Parents: The dangers of giving advice to a young goalie before a game and even during play no matter how well-intentioned.

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Hutch.

Okay, guys. I I saw a question this week from a parent who was concerned that all the pregame chatter and encouragement from other parents might be affecting their child when they have to go out and play goal. You know, the father of the left winger comes up and says, hey, Johnny. Have a great game. Don't forget to challenge the shooter.

Keep your stick on the ice. Focus out there. Whatever it might be. We know it's, well meaning in most cases, but they wondered, could it be causing problems for their goalie? Maybe that parent's planting a seed that's gonna distract them in some way.

In short, it absolutely can be a problem and but guess what? We parents need to be just as cautious. And, the time frame for when this matters extends a lot further out than you might imagine. It's not just as the kids skating onto the ice or leaving the dressing room or or whatever, but we'll get to that in a bit. As we know, a goalie lives in a world of split second reads.

They're tracking the puck, they're scanning for threats, they're recognizing patterns, they have to anticipate what's coming next. That ability depends on a precise balance of perception, working memory, emotional control, and it's far easier to disrupt than most parents or coaches realize. And it's especially hard for the youngest goalies. Now let's start with the obvious. We'll get back to this parent situation, but the obvious is the in game distractions.

There are no shortage of goalie parents or quite frankly parents of players who will be yelling things during games that cut right through the athlete's focus. Come on, Johnny. Focus. Backdoor. Challenge.

Even elite athletes slow down and make more mistakes when sudden verbal distractions are introduced.

And even if you think you're yelling something encouraging and supportive, it still cuts through that attention. That's that attention that scientists call selective attention. It's an ability to lock on to the right cues and ignore everything else. Even elite athletes slow down and make more mistakes when sudden verbal distractions are introduced. I love the research by Joan Vickers at the University of Calgary.

She's famous for her quiet eye work. I'm sure we've mentioned it here before. It's the ability of an athlete to fixate their gaze in those final moments before they have to react. And elite athletes, they just do it for longer. They can lock that focus on whereas the less elite athletes than the regular athletes, their their eyes are bouncing around all over the place.

Guys, I don't know if you've ever seen somebody tested for reading ability where they can show how the pupils, what they're tracking along the, along the pages they're reading. And some people, they're just locked right onto those words and characters and other people, the pupils are bouncing all over the place and surprised those are their people have some issues with with reading and so on. And it's kind of like that. Can you lock on to the puck as it were longer than other people? That that's one of the things that shows that people are elite and more importantly for today, their research has shown that distractions shorten that quiet eye period.

The longer it is, the better you are. They can show that distractions shorten it. They shift the athletes from anticipatory. Maybe we can stay the say the flow state where they're just waiting for things to happen to having to react to things and and that changes everything. This is, one scientific basis you might say for Woodies.

If you think out there, you're dead. So if the puck is in the zone, your goalie needs their full vision and full attention locked in. The science is clear. When you shout at them, even positively, you're pulling them out of the attentional mode they need. Stress responses by the way also matter.

Studies from other research have shown that even mild stress narrows your attention and and causes athletes ironically to fixate on single cues instead of reading the whole play. There there's more to it obviously than just the the fixation of that quiet eye versus being able to take in lots of cues. The the quiet eye is about that instantaneous moment just before having to to make your move. Whereas now now we're talking broader brush here. But stress matters and let's face it, goalies in particular get put in to a lot of stressful situations by parents, coaches and and so on.

Now, developmental research shows us that the youngest athletes are especially vulnerable. The brain we know develops right through childhood and beyond and often it's the youngest kids who get the most quote unquote expert advice from the parents. Cheering, by the way, becomes harmful whenever it competes with the cues that the goalie needs, even positive cheering. So what am I saying? Can you cheer?

Well, from a scientific standpoint, you probably shouldn't while the puck is in a dangerous area in zone. Wait till the puck is out of the zone, and even then, they're suggesting that you should be keeping a general and team focused rather than, awesome, Johnny. Great saves out there. That's distracting the kid away from where they need to be. I'm certainly guilty of that myself.

Even pregame technical reminders like an hour before the game can push athletes into an internal focus, thinking about those things, that's gonna slow their reactions and disrupt their automatic reactions. Supportive nontechnical encouragement before the game, that's far more beneficial.

There's even some suggestion that that parents who can be so incredibly positive and encouraging can also put their kids into a tough spot because then the kid shifts from what they need to be doing on the ice even even subtly to being focused on trying to please their parents. So back to the pregame, which is where we started. Even pregame technical reminders like an hour before the game can push athletes into an internal focus, thinking about those things, that's gonna slow their reactions and disrupt their automatic reactions. Supportive nontechnical encouragement before the game, that's far more beneficial. Have a great game, Johnny.

Susie, have fun out there. That one's my favorite. Use it all the time. But like I said, even parents who keep it a 100% positive have to be careful because it can shift kids into playing to please us, which puts them in the wrong mental state to perform. But what about coaches?

Because they're giving technical cues before a game all the time. I even heard about a coach that was doing video in the dressing room just before the kids went out onto the ice. Well, the answer is yes. They do, but the relationship with the coach is different and and it matters. Athletes expect the technical input from the coaches, and they're not seeking emotional approval in the same way as they are with us as parents.

But even then, the research is clear. Pregame should stay simple. One theme, no big technical dumps, some tactical reminders are fine. It's the mechanical ones, the technical ones that usually backfire on you. This is probably a note to the coaches who decide to go into the dressing room between periods and start breaking down technique for goalies.

Okay. It all comes down to this. Parents, the goalie parent, the parent of the other players on the team, they've got one job. Support without adding noise. Provide calm, emotional support, create a predictable routine, and let the athletes training take over.

Okay. It all comes down to this. Parents, the goalie parent, the parent of the other players on the team, they've got one job. Support without adding noise. Provide calm, emotional support, create a predictable routine, and let the athletes training take over.