4 Weeks Till "Go Time. What Can I Do!

Question:

Coach I've got 4 weeks untill conditioning starts. i'm in eighth grade and I'm not that great a goalie. What can I do to get ready. Any tips, drills, suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer:

Matt my best advice is to get a stick in your handa a soon as possible.

Now I'm not sure if you've played lacrosse before. But whether you have or haven't my advice will still be the same.
1) Get a goalie stick in your hand and start throwing. Throw every day. I don't care if it's cold out, find a wall and start throwing. You need to get your confidence up and getting your stick skills better will help.

2) Start working out to get your body in shape. If your body is in shape your mind will be as well. You'll feel more confident and you'll play better.
3) Read everything you can here and on my blog at www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com Read everything you can on goaltending. This will give you a chance

4) If you can, have a buddy shoot on you daily. This might be difficult I know but it's better than nothing. Have him take twenty shots in a row to a spot on the cage. Work on moving properly to he ball. Have him shootall those shots in a row, you're trying to work on seeing the ball and moving properly. You'll have plenty of time and shots later but if you can do this on thing even once a week it will help.

5) Get plenty of equipment to protect you. This is a very important step. It's important you are protected so make sure you have the right equipment before they throw you to the wolves in practice.

Hope that helps Matt. Email me if you've got any more questions at jone94@shaw.ca

Good luck!

Jonathan Edwards
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com

Freshman Daughter Trying Out For The Varsity. Any Advice?

Question:

Jonathan,

My daughter is a freshman in high school she will be trying out for the Varsity in the spring. Can you help me with some drills to sharpen her skills? My son plays middie and shoots on her, but anything that you have would be great.

Thanks,


Answer:

Thanks for the email and congrats to your daughter for taking up the best position in the game.

Two major things that will help her:

One: Build her confidence. With a brother shooting on her the potential for her to get stung by a few balls is very high. This can lead to fear of the ball which will destroy a lot of her learning curve. Make sure he shoots from far enough away but is accurate with his shots. He's going to want to come in and fake and shoot, but I'd rather see him back up and pick the corners. It's great for him to work on his accuracy and it's awesome for her.

Two: Make sure she knows where the ball is going before he shoots it. This is imperative for the learning goalie. If you've read some of my posts at AllExperts.com and my blog www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com I'm sure you've heard me explain this. If not I'll explain again: For the new goalie there is a ton of things going through her mind. First: Where is the ball going? How am I going to move to the ball to make the save? Is it going to hurt? By letting her know where the ball is going, and by making sure the shooter is a safe distance she can focus on moving properly to the ball. What we are trying to do is wire her like we would wire a computer. Ball-goes-high-stick-side-enter. Goalie responds with the program to save that ball. What can happen with a new goalie is if there is too much input the system will not respond properly. If we can limit the amount of input the chances for the output to be correct goes up. Does that make sense?

The question is always: But in a game she won't know where the ball is going until the shot is taken and the shooters don't tell her where the ball is going to go? That is completely true. But our goal here is to give her he best chance to save that ball in the game and by doing that we are trying to wire her body to make the right response in the game. In the game her eyes will see where the ball is going and her body will do the thing it has been programmed to do in practice. It is an amazing thing to see when a young goalie gets it.

Three: I think this is three, I made a bunch of points in that last one. Ok, here it is...get her in a weight room with a strength and conditioning coach and possibly one who can teach her the Olympic lifts. If you remember high school physics at all you may remember the Force equation? Force equals mass multiplied by velocity. So in this case the mass she needs to move is the stick. Velocity is actually distance divided by time. So the more force she can apply to the stick, and to her body the faster that stick will move over a certain distance? Make sense? The stronger she is physically the faster she will be able to move.

Most young goalies can see the ball coming at them. And they know how they need to move, they just don't always move fast enough. The stronger she is the faster she will move. The faster she moves the more balls she saves. The more balls she saves the more her confidence goes up. The more confidence she has the more relaxed she is in the cage. And the more relaxed she is the more she can focus on the ball and make even more saves. It's a pretty cool process and an empowering one for all goalies. (And especially with the girls.)

I'm not sure where you are in the country but if you let me know where you are I may be able to put you in touch with someone, or at least give you some guidelines.

Building her strength also has a ton of benefits off the field as well. Stronger body. Stronger mind. Empowered athlete. Empowered person. It's pretty cool.

As far as specific drills go my biggest recommendation is to spend time moving to the ball properly. You do this by first having her make saves without a ball. Just have her move to a space. I don't have enough space here to go over how to move to every save. You may already have an understanding of that, if you don't just email me back. I'm working on an ebook and I'll send you that chapter as soon as I get it completed.

By having her visualize a ball coming at her, and then her moving properly she can train her body to move without the stress of getting hit with the ball or the ball going by her. The goal here is to have her perfect moving properly and then her body knows what to do when she finally gets in front of the ball. If she spends a couple minutes a day doing that she will be miles ahead of all the other goalies who never do it.

My other suggestion for drills is to pick one shot and work on that shot for ten minutes. Don't try to hit everything in the same session. Maybe its a shooter sweeping around the front of the cage from right to left and then shooting at her feet. Have her focus on taking small steps to follow the shooter and then exploding down to the ball and making the save. Hands out in front. Head and chest over the ball. Then in another session you can work on something else. Maybe a shot in close. It's endless what you can do really.

Ken I hope this gives you some ideas to start with. Any drill will help her as long as you follow the principles I've given you. On the other hand every drill if done impoperly will destroy her confidence and stifle her progress and potentially lead her to quit. I don't ever want to see that happen.

Please feel free to email me with more questions. I'd love to know how things go and how your daughter is improving. It's great to get the feedback. If you have anything else just let me know.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

All the best,

Jonathan Edwards - Olympian
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com

First Shots of the Season Come Hard And Fast, Saves Are a Bit Slow. Why?

Hey Jonathon,

My name is (name witheld) and I'm a freshmen in high school and playing lacrosse. i had practice today and didn't do so hot so i looked up some goalie tips and your name came up, i hope this isn't a problem.

I'm currently playing indoor Lax but in the spring I'll be playing field. I played great and got MVP in middle school but right now in pre-season for high school I'm noticing that if i get the save it's usually lucky and off my body not my stick. I know the main thing i need is just more practice but i thought if you had any great tips that could help me out that would be great, especially things for help with the bounce shots.

Thank you and i hope we can keep in touch,

(Name witheld)



Answer: Hey there man. Thanks for emailing. Not a problem, that's why I'm here.

Couple things,

It's early. You're going to have a little rust. Your box season should have helped you with keeping your eye on the ball unless you got into a bad habit. That habit can be taking your eye off the ball.

