This first article is about passion. I have always been passionate about goaltending development and human growth. Starting the school at the age of sixteen and soliciting thirty Montreal area goalie parents until they felt sorry enough for me to sign up for my first school, is testament to that fervor. Growing it into the largest goalie school in the world, developing goalies that have gone on to play in the NHL and personally coaching in the NHL is the reward. I am presently in the process of overhauling the school’s website which is testament that the passion to continue to be one of the top goaltending programs in the world is alive and well.
Not only is our new website an aesthetic upgrade, it should greatly improve the customer experience by providing development related educational content as well as sophisticated customer relations software.
This section of the site will feature bi-weekly articles where everything pertinent to goaltending will be addressed by myself, NHL, AHL, European Professional, OHL and College goaltenders, strength and conditioning coaches, scouts and other hockey authorities.
Also, I am particularly excited about the September launch of our comprehensive online goaltending instructional video series. Each week throughout the season, members will be able to access a new video segment designed to improve a specific aspect of playing goal. The production has been filmed with motion picture quality HD cameras and will be delivered on a platform that will disburse a high quality picture. The videos are professionally edited to provide a fast-moving and exciting educational tool for your development. My passion is alive and well, how is yours?
Each one of you is well into your season. Some are having breakout years, others are struggling, some are playing average and some aren’t playing at all because of injury or because they are riding pines. These are the realities of being human, of experiencing the rollercoaster that is not just hockey, but is life. However, no matter what reality you face at this time, there exists an ingredient that will ensure your success in the long run: passion.
If you wish to be successful it takes passion! Passion is the guiding force behind achievement. It motivates one to reach a level found only in one’s dreams. Passion is the antidote for mediocrity. To live without passion is to merely exist.
To become a successful goaltender, one requires a sound technical and tactical understanding of how to play the game, a grasp of what it takes to be emotionally and psychologically ready to play and hard work. The drive and passion you possess inside enables these components to come together.
Without passion, your success will be muted. You will be carried by skill alone. Unfortunately in life (or I should say, fortunately), skill plays a small part. Unless that skill is accompanied by zeal you will not achieve goaltending success. Even for those of you who play in the NHL, success is not measured merely by the fact you made it. It is calibrated by the ability to live up to one’s potential.
The desire to be the best, putting in an honest days work, these are things that inspire people. They are traits of which one can be proud. They resonate beyond your days in the game and become a legacy that endures. Approach the game with fervor. Give everything you’ve got.
Hockey is just a small part of life. I hope that the influence Jon Elkin’s Goalie Schools has on you results in more than mere goaltending accomplishment. It is my wish that you learn to pursue what is important with vigor and gusto. Any other approach is just not good enough. May passion be the ingredient that brings you joy and success in hockey and in life.
Jon Elkin
