Many ball hockey goalies struggle with butterfly and butterfly slide. This happens because going down to butterfly is not natural movement for adults. The common mistake is to land on the front face of the pad or slide with the pads tucked behind you. Goalies sometimes jump into the slide, because they did not train the movement off the court or ice. ReasonY Academy worked hard to prepare simple butterfly exercises that you can do at home within one minute. The 1 minute – Improve your slide challenge consists of 3 videos that you can perform over 3 days. Each day you will perform different butterfly slide exercise that will help you improve your mobility. These exercises can be used by ice hockey, inline and ball hockey goalies.

The first exercise is about strengthening the legs and getting the proper ankle mobility. Ankle mobility plays a vital role during the slide and helps to get on the sliding knee quicker.

Please make sure you warm up before the exercise. Place a foam block between your feet. In case you don’t have a foam block, you can use books. Stack the books so the movement is doable, but challenging. Focus on the ankle movement and sliding the foot to the side. Do not land on the foam block; rather touch it with your knee. Keep all the weight on the squatting leg and have your arms in the glove and blocker position. Having the goalie glove and blocker on your hands and holding the stick is also beneficial. If you need more challenge, put your hands behind your head and cross your fingers. Keep your chest up at all times, just like you are during a game. Use your core muscles to have a good stability and do not hold your breath. Perform 10 reps on each leg.

Check out the video below.