Tryouts...View from a Goalie Developer...and a promise
Well tryouts have started with the a great bang as usual. I can understand this is a stressful and (feels) overly long process for both parents and kids. Being involved at different levels of the process with four local associations and a couple high school teams, the anxiousness of the participants is palpable. The key for the goalies is to harness that nervousness into excitement and anticipation for the new season and whatever challenges may come.
I know there are times that results may not meet expectations. Competition is fierce for the coveted rep spots and there are many great and hard-working goalies out there all vying for a chance. As a parent, I have had to hug and console a disappointed and sometime even shattered goalie on several occasions, but even when we have cleared away the debris of one broken dream, there has always been a new dream and a new goal-line that has sprouted within 24-48 hours. It is a valuable sports lesson and a valuable life lesson that is created and something that can bring a family together and to put everyone on a new mission.
From my perspective, I like to focus on my chosen profession as an athletic developer. I am, with much trepidation, called upon to help coaches make decisions about goalies during the tryout process. I find this a bit conflicting with what I really want to do, but I know and understand it may be the best way to make sure the goaltender gets recognized for his or her skill rather than what can be an arbitrary measurement from something like an inter-squad game or other much less tangible criteria. There is a difficult line for me to walk in judging goalie value, as it can often be judged by skill in terms of technique (which catches a goalie developer's eye) and effectiveness of ability (which will catch a coach's eye). There can be many situations where a goalie looks great but doesn't stop anything during tryouts. Or a goalie that plays a "flawed" game but seem to have the puck hit him all the time. As a goalie, I know that the nature of the position can be fickle and most skilled and effective goalies can have a bad run or even a bad tryout. There have been times when I have been on the ice, waaaaay over my head, but I seemed to stop everything for extended periods of time. The challenge is whether we can distill the real level of a goalie from measurable results (whether strong or poor) within a very brief window.
Being a goalie developer primarily, when I look at goalies in tryouts (or any other time), I seem to always be searching for potential and my mind starts to create pathways to help the young goalie evolve and become "better" and hopefully more effective. Most often during the evaluation process, I catch myself in the daydream of "if only goalie X could work on this skill or if goalie X could perform these recoveries more efficiently", she would be a AA goalie instead of a B. I then start crafting drills and progressions on what I think would be the best way to "correct" these perceived shortcoming. I usually get jolted out of these dreams by coaches asking what I see on the ice right "now" and I find myself trying to avoid using the words "potential" or "he'll be here in three months, if he does X and Y". The coaches need to know who is ready now. They need to know who is ready to play four games in the Early Bird Tournament in September, and not which goalie will be the best in two months or two years.
After being on the ice with close to 200 goalies over the next three weeks, I will be able to say with great confidence and personal excitement that no matter what level these goalies land in the end of the tryout process, I have a great and dedicated bunch of kids that will give ME every opportunity to help them become better AND more effective goaltenders and athletes. I promise to not let you down!!!