Developing young goalies

[Chaz]

Any suggestions on how to introduce young ladies to this great game, specifically the art of goaltending? I'm talking about girls who are 9-12 years old and may be interested in the game, but who are not interested in putting on the pads. It seems that there are the 6-8 years olds who take an interest in goaltending from the start, but we are finding it much more difficult to talk middle school age girls into giving it a try. We have tried free practices with equipment provided, and have reached out to local goaltending coaches and school teams, with little success. Any help would be appreciated.

[WIrinkrat]

Re: Developing young goalies

Any suggestions on how to introduce young ladies to this great game, specifically the art of goaltending? I'm talking about girls who are 9-12 years old and may be interested in the game, but who are not interested in putting on the pads. It seems that there are the 6-8 years olds who take an interest in goaltending from the start, but we are finding it much more difficult to talk middle school age girls into giving it a try. We have tried free practices with equipment provided, and have reached out to local goaltending coaches and school teams, with little success. Any help would be appreciated.

Probably not the answer you want to hear, but particularly if you're able to get some of the younger girls hooked on goaltending when they start then it's probably going to make more sense to just let the girls who come to the game a little later to just play the position that makes them happy so there is a better chance of them sticking with the game.

Based on what you've told us it stands to reason that you'll have some girls in that age group that picked up the position when they started as 6-8 year olds, so everything should work itself out

[SlewFoot]

Re: Developing young goalies

Any suggestions on how to introduce young ladies to this great game, specifically the art of goaltending? I'm talking about girls who are 9-12 years old and may be interested in the game, but who are not interested in putting on the pads. It seems that there are the 6-8 years olds who take an interest in goaltending from the start, but we are finding it much more difficult to talk middle school age girls into giving it a try. We have tried free practices with equipment provided, and have reached out to local goaltending coaches and school teams, with little success. Any help would be appreciated.

That's a tough one Chaz. We've had the same problem in our community except we had problems at the 6-8 year old level too. We tried all kinds of financial incentives (goalies got free training, played free and were provided free equipment) and other incentives with very little success. From years of trying, I got the feeling that it was a social thing. The goalie was always alone and the rest of the girls were together on the bench hanging out. Most of our goalies started later after being a skater for years. It seemed that the best ones had an inner secret drive to be a goalie that didn't come out until later. I'd be interested if anyone else had more success and how they did it.

[D2D]

Re: Developing young goalies

A crazy thought perhaps, but if all else fails you could try reaching out to girls who play catcher on various local youth softball teams (or goalie on soccer teams) to see if they would have any interest in trying the goalie position in hockey.

[giwan]

Re: Developing young goalies

Any suggestions on how to introduce young ladies to this great game, specifically the art of goaltending? I'm talking about girls who are 9-12 years old and may be interested in the game, but who are not interested in putting on the pads. It seems that there are the 6-8 years olds who take an interest in goaltending from the start, but we are finding it much more difficult to talk middle school age girls into giving it a try. We have tried free practices with equipment provided, and have reached out to local goaltending coaches and school teams, with little success. Any help would be appreciated.

Have you tried having them all rotate?

[CanHockGuy]

Re: Developing young goalies

Bring in a few older HIGH end goalies and shooters, and have them put on a show or a clinic. Afterwards, have them speak to the kid's about goaltending and how they got to where they are, and the rewards that can be obtained by playing the position. You will know it's been a success when some of the kid's say, " I want to do that! " Then tell the kid's (and parents) again about the incentives to get them going.

[joehockey]

Re: Developing young goalies

I think Goalies are kind of "born" they want to be in the middle of things. I agree with the comment of recruting soccer goalies - usually simlar pysche!

A key is once you get a goalie or goalies get someone who knows and plays/played goalie to work with them. If your club does goalie clinics for the goalies it is a great place for a player to try the position. 3X3 Leagues give goalies a lot of shots and usually let goalies play free as do many summer teams - great opportunities to try the position without totally commiting. Most coaches don't have a clue on the position and probably do more harm than good. Goaltending is one part and physical athlectic skills and 2-3 parts technique system and at the higher level it has a lot to do with seeing the situation that is coming - mental awareness. Good luck!

