:: GOALIE FRUSTRATIONS ::

Today I was talking to a young goaltender who I have been working with to help him make quadrant hockey for the first time, when we got on the topic of consistency. The young goaltender who I was working with has been struggling with consistency and feels like he may never become as consistent as the goalies he will be competing against in tryouts. This young goalie is frustrated.

To help goaltenders out there, I wanted to start with a story about a young goaltender who, when he was good, he was great and when he was bad, he was really bad. This young goalie wore his heart on his sleeve and had a true love for the position of goaltender and it showed. When games were not going this goalie’s way, he would be quick to get upset and may have broken a few sticks. The better the hockey this goalie played, the more he expected out of his game and the more his frustrations towards his inconsistent play grew. It was at this time this goaltender decided that to be successful as a goaltender, he would need the help of a mental performance coach.

This goaltender was me.

So how about you? Do you get frustrated? Have you ever lost your cool? Maybe fellow athletes or coaches refer to you as a hot head? Do you hold onto the frustrations of the last goal? Game? You’re not alone.

Goalies everywhere are being taught to show no emotion after a goal. Showing emotions after a goal lets the other team know they have gotten to the goaltender and the goaltender’s team worry that the goaltender may be in trouble. These goaltenders then bottle up the negative emotions and frustrations of the previous goal in their mind which leads to blowouts or terrible performances.

The first step to overcome your frustrations and emotions from a bad goal is to realize that being frustrated about the goal is human nature. An angry reaction to a bad goal is the direct result of feeling as though we are capable of better. The intention of the anger which we feel after a goal is a positive one as it is produced with the intentions of driving us to be a better goaltender. Yet by getting angry, we end up shooting ourselves in the foot if we don’t find an appropriate release.

The key to resolving frustration is to honour the intention of wanting to play better through the process of learning. Each time that you allow a goal, use the goal as an opportunity to review what you did wrong and what it is that you can do next time so that you don’t experience these feelings again. Every single National Hockey League goaltender has allowed bad goals throughout their careers, but the key to their success is their ability to learn from their mistakes and become better at the parts of their game which they have been exposed.

Even today when I strap on the pads, I get frustrated when I have been scored on just like I did when I was a young goaltender with NHL aspirations. The difference is that I have learned how to let go of these frustrations and strive to learn from every goal that I allow. These same mental techniques have also helped many goaltenders which I work with varying in skill level from beginner to pro to experience the frustrations of being scored on as a positive and not allow one bad goal or game to lead them down the same path of inconsistency.

Shaun Smith is the founder of Absolute Mental Training and provides The Goalie Guild with a weekly column that is posted every Tuesday. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email him at ssmith@absolutementaltraining.com!