Teaching brand new goalies.

[dayv27]

I've searched and found a lot of drills for goalies who have a clue what they are doing, but I still need some help here.

I've been tasked with teaching 5 new goalies. Two of them have played a little bit, 3 of them had never worn goalie gear until two weeks ago. They are 7-11 years old, wearing stiff new gear, and I have 10 more weeks with them.

We've done basic stance, how to find your center in net, some basic movement in net, and they've had their first scrimmage seeing shots from kids their own age and one or two older kids.

My biggest issue with these kids is getting them to keep their sticks flat on the ice in front of them, and getting them to stand up and make a stick save when the puck is coming at them flat on the ice from straight in front of them. These kids think that you have to drop on every puck that comes near the crease. And when they do drop (attempted butterfly) they open up so much, it looks like a flying squirrel jumping at the puck.


So what I'm asking for is some ideas on some of the most basic goalie drills. This week I'm taking the kids outside to play catch and to learn to watch the puck (ball for this drill) go all the way into the glove, and learn how to use the blocker.

Any help is appreciated.

[hcw3]

Mirrors, videos, and games.

Kids are great imitators, but they don't have any muscle memory and it seems hard for them to build. If you show them what you want, and then show them what they are doing, they will recognize and self correct. This is where mirrors and videos are helpful.

I try to do a lot of games around save selection too. I tell them how I am going to shoot the puck and I have them tell me what save they are going to make and why, then I do it. If they make the right decision and make the save as they described they get a point. If don't execute, I get a point. Or if there is more than one they compete against each other.

Be careful not to train the pounce out of them. I've got a 10yo that I can't get to cover a puck.

I also discovered that the old adage of the goalie being the worst skater on the team is still holding true sometimes. I've had to take a couple goalies to open skate with no pads and get them skating better (it wasn't the equipment).

Harrison

[dread]

I do learn to play sessions a couple of times a week at my local rink. As you said beginners can be tough. I spend a lot of time on basic balance, edge work, and agility. We jump over sticks, do side steps and practice recovering from knees, belly and butt.

I have found that as their balance and agility develops the kids are able to stay on their feet to make stick saves. If they do continue to go down I don't sweat it as long as they:
a. use the stick, not the pad
b. don't flop
c. recover in an organized way

Getting a kid to keep their stick in position is just boring old repetition and reminders.

Good luck and have fun.

[drummergoalie]

Well I hope you have fun with this, it seems like an interesting task. I am only 16 so I may not know everything about goaltending yet.

I think that you should focus on the fundamentals such as T-Push, Shuffles, C-Cuts, Basic Angling and so on. Many goalies now days are bad skaters(and I admit, I am not the strongest skater either) but I think it is a very important aspect of the game, and if the goalie is a good skater then things will be alot easier for them.
It is always good to get them into good habits (after all if they just started playing goalie then what you teach them they will defenetly use). Make sure that there sticks are in place, that they have the proper grip on their stick, being able to recover is very important, and other things along those lines.

I really do hope you have fun with this, it will be a great learning experience.

[Danish]

Personally, from personal experience, i say let them do whatever the feel comfortable with. I began playing goalie 2 years ago at age 15. Stepping out onto the ice at a 5-7 year old clinic was fully confident that i could stop the puck.... boy was i wrong. But eventually the little kids stopped showing up to the clinics every Wednesday night and instead i just had a decent kid shoot on me once per week filling that ice time. I just did what i felt comfortable with and i got very good. Two months later i stepped out onto the ice for high school tryouts. fast forward 2 years and here i am beating out kids who have been playing goaltender their entire lives and im gonna be the starter for my school next year. (and i don't play in any crappy old league, same high school league as #20 and NCPuck08). But its just because i did what i felt comfortable doing, just take tons of shots on them and they will learn. The most important thing for them is movement though, thats what i work on the most i think. I think technique and all is important, but too much can hurt and takes away from their other abilities... in my opinion. Just show them tons of shots and let them develop. Seriously for the first couple weeks as a goaltender at age 15 i couldn't butterfly.... but i eventually got into it by watching others and just by getting tons of shots.

sorry, i might have gotten off topic/ repeated some stuff alot.

Danish

[dayv27]

Good advice. I'm really trying to avoid teaching tecniques, Pro-fly, butterfly, pure stand-up. Instead, I'm working on positioning, stick use, finding your center in net, and the movement around the crease. You guys did give me a good one to work on that I hadn't thought of, recovery.

The kids I'm working with all can skate, and most of them skate very well. All but one have played at least mite level as forward or defense, so they can skate, and they do know something about hockey.

Keep sending the ideas!