I haven't played box lacrosse as a goalie but I am a hockey goalie. They are very similar and what I find happening is that I tend to rely on my equipment more to make the save instead of my hands which is what we need in field. Couple of thoughts...really try to focus on seeing the ball all the way into your stick. Work on this especially when you are passing with a friend or just goofing around. It's really important and I can't stress it enough. What tends to happen is that we get comfortable and don't really realize that our eyes are seeing the shot leave the stick and then we zone out a little bit and then catch it. But along the way our eyes aren't really tuned in and therefore our hands aren't either.

It's also High School. The shots are probably coming a bit faster because everyone is just a bit bigger and stronger than they were in the middle school. So with that your reaction times that you had last year are not up to speed with these new shots. Take some time alone to visualize the shots coming at you about ten percent faster than normal. Get your mind ready and your body will follow. Work on visualizing yourself making the saves to these faster shots. What you'll find is that less of the balls will hit you, or go by you, and you'll start making those saves again that you found easy last season.

As far as bounce shots. Keep these things in mind: Get your hands out to the ball. Most goalies tend to suck their hands into their body and their chest tends to be up and out. You want to get your hands out to the ball and your chest over the ball. This will help especially if you're on an uneven playing surface like grass. If it's wet out remember that the ball tends to hit the turf and slide. It doesn't come up as far so you'll want to really get your stick down.

Take a digital camera and have your friend take a photo of what you look like from the balls perspective. Have your friend hold the camera where the ball would bounce and snap a shot. You'll see exactly the holes where the ball can go through you and you'll know just how badly you need to get down to the ball.

Stay with it man. It will come. You've just got to get used to the pace. If you need to throw on some extra quipment until you catch up do it. No sense getting pegged with the ball and having your confidence blown and then creating a whole bunch of other bad habits because of it.

A new goalie writes in from Ireland

Question: I have only played for about 3-4 weeks now in goal but love the position. After next weeks scrimmages we will be going into off season for the Christmas break, a period of about 1 1/2 month. I was wondering have you any tips for me as a beginner goalie on how to keep training while at home for the Christmas. By the by no-one in my home town plays lacrosse. Any help would be appreciated.

Yours in Goaltending

Kevin

Answer: Congrats on taking up the best position in Lacrosse!

By the way, a guy from my original home town of South Weymouth, Massachusetts I believe was one of the captains for the Irish team. The name escapes me but I played with him when I was younger.

You say you're not quite fit. Does that mean you're out of breath and are a small guy? Or are you a big guy?

Either way the best thing you can do while you are at home is to work on your stick skills. And this you can do with any flat wall. Hopefully you can find a flat brick wall near your home and you can throw balls at it. This serves a couple of purposes, first it keeps your eyes trained on the ball. Really watch theball all the way into your stick as it rebounds off the wall. This one little habit, tracking the ball into your stick, will help you repeatedly as you play. The other thing it does is help you with your stick skills. Try to work a cradle in when you throw the ball back to the wall. Think of it as a stick fake or a "pump fake" similar to a American Football player faking to one guy and throwing to another. If you are a big guy and not quite mobile it's vital you at least have great stick skills so you can pass the ball to anyone on the field who is open. Nothing worse than seeing a big guy, who can't hang on to the ball get hammered by a little speedy attackman and get scored on.

One of the greatest goalies of all time was a guy named Sal Locasio. I'm talking big, like probably 250-300 pounds big. But he had amazing hands. I even saw him score a goal once. His stick skills are what made all the difference.

Now seeing that no one in your area playes lacrosse you can get a little creative in trying to keep your skills up. If you can find a friend who plays tennis they can always serve tennis balls at you. Tennis balls are actually a great way to refine your skills. You immediately know the ball won't hurt so you can focus on stopping the ball. If you have any hurler friends they can always whack balls at you. Talk about getting your pain tolerance up!

Or you can have a buddy kick soccer balls at you. This may sound a bit odd but really, when you think about it, the larger ball is easier to see. You will be practicing reacting to the ball. (Any ball will do.) Use your stick. When goalies have a tough time seeing the ball I often recommend training with a larger ball perhaps an American Softball or even a cricket training ball would work. You need to be creative.

A small drill you can work on to help you with your footwork is a one-legged hop up the stairs. Stand on one leg, and jump to the first step with the same leg. Keep your upper body in a stance as you would playing in the goal. Try to keep your upper body still and use your legs and hips to drive up to the second stair. This one little move will help you get the muscles activated that are responsible for stepping to the ball. You can do them every time you see a stair case if you'd like. Just make sure your knees are healthy enough to do it. Start slow and work up to a couple sets of 8-10 reps keeping great form.

If you can hit the gym at all try to work on squats to get your hips in shape. Again, if you are a big guy, big guys typically don't like to bend at the knees. So it's important to strengthen the legs so you can move to shots taken at you down low. My first recommendation to my shooters when we see a larger goalie is to shoot low as their mobility is often suspect.

That should get you started Kevin. Email me with any other questions you may have. I'm going to add your address to my newsletter list as well. Kick ass.

Jonathan -

Dartmouth Goalie Scores A Goal!

I’m the backup. How do I move faster to the ball?

Q:
Hi my name is Ryan and I am 15 yrs. old. I played for the JV team for my high school lacrosse team and now I am on the varsity as a sophomore...but I'm backup (2nd string to be exact) I was wondering if there are any special warm-ups to move to the ball faster. I am pretty fast already but I still need some "tweaking". If there is anything please help...thanks

Also I do not have a backup stick yet... what is a good one and how should I string it?

Jonathan Writes: Ryan moving to the ball faster has everything to do with being stronger in the hips and the legs.  So by hitting the gym and working on squats, lunges, etc. you will be able to move your body to the ball faster.

As far as warm ups to move to the ball faster, that's a good question.  I will say this.  Every time you step to the ball whether that's a warm up, visualizing stepping to the ball, or actually moving to the ball to make a real save you are reinforcing that movement pattern.  I'll explain it like this, each time you move to the ball whether it's for real or in your mind you are in essence digging a trench.  The more you do it the deeper that trench gets and the harder it is to stray from that direction the deeper the trench is.  So you obviously want to dig a trench of good habits and not bad ones.  The more efficient your movements are the faster you will be.  Does that make sense?

Me best tip for getting better when you're the back up goalie is:  Stand behind the cage, in line with the shooter, when the other goalie is getting shot on.  You are basically getting twice the shots.  Twice the conditioning.  And when the other goalie is getting shot on you can focus on your technique without the stress of getting hit with the ball.

As far as back up sticks.  I use the STX Eclipse with the mega mesh. It's super easy to string as you can just string it sidewall to sidewall and leave it there.  I've written a couple other articles here about that.  I probably have some articles on my Goalie Blog as well.

