Goalie Camps

[Gummer12 134]

Looking for opinions on goalie camps in Michigan. The ones that first come to mind are Future Pro, and Between The Pipes. World Pro, And I know there's one up in the Soo but can't think of the name right now. Looking for thoughts on these on what ones are better for the $ and which ones to avoid and such. I'll hang up and listen to your answers offline. Thanks

[Law Goalie 147]

I would strongly recommend FuturePro. Reasons:

1) taught by a B.S.Ed. - meaning you're being trained by somebody with a working knowledge of kinesiology, but more importantly, someone who knows how to *teach*. Lots of guys have pumped-up hockey resumes, but that doesn't mean they can teach for beans.

2) taught by an NHL goalie coach - meaning more analytical hours spent with goalies in person and on film, both as a coach and as a scout.

3) taught by someone who has contributed more to the state of the art both in publications and in general knowledge than anyone, with the *possible* exceptions of Mitch Korn, Warren Strelow, Dave Clark, Vladislav Tretiak, and Jukka Ropponen (if you can read Finnish!) - I would call them Steve's peers.

There are other reasons, like the fact that FP tends to use pro shooters (up to and including NHL players) who have the skill to pace and place shots according to any standard, better instructional equipment than I've seen anywhere else. However, IMO, the distinguishing feature of McKichan's camps is the quality of teaching. I've audited (by which I mean attended as a non-participant, not that I cited them for tax fraud!) a lot of goalie camps, and the one consistent problem was a low standard of teaching. FP is, in that respect, the gold standard.

Interestingly, BTP's on-ice training is run by Jeremy Kaleniecki, who trained under Steve McKichan at FuturePro. That in itself is a pretty strong recommendation for BTP, if you can't happen to do FP's dates.

[SEagle30 0]

Wex, I can tell you from first hand experience that FuturePro teaches you how to be a goalie. What I mean by this is that they only do drills like to basically work you out. There is really no explanation on how to use certain positions and saves in game like situations. They only do drills at that camp. And as far as pro shooters go, you'll be lucky to get one and maybe some junior or college shooters. As far as the other camps, I only know that the Between the pipes school is the same one that you have probably seen in TC and I've heard good and bad things about it. The one in the Soo you are referring to is called Global Goaltending. It is a camp run by Professional goalie Bill Zaniboni. I have attended this camp and have helped instruct at it. It is in it's second year so the kinks are still getting worked out. However, Zaniboni teaches you what I said Future Pro lacks. He tells you what saves you should use in certain situations to give you the best percentage save. Also one of the aspects of the camp is he will film you during the camp, compile it at the end, break it down and give you a written overview of what you do well and what you need to work on. I found that this is very beneficial. More information about the Global goaltending camp can be found at www.hockeybeauties.com. Click on global goaltending.

[Law Goalie 147]

Wex, I can tell you from first hand experience that FuturePro teaches you how to be a goalie. What I mean by this is that they only do drills like to basically work you out. There is really no explanation on how to use certain positions and saves in game like situations. They only do drills at that camp. And as far as pro shooters go, you'll be lucky to get one and maybe some junior or college shooters. As far as the other camps, I only know that the Between the pipes school is the same one that you have probably seen in TC and I've heard good and bad things about it. The one in the Soo you are referring to is called Global Goaltending. It is a camp run by Professional goalie Bill Zaniboni. I have attended this camp and have helped instruct at it. It is in it's second year so the kinks are still getting worked out. However, Zaniboni teaches you what I said Future Pro lacks. He tells you what saves you should use in certain situations to give you the best percentage save. Also one of the aspects of the camp is he will film you during the camp, compile it at the end, break it down and give you a written overview of what you do well and what you need to work on. I found that this is very beneficial. More information about the Global goaltending camp can be found at www.hockeybeauties.com. Click on global goaltending.

Some of your comments are a little puzzling. Which FuturePro camp did you attend?

I've studied FP's work in Strathroy closely, from the relatively objective perspective of a non-attendee with nothing invested, and I did not find any of the faults you mentioned. I thought the time was intelligently divided between off-ice classroom instruction, on-ice skill development, and dryland training. More to the point, what consistently impressed me was how the classroom sessions (which were well-planned and pedagogically sound) prepared the teaching points for the icetime and explained the drills in advance, so that no time on ice was squandered with lectures and explanations. That is somewhat different than most goalie sessions I've watched, where most of the time on the ice is spent discussing things that could easily have been prepared off-ice.

I'm also a little puzzled by your comment that "they only do drills." That's pretty clearly not all they do, since the on-ice time is at most one third of camp. When on the ice, what besides drills would they be doing?

As for the shooters, I'm a bit surprised that you find FP's shooters sub-standard. Andy MacDonald is there every summer, and with McKichan being a former NHL coach, he's not exactly short on contacts. Most of the shooters are AHL, ECHL, and European pros, as I understood.

Most camps these days film their students as a matter of course. Some (including FP) have also begun using on-ice Dartfish terminals for more immediate feedback, in addition to daily critical screenings and the common practice of an end-of-camp breakdown.

I did go the hockeybeauties.com - I'm sorry to say that I couldn't find much information about Mr. Zaniboni, his approach to goaltending, or his teaching practices. Would you happen to know what his credentials are? Has he published any articles on the position or his methods that I might be able to review? I'm always interested in expanding my knowledge of the game. Since I infer that you wrote the following blurb on his website, I assume you know his work well enough to elaborate:

[SEagle30 0]

Law,

I attended the Strathroy camp with Andrew Roycroft and Justin Pogge. I believe that it was 3 or 4 years ago. I give credit to the camp in saying that doing the drills gets you into better shape but theres no on ice explanation of how or when saves should be used. As you stated every good camp should have ice, dryland, and classroom work. There was however no "Pro shooters" at the FP camp that I attended sand I was part of the "Elite" session.

Now as far as the Hockeybeauties.com camp, Bill Zaniboni really helped me with my game. With the help of IHL shooters from the Flint Generals and the college and junior shooters at his camp he gets into the net and shows you what saves are the highest percentage in certain situations. The drills he does are designed for game like situations and the shooters go at game tempo. I can vouch for the game tempo from the high intensity and level of energy i had left after doing the drills the whole ice session. He teaches the butterfly style to his students and adapts the drills to the level that they are at.

[Gummer12 134]

Any incite into Bandits camps, as compared to the others mentioned?