[DC78-82]

Re: Developing young goalies

Most coaches don't have a clue on the position and probably do more harm than good. Goaltending is one part and physical athlectic skills and 2-3 parts technique system and at the higher level it has a lot to do with seeing the situation that is coming - mental awareness. Good luck!

So true. Very few coaches have played between the pipes or have an understanding of the nuances of the position....or even the basics for that matter. This is compounded by waaaay too many coaches assuming that because a kid is in pads they are impervious to any and all shots. They blast away and expect the kid to make the stops just on repetition of blocking and catching alone, and give nary a thought to the fact that the kid could be smarting from shots.

Ultimately, the player has to choose the position. We've all heard the jokes about goalies being "different, and they usually are in some subtle way.

[notfromaroundhere]

Re: Developing young goalies

As a goalie parent, I agree with the sentiment that goalies are born.

As to where to look for your goalies, look for the girl who ignores the fear around her, who wants to be in the center of the action, who never wants to be off the ice. And make sure she has a short memory for pain, both physical and mental.

If looking off the ice (a good suggestion, BTW) try venues where she is a trailblazer - maybe playing a sport in a boy's league or a sport dominated by the boys. These will have the mental toughness necessary to persevere through the many perceived failures (that little rubber thing behind red line between the pipes). They will focus on the saves they make and shrug off the ones that got past them.

[Trillium]

Re: Developing young goalies

Have you tried having them all rotate?

I agree. In the leagues where our kids played, in the younger age groups there are no designated goalies . Everyone on the team must take their turn at every position, including in net, and the house league goalie equipment is provided free by the league at all age levels. Further, every month or two a 1-2 hr goalie development session was offered free , where kids could borrow the team's equipment, and lessons were offered to those interested in the extra instruction.

Once they have been playing hockey 2 or 4 years, you typically find some kids choosing the goalie position full-time (or at least half-time)--either because they see it as an opportunity to be on the ice 100% of the time, because they find they are more valuable to the team at that position having played them all, or in some cases just because they don't have to skate as much, lol.

Our league never had trouble filling the goalie spots in house league with this approach. If there was a case in the older age groups (12-16) with no designated goalie (rare), the same rotational plan would be used, and typically 2 or 3 kids would come forward to share the position.

[Justamom]

Re: Developing young goalies

get the parents on board

after my daughter started playing the question that always came from other parents was they didn't want to pay the costs and told their children no

[GoGoGophers]

Re: Developing young goalies

get the parents on board

after my daughter started playing the question that always came from other parents was they didn't want to pay the costs and told their children no

I agree with you because we heard that all the time about the expense but also people would say there are 15-20 skaters on a team
but only 1 or 2 goalies which makes it harder to make the traveling teams.

[Chaz]

Re: Developing young goalies

Thanks for all of the suggestions. We did get some pretty nice equipment donated, and will try rotating the players to start.

[giwan]

Re: Developing young goalies

Thanks for all of the suggestions. We did get some pretty nice equipment donated, and will try rotating the players to start.

Try to make the rotation a thing of pride not a punishment. My daughter had a coach in your situation and he decided that last girl to the game or practice would be the goalie. That didn't work so well. Setup a schedule ahead of time so they all know in advance.

[Hockeydad4two]

Re: Developing young goalies

I always asked for volunteers first. At the younger ages, it seemed I got 3 or 4 that would rotate. By the end of the season, usually a couple of them wanted to play full time. At the older age groups, I actually had kids threaten to quit if forced to play goalie.

When I explained that if someone didn't step up, they would have to play goalie with their skater gear on and then everyone would have to take shifts playing in net. "Usually" 1 or 2 would then step up. I made a big deal out of it about how they were truely team players. I also made sure that they got additional coaching time.