I almost could not wait to get this one out to you – that is how much I love it!
You know that Paul and I are in Paris right now, so I shot a lot of these videos before I left and after filming this one, I wanted to send it out to you right away.
I love it because it is simple and effective. What could be better than that?
This is a drill you can do literally anywhere. It won’t make any noise and won’t damage the drywall like some of the ball off the wall drills that we often use for read and react drills.
Here’s the beauty of it… all you need is a laser pointer and someone who is willing to make you dance like a puppet based on where the shine that pointer.
In the video, it was Coach Tyler’s turn – at one point he gives the camera a sneaky little smile, I think he enjoyed making me shift and butterfly on command.
I have given you THREE VERSIONS of the drill in this quick video make sure you try all three, but wear your knee pads for the ones where you need to drop to block or cover the “puck”.
- Low Ready Position Tap – this is a good one to start with, just to get your eyes and hands working, letting you get a hang of picking up the super small laser dot and reacting quickly. Make sure your partner starts slowly like Coach Tyler did, but then they can pick up the pace and make the pattern more random.
- Catcher, Blocker or Block – this version will get you moving from your feet to your knees (make sure you wear your knee pads please). Set a horizontal boundary on the wall, any dots above that line are glove or blocker saves and any dots below that line are blocking saves where you will drop to your knees and then tap the dot with your hand.
- Shot & Rebound – you know when you make a save, but the puck drops down to your feet and you need to quickly get down to smother it? That is what we are working in this one. So your partner with the laser will give you shot…shot…shot… and then the rebound will drop to your feet as he/she shines a dot on the floor beside you. You have to get down on that puck and smother it.
Here’s what they all look like in action…
If for some reason, you cannot see the video above – – maybe your computer doesn’t want you to have better hand-eye coordination – – just click this link – https://youtu.be/C3A2rdmuIkY
Technique Tips:
- I don’t know about you, but I have so much trouble seeing my feet when I have my mask on (probably my chesty doesn’t help either). I am admittedly and awful goalie, so maybe it is me, but I really like the idea of wearing your mask as you do this drill, just to get some of those same blind spots.
- Don’t over-do it on dropping down to your knees – if you work on these drills for 5-minutes or so, you should only be dropping down a max of 6-10 times. Even though you have your knee pads on, it adds wear and tear to your hips which already do a lot of work on the ice. Also, don’t worry about trying to drop into a wide butterfly – it isn’t a real shot, they aren’t going to squeak it in between your pad and the post. That just adds even MORE wear and tear to your hips and there is no reason for it.
Hope you love it as much as I do 🙂
Cheers,
M