If you send me your email address I'll add you to my goalie newsletter that I send out monthly.

Hope this helps Ryan.  If you've got me more questions just email me directly at jone94@shaw.ca.  Let me know what school you're at as well.

Kick ass.

Jonathan -
www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com

Clearing: Who do you pass to?

Q: I'm having trouble clearing the ball. Like I make the save and then I dont know who to pass it to, Thats what my problem really is. Theres not a problem with my stick it's just I dont know what to do after the save. I was hopping that you might be able to help me out...thanks

 

A: Jonathan writes: Javii, this should help.  It's a little long but hopefully it covers everything.

First off, clearing is a team thing.  It's not just a goalie thing.  Your coach should teach your team how to clear the ball after you make the save.  If he doesn't know how to do that then the following should help.  I'm going to teach you a very simple clear.

If you make a save and the other team doesn't put someone on you right away then you want one defenseman to go to the right sideline behind goal-line extended.  Another defenseman to the left sideline behind goalline extended, and another defenseman up the field to the sideline away from the players bench area.  Then you put two midfielders in the center of the field and one midfielder up to the sideline by the players bench.

What this does is force the other team to cover these guys and you will be uncovered, for a while.

You have four seconds to hold the ball in the crease then you have to head out of the crease. Once you are out of the crease the other team will want to take the ball from you at some point.  This might happen right when you leave the crease or it may happen after you walk up the field a bit.  When this happens you want to pass to your teammate who is now uncovered.  We call this "Draw and Dump".  You "draw" a member of the opposing team to you and then you "dump" the ball to your teammate who is now uncovered. When he gets the ball he now moves the ball up field by doing the same thing.  The goal of your team is to draw and dump the ball up to the attackman.  Basically if you don't draw anyone you don't pass it, you just keep going.  This may mean that you go across midfield sometimes.  That's ok.  You just need someone to stay back on your side of the field so you don't go offsides.  I hope all that makes sense.

Now when you make a save you should yell "Clear!!"  really loud so your team now knows that they can bust ass up field.  If someone is wide open you can pass to them and possibly start a fast break the other way and give your team a great scoring chance.

Your first look off of a save is right back to where the shot came from.  Usually the whole reason that shot was taken was because your teammate did something wrong and was beaten cleanly by the offense.  So usually that same teammate is somewhere behind the shooter ready to catch a pass and run upfield.  Some teams who are really confident in their defense and goalies will teach their midfielders to get beat and start running upfield right away.  If the shot goes in it's not a problem, they were beaten anyway.  But if you make the save it's a great chance to start the offense if you can hit him with a good pass.

Javii I hope that helps.  Please let me know if you need any clarification.  This is a great question, sorry it took so long to get back to you I knew I would need a fair bit of time to write you a great answer.  Good luck!  Send me your email and we'll put you on our goali newsletter list.

Jonathan -
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com

Coaching Girls Goalies. What’s the difference?

Q: I am a new (but learning) goalie coach for girls' lacrosse.  Can you recommend a good resource for coaches that focuses on girls goaltending.  Most of the resources I have found are centered on boys lacrosse goaltending.  Although the basics are similar, the girls' game presents situations not typical of the boys' game.  For example, for the girls, goalies seem to have to contend with a lot more shots from close to the goal circle because of the lack of body checking in the game.  There must be strategies for addressing these types of shots.

Jonathan writes: Hey there Tony.  I'm your resource.  I'll be honest I haven't found any great resource for goalies period.  That's what I'm trying to become so if I can help you just email me at jone94@ shaw.ca and we'll help you as much as possible.

I tend to view the skills for being a goalie the same for both.  Whether there is a girl in front of the cage or a boy it doesn't really matter.  You still have a variety of shots, coming from a variety of spots on the field at a variety of speeds.  

You are correct that in the girls game shots come from in close more often but that is the same on the men's side when the defense is horrible.  I still have to teach the goalies the same way.

There is a point where a goalies job is to get someting in front of the ball.  Anything, whether that's the stick or a foot or a knee, whatever can get there is what needs to stop the ball.  This is where equipment comes into play. Girls are smart and tend to where more equipment and I think that is a great idea.  I teach my male goalies to play like a shortstop might play in baseball when the ball gets in tight.  They need to get their body in front of the ball and their hands to the ball.  The stops won't always be pretty but I've never met a coach who wanted a pretty save over a goal ever.

As the shooter gets closer the goalies job is to keep their hands out away from the body and mirror the head of the shooters stick.  A great drill for this is to tie a piece of string between the goalies top hand and the coaches hand.  The goal is for the goalie to keep slack in the string while the coach moves his hand around.  If the string goes tight the goalie hasn't moved fast enough.  You can also do that with some string with some velcro.  If the goalie can't keep up the velcro comes apart.

Shots from in close are very tough.  Baiting comes into play as well.  This is where the goalie gives the shooter a spot to shoot at and when the shooter goes for it the goalie tries to explode that area of the cage to make the save.

If you need some more help with this Tony just email.  Let me know what your goalies are having trouble with and we'll talk it over.  Sometimes here it's hard to write enough.  We can always talk over the phone too if you'd like.  I talk to coaches and goalies all over North America so don't hesitate.  It helps me too as I'm working on a goalie book as well.

Check out my goalie blog and I'll talk to you soon,

Good luck to your goalies,

Jonathan -
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com

Football Visors for Goalies?

Q: I am a goalie and sometimes it is really hard to see in the sun even if you are
wearing eye black so I was looking and the Oakley football visors fit the CPX
helmet so I was wondering if it is legal to have a tinted visor on you helmet...
some people say that they have to be able to see your eyes in case of a
concussion so, let me know.

Jonathan writes: Zac buddy that's an awesome question.

I've got a saying that I live by, "Don't ask for permission.  Ask for fogiveness."

With that being said you just want to check with your league.  I'd assume that if football guys can wear them that lacrosse players can but no one is right now so you're going to be a bit of a pioneer in that regard.

As far as the concussion thing that's a great point and I don't really know the answer to that one.  It makes sense but again, football guys can usually wear them and they're getting a heck of a lot more concussions than a lacrosse player does.  Again, check with your league.

Couple of things to consider.

First, can you wear a different helmet.  I wear a Brine Triad. I also own a CPX.  I find that with the CPX I have to wear it a bit higher on my face and that raises the visor up and more sun gets to my face.  With the Brine I can wear it lower so the visor cuts out more sun and I have better visibility.  I also like the Brine because of the center bar.  The top part of the center bar is really close to my eyes and I have better visibility there too.  So if you can go with the Brine I highly recommend it.

