What a week!
From start to finish I don’t think this camp could have gone any smoother. By Friday, every single goalie had visibly improved from where they were on Monday. I have been shooting for a long time, and have worked many weeklong camps in my day, and I don’t recall ever coming off the ice on a Friday afternoon and being able to say to Andrew and Dan that every single goalie had made serious performance gains. This week Dan, Andrew and I agreed that this was the case.
So, with that being said, we have to ask ourselves, why was this camp so great? Here’s what I came up with:
• Goalies had an “I want to improve” attitude.
• Hard, disciplined off-ice work.
• Making every on-ice minute count, every goalie listened attentively, and there was no fooling around or disagreements.
• Attention to detail: Listening to the instructors and taking their advice
• Communication: No goalies were shy! If someone had a question for a shooter or instructor, they asked it.
• Team work: Goalies pushed their partners and I felt everyone on the ice was genuinely hoping that their camp mates improved along with them.
• Leadership: Many of the goalies stepped up and demonstrated that they were leaders on the ice.
• Finally, we all had a great time. Hockey is fun, and when you’re enjoying yourself the most it’s also likely that you’re playing at your best. Fun and performance usually come hand in hand.
As Andrew mentioned on Friday afternoon, I took this week off my regular job to come work on the ice with you guys. Lots of people have asked me why I didn’t go on vacation or use the days off to relax. My reason is because of you guys. You all made me very proud this week and I hope you all had as much fun improving your goaltending as I did shooting on you. Thanks to everybody for a great week. Now go to tryouts and show all the coaches the goalies you’ve become!
-Nick
