There are many important aspects in sports and goaltending. The sense of comradery and teamwork, friendship, dedication and the list goes on. When it comes to goalkeepers I would say one of the most important things is taking care of the goalkeepers on practices or atleast make sure that they aren't forgotten or neglected.
I am not being biased however we can't forget that being a goalkeeper is in fact different than being a player in a couple of ways. In general a practice will be based on the players since many coaches lack the experience and knowledge on how to coach the goalkeepers which is understandable. When I introduce myself to new teams I am almost always met with the same sentence:
- "We really want to help the goalkeepers but we just don't know how!"
This is understandable and at the same time regrettable. I have only ever been a goalie and have never been a player so I am not expected to tell them what to do and the same principle applies to coaches who hasn't played in the net.
However I do think that this trend is about to take a turn for the better from the goalieperspective! More and more goalie coaches are showing up around the world and more and more people are taking an interest in goaltending which feels good to see!
Another very important thing is to get kids interested early by introducing them to the net at the start of their floorball career, I would say that the age of 10-12 is an ideal age to get started on your goalie-journey! It is no secret that many get in to goaltending because the gear looks cool, you get to wear a sweet helmet and you get to the be center of attention because you are the one everyone looks at during the exercises.
I remember when I started out, the backup gear available was some kind of box-shaped jersey with all sorts of colours in a random pattern that had kind of an 80's feeling and and straight, black narrow pants. The gloves were workman's gloves and the helmet was very worn out, I even played my absolute first season without kneepads, since kids of that age (14~) are made out of rubber and magic it just didn't hurt.
Get proper gear for your youngsters! This will both get them interested and keep them going in their early years!
Bring in older goalies to attend kids practices, dedicate the bigger half of a practice solely on the goalies, basically just make sure they feel appreciated and noticed. This will reward you greatly later when you have a dedicated and talented young goalie with you on your teams journey.
I got a very interesting email the other day with something very cool from a team in southern Sweden called Pixbo. Their boys -04 team have made a video displaying some of their goalies greatest saves! Please, check it out! This is a fantastic video and could be very inspirational for many young goalkeepers! In fact it inspires even me. I am very grateful on behalf of all goalkeepers to Pixbo P-04 for this video and I really hope you will keep making videos like this.
The greatest saves video below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUgSaggtLyw&feature=youtu.be
They even have a channel of their own where they post goalie-related videos!
You can find videos where a goalie from the Swedish Super League, Jon Hedlund from Pixbo Wallenstam are instructing youngsters. Great work guys!
Check out their youtube channel below!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrwPeq0u9lcAVAQmM0p5CIw
Thanks for now.
Save!
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar