Skating Techniques for Young Goalies: Building a Strong Foundation

The Importance of Skating for Goalies

Skating is a fundamental aspect of a goaltender’s role. The ability to move into position, quickly change direction, and maintain balance is crucial. These skills are essential for matching the speed of play. Therefore, skating technique is a critical point in the development of young goalies.

Often, coaches focus on shooting drills and technical skills from the very first practices. They tend to neglect skating because it’s seen as less fun for young athletes. To keep them smiling, there’s a tendency to do less skating and more shooting drills. Is this the right choice? In my opinion, no. A goalie can be as coordinated as possible, but if they can’t reach the shooting lane, it’s all pointless.

Building a Solid Foundation

The first step, especially with the youngest players, is to build a solid foundation. This means that when the team skates, goalies should be able to do everything the players do. After all, a goalie is just a player with different equipment. When working specifically with goalies, it’s useful to dedicate at least 15 minutes, twice a week, to a structured skating routine.

Why a Routine?

Having a routine speeds up the learning process. As goalie coaches, we don’t have a lot of time, so every minute counts. A defined structure means you don’t have to explain every drill each time; you can start right away. Corrections can be made actively during the exercise. This also allows you to adapt the structure based on the group’s level without slowing down the process.

Depending on the stage of development, we focus on correcting different key points. For U9–U12, the main priorities are keeping the stick on the ice, maintaining proper hand position, and bending the knees throughout the movements. Technical corrections are tailored to these fundamentals at this age.

Straight-Line Skating Drills

The structure I’ve used for over 10 years typically includes straight-line skating drills, moving from boards to boards. Often, we have at most a third of the rink or just the neutral zone to work with. For younger goalies, skating in a straight line allows for greater focus on technique and little details.

That said, this is just one way to organize skating work. Depending on the space available, we sometimes use different setups or drill structures. Regardless of the format, skating is always a core part of the session.

Adapting for Older Age Categories

For older age categories, we adapt the structure further. With fewer goalies on the ice, we work more in the net. We shift toward game-like skating drills that closely replicate in-game movements and scenarios. This progression ensures that as goalies advance, their skating skills remain directly relevant to real-game demands.

Training Structure

• Warm-up: 2–3 minutes of free skating for the goalies.

  
  

• Part 1: General Skating

- Single C-Cuts forward/backward (first right leg, then left).

- Double C-Cut forward/backward (basic, with a 180° turn after each C-Cut, with jump).

- Forward skating in position with stop & go.

- Alternate knee-down.

- Skating in position with 360° turns (in stance or butterfly).

- If we have cones and time:

- Skate around cones forward/backward in stance or not (depends on development stage).

- Slalom in stance or not.

• Part 2: Specific Goalie Skating

- T-Push.

- Shuffle.

- Slide.

- If the level allows it, also Powerslide.

In Lugano, we repeat this routine twice a week with all U12/U9 goalies. The same structure—adapted for skill level—is used with older age categories, where we focus more on net-based and game-like skating drills.

Flexibility in Training

It’s important to note that even though this structure is set, it doesn’t mean we don’t use other drills. This is simply an example of what we do with young goalies. Our approach is flexible, and we adapt to the needs and context of each group.

Conclusion: The Path to Becoming a Confident Goalie

In conclusion, developing skating skills is vital for young goalies. By focusing on structured routines and adapting to the players' needs, we can help them grow not just as athletes but as confident individuals. Skating is the key that unlocks their potential on the ice. So, let’s lace up those skates and get to work!

---wix---