My goaltending future/My next move

Question
Hello my name is Cody I am 13 years old this is my first year playing hockey and the goaltending position. I play on a house league team but am constantley told my AAA hockey friends and coach how I should have tryed out for the AA or AAA team I realise this now but at the time was too nervous (as it was my first time). I am now worried I started to late and did not try out for AA/AAA team and would like to know if I could still make it to a higher level of hockey and get noticed and what can I do now.

Answer
Cody,

Thank you for writing. Playing goalie is different then any other position in hockey or in any other sport in the world.  The position is more of a mental position rather than a physical one.  Yes, don't get me wrong, with all that equipment you are wearing you still have to have the ability to last the whole game.

But it's more of a..."Okay you scored a goal on me, so be happy you did, because that's the last one you are getting by me" attitude.

Now, don't worry about starting late.  I can understand your concern about being too nervous the first time, but lets fix that for good...shall we.

Playing Goalie has everything to do with learning how to read and react to the play.  Plus, one of the biggest things a goal can do to make sure that he loses each game is to panic. You have to have that cocky attitude that nothing is going by you, and if it does...no big deal.

Now, any time that you get the chance to play up...do it.  Any time you get a chance to play up an age group...do it.  Playing up will challenge you on fast shoots which means quicker hand speeds.

Now, if you want to make it to the Pros (and you can) you must do what I am about to tell you and you must do this every night without fail. Trust me when I tell you this will work and I have been coaching goalies for years.

Now, back in the early 60's the Russians were doing mind experiments to see if they could control us with their minds...funny isn't it.  But let me tell you what they did and what they found out.

They took two basketball teams, one in which the team did actual training on the court and the other team, they placed in a dark room listening to music while they sat in a kind of Lazy Boy chair.

Now, during each beat of a base drum within the music, they were told to picture themselves making the perfect pass, the perfect shot, the perfect play. Then after several months of just doing this, they played a game against each other and the team that listen to the music, beat the other team that did actual practice on the court by a large margin.

So, okay, sound good and everything, but what does this really mean?  The Russians found out that one can reprogram the mind. The Americans call it Brain Washing and the Russians call it programming.  Hum, wonder who's right?

Anyways, here is what they found out.  They found out that the mind doesn't know the difference between the conscious and subconscious.  The conscious is while we are awake and the subconscious is while we are sleeping.

But they found that every time you watch the TV and just when you ready to go to bed, a commercial comes on with a happy little jingle and the next morning you are singing that little jingle.  Why?

They found that the mind will work on the last 5 conscious minutes while you sleep for the next 8 hours.  Wow, talk about brain washing.  But what they found out was that you can train the mind and body to perform at lighting speed.

So, every night before you go to bed, place a iPod with headphones on and listen to music before you go to bed.  Place your head on your pillow while you lye down and every time you hear a beat of the base drum, you picture the best glove save, blocker save, skate save, pad save, two legged pad save, poke check save, butterfly save, split save...etc.

DO NOT USE THE RADIO.  Every 30 minutes they have news and it's always bad news, so don't listen to the radio while you sleep....just an iPod.

I need you to do this every night for the next 30 days without fail....every night.  Then get back with me in about 4 months and let me know how things are going.


Hope this helps.
Rob Lopez - Commissioner
University Ice Hockey League - Mexico