Tom Brady Is My Hero

In the same interview, Brady said, "I think it's a feeling like I've got it all figured out. There's nothing that can shock me anymore. There's nothing I haven't anticipated; so at that point, there is a calmness."

This was a quote taken from an ESPN.com article on Tom Brady, Quarterback of the New England Patriots. As I write this the Patriots are four days from becoming the best team in football history. And Tom Brady is the leader.

The story of Tom Brady is pretty cool. A good athlete through high school he was barely noticed by college coaches. Somehow he landed at one of the top football schools in the country. After college he was drafted almost as an afterthought by the Patriots in the sixth round. That year, seven other quarterbacks were drafted before him. And now he is considered one of the best quarterbacks of all time with four super bowl rings and now an MVP of the league in 2007.

But that quote above pretty much tells you why he's there at this point in his career.

He is prepared.

And he works harder than anyone else to be prepared so that he isn't surprised. Ever.

Parents. Coaches. And goalies all ask me "What can we do so that our goalie has more confidence?"

Help them prepare. Spend the time. Get the shots. Get a variety of shots. Help them feel safe. Give them the tools. Watch game film. Do it all.

And then do it again.

And again.

And again.

Fear only comes from a lack of information. And a lack of information comes from a lack of preparation.

There is no excuse for that. Laziness is an excuse.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs07/columns/story?id=3219092&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

Go check out the article and get inspired.

Goalies read it to see what preparation can do for you. That dot drill is amazing by the way.

Parents read it so that you can help your kids believe that they can, and will, be good. Someday. If they work hard enough.

Coaches read it and learn not to ever give up on a kid. Think past that athletes success on your team if they aren't getting good fast enough. Think about their long term athletic development and help them succeed long term.

Shoot me some comments or emails at jone94@shaw.ca

I Can't Sleep. Can You?

It's four in the morning where I am. My wife and I just had our second baby. A girl named Makena (Because we were married on Makena Beach in Maui, Hawaii) And I can't get to sleep. My mind is just going. What about? Stuff. All sorts of stuff. It reminded me of a couple of goalie specific things that I'd thought I'd write about seeing that I can't get to sleep anyway.

Why You Must Fall Asleep At Night

Goalies tend to be worriers. They worry about letting in a goal. They worry about what their coaches/parents/teammates will think about them. They worry about making a bad pass that leads to a goal. They worry about getting hit in the balls (seriously). They worry about getting shelled. They worry about losing so bad that they will never want to play the game again. Ever.

All in all most goalies worry.

Now let me have you exchange the word "worry" and replace it with the phrase "plan to prevent"

Goalies tend to plan to prevent about everything. They plan to prevent letting in a goal. They plan to prevent a situation where their coaches/parents/teammates will think badly about them. They plan to prevent making a bad pass that leads to a goal. They plan to prevent getting hit in the balls. (Seriously!) They plan to prevent getting shelled. They plan to prevent so they never lose a game so bad that they will never want to play the game again.

When you read those to paragraphs do you see how some of the stress is taken out of the second one?

When you rephrase your worry it becomes much more productive. "Worry" is not a productive feeling. Worry is just a negative thought pattern where you tend to focus on bad situations. And what you focus on you bring on.

If I ask you to worry about a pink polar bear, what do you see? A pink polar bear.

Maybe that pink polar bear is doing something bad in your thoughts. Maybe the pink polar bear is showing it's teeth. Or running at you.

Now let me ask you to think about planning to prevent that white polar bear from doing anything bad.

First off, you are now seeing a white polar bear instead of a pink one. This shows you that you can instantly change any mental situation. From bad to good. From pink to white.

You may also have thought of that white polar bear in a cage. Or somehow in a way that prevents him from doing anything bad to you.

By planning to prevent instead of worrying you have changed a negative mental image to a positive mental image. Instead of worrying about letting in a bad goal why not plan to prevent one. By thinking in a positive way you are actually coming up with a positive game plan. You may now visualize yourself making a great play. Or maybe making a great call that gets your defense to slide to neutralize the ball carrier.

When you worry you tend to lose sleep at night. (just like I am as I write this.) But by focusing on "planning to prevent" you can fill your brain with positive images that will actually build your confidence and make you a player.

Just a quick thought. I think I'll catch some sleep now.

Jonathan -
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com

Question: Molly writes: All the shots that are taken at me are at my knees. Are there any goalie knee pads? Also, how far out of the cage can a goalie go? And should I stand crouched down? Or standing straight up? I've got a ton of questions, is there just a book I can buy that can help me out? Thanks!

Answer: Hey there Molly. Congrats on playing the best position in lacrosse!!

Here are some answers to your questions.

They don't make a goalie knee pad for lacrosse. But what you can do while your learning is to where some baseball catcher shin quards under a pair of sweatpants. This will protect you from the top of the knees down to your feet.

You can also wear football pants under some sweats as well. They have a thigh pad, and a knee pad, but no shin protection.

