These progressions and movements are fundamental for any goalie at all levels. We start off with our basic shuffles. It’s important to take our time and focus on quality vs speed. We are going to start by moving side to side on a line. We want to remember our points from our shuffle lesson (see here). We want to be in our basic stance and use our back leg to push as we slide our front foot down the line. Then we pull our back leg back under and reset.
After we mastered our basic shuffle down the line, we can do our t-push progression. Again, it is important to stress quality vs speed. We want to remember our t-push lesson as we use this drill. (see here) We start this drill like our shuffles and begin in our basic stance. Then with our lead leg we want to point our toes in a 90º angle and push off our back leg. This will allow us to glide down the line. After a few feet, we want to pivot that front foot back and stop hard. We pull that back leg under us, and then reset.
Remember our shuffles are used for smaller adjustments around our crease and t-pushes are used for larger adjustments. For example, a d to d pass at the top of the zone is a great place to use a t push. A short pass from the top of an in-zone face-off circle to the same side half board would be a great place to use a shuffle adjustment.