This is an article that I had been leaning towards writing for quite a while now. Mainly, because I’ve covered what you should be wearing, how long your gloves should last or even things like how to dive as a goalkeeper. In some of the articles that I’ve also written about the goalkeeper for different clubs I talk about particular styles and things I like and don’t like. As a coach of mine once said, you can’t completely ridicule one style of play because pretty much every single style has worked at the pro level. That being said, when talking about how to be a great goalkeeper I feel that the best thing that I can do is pretty much give you a textbook definition on how to do it.
In my view there are certain skill sets like having good ball security and a perfect catching technique that will benefit any style of goalkeeper. So I would definitely say that there are fundamentals that you need to work on. From there, your particular style is going to start showing as you continue to play more and more games. If you’re able to again do the fundamentals the right way you’ll have a better chance of really becoming a great goalkeeper. With that said, I want to start with the first question that I feel I need to cover.
Can You Really Become A Great Goalkeeper?
There are certain things in life where you have the talent or you don’t. You can spend your life training and still not be as a good at something as someone who is just naturally gifted. We see this a lot in music and in the arts. When it comes to how to become a great goalkeeper, it’s important to ask the question. Can you really become one, or is this just something that is natural talent based? I feel that you can totally become a great keeper even if you have never put on a pair of gloves. As with anything in life your physical conditions can help you or bring you down.
I want to use a personal example here. I’m a guy who is under 6 feet tall (183cm). When it comes to becoming a great goalkeeper that physical condition is going to be a handicap against me and people like me. If you’re a taller guy or gal you’re going to have a bit of an advantage on us shorter guys. Size is not something that you can train. There are things that you can train to make up for that lack of size. Right off the bat I would definitely say that if you’re shorter you are going to need to work harder. I would also admit that the lack of that extra work maybe kept me from being able to reach a more successful career.
What Are The Key Elements Of Becoming A Great Goalkeeper?
As I mentioned there are a couple of things that I would say you have to have to be able to consider yourself a great goalkeeper. I came up with a list. Maybe, as you’re reading this you’ll see that I may be missing something. From my experience though these are the key skills that you need to have to be able to consider yourself a great goalkeeper.
- Good Hands
- Positioning : Knowing How To Walk In Goal
- Accurate Decision Making
- Fast Reactions
- Serviceable Ball Control With Your Feet
You may be surprised to not see things like knowing how to dive with textbook form on the list. That goes back to what I mentioned before about making your style work. If you look at a player like Jorge Campos, his diving technique was awful. Yet, he was able to have a successful career because of his relatively good positioning and an added bonus of having great ball control with his feet. This brings me to my next point. There’s a good chance that you’ll be better at some things than others. That’s pretty natural, but you need to be at least ok in these 5 key categories. I’m going to explain these categories coming up!
How To Be A Great Goalkeeper : Good Hands
Does this mean that you’re going to have to catch every single ball that comes your way? Not at all, but good hands as a goalkeeper means that you’re going to be able to hold on to the ball when it’s coming in at a decent speed. At the same time you’ll understand that precisely you can’t hold on to every ball that comes your way. When this happens you’ll use the proper technique to make sure that you’re able to make the save and ensure that the ball falls far away from another attacker.
This may seem counterintuitive, but at times you’re going to have to position your hands in a way that makes it practically impossible for you to catch the ball. For example, if you’re dealing with a low running shot at ground level, your first priority is going to be to get the hand that is closest to the ground down. You need to be able to make the save. Then if you can come across with the hand that is above the ground and make the catch or contribute to push the ball out that’s great. If you’re able to consistently make clean catches you’re going to be a much more effective goalkeeper. Particularly because when you make a clean catch the danger is over immediately. If you just make the save there’s a chance for the attacker to take another shot.
The situation here is simple. A step towards how to be a great goalkeeper could easily read, “the more balls you catch cleanly the better”. It’s also important to recognize when not catching the ball is a better option. If you’re a goalkeeper that usually punches the ball away rather than making clean catches, you should certainly work more on your ball security. At the same time know that this is an issue that even some top flight goalkeepers struggle with. In fact some goalkeepers that struggle with this tend to make their saves look more spectacular and make a career out of that. Still good ball security and making clean catches is a good habit.
How To Be A Great Goalkeeper – Positioning : Knowing How To Walk In Goal
When you’re watching a game on TV it can be easy to disregard some saves that goalkeepers make when the shot is effectively coming straight towards them. Also, there are plenty of goalkeepers that don’t look spectacular when they are making saves because they always seem to be standing in the general vicinity where the shot is taken. You can get lucky from time to time. Don’t get it twisted though, being in the right position is an art. The goalkeepers that are able to master this also tend to have longer careers. Making a save when you’ve essentially had to dive from post to post looks awesome. Usually those are going to go in more often than not. It’s simple if you’re consistently standing near where the ball is headed you’ll make more saves.
If you’ve ever seen or been a part of goalkeeper training you’ll notice that coaches like to put a bunch of cones in the goal and you have to sidestep these or do some type of exercise as you pass through them. What’s important here is that a coach draws out the proper path that you should be taking as you walk through your goal. These drills are meant to allow you to understand where you should be standing when the ball is at a particular position. Positioning is such a key part of goalkeeping that even well established pros into their 30’s are going to be working on it pretty much every day.
