Build your game
on a Rock Solid
foundation!!
Newfoundland's
premiere goaltender
development program!!
The RSG Goaltending Program
The RSG program is divided into distinct development levels which help lay the foundation for training success. This progressive separation allows us to provide a much greater and productive emphasis on smaller bundles of skills. Rather than trying to teach goaltenders a little bit about everything in a short term program, RSG focuses on smaller groups of skills, takes greater care in their explanation, is more progressive in their delivery, and maximizes technical repetitions. The end result is a much more pronounced development experience for our students.
Multiple Development Levels
The effectiveness of a curriculum is directly tied to the level of the athlete attending. Since our programs have many students attending, RSG's desire is to ice a group of athletes that are very similar in their skill attributes. It is very difficult to run an effective curriculum when beginners are on the ice with more advanced goalies. Only when similarly skilled students are combined can a productive curriculum be delivered. Many other programs continue to ice groups of players that are disparate in skill and, as a result, have limited growth. In addition to the desire to ice groups with similar skill, our progressive approach allows the on-ice curriculum to focus on smaller bundles of skills. This ensures a full and productive commitment to each skill introduced, as opposed to a general skill overview which is provided in virtually all other camp environments. The first challenge when welcoming a goalie into the RSG program is to determine the proper starting point within our program; in other words, in which development level should he or she begin.
Highly Defined Development Groups
The enjoyment and challenge of a program not only comes from participating with goaltenders of a similar skill level but also of a similar age. RSG has narrow age brackets so that we continue to ice groups of goalies who have similar physical traits. These tight age brackets allow us to provide a meaningful off-ice program to these athletes. For instance, a 17-year old age bracket can do different things as it relates to physiology than a 12-year old age bracket can. Multiple development levels ensure optimal curriculum efficiency on the ice and narrow age brackets do the same off the ice. Together, these two cornerstones maximize the efficiency of the RSG training curriculum and the goaltender's development experience. RSG also has carefully controlled goalie/coach ratios for each development level. Not only do low goalie/coach ratios increase the volume of instruction but also ensures that students and coaches build strong, two-way relationships which further enhances the efficiency of our camps. An additional benefit of strong coach/goalie ratios is the on-ice productivity. Beyond just the teaching benefit, a larger staff ensures that goaltenders are always active throughout each ice session.
Performance Development Aspects
At RSG we believe there are four aspects to a goaltender's performance:
Technical
Tactical
Physiological
Psychological
Our programs are designed to address each of these performance elements. We have all seen many goaltenders who are effective in 1, 2 or 3 of these areas but ultimately fail because they did not address weakness in the other area(s). At RSG, we leave no stone unturned in our quest to enhance a goaltender's ability.
Development Partnership
RSG programs are designed around the partnership concept. We will provide each student goaltender with a world class development experience. In return, each student must embrace a much higher standard from themselves, not just at camp but pre-camp and post-camp. With this in mind, we equip our goalies with the resources to not only develop at camp but we mentor them on how to take charge of their own development on a daily basis. At RSG, we teach our goaltenders to become their own best goalie coach.
Camp Structure
RSG camp structure is renowned for its limited group size. Many other camps accept as many registrants as possible in an attempt to maximize revenue. At RSG, we have a different approach...to provide attending athletes with one of the most significant development experiences of their lives. To do this, we carefully control the structure of our camp. Each program has a fixed registration number and coach/athlete ratio.
We believe that we have put together the premier goaltender-development experience. This has been achieved, in part, through the integrity of our structure and programming.
