goalie advise

[wwlaxgoalie]

i just started playing goalie in lacrosse but i used to be a hockey goalie. I was wondering if any of you knew some tricks to help get my reflexes back up and some drills that i could use during the off season to help me get better. Thanks, all of yalls advice will be greatly appreciated and helpful.

[tj lax]

i throw really hard at a wall and try to stop the rebound from going by me.

[Fentruck]

Have people shoot on you

Just do what I did for goalie in soccer... practice easy ones so you can get used to the ball coming at you.. gradually increase the speed (Just a friend throwing the ball at you), practice ground balls, etc

If no one is around, then use a wall

[NeMeSiS]

play alot of wall ball, jump rope, heres a drill i picked up from cat.... take a ball and throw the ball off the wall from left to right moving back and forth catching the ball, throwing back catching it moving from left to right, sounds sketchy with me explaining it but u will get the idea once u try it it works on ur footwork and hand eye quardanation ergo working on ur reflexes

[Jjaylax09]

wwlaxgoalie: everything these guys have said is right, and theres not much else to say... the only thing that i would worry about when switching from hockey to lacrosse is to stay tall... because the goal is taller, you cant make all your saves from your knees... personally i would find the sickest attackman anywhere(not just on my team) and have him work me over time and again, until i could make the saves... thats what i did and it works

P.S : where is your team from

[NeMeSiS]

ya good point indeed i went from hockey to lacrosse playing goalie in both posistions its a tough transition but u get use to it if u keep doing the drills

[LaxGoalieLZ]

Wall ball , have ppl shoot on you, jump rope, dot drill, ect.

[TheKeeper]

alright, I came from your same situation, i was an ice hockey goalie for 11 years, then made the transition(best choice i ever made), so here's one that will help you work on positioning. Put tape on your wall that marks off the size of the goal, 6'x6'. Now, put a mirror 15-20 ft. in front of you so that you can see the entire net behind you. Now, take little pieces of tape put them top left corner, top right corner, left and right hip, bottom right and left corners and your five hole(put the pieces of tape on the wall so that you can see them in the mirror). Now, what you want to do is go through the motions of making the save. Step, save top right. Step, save top left. So basically what your doing is looking at the pieces of tape in the mirror and stepping towards the mirror and covering the tape marks in the mirror with your stick basically. What this is doing is helping you get used to where your stick needs to be in the different zones of the net. While you're not getting shots, it's helping you get the feeling or where you need to be, just remember that you need to act as if there really is a shot coming. Explode out, pretend if there are bounce shots going high(step out to save the ball low, then mimic it bouncing high and spring up to save it). This is what i try to do as often as i can during the winter to keep my motions right on. Good luck and may the force be with you.

[Petem0ss]

Stand facing a wall with all of your equipment on; have someone stand behind you & shoot over you at the wall; find the ball as it bounces off of the wall & step to it.

Start 15 feet off of the wall & just have the other kid lob shots at the wall. As you start to see shots easier & make clean saves, move closer to the wall & have the other kid shoot harder.

[SeaBass]

I have a question realted to this thread: I just started playing goalie after playing D for many years. Any further advice to get my skills up to par in 5 weeks before our first game?

[TheKeeper]

well, your footwork is probably solid, so you won't have to put to much effort into that, but continue to jump jope. since you've been playing d you know how offense is going to be run, so you'll have an idea of how to direct your defense, which is without a doubt one of the single most important parts of being a goalie. the only difference really is that instead of stopping attackers, you're going to be stopping their shots(intentionally that is). skim through all the suggestions and do what they're saying, they're all good and solid. You are really going to need to work on ball watching now, instead of watching your man. You have to follow the ball at all times and still know where the guys are moving. work on your positioning, and your reaction motions and you should be cool. i would say take a lot of shots, but it's winter and for a lot of people, it's really tough to be taking shots, you really just need to work on the basics for now.

[Jjaylax09]

PetemOss: do you think you ripped ~my~ idea well enough...

http://lacrosseforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2265 ...

just messing with you though, i think it works great, and i sure as hell didnt come up with it

[Petem0ss]

Originally posted by Jjaylax09
PetemOss: do you think you ripped ~my~ idea well enough...

http://lacrosseforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2265 ...

just messing with you though, i think it works great, and i sure as hell didnt come up with it

Guess so LOL. My dad first did that with me when I started playing goalie in 6th grade . . . in 1981. So I guess that one's been around for a while & I agree, I have no idea what the origin of it is. I know my old man didn't come up with it :laugh

[LaxGoalieLZ]

ya he basically said the same thing but he didnt rip it from you, many people know of it its not like ure the one who invented it or anything.

[Jjaylax09]

LaxGoalieLZ: thats why i said "I sure as hell didn't come up with it" everybody uses basic drills like that... i wasn't even alive in 1981

[LaxGoalieLZ]

o im not too good at reading, lol

[Jjaylax09]

LaxGoalieLZ: i forgive you...lol