Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the DIY Goalie Podcast, where hosts and goalie coaches Nathan Park and Connor Munday share their insights on how to become a better goalie.
Speaker: How are we doing goalies? This is Nathan with another solo podcast episode coming at you live from Peace River, Alberta. we are and We drove up today, we're just planning or I guess getting ready for a two-day camp over the next two days starting tomorrow. So at the time that this podcast comes out we'll have just wrapped that up um so excited for a quick little jaunt up north doing some camps doing some evaluations and then heading back before we get right into the the hockey season which is kind of crazy that we're already uh right back at her um so hopefully you guys did end up having a good summer you guys are ready to go back to school you're ready to hit the ground running for your season For those of you who are going into tryouts, good luck and hopefully you guys crush it there. um I'm going to make this one another kind of quick one. We're going to go through, i don't know, I have a couple topics to go through. We'll see if we get through them all today. If not, we'll we'll shelf them for another day. but um
Speaker: The first thing that I kind of wanted to get get talking about is just in regards to novelty and in regards to kind of, I don't know,
Speaker: gimmicks if you want to call them that or or I don't know but there's some times where whether it's goalies, goalie parents, goalie coaches, regular coaches we can kind of get caught up a little bit in the fads, in the trends and we kind of get caught up in the excitement and the novelty of something new And a lot of times that can lead to us not actually getting better. We can end up spending a lot of money on things or we can end up wasting a lot of time on things that don't necessarily make us that much better. um if I guess like bottom line when it comes to some of these things that that are out there, if they were truly like revolutionary and if they were truly providing game-changing value, these would be things that you would constantly see see being used at the high levels.
Speaker: um And to be honest, when you watch most of goalie session at like the NHL level, the PWHL level, those higher levels, they're kind of boring, not going to lie. It's a lot of skating, it's a lot of hitting our spots, it's a lot of traffic. And especially at their level, they're they're getting so specific with the things that they're working on that usually and they're literally just doing rep after rep after rep of the same exact thing, just trying to really nail down that specific focus point that they're working on for for that day.
Speaker: um So there are certain things that that you know can can maybe add a little bit of fun or add add a little bit of excitement, especially to break up the monotony sometimes of where we get to with the grind of working through hockey. like It does become a bit of a job. It does become a bit of a chore.
Speaker: um So if that's if that's the direction we're going with whatever fad, trend, gimmick, whatever you want to call it that we're doing, that's fine. But we need to understand why we're doing it and what it actually accomplishes. So there's a whole bunch of things out there. There's a whole whack of things that people have tried before. We've seen the half helmet wraps, we've seen you know different goggles that can be used, we've seen you know different ramps for tipping or for screens, you know we've seen lights, um you know colored pucks, stuff like that.
Speaker: um And sometimes you know it can be hard to differentiate what's useful and what's not. and it can be hard to kind of um stay away from wanting to find like the new exciting next best thing that that can help our development. um A lot of times it's it's kind of more fun as opposed to actually useful. But again, if you are going this route of using some sort of tool or something like that, maybe something you saw on TikTok or whatever the case is, make sure you understand the purpose of it and you understand why you would be using it and make sure you're also applying it properly as well. Right. so
Speaker: For us, like, I we don't really have too many left, but I did have, i think, 10 or 12 white pucks in our puck bucket that were just mixed in. And every now and then a shot would come and it would... it would be a white puck and it would kind of make it a little harder to pick up, a little harder to track. And it was kind of something just to switch it up a little bit and and just to to get the goalies, you know, trying to pick up a puck a little harder. um
Speaker: Is it for sure useful? Honestly, there's no studies or anything done on it, so who really knows? um I haven't updated our white puck inventory. I think we're down to like two or three now.
Speaker: And we just mix them in kind of in our regular rotation and every now and then the goalie sees a white puck. But again, like, is it something I would get more of? Maybe, but it's nothing that I'm kind of rushing out to try and try and restock with, right?
Speaker: so again it's one of those things that if you understand why you're using it and when to use it and just mixing it in every now and then is something different that can be fine but when we're trying to alter our development path or when we're trying to you know kind of fit the the square peg in a round hole per se right where you know, we just want to make it work because it looks cool, that's when we can kind of start getting into some trouble, right? So um there are some things out there that, you know,
Speaker: might seem like a good idea and they might, you know, maybe offer a little bit extra, but we have to also take into account the cost and the time and, and you know, is it actually worth worth that investment of both money and our time to be able to use this tool in terms of is it actually going to pay off for the development? So the other thing too is a lot of times like you'll see some things on Instagram or TikTok or whatever the case is, these crazy kind of...
