356 Parents: 10 tips for making goaltending more affordable

What is up this week? Something all goalie parents need, 10 tips for making goaltending more affordable. And Woody?

Yes, sir.

As you're listening, I want you to see if you can see how this was inspired by two things you've already talked about on the podcast today.

Oh, I was told there'd be no test. Okay.

K. So she wants to be a goalie, and it terrifies you. The pucks, the pressure, and somewhere underneath all that, the quiet one, the cost. You've seen the price of pads, and a little voice went, maybe she should play forward. I get it.

I won't tell you it's free. It certainly isn't. But goaltending's reputation for being expensive is while not untrue, there are options to make it more affordable. So here we go. Here's 10 of them.

Number one, don't buy yet. Go with the loaners. Lots of associations still keep a gear pool. They now run some try goaltending sessions. Ask yourself the question ask them the question, excuse me, do you have loaner equipment?

Your kid can play a whole season and more to find out if she loves it before you spend a dime. Number two, when you do buy, maybe start buying used. And here's one, treat it like a rental. Kids outgrow their gear so the used market is huge. Go out and buy something quality, keep it clean, resell it when she grows.

Your cost is actually just the gap between what you paid and then what you got back. Make sure though that it fits well. Don't buy too big and hope she'll grow into it. Oversized pads make it so hard to play the game. Number three, the second price point gear is excellent.

When it's time to buy, as we've mentioned, we've watched these lines for years. They're not good enough. They're genuinely great, and they last multiple even triple a and junior seasons. Number four, save on the stick but not the mask. You don't need a $400 stick for a nine year old.

And like we tease Woody, the warm up stick is plenty good. You can go with cheaper lines or if you really have to have something top end, go more affordable for practices. The mask though is the one thing I don't think you should ever cheap out on. Get fitted, certified, no exceptions. If you really want to look cool, go for a vinyl wrap from maybe our friends over at Custom Cages or many of the other companies out there that beats the custom paint bill.

Number five, ask for the goalie break. Goaltenders are scarce, so a lot of associations knowing what you have to invest in gear and training quietly discount registration but they might might even chip in to help you with some training, but you may have to ask. And if money's tight, there are some programs out there. I know in Canada here, we've got jump start and kids sport that exist exactly for that and there's no shame in using them at all. We want everybody to be able to be a goalie.

Number six, use your association's goaltending program for training. Where these exist, they are often excellent and very affordable, even built into the fees you're paying sometimes. Check with your association before you go shopping for private help. Number seven, camps for some affordable reps. Yep.

Check out our camp guide. Camps can be a cheaper way to bank real reps and your kid builds some great relationships with other coaches and goalies that are worth as much as the ice time. Shop around for more affordable options. There's lots in the directory. Some people have shorter camps that cuts down on the cost.

Our good friend Kyle Konin is even offering a free session in Calgary coming up soon. The free reps are right here. This is number eight. Watch the drills on InGoal and then go do them like a public skate, drop in, stick and puck, a parent, a bucket of pucks, drill off her phone is real development. Just ask Dustin Wolf and Connor Hellebuyck who did exactly this.

Number nine, off ice training, try other sports. The goalie specific off ice programs are great if you can swing it, and they're good programs run by some really great people. But you've also heard me say it before, baseball, soccer, tennis, phenomenal off ice training for you. Nice break for your mind, same skills, rec league price. Number 10, borrow an older goalie.

This is one of my favorites. Invite a high school or junior netminder from your association to come help out your younger kid in practice or maybe join them for one of those sessions at stick and puck. A lot of them need volunteer hours for school. They can get them coaching your kid and your kid gets a hero out of it and some great coaching. So goaltending, definitely not free, but it doesn't need to be as bad as the number that scared you.

Right size the money and you're left with the only question that it was ever really about, does she want to do it? Don't let the price tag answer it. Let her. I'm glad my parents let me.

Okay. What was my homework assignment?

Quiz time. Two things that you've already talked about today that inspired this.

Well, the the second price point gear was one of them.

Yeah. That's a no brainer.

And the subscription to InGoal?

You're getting warmer.

I'm trying to think of what I talked about. I just see, here's the thing, folks. I just talk. I don't actually think when I talk, so I don't remember therefore what I talked about. So which one of

great thing to take to stick and puck or wherever you're gonna get some cheap cheap skating is Dylan Garand skating drills that you can just pull off your phone and go try them yourself. I think do not need a coach. You do not need anything except a little bit of ice, and it is available cheaply in some places.

Yes. There you go. And we talked about the stick and puck. I heard you talk about that. And whether it's Eric Comrie or Connor Hellebuyck or so many of the guys, you don't need necessarily you just need a little bit of oh, what's the word I'm looking for?

Competitiveness isn't even that. You just just need to have some motivation to go get better, and the tools are there. You don't need to have a goalie skate and a goalie coach and everything set up perfectly and 10 people looking at you and iPads all over the place. If you can't skate, you can't play. But And you can skate.

Make the opportunities available for them. We're not telling you to force your kid to go off to stick and puck and start practicing when they're nine years old. If they wanna do it, that is awesome. Show them opportunities. Let them decide.

Well, it doesn't have to be nine years old either. Right? Hellebuyck was.

I'm picking a number.

In high school at 16 when he was doing it. So Yep. Great stuff, my friend. Great stuff, mister Hutchison. That, of course, presented the Parent Playbook by our friends at Stop It Goaltending U.