William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Julia Takatsuka, goaltending development coordinator for the Seattle Kraken Youth Hockey Association.

Julia Takatsuka employs a two-prong approach when it comes to teaching young new goalies and their sometimes-skittish parents about the position.

“The reason being is, a lot of times parents are like, ‘Oh no, I don't know about goalie, that sounds scary, you're going to be standing in front of pucks, are you sure?’” Takatsuka said. “Even if they don't say anything, their face says it, or their body language says it.”

It's a holistic method Takatsuka uses as goaltending development coordinator with the Seattle Kraken Youth

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