When Kerry Shea became vice president of growth and retention with the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) last year, he was determined to focus on projects that would have a lasting and far-reaching impact.
One issue brought to his attention again and again was difficulty fielding enough, or any, goalies, particularly at the 6U and 8U level. The cost of gear, stigma of the position, parent concern for safety and even players’desire to score goals, not save them, all serve as barriers to starting the growth and development of goalies from a young age.
In the state of Colorado, youth hockey initiatives are supported, in part, by donations that come from a partnership between the NHL’s Avalanche and Toyota. Every time the Avs score a goal, local Toyota dealerships donate $100 to Colorado youth hockey through the Hard Hat Heroes fund.
“We want to really move the needle on getting the little ones to at least experience what it feels and to start to get acquainted and comfortable with goaltending earlier,” Shea said.
The clinics were capped at fewer than 50 participants and several coaches and youth goaltenders volunteered to help introduce the position. Shea said the focus was on giving everyone personalized attention and making sure none of the children were overwhelmed.
“We wanted to celebrate the players and the heritage and the skillset and the excitement and the positive aspects that go along with goaltending,”Shea said. “We want to make it more enjoyable and more attractive and provide better resources like coaching and gear to really help support teams and really allow for depth at the goaltending position around the state.”
Zaba’s knowledge and resources helped spur conversations about how CAHA can ensure these two clinics are just the start of what can be done to get more goalies playing at a younger age, Shea said.
CAHA wants to make sure they provide the appropriate coaching, educationand guidance for associations across the state so that they have the right information to support their teams and players.
But even if associations and teams have information, a major barrier to becoming a goalie is access to equipment. Beyond the basic costs of youth hockey, goaltending brings significantly more gear. And at the age CAHA is targeting, it’s gear that the children grow out of very quickly.
Shea knows that a lot of associations don’t have the appropriate equipmentnecessary to really focus on goaltending at their 6U and 8U programming level, but he hopes that an ongoing initiative that grows out of this project is an upcycling or recycling program of goalie gear across the state.
Getting Grow Colorado Goalies off the ground reinforced for Shea that corroboration and teamwork are keys to helping more hockey players, teamsand associations across the state. He loves how localized the sport can be and he thinks utilizing that close network to support neighboring groups by sharing equipment can help remove barriers to entry for many new players. He hopes to create a more formalized network that takes advantage of the tight-knit hockey community.
CAHA, the Avalanche, Toyota and Pure Hockey all came together to create what looks to be a very replicable and successful initiative that filled a need for hockey associations across Colorado while spreading the joy and love of the game to more people. The clinics were a success for the players on the ice, but also in creating partnerships that can continue to strengthen and impact hockey in Colorado.
“At the end of the day, if we help one kid, this is all worth it,” Shea said. “The clinics really created a fun environment, especially for some of these kids that were not only trying goalie for free, but really putting on skates for the first time. It was so great to see smiles, to see the illumination of these kids, knowing that they’re trying something they’ve never tried before. To feel their joy and happiness and to see that they were enjoying what they were doing was so important.
“We want more people to have the love of the game, and this is how you introduce it to people.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
