Recently I was working with a keeper who was having some difficulty getting to shots in the corner of the goal. It was clear to me that the goalie was not seeing the ball and when the goalie was seeing the ball the move to the ball was quite late. So I began to watch the goalies eyes and had the goalie work on watching the ball in my stick and then in the air and then into the goalie stick pocket. It sounded good, but the keeper was missing the ball very late in the sequence. I must have shot about 30 times and the goalie got only a couple. The shots were from about 7 yards and well placed (all above the belt). As the goalie got more frustrated by the numerous misses, I still encouraged watching the ball through the whole flight. But, the well placed shots when right in time after time. The keeper was watching the ball through the whole flight more and more and began to tip a few of the shots off goal. But, the goalie was no making the save cleanly.

So I started watching the goalie's top hand an I began noticing that if the ball went up the goalie's hand went up, straight up or even a little back and up. If the ball went left, the goalie's hand went left or even a little back and left. If the ball went right the goalies hand went right, actually it went back and right. And all of these were misses or tips, not a clean save in the lot. Further some were misses. The goalie was taking the stick to the area where the ball was going but it was too late or too little or too imprecise to make the save with the stick pocket.

I began to work with the keeper to drive the top hand OUT toward the ball to keep the hand itself in the line of vision (to retain that speedy eye-hand coordination). There was some improvement, but not as much as I expected. This long afternoon (for the goalie) continued with another batch of 30 or so shots and the goalie got more frustrated because many of the shots went in. I was watching to pick up something and then I saw the top hand slide on the shaft and I began to focus on the bottom hand during each shot. The bottom hand was holding the stick tight.

I call this choking the stick with a fist grip. When the bottom hand is choking the stick the top hand is not the one in charge. This bottom hand tight, top hand loose, might work up to a point, but when the ball is close and the shooter is shooting around the keeper, this make the top hand later or the stick face at an odd angle when the ball is near the net.

This is not an isolated story. The next day I was working with a very talented keeper who had a great year the previous year and he is struggling mightily with 7 yard shots that are savable, given some good concentration and technique. I started watching his bottom hand and instead of having his bottom hand as a pivot, he was choking the stick and has a loose top hand. The ball kept going in.

What is even more bizarre is I realized just then that my own problems on inside shots were because I had gotten lazy and was playing with the bottom hand dominant instead of the bottom hand loose and the top hand tight/dominant (with thumb pressing on the side of the stick pinching it to the side of 1st joint of the index finger.- this puts the wrist to he back of the shaft for maximum rotation) and the elbow pointed mostly down so that the move from high to low is fluid and fast with a tomahawk chop of the forearm and a snap of the wrist to turn the head to the ball. The next day I emphasized this on purpose when I was playing goal. My eye hand coordination came back and I was playing good goal again. Very exciting.

But, back to the keepers. Each of them is now transitioning to a tight top hand grip with a loose bottom hand. When they drive their hand to the ball with that top hand dominant grip, their body moves easily behind the hand and they are getting to all the corners. It is really easy to go TO THE BALL with a strong top hand grip. With a bottom hand choke, it is nearly impossible.

So coaches, take some time with your keepers at about 7 yards (at this distance they can't compensate for bad technique or limited watching of the ball) and work with them to use the following, I call it shifting gears:

1st Gear - Watch the Ball
2nd Gear - Watch the Ball with your hand ( top hand at eye brow level, but not in front of that eye)
3rd Gear - Setup the rest of your body in back of that hand
(knees and elbows bent, chest in front of the hips
and both wrists to the back of the shaft, shaft not up and down but a bit
across the body)
4th Gear - Save the Shot, by driving the top hand to the ball and
stepping with the ball side foot as you watch the ball
throughout its whole flight from the shooters stick into the goalie stick pocket
5th Gear - Corral the ball and get into the throwing stance to get the
ball out to the guys / gals who can run the break

Just like in a car, when you shift gears, you quit thinking about the previous gear and get to the next one. So, when the shot comes, help your keeper to STOP thinking about Setup and SWITCH to thinking about SHOT.

I was at the Genesee Valley Division I Fall Ball Tournament and MOST of the goals scored were NOT because the goalie was beaten on a great shot, but because the goalie was beaten by NOT BEING in 4th gear (ready and concentrating on the ball coming to him) when the shot was taken. Some weren't even in 2nd or 3rd Gear.

Watch for this with your keepers and let them know that most cars can't get to their top speed unless they are in the top gears. Even an only modestly capable athlete in 4th Gear on every shot is better than a spectacular athlete stuck in 1st or 2nd or even 3rd gear. Our job as coaches is to get consistency from our goalies by teaching them how to be in the right gear every time so that they can do their best at each opportunity. And also don't forget to tell them it is how you hold that stick that helps you get to the corners.