A newbies view on Inline/roller Goaltending

As long as you have adequate protection I don't particularly feel having a pro quality set of pads over, say, a senior pair of pads really makes that much of a difference in inline. You truly use little of your pads to do basic movements, unlike on ice. Instead of using the sides of your pads to slide, you'll use your cowlings. That's why goalie skates in inline are still very important. I think that'll be a huge upgrade for you and well worth your money.

That said, you had a great game! Besides skates, I wouldn't change a damn thing if I was pulling off 46 save efforts every game.

Ya I would tell your defence to tighten up...not change your equipment! Getting some goalie skates would be the most important but if you want to get new pads there is an UL6 review done here in the equipement review section.

Kind of expected with the defense tho as the team has only been together for 5 weeks . my main issue with my gear is that it wont rotate when i try to butterfly so it sits flat rather then covering as much space as possible. my 5 hole coverage sucks so my stick work needs improving. All I can say is thank god for places like here a youtube. I have also been following Marias training plans so that should be helping. Goalie skates should be here this weekend so next game we shall see how I go .

How are you strapping your pads? I've found that I get the best rotation with my pads with a very loose bottom, mid-tight middle, and very loose top. Just to give you an idea, on my Reebok pads the bottom three straps are on the second holes, the next one is on the 4th hole, and the top two are on the 5th hole (because I use the lowest strapping position for the top two straps, these are actually extremely loose). If you use a high strapping setting on the top straps of your pads (which I bet you do since the pads are older and likely don't have the option to make them any lower), then I'd recommend only putting them in the first or second holes. I used a similar set up when I played inline.

Because there's more friction between the pads and the floor in inline, it takes a bit more to get it to rotate better. That type of a set up worked really well for me and I got great rotation. Of course, since you're using older pads that weren't made explicitly to rotate well, that will hinder you a bit. But unless you're going to use the pads for ice, too, (which it sounds like you might) I wouldn't waste the money on pro level pads and instead go with senior level pads that have good rotation.

skate strap is slightly loose , and the lower two are loose ( almost at the top of the strap ) middle one is a little tighter an the top 2 are clips so they are loose as possible
At some stage I will be playing ice as well but for now I just want to concentraite on Inline but will be upgrading my gear to Simmonds as a lot of places wont send RBK, Bauer,Mission and other brands to Australia so unless I take a holiday to Canada I have to get what I can off the net.

I tie my pads as tight as I can because I think it feels better (My pads are very wide)
I'm thinking about loosening up because I usually underrotate in the butterfly.

What I decided was the looser the better. :)

Hey Sandman. Off topic but curious. Is hockey very popular in Australia? Are there many ice rinks?