You can go out as far as you want from the goal. There is no restriction. However, I recommend that you stay roughly a big step off the goal line when the shooter is away from the cage. And then on the goal line when the shooter is in very tight to the goal.

You should take a stance that we call an "athletic" stance. Goalies also call this a "ready" stance. Your ankles knees and hips are all bent. Your shoulders are just infront of your hips and your hands are in front of you. Similar to a basketball player on defense. A baseball player waiting for the hitter to hit the ball to them. Or a tennis player waiting to hit the ball back across the net. (Just to give you a few examples.) This will give you the best chance to move to the ball.

You're going to stop a lot of shots right now with your body. That is why it is very important to have enough padding so that you feel protected and safe if you take one off the body. As you improve you'll catch more balls with your stick.

For more questions answered you can check out my blog at www.LacrosseGoaltending.Blogspot.com. I am also working on an ebook specifically for goalies. If you send me your email address I can send you a couple of early chapters that should help.

Also, when you send me your email address just send me a list of all of your questions too. I probably have most of them answered already and I can send them on to you. Otherwise I'll make sure I cover those questions in my ebook.

Thanks for writing Molly. My email address is jone94@shaw.ca. Talk to you soon!

Jonathan -
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com

Tennis anyone? Or lacrosse?

I got an email recently from a freshman who was inspired by an email I wrote a while ago. That email was also written to a tennis player thinking about switching to lacrosse. This time the tennis player is thinking about becoming a goalie. The following is an answer that I gave him on why I think he should switch from tennis (that is boring him, and the coach is a disaster) to lacrosse. Enjoy.

Answer:There is one major rule that I live by that I wish I knew back in high school and that is to seek out experiences that I know I would enjoy regardless of the outcome. Seriously, when we die the only thing we are going to be able to take with us is our experiences so why not load up on as many good ones as we can.

With that being said I would highly recommend you go out for lacrosse and play a little goal for a couple of reasons:

1) It's a new experience. If you feel you've had your run of tennis then why play something you are bored with when you can go play something new and exciting with your friends.

2) Yes, your tennis skills will carry over (especially if you were good playing up at the net). Your lateral agility makes you a natural to attack the ball. Just make sure you are outfitted with enough equipment that you feel safe to start. Eventually, as you get better you can shed excess equipment. But for now, pad up and stay safe. You'll get better faster if you do.

I would like to change your attitude about one thing you said, "I would personally enjoy lacrosse a lot more than tennis, I just don't want to join and be horrible since I'm not as experienced."

Prepare to be horrible. That's what new experiences are all about! If everyone could be good at everything there wouldn't be much fun in anything right? I just took up the sport of bobsled after having done the sport of luge for years. Just like your tennis carrying over to lacrosse my luge experience helped me but it was still new. And you know what I wished the most??? That I had tried bobsled much sooner and didn't wait so long! You don't want to be saying that about lacrosse.

You shouldn't worry about playing lacrosse and being bad, you should worry about playing lacrosse and being fantastic! Seriously, how pissed would you be if you realized you were a phenomenal goalie and you waited all this time to play! Get out there and play some goal and show everyone how good you are. Then write me back and tell me how much time you wasted playing tennis!:)

Kick butt Derek. I'm going to add you to my goaltending ezine. I've got a ton of articles for you on my blog to so be sure to check that out. Have a blast. And feel free to write me and tell me how it's going.

All the best,

Jonathan -
www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com

Mom's In Trouble With This Question

This isn't really a goalie specific post but it does touch on long term athlete development which I feel is super important. Have a read. This mom has never written back to me so I hope everything is ok! Haven't heard from the kid either so hopefully he's not grounded!

Question: Hey Jonathan Edwards ! my name is Jordan St. John i live in Cornwall Ontario. I'am a big hockey player and i would really love to play lacrosse but my mom said to bring her 5 facts about how lacrosse makes you a better hockey player can you help me out please and thank you ! Bye

Answer: Oh Jordan. Your mom is going to regret having you write to me! (Sorry Mrs. St. John)

Here goes.

Jordan as an Olympic athlete, a strength and conditioning coach, a lacrosse player, and a hockey player I can tell you that by playing multiple sports you can actually become much better at your favorite sport. So if you love hockey, and that's your main sport, by playing lacrosse you will actually become a better hockey player. In countries other than the US and Canada this is a well known fact. But here in Canada we tend to focus on just one sport and play it all the time. This doesn't work out well. You may be a good hockey player sooner by playing only hockey, but at a certain point your development will go flat and you won't improve physically. Your mom can go to www.LTAD.ca to learn more about long term athlete development.

To be honest, by playing any sport you will help your hockey skills. However, by playing lacrosse specifically here are a bunch of ways it will help you.

1) Hockey is a multi-directional sport on blades and ice. These work certain muscles and movement patterns. Lacrosse is also a multi-directional sport on a hard surface. The body develops additional movement patterns that make you strongerand less prone to injury once on the ice. This is critical and creates a well rounded athlete physically. You will be stronger on the ice by actually playing lacrosse off ice.

