I was talking with a father this past weekend. In the course of our conversation, I found their hockey association has absolutely no training for goalies. And when I decided to check out the registration fees for that association, I discovered the fees totaled almost $1000. Goalie parents are paying $1000 and receiving no specific training. If $1000 does not include specific training, then what price does it need to be?
Unfortunately, this is not the only hockey association neglecting their goalies.
What would happen if a coach simply dropped the pucks on the ice at practice and just worked with the goalies? 15 – 18 hockey players just skating around with pucks at a $1000 per season. No passing drills, skating drills, breakouts, defensive and offensive zone positions being taught at all. Every now and then, the coach would yell at the players to skate. How developed would these players be at the end of the year? Better yet, how many parents would be at the board meetings complaining? Yet, this is to be expected if your child is a goalie.
Instead of the coach yelling at you to skate, he yells ”Cover the puck!” Or, the other brilliant variation, “Cover that puck!” Coaches are not to blame. In fact, most coaches do not know how to coach goalies. Most of the coaches were players, not goalies. Joe Bertanga, a writer for USA Hockey and a former goalie, understands this situation better than most. “One of the biggest problems in the development of goalies is how they are used at practice. Or, in some cases, not used.” (my emphasis) If you are a goalie parent, you know this statement is true. So, share this great article titled “Guidelines for Goalies at practice” in the USA Hockey August 2008 magazine with your coach.
My son was fortunate. His first coach understood he didn’t know how to coach goalies. He went to the board and said the association needs to hire a goalie coach. A small association (120 skaters and registration fee’s $300) understood the importance of goalie instruction. And that is how Kevin and I got to know each other. He was hired as the goalie coach.
Another small association realized the importance of goalie training and hired CreaseWarriors for their goalies this year. These goalies will get 14 weeks of 1 hour training. Their registration fee is around $500. Each of these associations had a grand total of 8 goalies. The hockey association with $1000 fee’s will have about 65 goalies in the association. You do the math and see which association really cares about their goalies.
Oh, did I forget to mention the large association is going to post a picture for the “Goalie of the Week?” Supposedly having your picture shown at the rink will generate more interest and retain their goalies. I have a brilliant idea to generate interest and retain goalies: Train them to succeed! Give them the training to have the confidence between the pipes not an 8″x10″ glossy. You can still do the picture but show the goalies and their parents you are committed to see them improve. Not just take their money.
There are options for hockey associations where I live. Besides CreaseWarriors, I know of 3 other full time goalie training businesses. Most of these will travel and help train goalies or they will come in and train your coaches. If this is not an option, try to find someone in the association with Major Juniors or College goaltending experience. Just pay them! Why you ask? By paying money, the association would strongly advise goalies to attend and hold coaches accountable. I don’t suggest using the father or mother who played goalie in high school. They tend to favor their child and the other goalies will notice. Also, they are volunteers and after the first night the numbers will dramatically decrease. Lastly, what training did they get when they were goaltenders? Do you really want bad habits given to the goalies in your association just to save a few dollars?
If your association does not have goaltender training, I would ask why not. I would be at the next board meeting asking why. Goalies have the hardest position on the team and they should be given proper training. I can tell you goalies want proper training. They want to excel at their position but are frustrated at the lack of training. At $1000, I would be frustrated as a parent.
But then again, at what price do goalies get training?
1 Comment
October 3, 2008 at 10:07 am
Good piece. And it all seems too simple.
At the top of the food chain, it would seem the people who need to be held accountable – by their children – are parents. It is incumbent upon them to do the research and get these associations to be “full-service,” as it were. Doesn’t it stand to reason that a local hockey association will train forwards, defensemen AND goalies with individuals qualified to do so? Individuals skilled in the nuances of each specific position?
When I was in high school, I played the drums in the band. The director of our band played trumpet. He knew precious little about drums…and grudgingly told us so. Along with myself, there were two other percussionists. We had to go outside the school to continue with sight-reading, improving rudiments, and so on. How the director of a high school band could get in that position without having full knowledge of every instrument was absurd. But the bigger problem was that NO ONE EVER QUESTIONED IT.
As a parent myself, I’m one who questions everything as it relates to my daughters. When my older daughter was in her first ballet class, the three instructors might as well have been The Three Stooges. And when they screwed up and she was the one who suffered, I darn well let them and the school no about it finally taking her out of there.
Last time I checked, the goalie was a reasonably important position in hockey and kids wanting to play that position deserve the same attention to detail in training as the other kids interested in being forwards or defensemen.
That’s really not a hard concept for these associations to employ…is it?