In early September, I gave an hour-long presentation on goalie development at USA Hockey’s Level 4 Coaching Clinic in Bloomington. There were more than 220 coaches in attendance.
I was invited to speak at the clinic, because in addition to my goalie school and coaching duties with Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team, I also serve as USA Hockey’s Minnesota District Goalie Coach-in-Chief.
My message to the coaches was clear. They need to change the way they currently work with their goalies, so goalie development becomes a priority instead of an after thought.
I explained ways they can help their goalies during practices and showed them video clips of some of the skating/movement techniques used by today’s goalies.
The coaches did a good job of paying attention and asking good follow-up questions. Most of them realize that goalie development is the weakest part of their coaching portfolio and they want to become better overall coaches.
I hope I was able to provide them with a better understanding of goalie development so they feel more confident coaching the most important players on their team.
