Some People Are And Here’s How You Become Professional At It
By Travis Bosch
The best job that I have ever had would be working hockey schools during the spring and summer months. These specialized camps are for young goalies learning to play the game of hockey. The pay is great at 30$ dollars an hour and helping others gave me personal gratification. A typical camp is challenging for all kids attending as well as the instructors teaching, here’s a look at what you may experience at a goalie camp.
Anyone can be an instructor but quality ones are hard to come by. When I am instructing I think it’s very important to utilize my good social skills. I’ve found that the kids will be more enthusiastic about learning if they can relate to their instructor. By making the material more exciting, the kids will be more eager to learn. This includes making simple drill stations into competitions and fun exercises. If my students are having fun, they tend to overlook how hard they are actually working.
At a goalie camp there are a lot of skills and technical terms used to describe all the crucial aspects of being a goalie. Some common terms are t-gliding, shuffle and butterfly. When I’m instructing and I see that someone is doing something improperly it is important to stop them and explain what he did wrong. The conversation might go something like this:
“Well buddy you’re moving backwards at a great speed but when you go to shuffle over your butterfly looks a little sloppy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well when you go into the butterfly you want to flare your legs for a bigger blocking surface”
“Oh so you mean pull my knees together but push out my feet?”
“Exactly what I mean. It’s kind of like making a mini wall on the ice.”
“I get you now!”
“Good! Now get back in there and show me a good butterfly!”
Usually the kids are pretty responsive and love to learn, especially when they get the hang of it. When they do something correctly, it’s important to praise them so that they know they’re doing it right. I remember attending goalie camp, and when older guys who I looked up to told me, “good job!” I really felt proud. In fact, I would tell my parents about it as soon as the ice session was over.
A typical day at a hockey school can go on and on. It’s long for the parents, kids and instructors. There are two-three hour ice sessions a day. To some people this would seem like work, but I enjoy it so much that I don’t feel like it is. It’s a long time to be on skates but you get used to it. Between the ice times, there are dry-land sessions, which are pretty easy for the instructors. They usually take place in a gym and consist of yelling orders to kids, using stop watches to count plyometric times, and, overall, trying to make young goalies better off-ice athletes. It’s important to be fit and limber as a goalie. A goalie will instantly stop more when his conditioning has improved. When the day has come to an end and everyone is tired, you remind the kids and parents of the ice time tomorrow and wish them a wonderful night.
What I liked the best about my job were the money and the ability to help others. Because I am not able to work all winter due to hockey and school, I find it important to I make as much money as I can in the summer. This job fills that need for me. I also feel like I’m giving back to the community. I know that when I was little, my parents and I appreciated goalies I admired for helping me. Now I have reached a point in my life where I possess the skills and the life knowledge to give back. There’s nothing better than seeing a kid running out to his parents all excited about what he learned at goalie school that day. I can relate to these kids and that is why I think an instructor is the best job I’ve ever had.
Warm up stretch.
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