Ok, but if you're stuck with the CPX and you still want to go with the visor here is something you may not have thought about:  The visor may change your optics and it may make the ball more difficult to save.  Meaning you'll see the ball but the view of it may be warped as you look through the visor.

Quick story:  The guy that invented the first really good visor had a son who was a punt returner at Deerfield in Massachusetts.  His son kept missing balls in games and it was really costing his team.  But he noticed that when his son just caught balls for fun with no helmet on he caught everything.  So he looked at his sons helmet and he was wearing the first generation of visors and they were flat.  They followed the contour of the face mask but they just came flat down and because of that if you looked out the top, bottom of side of the visor it really changed how the ball looked.  (Think about the "Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear" sort of thing)

So this guy whose son was the punt returner was an optician.  He made eye glasses for a living so he designed a much better shield and started a company called Excel.  He sold it to Oakley for millions and now you see every visor is made by Oakley.

Now the vision is vastly improved through the visors but as a goalie you may find that things look a little screwed up and you're missing balls you used to save.  I'd try wearing it in practice a bunch and see how it goes.  If it goes well then go for it.  If it doesn't you'll know why...the optics are weird and that's causing you to miss balls.

Let me know how it goes Zac.  Shoot me an email at jone94@shaw.ca  If you've got any more questions don't hesitate to email me.   And check out my goalie blog at www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com

Trust – You and the Shooter

I played this summer in the Canadian Field Nationals that were held in Coquitlam, British Columbia. In one of our round robin games we had the chance to play against the Six Nations team from Ontario that had three or four World Team players. These guys were big. And although they didn't run much their stick skills were awesome. In the second quarter of our game we gave up six goals and each one of those shots were an uncontested shot from about 8-10 yards. I'd like to think I had a chance on them but really…these guys were peppering the corners. I took one shot off the inside of my calf as I tried to kick it out to stop a ball. The shot hit the fleshy part of my calf so it stung…I still have a round spot where the ball hit…a month later.

    We ended up losing the game but afterwards someone came up and asked me if I was scared getting shot at by those guys so close to the cage. I mean the shots were hard, fast and super close. They were wind 'em up cannons too, not little dish and dunk type shots. As I thought about the game, especially the second quarter, I realized I wasn't scared at all. Not even close. But "why" I wasn't scared was something I wanted to share with you today.

    You see even though the shots were coming at me upwards of 100mph. I knew that these guys knew right where they were going. Many of the shots that went in hit just inside the pipe. I could hear them hit the pipe or that part of the net where it's tight against the pipe. So I knew that these balls were going by me but they were going in at some of the hardest spots for the shooter to hit and the hardest spots for me to save. Many, if not all, of the shots went in "off stick hip" or right by my left ear. The furthest spot for my stick to go.

    These guys were great shooters, and even though the shots were hard and fast I knew, that they knew, right where they were going. At one point one of my defensemen stuck his stick out to try and knock down a shot. The ball was headed right for my stick but it deflected off the d-pole and deflected into my chest. It hurt a ton and knocked the wind out of me. I was so pissed at my d-pole because I was about to catch the shot but because of him I now had a huge bruise on my chest.

    I trusted these guys to shoot the ball by me and not "at" me. I felt safer getting shot on by these guys than I do by a bunch of high school kids who can't shoot nearly as fast. Those kids can do some damage because they will wind up and have no idea wher the shot was going to go. Many times the ball winds up on your thigh. Or in your chest. Or it hits you square in the balls. Ouch!

    Trusting those who shoot against you is vitally important as you develop. Even when you get older too! By trusting the shooter you can focus on stopping the ball. On moving to the ball. And not worrying about if the ball is going to hit you or not which vitally compromisies your mental clarity and your effectiveness as a goalie. So keep that in mind as you develop. Do you trust this shooter who is shooting on you? Do you know he knows where the ball is going? Can you forgive him for the odd-ball that hits you in the arm, or the thigh, or the balls?

The Anatomy of a Shot

We talk a lot about what to do once the ball leaves the shooters stick. But let's talk a bit about what happens BEFORE the shot is taken.

Rarely does a shooter have "time and room" to shoot the ball. This is where the shooter has received a pass, or a ground ball, and he has all sorts of time to shoot without having a defender in his face or a stick across his hands.

Most of the time he is getting hounded and the main thought going through his head is not of where to shoot but on the defender in front of him. This is great news for the goalie because that means the shooter is distracted.

Keeping that pressure on the shooter in mind it's no wonder shooters will tend to shoot at the first open space they see when looking at the cage.

Here are three things the shooter thinks while they are shooting the ball:

1) Placement: The shooter sees an open spot. Or they want to shoot the ball to a certain area and they go for it. In this instance the shooter is trying to place the ball into the cage. This involves a pretty high level of skill and confidence in that the shooter thinks that he is going to hit that spot.

Pros for the shooter: If they have the accuracy they can really put the goalie in trouble by shooting to his weaknesses. Shots to the off-stick side obviously are the toughest for the goalie. If the shooter can hit it that's awesome.

Pros for the goalie: Typically a sightly slower shot because the shooter is trading off speed for accuracy. At higher levels of lacrosse shooters have greater accuracy AND velocity so this isn't always the case. But as shooters get more accurate they tend to shoot for smaller spaces (i.e. just inside the pipe, for the corners, etc.) this increases their chances for hitting the pipe or missing the cage completely.

2) Velocity: In this case the shooter doesn't really care where he shoots he's just trying to blow the ball by the goalie. Sure, he's got a spot in mind where he'd like to put the ball but he's still thinking speed.

Remember that every save breaks down to one thing: The ability of the goalie to get something in front of the ball BEORE the ball gets there. That's it. There's nothing else. So with that in mind, if a shooter can reach a certain speed with his shot it can completely eliminate the ability for the goalie to get something in front of the ball.

Pros for the shooter: If the shooter can shoot fast enough the goalie doesn't have a chance to save the ball because he physically can't move fast enough.

Pros for the goalie: Shooters who shoot for velocity tend to telegraph their shots. You can tell where they are shooting by the wind up of their stick. Shooters that shoot high tend to wind up high. Shooting low, they tend to drop the stick. (Beware the submarine shot that starts low but ends up in the top of the cage.)

Shooters that shoot for speed tend to not be as accurate. They will occaisionally miss the cage and this is obviously an advantage to the goalie. It's important to watch the wind up and to start moving in that direction even before the shot is released. For instance, if the wind up is going high your body can start moving up even before the shot is released, We are trying to steal just precious miliseconds by doing that even though we don't know exactly where it is going.

3) Deception. Trickery. This is where the shooter does something with his stick to hide the shot, or make it look like the ball is going on way while it actually goes somewhere else.