2) The hand-eye coordination in lacrosse improves your stick handling abilities in hockey. In hockey the puck rarely leaves the ice. So the puck is always on one surface and your hands get used to that. In lacrosse the ball is all over the place. It's up and down. In front of you and behind you. By mastering a lacrosse stick a hockey stick feels so easy to use. There is an incredible transfer in eye-hand skills from lacrosse to hockey.

3) Contact: There is contact in hockey. There is also contact on a different surface. The demads on your body are different and they can increase your physical ability to avoid, and give hits.

Avoidance of hits can be just as beneficial as learning to give hits. If you think about it and you're about to be lined up by a larger, more physical player you can be seriously injured. By learning additional movement skills in lacrosse you can actually avoid getting hit by that player and therefore avoid injury.

4) Offensive and Defensive playing situations in lacrosse can help you with your hockey skills tremendously. You will learn how to dodge around players and those skills will help you to dodge around players on the ice. You will be learning skills that your hockey teammates don't know about. You will have fresh moves to pull from and your hockey development will actually be faster than your teammates who do not play another sport.

5) By playing another sport you will actually rest your body, and your mind from hockey. Many people in North America don't see this as an advantage but the best coaches in the world understand that it is extremely important. By playing lacrosse your mind will be able to rest from hockey, and when you return to hockey you will be extremely fresh mentally and physically. That freshness will allow you to learn more hockey skills faster so you can outplay your peers.

6) Wayne Gretzky played lacrosse.

Jordan I hope that helps you out. Please let your mom know that she can email me directly if she'd like to know more. I think hockey and lacrosse are two of the best sports to be played together. They compliment each other very well. There are also tons of opportunities for students in the states who play both hockey and lacrosse.

All the best buddy.

Jonathan Edwards -

Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

You may have heard the old saying “practice makes perfect.” Well, I’m here to tell you something….

It’s not true.

You see, practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Let me explain.

Let’s say I taught you how to sing Jingle Bells. We spent some time together and I made sure you got all the words down and the music and then I sent you home. And along the way as you were practicing the song you ended up switching some of the words. Maybe you weren’t paying attention or maybe you just made a mistake but along the way instead of Jingle Bells you started singing Tinkle Balls.

Stay with me here.

So off you go practicing. Every day. Twice a day. You even think about it before you go to sleep at night in your head. But instead of Jingle Bells it’s Tinkle Balls.

A couple weeks later you come back to see me and I say, “Sing me Jingle Bells.”

And you sing, “Tinkle Balls! Tinkle Balls! Tinkle all the way!!!”

Now I know you’re laughing a little bit right now but let’s look at this seriously. After you sang your version of Tinkle Balls I would look at you funny and think, “What the hell has this kid been doing the last two weeks?” And you’d tell me, in all seriousness that you’d been practicing!

So now I’d have to teach you how to sing Jingle Bells…again. We’re two weeks later and we have to re-teach the song. Sure you may have the music right but the words are off. Some of them are ok but the main ones are just plain wrong. So you learn Jingle Bells again and off you go.

You go home and you’re thinking to yourself, “Man, Jingle Bells sounds a little weird. Tinkle Balls sounded so much better! Jingle Bells sounds awkward and strange. Here goes…Tinkle Bells. Tinkle Bells. Tinkle All The Way!”

Ok. So now you’ve learned the song a second time and you still don’t have it right. But you practice and you practice and you practice some more. What do you think is going to happen when you come back and see me again? Right, you’re still going to think Jingle Bells sounds weird. But really, after four weeks if all you had practiced was Jingle Bells you’d have it dialed.

That is why practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Sometimes coaches will ask me, “Jonathan, I know you want them to be perfect in practice but they’re just playing around. It’s nothing serious.” I’m sorry but everything is serious when it comes to the goalie. Even horsing around with your buddies can mess up a goalie for a long time.

It’s Harder to Fix a Bad Habit than To Get It Right the First Time

When learning a new skill it’s imperative that you learn it right the first time. Because learning the wrong skill is so hard to correct. It’s like letting your feet dry in concrete. You know how hard it is to get your feet out of there? It’s really hard!

That is why I warn coaches that their lacrosse goalies are just a bad habit waiting to happen if you leave them in the cage and let their buddies’ fire away on them. Until the goalie has a fair bit of experience and has proper movement patterns to the ball you don’t want to just let them in the cage and let the kids fire away. If those movement patterns aren’t dialed in yet the goalie will regress. He will actually get worse and you will then have to re-teach everything in a safe environment again. If you keep the goalie safe he will actually get better sooner than if you just throw him to the wolves so-to-speak.

Let me know how you feel about this. Can you remember a time when you, or a lacrosse goalie you coached actually got worse before he got better? Maybe they were doing great and then they got bad and never recovered.

Really Nice Lacrosse Goalie Video (About 10 Minutes)