an interview once with Brandon Shanahan, who won 3 Stanley Cups and had been asked once by a reporter if hockey was hard:

“I don’t know, you tell me. We need to have the strength and power of a football player, the stamina of a marathon runner, and the concentration of a brain surgeon. But we need to put all this together while moving at high speeds on a cold and slippery surface while 5 other guys use clubs to try and kill us. Oh yeah! Did I mention that the whole time we’re standing on blades 1/8 of an inch thick? Is ice hockey hard?”

This perfectly sums up my own thoughts and feelings too. But I like the complexity of the game that needs extreme concentration, so every time I hit the ice, nothing else matters and I can leave everything behind.

• What has hockey taught to you that you can use in your life off the ice?

Hard work always pays off and it does not matter how hard life, or another player hits you, you have to get up and try harder. But the importance of teamwork is also a key-element, there is no ‘I’ in a team, you will almost never hear a hockey player in an interview saying ‘I’, just ‘we’.

• Share with us your most memorable experience from hockey.

As an exception of my previous answer, I will use “I”. The funniest moment was when I scored the second hat-trick of my career and I scored the third goal with my skate. My teammate passed the puck to me, but I could not reach it with my stick, so I just turned my right skate a bit and deflected the puck. It was so surprising, even for the goalie who could not reach it. Everyone was cheering on the bench and I did not know why they were doing it. One of my teammates had to tell me that I had scored a goal, I still don’t even know how it went in, because I was facing and skating towards the sideboard.

• We at the firm know that you have another unusual hobby, too: LEGO. If you had to choose one which would it be, LEGO or Hockey?

Definitely hockey. LEGO is also complex and requires creativity, but it does not require the same focus, so it is a good background activity while mulling over legal issues.

• Do you have any personal secret for getting some quality time for yourself outside work?

Wake up earlier to train before work and leave work to meet friends in the evening.