Pros for the shooter: Any time you can trick the goalie you have an advantage.

Pros for the goalie: That half second it takes the shooter to throw his fake is an extra half second for our defender to check the shooter.

Also, trick shots tend to go to a certain spot, so if you can recognize the fake you can usually start moving before the shooter even gets there. For example, the shooter fakes high and shoots low. You can honor that first fake and start to drop to make the save. Most shooters are shot, fake high shoot low. But what they forget is that the goal of faking high is to get the goalie to move high. But rarely do shooters actually see what the goalie does. They just go into their fake high shoot low program and do that. But if the goalie doesn't fall for the first fake, they have the advantage because they know where the shot is going.

Another pro for the goalie is that trick shots or fakes sometime go awry. Shots taken behind the back are rarely as accurate than those taken in front of the body. So when a shooter resorts to shooting behind the back you have a bit of an advantage. The challenge for the goalie is recognizing the behind the back shot.

Even standard fakes can go wrong. I've seen a lot of fakes in my lifetime where the shooter fakes, brings the stick back to reset and the ball flies out of the top of the stick.

What The Shooter Sees First He Will Shoot At

Hockey goalies are brilliant at giving things and then taking them away. Great for goaltending. Horrible at Christmas.

The five hole is the spot between the goalies legs. And it's a great spot for shooters to shoot at because it is this big gaping hole. But the hockey goalie will actually spread his legs so that the shooter thinks he has more to shoot at than he really does and then close his legs at the last second to stuff the shot.

So in lacrosse, shooters tend to have a lot of pressuer on them. They are running by a defender who is checking him so he doesn't have a ton of time to think. So when he takes a shot he's looking at the cage, seeing something to shoot at, and then going for it.

A Hard Lesson Learned

Back when I was in high school I was playing in a pretty big tournament and we had a night game so I was pretty pumped, and a little cocky.

I had gotten a hold of a pair of neon yellow compression shorts and thought it was a great opportunity to wear them. My game shorts were a little small, so when I got in my stance my game shorts rose up just above the neon yellow compression shorts and under the stadium lights those shorts were bright!

Guess what happened?

We got trounced. Pretty much every shot that was taken on me was hip high. Just above those neon yellow shorts. When I watched the video later it was obvious. Under the lighting conditions those neon shorts were drawing the attention of the shooters and they were shooting there! Probably the toughest save to make and I was basically telling the shooters to shoot there. Not really doing much for my odds now that's for sure.

But what it taught me was how, under pressure, shooters will shoot at what draws there attention first. They don't have time to think, "Geez, where should I put this thing. Off-stick? Nah...stick side looks better. Nah...maybe between the legs."

They don't have time for any of that that. What they are really thinking goes something like this..."Holy sh!!!!! That hurt! Ow! Oh my God! Shoot!!!!!!"

That's about it. See space. Shoot.

We'll talk more in the future about how we can use this to our advantage.

Until then. Give me your feedback on this post and we'll talk more about it.

jone94@shaw.ca

The Anatomy Of A Save

In order to make more saves it's important to understand the parts involved to make a great save and how you can improve them.

Here are the four parts to a great save:

1) See the ball.
2) Recognize where it's going.
3) Move to the ball.
4) Catch the ball or block/deflect the ball away from the cage.

So here is a breakdown of each of those steps.

1) Seeing the ball. You can't make a save if you can't see the ball.

It is important to focus on the ball at all times. Even when the ball is on the other end of the field. Not only does that keep you in the game mentally it creates really good habits for when the ball is in your end of the field. By focusing in on the ball and seeing it at all times you won't lose track of it. You also can't be tricked and will know who the shooter is before he shoots the ball.

2) Once the ball is shot you need to know where it's going. The lacrosse goalie has one of the largest nets to protect, and the ball travels so fast, so it's important to know where the shot is going once it has left the stick.

What the shooter does before the ball leaves the stick will effect where the ball goes. And you can only learn how that effects the ball once you have a fair bit of experience. Shots. Shots from different shooters. And more shots from different shooters will help you recognize where the ball can go even before it has left the stick.

3) Moving to the ball. This is the one we can spend the most time on because this is the part of the save that we can work on even without a shooter. This is where the "wiring of the goalie" comes in to play.

You see the ball. You see the ball leave the stick. Now all of your save responses come in to play.

Ball is going off stick hip...Respond with, off-stick hip save.

At this point your body takes over and moves accordingly. And how fast you move will depend on if you make the save or not.

4 Catching. Blocking. And deflecting the ball. As your body moves to make the save one of these three things will happen depending on how quickly you move to the ball.

If you have enough time and you can move fast enough you will catch the ball. It will look pretty. The crowd will cheer. And you will get your four seconds of fame while everyone busts up field.

If you don't have enough time to catch the ball but you can get something in front of it you will block or deflect the ball. It's important to understand that in some situations even before the ball leaves the stick that you won't have enough time to catch the ball. You're just trying to get something in front of the ball whether that's a leg or an elbow or even your head. This is where increased equipment can help you feel protected.

All of these things need to happen within the amount of time the ball leaves the stick to when it crosses the goal line.

You have to see the ball. That takes time.

You have to recognize where the ball is going. That takes more time.

You have to move in front of the ball. This step takes the most time out of any of the four.

You have to catch, block or deflect the ball. This is the final piece of concentration. The save isn't done until this step happens.

The goal of everything you do in practice is to make each one of these steps better. Beware of bad habits creeping in because they can undo a lot of the great technique you are wiring in. Anything you do to any of these steps that adds time to the save is bad.

Four Things You Can Do This Summer To Be A Better Lacrosse Goalie

Here's the qeustion, "Coach I want to be a better goalie. What should I do this summer to be better."

Answer:

1) Get stronger physically. Everything we do to stop a ball involves quick reactions and fast movement. And fast movement comes from a base of strength. If you can increase your strength you can increase your ability to move to the ball.

2) Get shot on by someone other than your current teammates. If you grow up in Maryland or Long Island chances are you're getting shot on by some pretty good shooters. But if you're not, it's super-important that you get out of your environment and face better shooters. This will do one big thing for you: It will raise your level of awareness to better shooters.

If you're getting shot on by poor quality shooters you will be a poor quality goalie. But if you get shot on by high quality shooters, and you learn how to stop their shots, you will become a high quality goalie.

