319 Parents: How to Have Your Best Season as a Goalie Parent Part 2

Parent segment brought to you by Stop It Goaltending U, the app. We're gonna flip back a couple of weeks, but first, what's happening with our friends with Brian and company over at Stop It Goal Tending U?

Well, the fact that they spent the time to be featured guests on last week's podcast has not prevented Brian Daccord and his team from continuing to update the Stop It Goaltending U app. They've got primers as they do every day, not not just every week, but every day, five new quick one to two minute videos that'll help you become a better goaltender. This week's primers appropriate with the season starting are on goal setting for your upcoming year. They've also got a great new video featuring Joey Daccord. It's a quick hit drill video called goalie one zero one.

It's like a like a instruction and drill to help you get on angles. It's an angle warm up using a cone or pylon and Joey Daccord walking you through it. That's their Quick Hit Goalie one zero one video. And Goalie Playbook, they walk through a session with Frederik Andersen, a game with Frederik Andersen, and break down the way he handles certainly certain things in certain situations. It's all part of the Stop It Goaltending U app.

It's the type of content you get weekly there. And, of course, when you get a subscription to the Stop It Goaltending U app, you also get a subscription to InGoal Magazine, ingoalmag.com, and our premium content so you get the best of both worlds.

Hutch, Brian and Joey took over the spotlight last week and that pushed back something that we had a two parter from a few weeks ago.

We did. Couple weeks ago, we started on 10 ways to have your best season ever as a goalie parent, something we talk about every year, deservedly so. Brian and Joey took over the show last week because it was such a great parent segment. And I first want to say that have received a number of emails over the past week. I've shared them with you guys.

Haven't really had a chance to address them because it's it's been a week, boys. It's been a week working really hard, talking to goalie coaches, probably ten plus hours a day. If you haven't heard from me, hit me up, davidingoalmag dot com. Would love to have a conversation. We will get to those other emails.

The best comment, though, from any coach that I've spoken to this week, Daren, was I usually listen to this show on 1.5 times just so I can get through Woody in a reasonable amount of time. True story. True story.

So why do they allow it so slow? It only hurts.

Yes. That's right. I actually, I actually This is also a true story. I listen to some podcasts and I have to slow it down because the host speaks so quickly. So maybe that's just my processing.

Anyway, let's get to the parents. And my next five, I remind you, none of these are in any particular order. They're just how they came off the top of my head when I was originally writing them, and I've tied them up a little bit since. So the sixth thing you could be doing this year as a goalie parent, please make a resolution to do this. Praise effort and not results.

Of course, it's fun to win. Of course, it's hard to lose, but we can make a lot of mistakes and still win. We can even get a shout out with mistakes. We we can play a great game and lose, but we're trying to raise kids who work hard. It's a skill that's going to serve them very well after hockey.

So I should say, I've even told our son many times, I'm going to be fine if you choose not to play hockey next year, but I do want you to have something in your life that you love and work hard at. So if they skate hard in practice this year, let them know afterwards that you noticed. Goalies are almost destined to be the last guy if a coach is running them through a traditional skate between the lines, but you can still work hard and praise your child for that. If they battled hard in a game or if they held their head high after a goal, let them know. Let them know that they're doing the right things out there.

And if they do some extra training during the week on their own, give them a high five. Tell them how much you love seeing them work hard. Number seven, praise having fun as well. Effort matters, but it's not all about hard work. We do play the sport because we want to enjoy it.

So praise them when you see them having fun and showing it. I frankly am not one of those coaches or parents who wants to see their kid hyper focused and over serious putting on a show for everybody out there, making them look like a great pro. I want them to go out there and focus, but also to have fun. I get that they have to work with a team and a coach who might have his own feelings about this, but to the extent that you can, help them be themselves out there. Maybe you've heard of Marc-Andre Fleury.

Not only does he have fun, he battles like nobody else out there while making the game more enjoyable for everybody around him. He can also focus in the moment and take the game as seriously as anybody. So I like to think other young goalies can do the same. Number eight, help them to become independent. Our goal in life is to raise happy, confident, independent kids.

