We have been talking about this type of organized program for a couple of years and now the plans are starting to come together slow but sure. All this is based on those numerous calls and questions we have been getting from goalies in Finland and also various teams and schools in North America. Our goal is to have the program ready to be announced early 2010 and then have the first goalies to move to North America the following year.
Program will be fairly simple and consists the following services:
• Advisory and consultancy services for candidates
• Creation of proper CV’s and introductory videos
• Introductions and recommendations to interested teams / schools
• North American showcase camp starting summer 2011
• Training & coaching advisory to prepare the candidates for the game in North America
Overall Finland has some great goalie coaching available and most of the good level Finnish junior goalies have gone through good fundamental training and have capabilities to play at real high level. That’s why Finnish junior goalies are also interesting to North American junior teams and schools, but the number of them playing on the other side of the pond is still way too low considering the amount of potential we have. Goaliepro’s program is going to be designed to aid in filling this void.
Personally I believe that it is a very good path for these young men to go after their hockey and career dreams through U.S. college hockey system. There’s nothing better getting a great education for free while also playing hockey at a very high level. Once these players have graduated from their schools (usually 4 year programs) they can go after their professional hockey careers, but if that doesn’t work they also have good degrees already and are ready to approach other professional / business careers.
For college, these kids need to graduate from Finnish high school first (ylioppilas) and pass U.S. language (TOEFL) as well as SAT tests. We will also advice on the TOEFL and SAT tests / process once our program starts. Every student needs to clear also the scrutiny of NCAA clearing house both academically as well as with their amateur status. So remember that you can’t dream of college hockey if you have signed a professional contract or if you have been participating at professional game, even as a backup for one game.
There will be a lot of opportunities for the kids also to play junior hockey at U.S. before being eligible for college hockey. We have several junior teams already asking about possibilities to get Finnish goalies on their roster. This option can be a good one to get visibility as the colleges scout the best junior leagues in U.S. all the time.
As part of preparations we have started to collect data on potential Finnish junior goalies. As the next step we are also contacting junior teams and colleges at U.S. to find out which ones are interested in our prospect information once the program starts.
Stay tuned, we will be live with this program early 2010.
Tekstit