3) Get working on a mental visualization and imagery program: If you're not playing in the summer your skills can really take a tumble. But even if you are playing a visualization program can really help you. Here's a couple things to do.

a) Before you fall asleep at night visualize yourself making great saves of balls shot to all positions. My suggestion is pick six shots for the week and visualize stopping them ten times. That's sixty shots a night.

b) Visualize in slow motion. If you can't do something at slow speeds you certainly can't do it at high speeds. So visualize everything in slow motion. See the shooter winding up and letting it rip as hard as he can. See the ball leaving the head of the stick. See the mesh in his stick ripple as the balls comes out. Recognize where the ball is going. See yourself moving properly to the ball and making the save.

c) Important! Finish the save! The save is not done until you have the ball in your possession and can pass it. For some extra credit visualization see yourself making a great outlet pass.

4) Last thing to do? Get to a camp if you can. The majoriy of my learning was from camps across the country. It's great to get around new coaches who are excited about lacrosse. Your coach can help you during the season but it is invaluable to get around other coaches and other players. You'll get new ideas. You'll see goalies who are better than you which will give you inspiration and you'll be around goalies who are not as good as you which will give you confidence.

Keep these in mind this off-season and you are sure to improve.

What is your favorite goalie camp? Give me an email at jone94@shaw.ca and tell me who your best coach was and what camp you went to.

Jonathan -

For Coaches: Managing Fear in the Goalie, The Day I Stuffed Gary Gait

In high school I went to the Syracuse Lacrosse camp for a summer. MAN was it hot!

But it was a chance to see some of the hottest players in the game on the hottest team. And Gary Gait was going to be there. What could a young goalie want better than being shot on by Gary Gait!

So for the whole camp I waited for my chance. I always had my equipment on just so I could take advantage of a break when Gary was free and I could hop in the cage and he could shoot on me.

Finally my chance came. It was a water break at their turf field. It was a thousand degrees outside and all the other goalies had stripped their gear off to get some water. But there he was. Gary Gait. Shooting with John Zulbertti one of the greatest attackmen in the history of the sport. Here was my chance.

"Gary, you mind taking some shots on me?" I said nervously. I didn't want him to say no.

"Sure man. Hop in. You're pretty warm right?"

"You bet. Open it up if you want." I said. (Opening It Up" means that he doesn't have to do a traditional goalie warm up and shoot to spots. He could shoot anywhere as hard as he wanted.)

So Gary backed away from the cage a bit and I got ready. He tossed some balls out on the field and I anticipated my first shot by Gary Gait.

As Gary grabbed one of the new balls off the turf my mind started to race, "Man, I hope he brings it. I'm finally going to get to see what a real goalie sees in college! This is going to be awesome!"

And then he did it. He wound up. And he wound up big. Huge! And he didn't slow down! As far as I could tell he let it rip at about 90% of his max so this was still a ninety mile an hour ball coming at me and it was coming stick side high. I knew instantly that I had a chance to get it and then...BOOM!

I caught it.

This ball just came at me faster than any ball had before and I just snagged it. It was beautiful. Freakin amazing!

Then I realized he was standing just outside the restraining line.

Any good goalie had to stop that ball. It's a given. But a lot of goalies can't, so I was still pretty pumped.

I had Gary move in a bit. He did but he took a little off the ball so I asked him to move in and keep the pace high. A couple balls later I had him move in again so he was standing about five yards in. Now the balls were starting to blow by me a bit. The pace was just too much and I was starting to worry he might peg me with one.

All in all I got about six minutes worth of shots. About thirty balls or so. It was fantastic. And I learned a lot that I'll pass on to you now.

1) Just like weight training "progression" is the key to learning proper goaltending: You don't try and lift a heavy weight right away, you start small and then work your way up over time. I could stop Gary and his cannon when I had enough time to react to the ball. But when he moved back a bit I had enough time to react to the ball and could snag it.

2) It's no use getting shot on slowly from close distance: Never, ever, in a game does a shooter shoot slowly. Every shot by a player is as hard as they can throw it. And when that happens there is a certain release point by the stick. So it's silly to warm up a goalie with slow shots from in close. It's better to work on shots with some pace to them to certain places.

3) It's vital that the goalie feel confident and safe in the cage: When Gary was shooting on my I knew that he had amazing accuracy so the odds of him hitting my was small unlike my high school teammates. So even though he was winding up almost full speed I felt safe. And when a goalie feels safe he can focus on the ball and his saves. If a goalie starts to have fear in his head that he is going to get hurt then focus on the ball is lost.

By having Gary move in a bit I could find that point where my comfort zone was pressed. When I found that point I had him move back out until I was comfortable and then my saves started coming again.

4) Repeating the same shot after a goal in warm up is important to long-term success: If Gary took a shot and it went in I would have him shoot to that exact same spot so I could make the save. It's important for the brain to be able to reinfoce a positive. So if the ball went in (negative) I would either have him shoot until I saved it (positive) or I would immedieately visualize myself saving the ball (positive)

So here's what I would recommend you do with your goalies in practice to manage fear, increase confidence and increase the odds of them making a save in a game.

1) Give your shooters limits: By placing a stick in the turf, maybe even a spray paint line it tells your shooters you only want them to shoot from "here". This is a way for you to protect your goalie. Your shooters can shoot as hard as they want they just have to shoot from outside that point. This will keep your goalies confidence high.

2) As your goalie's save percentage goes up move the shooting line closer to the cage: Just like weight training you should see that line move closer to the cage as he gets stronger. Don't force him. Let him pick where he wants that line. This way he will internalize how he's doing. Having a bad day? The line goes out. Feeling strong? The line moves in.

3) Have your shooters shoot to spots: This is a great way to improve their accuracy as well. Oftentimes shooters just shoot at some open space in the cage and aren't really learning anything. I took this lesson from Golf when Arnold Palmer said he never made a golf shot where he didn't pick a target. Why? Because if the shot was off target he could make adjustments in his hands. If he didn't know where he was really shooting the ball he would never be able to make those adjustments. Makes a lot of sense.

Tell your shooters to shoot to a spot. This way the goalie knows where it is supposed to go so he can focus on seeing the ball, and then moving properly. Keep the goalie honest and he will learn tons.

4) Remind your shooters NOT to hit the goalie: Now I'm all for being the toughest kid on the field. I was and I think your goalie needs to be tough.

BUT!

It is never a positive experience if your goalie gets his ass kicked in practice b balls that come from bad shots. It's one thing for a goalie to step to a bounce shot and take one in the leg or the chest, it's another thing when a goalie gets pegged in the leg or the chest because the shooter sucks.

Now I've heard stories of goalies yelling at players for hitting them. I think that's stupid. But what it tells me is that the goalie has somehow gotten himself in a mindframe of fear and pain. This doesn't happen overnight. It happens from years and years of neglect in the cage that could be avoided.

Don't get pissed off at your shooters just remind them that they just took a really bad shot. Done.

Ok, so you've got some questions. Here goes?

1) If I shoot the ball from outside how does my goalie get any good on shots in close and in games?

