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Drill of the Month - December

Common Coaching Mistakes

With so few days left in December, as our new site was launched Dec 21, 2006, rather than put a drill up, per se, I am going to put up a tip for doing drills which will be reiterated in each drill to come. When I watch a practice being run, there are 3 mistakes which I see time after time and at any level. Even at the pro and junior levels I have experienced this flaw in coaching and it can be easily fixed as most coaches do not even realize they are doing this.

1) With so little time for practice, especially at the minor hockey level, the first and most important thing that must be corrected is doing a given drill from both sides for an equal amount of time. I always use the analogy that if you can imagine a body builder doing 15 reps on his right arm, and only 5 reps on his left arm; over time there would be a huge muscle imbalance. The same can be said for goalies and as players.

Imagine doing a drill for 10 minutes time which requires the player to pivot to his/her right and receive a pass and then go in and shot on the goalie. If this drill is not done for 5 minutes on each side the following problems will arise:

1)a player only being able to pivot one way
2)a player only being able to receive a pass a certain way
3)a goalie only receiving shots from one angle

By simply wearing a stop watch or timer, a coach is now able to stop the drill at the halfway point (of the desired time to do the drill) and make sure both sides are done equally.

2) The second problem is not giving the goalie enough time to get set for a shot in practice. Remember practice is also for a goalie, so make sure you space your queue for the next repetition to start far enough apart that the goalie has time to recover and get set for the next shot. As a coach you should be able to quickly address the time needed to do so, if you notice the goalies recoveries start to slow down it might be a good time to switch sides or start a new drill. As fatigue leads to bad habits and bad habits lead to bad goaltending.

3) The final flaw I see is that coaches do not do enough game situation drills. In a game rarely is a goalie going to be standing still waiting for a shot. The majority of the time there will be some sort of movement prior to and after the shot in game so try to do drills which require the goalie to have some sort of movement. Before the shot if the goalie is standing still have them start on a post and then push to the desired angle to simulate a pass. As for after the shot have the shooter drive then net or stop at the net and play a rebound as they would in a game, or give the goalie enough time to follow his/her rebound.

If these 3 simple adjustments are made you should notice an improvement in your goalie (s) without giving them any real instruction. Like I said earlier you may not even realize you may do this as a coach but when you are setting up your practice plan take these 3 suggestions into mind. Remember its not ‘Practice makes Perfect’, its ‘Proper practice, leads to perfection!’

Selected photos courtesy of OHLPhotos.com
Page last modified on May 24, 2007, at 04:13 PM

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