ALI HARRIS

As a teen, I was fortunate enough to stumble across a field hockey camp that provided goalie-specific training by international keepers. I was going into my junior year of high school, and it was the first time I had received actual goalie training by an actual goalie. There were thirty or more goalies at that one week of camp - and there I met some of my best friends. It was a setting I would never encounter again as a camper. As I got older and aged out of hockey in the U.S., I began to dream about creating my own version of that camp, where goalies would learn all about being a goalie from real Goalkeeper Specialists and would find a space to be 100% themselves in a goalie peer-group. Thanks to many great mentors and some other dreamers, I got the courage to found Ultimate Defender in 2013: package all of my goalie knowledge, teacher training, sport psychology science, and try to make it work. Fast forward to 2023, and it is now my full-time job.

There have been ups and downs over the last twelve years, but the dream is a reality. Ultimate Defender Goalkeeper Academy educates over 200 goalies a year from all parts of the U.S. and Canada. My team of coaches spans collegiate Divisions 1-3, includes multiple senior-level international players and All-Americans, and features top collegiate players as assistants. We have had events all over the East Coast and Mid-West. Camp 2024 hosted 95 goalies and 26 members of staff. It’s working. It’s growing. We will continue to expand.

Goalies are a unique bunch - many pushed into the role because someone thought they “fit the part”, some like the outfit, some got hit in the foot a lot as a defender, some are just plain nuts. For whatever reason you’re a goalie, we are here to make it your home. Weirdos welcome.

Ithaca College - 2018 - M.S. Exercise and Sport Science - Sport Psychology

(Highlights: Applied Sport Psychology, Biomechanics, Psychophysiology)

Lock Haven University - 2009 - B.Ed Secondary Education - Social Studies,

Minor - Coaching

Skidmore College - Associate Head Coach (2021-2023)

UAlbany - Assistant Coach (2018-2021)

Cornell University - Assistant Coach (2016-2018)

WC Eagles - Director of Goalkeeping (2014-2016)

Cornell University - Goalkeeping Specialist (2010-2014)

Lock Haven University - Student Assistant Coach (2008-2009)

Mental skills and sport psychology are invaluable to goalkeepers. They are skills that require time and practice to develop, the same as any technical skill. Focus training, goal setting, motivation enhancement, communication skills, imagery, and anxiety control are integrated into all Ultimate Defender sessions. I make it a point to learn each athlete's strengths and weaknesses--both as goalkeepers and as athletes--so that I can capitalize on their mental and technical strengths, teaching them how to apply those strengths to development of weaknesses. We also invest time into embracing my mantra: “Learning is a process and progress is success.” Goalkeeping is hard enough without beating yourself up for not being perfect. Live. Learn. Grow.

Ultimate Defender is the comprehensive innovation that effectively combines technical, tactical, mental, and physical field hockey goalkeeper training for the first time in the United States. There is no other program like it.