Answer: Great question. First off, what we are working on here is the wiring of the goalie (more on that in another post) We are working on being able to see the ball, recognizing where it's going, then moving to the ball, and making the save. If we rush this process and are in too close the goalie never learns because the recognition of the ball is not there. The shot is on the goalie too quick and that learning process is lost. By moving out you give them a chance to do all those things that need to happen. As your goalie gets faster it takes him less time to do all that so you can then move closer to the cage. This takes months and years.

Also, stopping balls in a game is a lot different than stopping shots in practice. I relate it to being pregnant. It's pain with a purpose. When you add adrenaline to the picture amazing things can happen. I saw it first hand when my wife gave birth to my son at home. No pain killers. She was in the zone man. "Laborland" they call it. And your goalie is no different. In a game the adrenaline kicks in and your goalie will make saves he's never made before just because of that environment.

2)My goalie just needs to get tougher. It's good for him to get hit with the ball:

Answer: Frommy Olympic experience in the sport of luge I learned that this is just not 100% true. Having worked with a number of sports psychologists they would also confirm that this is not solid thinking.

Pain tolerance can be increased by inducing furher pain. But it is a long slow process. Why try and increase pain tolerance when you can put on more equipment and eliminate that instantly. I'd much rather see you focus on the positives in the cage and pain is definitely a negative. If you can give your goalie an environment where they feel safe and can work on their technique I know that you will have a better goalie sooner. If you just peg him with balls all day you are going to raise his fear levels, decrease his confidence, and you may ultimately force him from the position and even the sport.

I'm all for getting tougher, don't get me wrong. But it takes a very special person to hop in front of a ball to begin with. And if you've never been a goalie then you hop in the cage and see how tough you can get yourself.

3) If I tell my shooters where to shoot and they know where the ball is going, how are they going to get better? In games they don't know where the shot is going?

Answer: Great questions. What we are focusing on in practice is proper movement mechanics. The goalie needs to "wire in" proper movement to the ball. It's like dialing in a golf swing. Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. If we load up the goalie with too many balls that are all over the place their technique will suffer. So what we are trying to do is practice are team without ruining our goalie. Move them back. Tell them where to shoot and now your goalie can work on technique by knowing that he doesn't have to focus on all his saves, just a couple.

Let's say you tell the guys to shoot high. All balls high. As a goalie I don't have to think about all of my saves down low. I can now recognize that the balls are either high and left, right and center. It's easier for me to take a step and every time I make a proper step I'm accelerating my learning and making better saves.

In a game I'll see that ball and my body will react and I'll make the save.

I hope this post helps. I know it's a long one but it's full of some great info. Let me know what you think and by all means sign up for our newsletter.

Jonathan - jone94@shaw.ca

Forget Your Stick to Make More Saves!

I started messing around with this idea a couple of years ago with great success so give it a try and see how it helps your game. Email me at jone94@shaw.ca and tell me how it works for you.

No stick, More saves.

In business, as in sports, I tend to look outside my industry for inspiration rather than in it. And when I look outside in business I tend to look for good marketers and salespeople. Because these are the skills that you can apply to any business to make it successful.

So in sports I tend to look at other great athletes, no matter what the sport, and try and bring traits and talents that would make a better goalie.

You'll find me talking a lot about hockey goalies and baseball players, and football players and today is no different. You see, I think the lacrosse goalie is a little screwed up when it comes to stopping a ball. (Yes, I really did say screwed up.)

It seems to me that the lacrosse goalie is confused in some ways. If you look at every other goalie position in sports you'll notice that the goalie never makes a save reaching across his or her body to make a save.

Only in soccer and hand ball will a goalie try to do that and they will only do it when they have enough time to react with both hands. If the shot is too fast, or too close, they will reach out a hand, or stick out a leg to make a save.

In hockey a goalie has a blocker on one hand, and catcher on the other. NEVER does a goalie reach across his body to make a save. If the puck goes to the blocker side the goalie will deflect it away. If it goes to the catching glove the goalie will try and catch it. (Even when the puck is shot from too close to the catching glove the goalie will use it as a deflection device and not try to catch it.)

But for some reason in lacrosse we feel that we should try to catch every ball. We're taught this. And then we don't wear enough equipment to make that happen. (More on that in another article.) Why on earth are we taught to bring our stick across our body, to make a save?

They don't do it in hockey: If a puck goes to their off stick hip they don't try and bring their stick there they just stick out their catching glove. If the shot goes to their off-stick low side they stick out a leg. The only time they bring the stick hand aross their body is when they have time and room to react and that's usually when the puck is dumped in casually or shot from a great distance.

In soccer, a goalie will bring both hands to the ball if he has plenty of time to react. A soccer ball doesn't travel nearly as fast as a lacrosse ball, on average, and when it does come fast and from short distances the goalie will throw out the same side hand or leg to make the save.

In field hockey, the goalie is loaded with equipment so that they can react to the ball no matter where it goes. If it's down low they will stick out a padded leg to make the save. If it's high they will throw out a blocker to make the save. And then they will whack the ball out of the area with their stick hand, or kick it.

The challenge we have as lacrosse goalies is that we must be able to pass the ball and run out of the cage which makes equipment issues when trying to stop the ball. Also, shooters in the lacrosse have the ability to stop their shot in the middle of their shot unlike other sports where once the ball is on the way it's hard to pull it back and fake out the goalie. Lacrosse is the only sport where a player can throw a fake so hard you actually think the ball has left the stick.

But what I'm focusing on here is stopping the ball.

With most young goalies, if I take the stick out of their hand and give them two baseball catching gloves (one on each hand) they will move better to the ball. When I throw the stick back in their hand the feet freeze up and they end up stabbing at the ball all over the place.

If you take the stick out of your hand and have your coach or friend throw light grounders at you I guarantee you will step easily to the ball. Just like a baseball catcher would step to a wild pitch or a shortstop to a ground ball.

When I find myself giving up shots, especially to the off stick side, if I drop my stick completely or at least focus on moving to the ball hands first and not stick first, I make more saves. It's those times when I find I am trying to catch things with my stick too much that balls go in.

I hope this has given you some food for thought. Focus on moving to the ball without that stick. Hands first. Feet first. I guarantee you'll make more saves, especially in close.

Let me know how this post helped you and email me at jone94@shaw.ca If you've got questions send them along as well and I'll answer them in future posts.

Jonathan -

What Kind of Mesh Should I Use?

I got a question via email recently from a dad whose daughter is going to play D1 ball and he was curious as to what mesh was better for her. 16 Diamond hard mesh? Or 12 diamond hard mesh. Although I don't give a specific answer I'll give you my guidelines for choosing any type of mesh for your stick.



