Young Goalies Unite!

Sure, you can go to practice and have people hit stuff at you for an hour or so, but what do you do when you're at home. Alone. Without a shooter in sight. Scary thought, huh?

Here is a collection of links, and information on stuff that you can do on your own, or with a parent/friend (they don't have to be good at field hockey...in fact, they don't even have to know what field hockey is). May the force be with you!

Reflex Training

Goalies have to have good reflexes. They just have to. When you're doing all that thinking and calculating in your head, you've got to be able to translate that into movement in a split second. The best way that I have found to improve reflexes is the use of our yellow friend: the tennis ball.

This is basic. Get in your gear, and have some tennis balls shot at you. It's great if you have a machine (the kind that spits out balls every five seconds or so), but if you're like me, and you don't have that fancy merchandise, just get someone to throw/toss the balls at you, or hit them with a hockey stick/tennis racket. Since tennis balls move a lot faster than hockey balls, in time you'll be moving faster to try and stop them. For more info, click the link below:

Rachel's tips on reflexes

Lunges

Lunges are something you can always practice on your own, or when you're not getting any action in a game. I got these tips directly from Mike Mahood (only the BEST keeper in the world!) so you KNOW they're good! Read on:

When do a lunge there is one thing you MUST remember: always, always, ALWAYS line up your body. Say what...? What I mean by that is, always have your body facing in the same direction. A mistake often made by almost ALL keepers is having their legs go for the ball, while their shoulders and chest stays put. This not only makes for poor accuracy, but there's a greater chance of a raised ball, your balance sucks, and your movement is limited. This is what a lunge shoudl look like (sorry about the poor quality of my computer drawing!):

Notice how the arms and chest are facing the same direction as the toe of the lunging foot. I included the gloves and stick so can see how your hands are supposed to look.

The basic rule with stopping the ball in any way is this: the ball is going to rebound in the direction that your chest is facing. That's why it's so important to keep your chest facing towards your toe, so you don't have to guess about where the ball is going to wander off to.

The other, even more important thing about lunging is your feet. Well, DUH! You really have to remember not to plant both feet. Yes, DO plant the foot you will be saving the ball with. No, DON'T plant the other one. See how there are those little lines behind the non-saving foot in the drawing? That's supposed to be the foot moving. Listen up:

When the ball is coming pretty much towards you, your non-saving foot, should turn the way that you are about to lunge. If you don't turn it, you're going to get stuck, and if someone takes a shot with the rebound, your chances of saving it are...well...not very good. Your whole body should be facing the way you want the ball to go.

When the ball is coming, but it's a foot or so away from you, you're going to have to move to save it, right? Your non-saving foot should always follow your body. You're not planting it, so that makes sense, right? As before, it should still face the way you want the ball to go, but to avoid getting yourself stuck and, more importantly, to avoid injuring your groin, you're going to need to drag that foot along with you. Be sure to drag and not actually take it off the ground. If you try to step with it, instead of drag, you're going to lose balance and fall over.

Do you sort of get it?

Lunging is really easy to practice, because you don't need anyone, or anything, to do it. I've also heard that it helps to practice it with a bit of music, to help yourself get into a nice rhythm.

More Stuff

If you want more information on practicing on your own time, click on the link below:

What Jon Has To Say On Training On Your Own