Speaker: I guess like drills or you know off ice stretches or workouts or whatever the case is that might look cool but we also need to understand that it might not be the best thing even if we saw it on social media on TikTok whatever the case is it might not be the best thing for our development Some of this stuff, sure, but you also have to be aware too that with some of this stuff,
Speaker: It might be done by a person who has done that hundreds of times and is really good at it. Like I know sometimes you see videos of goalies sitting in the splits with a foot on two chairs, um like one foot on each chair and they're juggling in the splits and they're sinking lower than the chairs um in that splits position. And that's great that they can do that. but it's not the definition of being a good goalie, right? Like it has nothing to do. It does not correlate with being a good goalie. You can be a good goalie and not be able to juggle and not be able to do the splits. If you can do it, that's great.
Speaker: However, it is one of those things too that, you know, trying to push for something like that might not be the best use of our time. It could also like things like that can potentially lead to injury too. So we got to be careful with that.
Speaker: But it is easy to get caught up in like the fancy drills, the fancy off-ice programs, the fancy tools and tricks and all of this stuff. and And a lot of times, honestly, if we can just keep it simple and keep it consistent,
Speaker: that's the best way to go about our development if you're consistently working on your skating if you're consistently working on your positioning and your tracking if you're consistently you know working on your iq and if you can uh you know read plays properly and that sort of stuff like that's kind of more what we're wanting to do with our development. um The big thing is just that consistency aspect. If we can be hammering home those developmental foundational skills on a consistent basis, if we're consistently reading the play, we're watching hockey, we're developing that IQ, um
Speaker: Those are the sorts of things that really help drive our development long term. um If you want to mix in a handful of training aids here and there, and if you have ah a reason for it, um then by all means go for it. But I also feel like sometimes we get caught in the trap where we need or we feel like we need the next best thing. We feel like we need that.
Speaker: extra edge or whatever the case is when in reality what makes us better is just showing up consistently putting in the work getting that one percent better every day you could honestly probably cycle through like five to ten quality drills and just keep working on those as long as you understand what they're doing and you know can hit most of your bases in terms of your skill set then you should be fine, right? and And again, that's quality drills you want to make sure you have.
Speaker: But when it comes to the high-end training, a lot of times those practices are are quite simple. um They're like simple skating drills, simple tracking drills, you know, whatever the case is there. But it really doesn't reinvent the wheel too much any or anything like that.
Speaker: um So that's kind of the first topic that I have for today. um Second one that we'll kind of get into is, i guess, at what point does our strength become a weakness?
Speaker: And we talk lots about managing our game around our strengths and our weaknesses. So basically we want to play in a way that maximizes our exposure to our strengths and minimizes our exposure to our weaknesses. But one thing that doesn't get talked about to too much is...
Speaker: basically like when our strengths become I guess we we we become complacent in our strengths because we are so good at them um that we sometimes don't see the problems that they can cause right and Sometimes we need to find that fine balance between it. So as an example, like goalies who move extremely well um and who are very athletic and go east to west really well, a lot of times will play super aggressively, especially if they're a smaller goalie. They'll play a lot more aggressively to cover that net and they can make up for it by moving around the net. now can a more athletic better moving goalie be a little bit more aggressive than one who isn't 100 that is fine but what i do see a lot of times with those goalies is they're too aggressive and they're putting themselves in bad positions and yes sometimes they can make up for it with how they move but
Speaker: Other times, they could have easily made a save with their ability to get across the net had they been you know a half step or a full step back into their net a little bit more. right So instead of being two feet out of their net, maybe their heel's at the top of the crease. And that little bit of extra difference can can help them get across a lot easier and make the difference in actually making the save.
Speaker: so the other thing too is sometimes like a goalie who is very calm in the net um one who is maybe very patient and all that sometimes we can get lost in that and almost get a little bit of a sense of complacency where there isn't really a whole lot of urgency because we're we're so reliant on our technique, we're so reliant on being in position and being calm in the net that when things go wrong a little bit, maybe we don't have that that scramble factor, that that battle, compete,
Speaker: um And that doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have the battle or the compete in you, but sometimes we're just relying too much on that positioning and trying to just kind of be that calm presence in the net.
Speaker: um There's lots of other examples of things that we can be super strong at, but they can actually take us a little, or we can take it a little too far and they can take us into bad spots, right? So...
Speaker: Just make sure that when you guys are playing to your strengths, which is something we have talked a few times about, just make sure that you are...
Speaker: very much aware of what it opens up and the cons related to what you are doing um because the more aware of that that you are the better you can kind of manage each situation and and kind of figure out like okay yes I do move really well in my net but in this situation I need to be a little bit further back or else I'm not going to be able to get there even with my strong skating skills.