[Brock Manson]

My first goalie coach had a method of teaching me to keep my stick on the ice when I was a beginner.

I'd get several chances. If my stick was persistently off the ice when I made a save, I'd have to do 5 press-ups.

If I still held the stick up, then it was 10 press-ups.

Again if I didn't keep the stick down, I had to do laps of the rink or sit out on the bench for 5 minutes.

I didn't want to sit out at training so purposely kept my stick down, and eventually it became habit.

Maybe this method of teaching is a little too draconian for kids of that age though...

[geojedi]

Have them press their thumb on the shoulders of the paddle.

[no5hole]

Here is a thought. Kids like to make noise right?

Have them constantly hold the stick on the knob and slap it on the ice .. this is fun and also keeps them thinking about having the stick on the ice ... just a thought.

my coach used the push-ups routine ... needless to say .. I have great upper arm strength

[ariesgroove]

I find that when i'm intructing kids I like to focus on a few things that are very important:

Basic Stance
upper body position
lowerbody position

Pre-Save
Footwork
angles

Post-save
rebound control
recovery

I wouldn't get to concerned at this point. If you focus on the basics for 10 weeks then you should see improvement. As for skating, I always have the goalies do the skating drills with the forwards at the begining of practice.

some kids understand what they need to do to play goalie, while other ones need to work at it to get better. I've seen kids jump in the nets and look so natural after 3-4 weeks of instruction and others I need to work with them a lot longer before they see improvemtents.

You said that they aren't very good skaters, so I would focus on footwork and helping them get better at skating! everything else will come after that.

[Weirdo]

Originally Posted by dayv27

My biggest issue with these kids is getting them to keep their sticks flat on the ice in front of them, and getting them to stand up and make a stick save when the puck is coming at them flat on the ice from straight in front of them. These kids think that you have to drop on every puck that comes near the crease. And when they do drop (attempted butterfly) they open up so much, it looks like a flying squirrel jumping at the puck..

The words you choose are very important. Teach a "standup pad save" instead of a "stick save". They don't have to make a "stick save" standing up, they can make one going down in a "butterfly". Focus on teaching them the pad save. Standing up and closing that five hole. Placement of the stick as part of the technique.

Remind them that they're still new at it and you'll eventually progress up to the point where you will teach them how to butterfly.

[prkinggoalie]

A few things we believe and teach at MTN;

Movement and puck tracking

Although trying to keep it simple seems logical do not keep it too simple.

Every kid learns different. Keeping it too simple can be boring. Keep it simple yet challenging.

The push ups are a good Idea if you make a game of it. What I do (and it helps me stay in shape, sorta) is if you do the drill right, I will do 5 push ups. If you do it wrong, you do ten ( as there are more goalies than me this seems fair). It also makes them more intent , so that they can punish me. The secret then is to make the drill easy enough but not so easy as you are the only one doing the push ups.

Although standing up on pucks along the ice seems practical sometimes it is not always the best save selection to use. Try getting them to watch the puck in relation to height and add a challenge to the drill. If the puck is above the waist stay up if the puck is below the waist go down. This teaches them to watch the puck release and track the puck to the body and see the rebound.


Do not get caught up on the actual save selection at a young age. But expose them to the different types.

Always work on goaltender movement and recovery after a while they will be able to dictate the proper save selection for their age and level.


Most of all keep it fun, learning is alot easier when you enjoy what you are doing, both as a student and as a teacher.

Good luck

[dayv27]

Originally Posted by Brock Manson

My first goalie coach had a method of teaching me to keep my stick on the ice when I was a beginner.

I'd get several chances. If my stick was persistently off the ice when I made a save, I'd have to do 5 press-ups.

If I still held the stick up, then it was 10 press-ups.

Again if I didn't keep the stick down, I had to do laps of the rink or sit out on the bench for 5 minutes.

I didn't want to sit out at training so purposely kept my stick down, and eventually it became habit.

Maybe this method of teaching is a little too draconian for kids of that age though...

Nope, not to harsh. I've already had them skate boards for sticks up.

[dread]

I'm not big on the whole " do it right or I will punish you" school of learning.

Goalies learn to keep their sticks on the ice because they don't like giving up crappy goals. Shoot pucks under the sloppy sticks, The kids will figure it out.

[madgoaieskillz0]

Movement, gloves, movement, butterfly, movement, stick control, movement, , stance, movement, responsibilities. Did I mention movement?

I coach kids like this all the time because my age and experience put me at a lower level than the other guys I coach with. They will hate it, but movement is so key. For me at least, I coach at a synthetic ice facility, which makes everything 100x harder when you have young goalies with no leg strength.