Couple of things first: When we look to string a goalie stick there are two main things we have to consider:

First: We want to be able to catch the hardest of shots and not give up rebounds.

Second: We need to be able to cradle the ball if we have to run out of the net.

Ok, three things: We need to be able to pass the ball.

For all three of these things it's important that we have as light a stick as possible. With technology stick head design has come a long way and heads are getting lighter.

With mesh we now have options for the size and amount of mesh in the pocket (i.e. 16d, 10d etc.) So when we consider what is a better mesh we need to keep this in mind. 16d mesh is fine, but obviously 12d is less "stuff" It therefore is slightly lighter especially in wet conditions. Less mesh means less mesh to soak up water when it gets wet.

So when it comes to actually moving to the ball and making the save it's important to have a light stick so we require less strength to move it quickly.

Now when it comes to catching the ball and cradling, we can string up a super-deep pocket that acts like a lobster trap when any ball hits it. And we can do this with any type of mesh. But the trade off goes with my third point which is passing the ball. We need to find a balance between having a deep enough pocket and having a pocket that allows us to make accurate passes with some distance to them.

This is where I'm going to go a little off course for you. Your daughter has already noticed a difference in her own playing style as she's gotten older. I will make an assumption that she has gotten stronger physically. This is a big deal and something that can affect what type of mesh you go with. Most of my female athletes (I'm a strength and conditioning coach as well) have incredibly weak hands compared to the rest of their body. As your daughters hand and forearm strength improves she will notice that playing with the 16d is easier.

I have incredibly weak hands myself due to some chronic neck injuries so I've always noticed a difference in the mesh I use. 16d is a little tougher to cradle with but easier to pass with. 12d holds the ball better in the pocket while cradling and running out of the cage but it can take more of a wind up to get a good pass off. And if you're running and you need a big wind up to get a pass off you're likely to drop the ball or get checked. But if you've got the hand strength you need less of a wind up. Hopefully that makes sense.

So what I have done personally is string up two sticks. They are both STX Eclipse heads. One has the 16d mesh and the other has the 12d. I've been using this set up now for two years. I find the 16d is easier to throw with, especially long passes. And even though it gets very heavy in the rain I find that the mesh doesn't "bag"out or get really deep and tough to throw with. I then make the trade off for weight oer the ability to make better passes in wet conditions.

The 12d pocket holds the ball really well and I can make huge stick fakes to throw off attakers when we clear the ball. It is a little tougher to throw with because it gets more of a lip at the top of the stick. With strong hands this isn't a problem. But with weaker ones it can be. When the 12d gets wet however the pocket tends to get VERY deep and tough to throw with. So that's when I go with the 16d. I think if I can find a way to adjust that stick fast enough I just might tighten up the pocket and try and use it in the rain. I just haven't had the time or circumstances to test that.

Your say your daughter hasn't tried a stick with wider sidewall lacing but doesn't like them. George that's like not letting her eat brussel sprouts! George Carlin once joked that his mom always said, "How do you know you don't like them if you've never even tried them?" I know what she means though. I don't like them either. Back when I was in high school the only way to get a deep enough pocket in a goalie stick was to have that extra sidewall lacing. So you can let her know that even though she doesn't like the look it may give her a deeper pocket if she needs it.

With todays mesh you can pretty much string it tight to the sidewalls and go with it. Very easy to string. But if you need more depth in the pocket you loosen up the sidewalls to get more depth.

So finally, have her work on her hand and forearm strength. This will really help her with all facets of her game. Saves. Passing. You name it.

Percentage Goaltending as I Know It

I've been getting a lot of questions recently about "Percentage Goaltending." Looks like some players have been at some camps and the term has come up.

But nobody can give me a clear answer to what they learned!

So here's my take on what percentage goaltending is. It may not be what you learned at camp. (If it's not just email me at jone4@shaw.ca and tell me what you learned and we'll go from there.)

But here's how I view percentage goaltending. First you need to understand what the shooter sees when he is looking at you.

When a shooter looks at you standing in the cage he has a number of options. He can shoot stick side high. He can shoot between your legs. He can shoot off stick hip. He can shoot off stick high. There any number of places he can shoot the ball and each one of those locations has either a high success rate of going in, or it can be considered a bad shot with a low chance of going in (i.e. A shot to the stick side high is not as good as a shot to the off-stick hip given the situation.)

Let's use this example: Let's picture the goalie for a second standing in the center of the cage and the shooter is standing at 15 yards right up the center of the field.

Most goalies are stronger to shots to their stick side. So most shots taken to the stick side of a goalie have less of a chance to go in than do shots on the off stick side.

But if a goalie stands right in the center of the cage he is leaving a large portion of the cage open to his off-stick side which we already know are tougher to stop.

So if the goalie were to take a six inch step to his/her off-stick side they would be lessening the odds of a ball going in on their off-stick side, and they would not be taking much away from their stick side save because they are already good at making saves to the stick side.

So what we are doing here is increasing our chances on making the save. Or increasing our percentage to make the save. This can also be called "baiting" the shooter. What we are doing, by moving ourselves in the cage is forcing them to shoot to a particular spot. If the goalie moves a bit to their off-stick side the shooter doesn't see as much cage to shoot at. In the shooters mind that doesn't look like a high-perentage shot. The shooter sees more cage on the stick side which looks more appealing but in reality the goalie has a better chance of making that save because it is on the stick side.

Now this is just a straight up example. It works even better when the shooter is shooting from an angle. I'll talk more about that in another post. Until then, let me know if this helps you. Email me at jone94@shaw.ca and we'll talk about it some more.

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The One Thing You Must Believe To Be A Great Goalie

There will be times when your belief will be tested.

There will be people who tell you otherwise just to protect your feelings.

But the one thing you must believe, the mindset that you have to adopt no matter what...

is that every shot can be saved.

No matter who shoots it. No matter where it comes from. No matter how hard or how soft a shot may be. You must believe that you can save it.

We have a very unique situation as goalies in field lacrosse. Goaltending in field lacrosse is harder than any other position in sports. The net is 6 feet by 6 feet. The ball is shot at extremely high speeds at a range very close to the net. Not to mention the shooter can stop his shot in the middle of his follow through and fake the goalie out of his shorts.

But even with all that it still breaks down to the goalie seeing the ball as it leaves the shooters stick, recognizing where it is going, and then moving fast enough to get something between the ball and the cage.

If at some point in the process, if you don't believe you can stop it, you're done. You should stop right now. Because if you don't believe in yourself, you won't be a great goalie.

I'd love to get your comments on how you feel when the shooter is bearing down on you. When he's just off the crease, winding up to take your head off. How do you feel right then? Do you believe you will make the save?