Get Better with Ballet
- Jeremy Swayman took ballet at UMaine expecting an easy elective but discovered direct parallels to goaltending movement and body awareness.
- Swayman won the Mike Richter Award as the top NCAA goalie the same season he was attending ballet classes regularly.
- UMaine goaltending coach Alfie Michaud observed a measurable jump in Swayman's body control and subsequently built a dance-based program for his other goalies.
- Ballet develops the same skills elite goaltending demands: movement synchronization, balance, spatial awareness, and controlled landing mechanics.
- Cross-training with dance can provide physical benefits even when a goalie's body feels fatigued from on-ice work.
Jeremy Swayman admits he originally signed up for a ballet class as the University of Maine thinking it might provide a bit of a break from academics, a chance to move his body and rest his brain a bit amid the grind of his junior NCAA season after a couple of senior forwards took it as “a filler class” the year before.
It didn’t take the Boston Bruins prospect long to see the links between dance and stopping pucks, and they were reinforced by a season that ended with him winning the Mike Richter award as the top goalie in college hockey.
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