The Foundation Method for Film
The impact on on-field coaching can be magnified by off-field film study!
We've spoken about this before, and if you are a follower of ours or have worked with Foundation and the Dave Page Goalie School, you know we are BIG believers in the importance, value and impact of film study for goalies of all ages, especially HS/College keepers. Today, I want to give you a quick look at the methodology of how we use film and recommend our goalies utilize their film to reach their potential.
Film serves a variety of purposes, and is a valuable tool to attack issues in a number of ways, but at Foundation, we want to have a "method to the madness" when it comes to film. If you've been attending our Winter Clinics the past month, you've already experienced the first phase of film; Weakness Analysis from qualified coaches. In this first phase, a goalie is filmed going through a warm-up, live shots, or a specific drill that targets a weak area of their game. This film is used by the coach to provide feedback on the themes that are seen in the film, all areas that will provide big improvements if changes are implemented. This is an important first step because for many goalies, this is an introduction to film study. With that in mind, they are not only learning from the coaches notes and analysis, but they are learning WHAT to focus on with film. Notice, we said we are looking for "themes" in the film, not micro-analysizing every single shot. We want to focus on the biggest issues and attend to those first, and not create a lot of "white noise" that clouds the high-impact areas to improve.
The next time through film, we change it up a bit, and the focus shifts what we'd call a "Self Scout". In this case, we film a second session, and this time, the goalie watches through the film on their own, using what they learned from the first session to try and again pick apart their biggest weaknesses in the cage. This can be technical (I need to do a better job of driving my hands to low shots) or simply weak areas (Shooters have a ton of success every time they shoot low and away). We then have our goalies send their Self Scout to the coaches, who go through it and breakdown the film IN THE CONTEXT OF THEIR OWN EVALUATION. This slight tweak in the process does a number of things, the largest of which are forcing a goalie to really think through their own play as well as to advance their ability to watch film even further, while creating goalies who can be more independent in their training, which is always the ultimate goal.
This process can be alternated back and forth, or mixed and matched depending on the needs and goalie-IQ of the individual player, but we've found over the years that a blend of coach-driven film work and self-scouting with subsequent coach-feedback is far more impactful than simply having a coach give you notes on the film alone (although this is still wildly helpful when compared to no film at all!) While we are not able to do film with every goalie, every time we work, it is something we really recommend wherever possible! So if you're training with us on our Sunday sessions right now, you are on your way and will be getting the film work spoken about above. If you aren't, now is a great time to think about joining up for January and February, or reaching out about an individual lesson and film session on your own!
Happy New Year from all of us at Foundation and the Dave Page Goalie School,
Dave