What’s shaking! We talked, was it last week? We talked about instead of big, powerful pushes, taking those quick powerful pushes, because the big, powerful pushes often created a lot more movement than you needed, so a lot of energy was being wasted. And also opened up big gaps, big holes, and then there’s more space too to have to close out. So that was last week and it can be found here >> (https://youtu.be/1x_zwQP5lHY)
If you’re not in the mood to read you can check out the video for this post here! >> https://youtu.be/TaRwSxuVDVM
Oh, you know what too! Last week in our Goalie Training Lab group on Facebook, I wanted to say thanks so much, everybody, for helping Liam out. So Liam is the guy, the goalie, that posted the video. He’s only been playing for a little while, like six months, he posted some video of himself in a pick up and just asked, “Hey, for feedback.”
Number one, I loved that he did that. It can be, like, you’re putting it out there, right? And this is a free Facebook group. So it’s not a money maker, but what I wanted was to get just … awesome goalies, who are action takers. To give us a place where we can hang out. I don’t even think of it as mine. It’s like it’s ours and this is where we hang out.
I wanted it to be that kind of a community feeling. So I loved that so many of you helped out, and you had great advice. And you showed too, like, hey, this is a community where we’re all trying to get better, whether we’re playing in the NCAA, or Triple-A, or a men’s league or adult league, or just started. We’re just, “Hey, how can I help you be a little bit better?”
So thank you so much for doing that. It made me go, like, “Yes! This is what I hoped for.” (You can find the Goalie Training Lab Facebook group here >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/goalietraininglab/)
But anyway, today what I wanted to talk about was agility from your knees. I know a lot of you don’t actually do any goalie specific agility work, and you really should, because even just working on those patterns, and it’s not what you think, it’s not smashing into your butterfly, and adding a bunch of wear and tear to your hips, and pretending I’m in the butterfly. It’s not that.
So be careful, because some people, when they try to do off-ice goalie agility, they’re actually just causing even more wear and tear to their hips that you don’t need.
But, you know, even if we work on, geez like when I do a butterfly push to my left, I’m pretty good, because I’m pretty good at pushing off my right. But when I have to slide to my right, I’m not very good at pushing on my left. You know, you can just very easily do some quick recovery, and then lateral balance, that kind of thing.
So, you should be doing some of that work, but you should also be doing some agility from your knees.
So probably the last two off-seasons we’ve done more with our goalies, because sometimes too, you’re in your butterfly, and then the puck is still in close. So it’s like (and I’m a terrible goalie) but for me it’s like, you know what, if I go to stand up, I’m going to be opening big gaps. I think I’m better here just to try and cover from my knees until I get a chance to actually pop up.
And again, does my positioning go to heck, when I’m on my knees? So, do I start sitting back, and doing funny, weird things that aren’t proper? Or do I stay up and keep that … you know how, like, you want to have the seam on your pants straight, but actually have your torso a little bit forward, not sitting your bum back, but tall in your hips, but a little forward in your chest. So can I actually move without just tipping over?
So work on some of those things. It’s always going to be quick, little pushes, because you can’t do big, powerful pushes. There’s no purchase there from your knees. So, it’s just going to be thinking about getting those quick, lateral pushes, staying level in your shoulders, level in your hips, a little bit of change of direction, and that will help you.
And it’s good way to help kind of, I guess, strengthen my groins, but build a little bit stamina in my groins when I’m using them in a different way.
So, we’re not going to overdo it! It’s just like putting those hot pepper flakes in spaghetti sauce. It’s just a little bit so your like, “Hmm, is there a bit of hot pepper in here?” No so much that it’s like, “Ahhhh! Hot pepper!”
So, that’s just a little tip for you there.
All right, gang. I’ll catch you later. See you!