Speaker: so I wanted to kind of get you guys thinking about that and getting you thinking about what it is that you can do to manage those strengths and to make sure that they are actually strengths and not actually turning turning into it a weakness basically i know weakness isn't really the right word but um just putting us in tough spots because we're so reliant on on our strengths right so we need to find that that fine balance and yes we want to tailor our game to put ourselves more in situations for our strengths but we also need to make sure that uh that we're not overdoing it and kind of getting ourselves into a bad spot
Speaker: um and then kind of the last thing that i had um to kind of go off of for today is improving and developing sometimes is uncomfortable and a lot of the times the and this isn't just goaltending this is athletes and just people in general a lot of times the people who are most successful are the ones who are comfortable getting uncomfortable
Speaker: And i was, you know, on the drive up with one, the one coach that's up with me for this week in Peace River. We were talking about, you know, goalies and the ones who, you know, like to kind of I don't know if complain is the right word, but like when you're telling them, you know, they need to bend their knees more in their stance and they're saying, well, then my legs burn or my legs are tired or that's uncomfortable. Or sometimes when a goalie, you know, constantly has their hands beside their body as a opposed to out in front and you start moving them out in front for them and then they say, well,
Speaker: I don't like how that feels. I haven't done that before. That doesn't feel natural and whatnot. And that may be true and there may be a few things you can tweak and adjust, but at the same time, there comes a point that you do have to get a little bit out of your comfort zone. You do have to push your body a little bit and you have to be okay getting a little bit uncomfortable.
Speaker: For the first little bit, getting into a proper goalie stance with a proper knee bend, the shoulders forward, the hands in front, it is going to tire you out more than just standing straight up.
Speaker: But you're going to be in a much, much better position to make saves, to move, all of that good stuff. So we need to make sure that where we're pushing that comfort zone so that we' we're ready to go. right like if If we're standing straight up in our stance, it's not going to be a good time. And I have this talk a lot with a lot of goalies about bend the knees, like get low, get forward, shoulders forward, hands out, like whatever iteration of that there is. but it is a common thing and we do kind of have like we do hear pushback sometimes from goalies on
Speaker: well, that just doesn't feel right. Or, ah you know, oh, well, why would I do that? I've never done that before. And it's kind of one of those things that it's like, yeah, it's going to feel uncomfortable for a little bit. But once you make it a habit, once your body gets used to it, you're going to improve. And it kind of ties in a little bit to our discussion last week in terms of like sometimes to get better, you have to get worse first.
Speaker: um it's kind of that same thing right like you're going to be uncomfortable for a little bit and it is going to potentially affect your like your performance but long term your development's in a much better spot So just trying to, I guess, manage that a little bit and and be able to push your limits and push your comfort zone a little bit. Obviously, like we're not trying to do anything natural that's putting your or unnatural sorry that's putting your body into like physically painful and uncomfortable spots. We're also not trying to like
Speaker: you know have your elbow up at your ear and doing weird things like that right like that's not what we're talking about but like the proper way of doing things sometimes is not the easiest or not the most comfortable or whatever the case is and even like building good habits sometimes is not comfortable like trying to get yourself you know consistent and natural with moving a certain way or you know being stronger or whatever the case is right like if we're working on say just as an example our leg strength
Speaker: Usually it's not comfortable to squat 250, 300 plus pounds, whatever it is that you guys can do depending on your age and skill level. um It's not comfortable doing that, but working through it and getting better and having your muscles you know recover and get stronger makes you better.
Speaker: So you know it's that whole kind of cliche of no pain, no gain, but it It's basically like saying that it is is sometimes the development is going to push us out of where we feel natural and we feel comfortable and that's okay. And now we have to find that new comfort level and that new natural feeling.
Speaker: And that's going to keep changing constantly, right? You're going to find things that you get comfortable with and then something else becomes uncomfortable because you're now shifting gears or maybe it opens up a new hole in in your game or something like that, right? Whatever the case is. but If you want to develop properly, you're going to have to go through some uncomfortable times. And that's just the reality of it.
Speaker: Again, though, just make sure that like there is a difference between uncomfortable and like pain or, you know, like just doing things wrong. um That's a different level of uncomfortable. I'm more talking about the things to really push ourselves and to push that limit to get to that next level.
Speaker: So that's kind of all I got today, just a couple random topics strung together just from you know thoughts of ah a five hour drive and discussions and whatnot and and getting to the tail end of our camp season here and all that. So um hopefully again, you guys are enjoying the show. If you do, just please leave us a review. Please share the show, like, follow, subscribe, whatever the case is based on the platform you are listening or tuning into.
Speaker: You can check us out at truenorthgoaltending.com. We are very close to rolling out our new booking system. So right now, because our old one was causing us a lot of issues, right now I'm just doing anything manually. So if you guys are i reaching out to try and book, I will get back to you as quick as I can. It is a little bit busy right now, but...
Speaker: but we're getting her done and then soon yeah that new booking platform will be rolling out and uh and we'll be good to go you can also check out some drills some articles you can check out our shop items at truenorthgoaltending.com um all of that's available there and then you can check us out on facebook uh tick tock youtube
Speaker: We'll see you next week.
