• FOOTWORK

    The Basics of Footwork for Goal keepers

    The Basics of Footwork

    • Good footwork is the foundation of solid goalkeeping. If a keeper has quick feet, they can easily get themselves into position to make the easy catch, rather than having to dive at balls just at the edge of their reach all the time. Good goalkeepers make every save look easy, and the key to that is good footwork.

    • The keeper should be on the balls of their feet at all times, good core balance is essential.

    • A sure way for a keeper to be beaten is for them to have their weight back on their heels - watch out for this!. Not only does this keep them from moving quickly to a ball, but it has bad effects on their diving and jumping. Your keeper should have "happy feet", always bouncing on the toes and with their weight forward.

  • PICKUP

    Ground or Rolling Ball Pickup fro Goal keepers

    Ground or Rolling Ball Pickup

    • There are a 3 main techniques for picking up a rolling ball. "scoop",  "long barrier",and the "half barrier", for   all of them, the keeper must get their hands all the way down, fingertips brushing the ground to ensure a clean catch.

    • The body must be  behind the ball and the hands.

    • As you pick the ball up the shoulders should be in front of the knees and feet.

    • Watch the ball all the way into the hands.

     

  • DIVING

    Goal Keeping basic diving

    ​The Basics of Diving• Always use good footwork to get into position to dive. Small shuffle steps, or occasionally even a quick crossover, might need to be used to get the body into the proper range to make the dive.• Move forward at an angle into the dive.• Get low and shoot out towards the ball. Drive off with the nearest leg to the ball, starting low to generate power. This should come as a natural progression after the step forward at the angle.• Stay square -on while diving and after landing on the ground. Even while in midair, the keeper's body should be square to the ball. This gives them the best catching position, gets the largest part of their body behind the ball, and will have them land on their hip and side which is the safest landing position. Same thing goes after they are on the ground. Keeper's who land on their stomach more often than not "drive" off the furthest foot away from the ball.. Similarly, don't let them roll over on their back after the catch is made. 

  • IN THE AIR

    Goal keepers Dealing with high balls

    Dealing with high balls

    • Learning to judge high balls takes lots of repetition. For younger keepers, focus on the basic technique and make sure they get the ball as high as possible -- don't introduce too much pressure right away. For older keepers, review the basics and move quickly into the higher pressure drills and serve driven, crossed balls rather than simple lofted ones.

    • REACT don't anticipate!!

    • The ability to deal with crosses coming into the box is one of the most highly rated skills a top goalkeeper can have. A goalkeeper who can deal calmly and effectively with every ball that is played into the box will give confidence to his teammates, while at the same time demoralizing the opponents.

    • They must be able to deal with a high cross takes tremendous concentration.

    • The goalkeeper must be able to shut-out all outside distractions and only focus on the ball, even when he must go into high traffic areas where collisions with opponents and teammates are likely.

    • When dealing with crosses a goalkeeper must be decisive, and once he has made the decision to come for the  cross, he must do so with 100% conviction.

    • Hesitation in these situations is often disastrous.

     

  • DISTRIBUTION

    The importance of Distribution

    • The rule eliminating the back pass which allowed the Goalkeeper to pick up the ball has revolutionised the keeper position with opening up many tactical opportunities allowing the keeper to be much more involved and also having a greater influence in the game. Unfortunately many of the top Goalkeepers who didn’t have good foot skills fell by the way side as they could not cope with the ball being played back to their feet or have the tactical knowledge to adjust to the new rules.

    • A lot of Goalkeepers are great “SHOT STOPPERS”, but in the modern game this is not enough as they must possess good “ALL ROUND SKILLS” if they are going to reach the top levels in their playing career.

    • A Goalkeeper who can play as a sweeper and has the tactical knowledge to control the back third of the pitch is a huge asset to any team, whilst a shot stopper has severe limitations, which will put a stop to reaching the heights they desire.