Focus Lacrosse: Between the Pipes Newsletter
April Edition
Quote of the Month
"Victory or defeat is not determined at the moment of crisis, but rather in the long and unspectacular period of preparation"
Anonymous
Mental Toughness Tips for Goalies
Tip #1: Goaltenders must learn to be mentally alert, yet physically relaxed to enhance their speed, quickness, focus, accuracy and rebound control.
Tip #2: Goaltenders must learn, practice and employ routines for
pre-game preparation, net location sequences, focusing drills, and refocusing progressions that enhance consistency in performance.
* Pre-Game study—relaxing the “butterflies,” review of confidence boosters.
* Know Your Net Drills —Ritually performed net location sequence for every rink.
* Focusing Drills—Visual focusing, threat awareness, movement senses
* “Now” Practice —Analyze a mistake—Integrate (correction)—Forget
* Read —Read—React—Recover—Reposition
(From McDonnell’s Technogoaltending Vol. 1 “Cobra in the Crease.”
Tip #3: Goaltenders must learn the art of letting go of mistakes. Perfection and shut outs are what we strive for, but they are never expected
Tip #4: Goaltenders must learn how to keep their self-talk productive and positive—and exercise the discipline to keep their internal conversations centered on their performance, confidence and team focus.
Tip #5: Less is more: efficiency and positioning are key. Goaltenders must incorporate spatial integration, focus and anticipation in their mental preparation and execution.
Tip #6: Develop teammate and coach communication skills: goaltenders must learn how to be a vocal team leader.
Save Analysis
Click on the video to see how to avoid a common mistake when trying to see and save the ball.
For more tips and drills to avoid getting stuck when making saves click the link below and subscribe today!
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Pre-Game Stretch
Struggling with staying balanced when attacking low shots? Try these two leg burning warm ups to help build functional strength and improve your range of motion/balance when attacking low shots.
Duck Walk - Set your feet up hip width apart, lower hips/butt down, keep chest up and walk 5-8 yards down and back
For more hip opening stretch routines before practices and games, click below and subscribe the Focus Lacrosse Online Platform
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Equipment Recommendation
Foam Golf Balls
The foam golf ball is a great tool to assist with three major components of the goalie position:
- Hand Eye Coordination - seeing and saving the ball
- Patience - using a soft and hard focus to identify a shot and not rush the save process
- Balance - elimination of wasted movement when moving toward the ball
You can replace a lacrosse or tennis ball with a foam golf ball in any drill you do. Click below to order to today!
Order Today
Check out our growing community
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Wakfield HS (VA) Girls Head Coach
Focus Lacrosse made big impacts not only for my goalies, but how I coached my goalies. It provides something different than just searching for goalie tips on the internet. As a coach I felt more confident reinforcing the drills and key phrases from Focus Lacrosse and I could see our goalies felt more confident with their play. Focus helped me put the explanations and visuals together better and gave my goalies a big boost - after one of our goalie focused sessions (which is hard to plan with just 2 coaches on our high school staff) our starting goalie had 17 saves against a very good opponent. She indicated the exercises we had gone over from just that one practice made a big difference.
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North Stafford High (VA) Boys Head Coach
Focus Lacrosse was a great tool to help our first year varsity goalie come up to speed during a shortened/restricted season (Covid). As a midfielder in my playing days, the platform helped me to understand the goalie position in a way that I could coach/teach our goalie throughout the year. After just two short months of training with the Focus Platform, our goalie earned the honors of 2nd team All-Region
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Hoyt Crance - Yale '19
As an accomplished player and coach, Tim Cassi (Focus Lacrosse) has developed an incredible understanding of what it takes to become a successful goalie at all levels of the game. Whether you are a young goalie who just stepped into the crease, a coach looking to learn more about the position, or an accomplished goalie looking for additional pointers, Focus Lacrosse is an excellent resource detailing the goalie position. Throughout my high school career, I could always rely on Tim to find issues with my game and create effective drills to eliminate these issues. Without a doubt, I can say Tim/Focus Lacrosse played a critical role in my development as a goalie and was a major reason I was able to play Division 1 Lacrosse.
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