7 Comments

1. 
   Maria Mountain March 29, 2010 at 12:55 pm #

   Not nitpicky at all Ralph. You are correct, you need to do at least equal practice on your preferred side. Ultimately you don’t want to have a preferred side, but be equally comfortable on each. Thanks for making a great point, I should have mentioned that in the video. Thanks again!
   Cheers,
   Maria
2. 
   RALPH BARD March 28, 2010 at 2:45 pm #

   Great tips maria. I don’t want to nitpick butI couldn’t help notice than when you recovered to your ready stance,you recovered with the same leg every time. I know it’s not really a conditioning flaw but shouldn’t both sides be worked equally to get the full benifit? Also I am trying to find the video of the hip flexability exercises you had up at one time. I’ll keep looking and I will be subscribing to the ultimate goalie training system this week.
3. 
   Maria Mountain March 18, 2010 at 3:11 pm #

   Great point getting into a deeper stance Brian. Thanks for your concern for my patella (actually my medial tibia, but details-details) – there actually was an airex pad under my knees to cushion. That is also why I suggested trying the drill with your goalie pads. But thanks – glad to hear you are looking out for me!
   Cheers,
   Maria
4. 
   Brian Bell March 18, 2010 at 2:29 pm #

   Maria
   I just wanted to add that as well as driving your knees to obtain a quicker drop, goalies get into a deeper stance with their knees closer to ice so there is less distance to travel. The idea of using a partner to initiate the butterfly is great but when I saw you try to demonstrate it on a hardwood floor without kneepadding, I realized you didn’t really understand the butterfly drop. I thought you were going to fracture the patella in one or both knees.

   Brian
5. 
   Jason March 18, 2010 at 10:43 am #

   Hey Maria,
   while gravity plays a pivotal role in the butterfly clearly not all goalies butterfly at the same speed. I have had junior – pro level goalie coaches preach to me the importance of the “knee drive”(the more knee bend in a goalies, stance the faster the goalie can get their knees to the ice) . While I agree that all objects fall at 9.8 m/s^2 in the state of free fall, Is the act of the butterfly in the state of free fall?

   Next time i am on the ice, I will get someone to hold a puck knee high and drop it, at the same time i will Butterfly. I am curious to see what will hit the ice faster.
6. 
   Maria Mountain March 18, 2010 at 8:05 am #

   Hi Jason,

   Thanks for your comment. I think you may understand what I am saying – I am not talking about a single knee drop, but dropping straight into a butterfly. There is a chance you may be misinterpretting the laws of physics. Since the goalies’ feet are not attached to the ice it is impossible for you to ‘pull’ yourself down to the ice. For example, if I am standing up straight and I want to sit my butt on the floor as fast as I can – all I can do is pick up my feet and plop to my butt – I cannot ‘pull’ myself to the floor faster unless my feet are atttached to the floor.

   You mention flexibility and that brings in a different issue – you are correct, if you do not have the flexibility to get into a good butterfly, then you cannot get into a good butterfly quickly, but again that is a different issue. I think what you are saying is that you need to have optimal movement to maximize your speed dropping into the butterfly, which I agree with. If you have optimal movement, then the rest is up to gravity – 9.8m/s/s.

   Cheers,
   Maria

   Thanks again for the comment – have a great day.
   Cheers,
   Maria
7. 
   Jason March 18, 2010 at 7:24 am #

   While I like the idea of reactivity here, I would like to discuss quicker drop downs. In the video you said that getting down to the ice faster cannot really be improved due to gravity. However, flexibility, core strength and knee drive play a key role in a goalies quickness to the ice. If a goalie lets gravity do the work for him/her they will be to slow to the ice. If the goalie focuses on driving their knees (knee drive) to the ice while keeping their core tight in an attempt to break the ice, their time to the ice will become less and less. Flexibility plays a key role because the more flexible a goalie is in their hips, the less resistance they will have due to their own muscles.
   Correct me if I misinterpreted your ideas

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