When I talk about knowing how to walk the goal I’m also referring to another aspect. You need to know how many steps you need to take before you dive to be able to reach an incoming shot. There is no formula for that. You need to figure out for your body length and your leg strength how far you can dive. A lot of taller goalkeepers want to rely on their natural length to be able to reach even balls headed towards the corners. If you know how to “walk in goal” you’ll be making life easier on yourself and you’ll be able to make saves on a more consistent basis.
How To Be A Great Goalkeeper: Accurate Decision Making
A lot of times when I talk to young goalkeepers about knowing exactly how many steps they need to take to be able to reach a ball they look perplexed. Are you really suggesting that I count my steps as I play? Maybe not like your counting sheep when you’re trying to fall asleep. Some of the exercises that I talked about for positioning are meant so that you can get a feel for the distance. In a game you’ll know from where you’re standing what you can or cannot do. One of the more common decisions that you’ll need to make in longer incoming shots is precisely when to dive. The mental aspect of the game really kicks in here.
If a cross is coming in, how far off the line do you feel comfortable coming out to cut the cross? When should you sprint forward when you’re trying to reduce the shot angle for a striker coming in for a 1v1 situation? Should you be kicking goal kicks long or short? When you have the ball in your hands are you going to throw it out, roll it out, punt it out? The fact is every player on the field is constantly making decisions. The thing about goalkeepers is that our decisions have more riding on them. If you make a mistake you can expect to concede a goal. Also you have more time to dwell on a bad decision.
This part of the game is super hard to really teach. You could have all of the technical knowledge in the world and be held back in your development because of poor decision making. That’s why you have some goalkeepers out there that are labeled great practice players. They know how to get the job done, but when the pressure is on at real speed they can’t seem to decide correctly. Goalkeeper mental health is a topic that I feel is under discussed. It is one that I will be bringing to the forefront in the upcoming months on the site. The more you play usually, the better decisions you’ll make. Things like watching film though can really help improve this.
How To Be A Great Goalkeeper: Fast Reactions
There’s actually a reason why I put fast reaction time so far down the list. Granted, it’s not the longest list in the world, but if you don’t know what you’re doing you really won’t react accordingly. A lot of times fast reactions are only achieved to actually going very slowly in certain drills day in and day out. For example, I talked about positioning drills. If you’re not standing in the right spot, a fast reaction may not be enough for you to make the save. There are certainly some goalkeepers that are blessed with natural quick reflexes. That’s great, that is always going to be a bit of a plus. When you combine that with good positioning and proper hand placement you’re golden.
Am I saying that you should be going slow when doing drills to be able to obtain fast reactions? Not necessarily, what I am saying is that you should be starting slow to be able to then work your way up. Some coaches love to see that their players are training fast because that means that they are working hard. That’s not a bad thing, but if you’re doing things fast, but doing them wrong you’re not getting any benefit from the training. You need to be able to crawl, walk, jog and then run. That’s how you develop that fast reaction time.
There are a lot of very cool drills that teams are now implementing to be able to increase reaction time with goalkeepers. There are drills where they’ll place a bunch of things right in front of the goal that can change the trajectory of an incoming shot and force the keeper to react. I also love the drills where you can’t see the ball almost until it’s right in front of your face. Those drills are mimicking a very real game situation. At times you’re not going to be able to see an incoming shot until very late and you have to train your body to be able to react in those situations.
How To Be A Great Goalkeeper: Serviceable Ball Control With Your Feet
This is just like the good hands bit. You don’t need to be Messi or Ronaldinho on the ball. It’s always beneficial though to have a goalkeeper who can control a hard pass back and make a decent long pass to a teammate on a consistent basis. There are two things about this that are very important. The most important thing that you need to learn is that if you’re calling for the ball to be played back to you don’t stand right in the middle of the goal. You need to be able to sprint off to the side and provide a good target for your defender. The main reason why you don’t want to be standing in the middle of the goal is pretty obvious if anything goes wrong you’ll concede a goal.
Again, if you’re able to make a long pass with the inside of the foot to a teammate that will just softly bring the ball down that’s awesome. What’s more important though is constantly making good decisions when you have to play with your feet. Sometimes a good decision is kicking the ball into the stands. There are goalkeepers throughout history that loved to take risks when they had the ball passed back to them. You don’t need to be a risk taker to be a great goalkeeper. Think about it, even if you’re Ederson, how probable is it that you’ll make an assist every time that they pass the ball back to you?
When goalkeepers are playing with their feet there are more things that can go wrong than right really. This goes back to making good decisions. Don’t try and run a risk that you’re not comfortable with. Being comfortable with the ball in your feet is a good thing. Being dumb with the ball in your feet because you think that you’re better than you really are is another thing. That’s my two cents on playing the ball with your feet.
How To Be A Great Goalkeeper: Conclusion
You don’t have to be the best sweeper keeper or the best keeper between the sticks to be a great goalkeeper. There are different styles and certainly it’s always going to be a good idea to play to your strengths. As with anything in life the true recipe of how to be a great goalkeeper involves recognizing the strengths in your game and taking full advantage of them. Also, recognizing your weaknesses and making yourself at least competent in them.
Without a doubt the mental aspect of the game is more often than not overlooked. In my view the real reason why it’s overlooked is because goalkeeping coaches most of the time don’t have psychology majors! The best way to deal with mental errors is to spot them on tape and then try and recreate those scenarios on the training pitch. I think that natural talent and physical attributes help, of course. With training you can certainly become a good goalkeeper regardless of what your physical conditions are. If you’re having trouble with a particular part of your game, work harder!
