| Many of the goalie drills that you see being practiced | | | | The first drills is just a ball drop which teaches you to |
| focus on positioning within the crease. This makes | | | | quickly track the ball and get your hand on the ball. |
| sense because if a hockey goalie cannot get into | | | | Here is how it works: |
| position to cut down the angle or make the save, then | | | | - Your training partner will hold one ball in each hand |
| the odds are not in their favour to be successful. | | | | (you can start with a tennis ball, but then work your |
| I feel that goalie drills focusing on hand eye reaction | | | | way down to something smaller like a squash ball). |
| can also make a huge impact on performance, but I | | | | - She holds her arms straight out in front of her at |
| believe this type of training is under utilized. How often | | | | shoulder level. You will stand right in front of her facing |
| do you see a hockey goalie move across the crease, | | | | her hands. |
| get in position, but simply miss the puck with their | | | | - Without warning, she will let one ball go and you must |
| glove? Admittedly, this does not happen all the time, | | | | catch it. |
| but one bad goal every three or four games can have | | | | - To make it more challenging you can decide which |
| a dramatic effect on your save percentage. | | | | hand you must use to catch it - so if she drops the ball |
| Before going over a few of the goalie drills I use for | | | | on your right you must catch it with your right hand, the |
| training hand-eye coordination, let's consider what we | | | | ball on the left you must catch with your left hand. |
| are training. Hand-eye coordination requires the athlete | | | | Your next goalie drill for hand eye coordination is |
| to track the puck with his eyes, then those impulse | | | | catching the ball off the wall. Again you will need a |
| travel through the nervous system to be interpreted by | | | | training partner and some tennis balls. |
| the brain which will then send out response impulses to | | | | - You will stand approximately ten feet from a solid |
| the muscles which cause you to move laterally and | | | | wall. |
| reach for the puck with your glove or to poke check | | | | - Your training partner will stand approximately 10-15 |
| the puck off the skater's stick or any other response | | | | feet behind you. |
| your brain deems necessary. | | | | - You will both face the wall. |
| Although we cannot really increase the speed of our | | | | - You will stand in your ready position and you may |
| nervous impulses, we can improve the speed of | | | | wear your glove and blocker for this drill. |
| interpretation and reaction. Think of the first time you | | | | - Your training partner will throw a tennis ball past you |
| played your favourite video game. When I was a kid | | | | so it strikes the wall and then rebounds somewhere |
| the game was PacMan and I remember starting out | | | | toward you. |
| chomping the little dots on the screen and dodging the | | | | - You will move laterally to position yourself for the |
| ghost for about eight seconds before the ghost got | | | | save and either glove, block or smother the ball. |
| the best of me and my PacMan character was | | | | - If the ball gets away from you, you must run it down |
| disintegrating before my very eyes. But then as I | | | | and then run back to your starting point - that is your |
| played more and more, my fingers learned how to | | | | punishment for missing the save. As you perfect many |
| control the movement with more skill - it was as | | | | of your basic goalie drills focusing on movement, don't |
| though I did not have to think about what I was doing - | | | | forget to include some drills for hand-eye coordination. |
| my hands just reacted. This is what I am trying to do | | | | Although the speed of transmission for your nervous |
| with the following drills - expose you to numerous | | | | impulses is pretty much maxed out, you can increase |
| blocker and glove saves training your body how to | | | | your speed of reaction by practicing thousands of |
| react. | | | | saves over the course of your off-ice hockey training. |
| Goalie Drills | | | | |