And if their goal is to play high level hockey, junior, NCAA, even pro, At some point, they're gonna be on their own, possibly younger than you imagine right now. Now's the time to help them get ready. So can they pack their gear and go through the mental checklist with you to make sure everything's in there? Can they pack their own snack for the trip? Can they remember what time the game is even for the younger ones?

Can you teach them to decide what time it is to leave the house? After practice, can they wash their own things? Even the youngest kids can help with some of this. And at some point, I would suggest you should transition to saying, I'm your driver. I'll be your biggest fan, but you're in charge.

Tell me what time you want to leave the house and I'll be ready for you. They can probably pull this off a lot younger than you think. Support their mindset at home. That's number nine. What can you do to help them out with their mindset at home?

And I'd say a ton. We want them to focus on having fun and becoming the best goalie they can control. The controllables is the old cliche, but I often take it a step further and say with a strong mindset, even the uncontrollables can work to your advantage because the other players and other goalies around you won't be as strong in a tough moment. So welcome them. You know, one key, I am quite upfront about this and I let them know I believe they have a strong mindset.

Tell them you believe in them. One thing that it is one thing that's a real separator in the game, and I'm just trying to help them build on that. So I don't want them thinking I'm just tossing out a throwaway phrase to cool them down in a tough time. I'm serious. Turn the negatives into positives.

If they come home and they say practice suck, nothing but two on o's and three on o's. Try something like, okay, I get it's frustrating, but you have no control over the practice plans. So what can we do? Learn to love the drills. Guess what?

They're supposed to score every time. If you make a save, it's huge. So live for those moments, battle and get better. Turn the negatives to your advantage with a good mindset. Or if they complain that I had 70 shots on goal today and my D were no help, you might try responding okay.

It's tough, but it's 60 more shots than the guy at the other end got to have to get better. And our job's to help when other players make mistakes. So there's going to be, some goals with 70 shots and that's not easy, but you can build the strength to push through it. Don't be the person at home that's complaining right along with them and letting them get focused on that. There's a million examples.

Just ask yourself, what do you think a mature world class goalie would do in that situation? And then help them focus on that. We're here to help them grow as people and those skills will help everything they do away from the game. And then finally on my list for today, model how you want them to grow up as goalies. You can demonstrate the best mindset as a parent.

If you show stress, they're going to feel stressed. On the other hand, if they see that you don't overreact in tough times, they're not going to either. You can help your son or daughter develop a great mindset through how you respond to things at home. If you want them to treat every game the same as we often hear the pros talk about it, make it just another game, then don't talk about tomorrow being a big game and send them to bed extra early to get ready for it. You just need to treat it like every other night.

Of course, you should have good habits at home. I'm not saying stay up till midnight before those big games. Let's have some good long term habits this year. If you smile after a tough game, eventually they're going to feel better. But if you act angry after a tough loss or if you blame their teammates for goals, you get the idea how that's going to rub off on your kids.

So set the example this year. That wraps up my 10 thoughts for having your best season as a goalie parent. I hope everybody out there has a fantastic season. If you have any thoughts, questions, or you just need another goalie parent event to, I am here. David at InGoalmag.com.

If you want the front half of that, go two weeks ago, two episodes ago, and, you'll hear the, opening part of, how to be a better goalie parent, how to how to have your best season as a goalie parent this year. I love the praise the effort, not the result. That that's something I think it's hard to do sometimes.

It is. It is definitely hard to do sometimes, but I think the line I've used on here before is you gotta catch them being good. If you're out there just finding things that people do wrong, then you're going to have a negative relationship. But you might have to work hard at it, but you can find something to praise. And then once you do that, the kids, I promise, will follow along.

So don't accept that you're going to lose every skate. Just, hey, you were closer to that guy than ever before. Oh, you gave one of the players a run for his money. You beat your goalie partner there. Just what can you do to to get them working really hard and understanding that hard work is a good thing and it's fun.