Getting your start in goal can be a challenging endevor. One of the issues that I’ve seen in the past is also that goalkeeper drills for beginners are quite boring. That’s a big problem in the grand scheme of things because the main reason why kids continue to play games is because the experience is fun. I’m not necessarily taking a shot at goalkeeper coaches in saying that the drills are boring. Let’s get one thing straight if you don’t learn goalkeeping basics the right way there’s a good chance that you’ll hurt yourself down the line when you’re trying to imitate your favorite players. That’s defiantly not something that’s ideal.
A big part of the article though, is going to be focused on how you can apply some of the traditional goalkeeper drills for beginners with some of the traditional teaching methods. The idea is to be able to essentially feed players those basic skills that they need to be able to play in goal, while at the same time challenging their limits. That brings me to my next point, as a coach you want to make sure that you’re not getting lazy and repeating yourself. In the old days we could start out every practice with the same drill, and it was thought of as a way to forcefeed goalkeeping technique into us. That, in itself was the best teaching method. Things have changed now, with teaching techniques, and it’s about time that we evolve.
Goalkeeper Drills For Beginners – Basic Diving Drills
Most basic diving drills are going to start with the goalkeeper on his or her knees, from there you’re going to have to dive to a static ball. In this process what you want to do is create that perfect form that you want to replicate. I cringe when coaches just set the drill up and don’t even look at the kids. This should be like the basic exercises in ballet you want to make sure that the kids you’re training have the best form so that when they dive with much more power from their feet they don’t hurt themselves and they can actually get to the ball.
You’re on your knees and you want to be behind the ball, not parallel to the ball. The reason you want to do this is to get your body accustomed to diving forward. You’re going to take the hand that is on the side of the ball and you’re almost going to want to drag it through the ground to learn how to dive to a low running shot. You never want to dolphin dive, or superman dive to the ball. What you’re trying to get with this drill is that motion that allows you to create your perfect dive to the low running shot. You want to keep your body low and almost drag yourself to the ball. Again, it’s super important that you do this with supervision and make all of the corrections necessary to create your personal diving motion.
Goalkeeper Drills For Beginners – Doing The Worm
This is another one of those goalkeeper drills for beginners that focuses on diving technique, and specifically on low shots. You’re going to notice that there are plenty of drills for this because it’s one of the most basic movements in goalkeeping. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that this drill can be better than the previous drill because you’ll have more of that closeness to the ground, it helps with getting a good grip on the ball. In fact, it can come naturally to a lot of keepers who at one point in their lives dragged themselves through the mud. If you start your goalkeepers really early and they were kind of that active child they are gone to live this drill.
It’s not the worm like the dance, what you want to do is grab the ball with one hand on the side that you’re going to dive to. You have to sitting on the ground preferably in your diving motion how you want to end up when you dive. From there you’re going to drag yourself up with the ball in your hand, and once you’ve reached the ball you stretch out your arm again to the same side, and you’ll essentially just be dragging yourself across the field in a constant dive to one side. Of course you do a few reps per side. This is again a drill meant to allow you to practice that low diving motion, but in that this drill is meant to be continuous you’re also getting a good work out that strengthens muscles that are key to goalkeeping.
Catching Drills – Up The Ante A Bit
There’s really no excuse to not improve your catching ability, I say that as someone who isn’t the most sure handed goalkeeper by any stretch of the imagination. With the benefit of hindsight I do feel that putting in about 25 to 30 minutes of work a day on ball security could’ve allowed me to improve my game a ton. Catching is obviously a lot about technique, you want to rely on your hands and not the gloves is what we always like to say. The only way to get better is by practicing that technique. You can do that with a rebounder, or even just by kicking the ball up against a wall at home. If you try the second option you’re doing so at your own risk, not all walls are going to be built to hold up.
Those two options though are really the simplest way that you can get accustomed to your own catching technique. When I talk about upping the ante, it’s about really testing your limits. Hit that ball, hard and see how hard of a shot you’ll be able to take. Knowing those limits is going to allow you to make better game decisions. You’ll instinctively know what shots you feel comfortable catching cleanly, and which ones you want to parry away. As a coach you’re really going to need some thick skin to thread the needle here with strength. It can be scary to test younger kids, but if you don’t up the ante on the speed of the shot gradually you’re doing them a diservice. Learning how to catch lobs is only going to get you so far.
Footwork – How To Make It Fun
Good footwork is about 70% of goalkeeping really. There are essentially two things that you’re trying to achieve with any footwork drill. In fact, I have the drills that don’t take into account one of these aspects. You want to work on your foot speed, and length strength. All of the different footwork drills that you can do with cones, ladders, discs, whatever it may be are meant to provide a physical benefit. They are forcing you to put in the work so to speak. The second thing that you’re trying to achieve is positioning. That’s why I mentioned that I’m against footwork drills that don’t really benefit positioning and getting a sense of where you need to be in the goal at any given time. Do footwork on a ladder and then step into the goal to take a shot, why would you that? What about that drill is actually game like?
In the arena of making it fun there are a couple of things that you can do. For kids for example hurdles and making it like an obstacle course can be a good way to start. Using coaching sticks, and hurdles, to have them navigate their way through the goal to then save a shot can be a great way to check both of the boxes that I was talking about. With older goalkeepers don’t make a mile long cone line and have them sizag through it. Make the footwork part short and intense maybe with small hurdles, and get them to have to save more shots on the same drill. That’s a better way to really train positioning.
Get Them Between The Sticks Of An Actual Goal Early In The Process
There are a couple of reasons for this, number one is the positioning situation. This is an issue that you’re going to be dealing with your whole career, even if you’re trying to play Sunday League well into the veteran years. Good positioning is going to make the game easier, and more fun overall for goalkeepers. The best way to be able to get a sense where you need to be in a goal is by literally standing between the sticks. I would make the argument that goalkeepers who haven’t had a lot of game action will suffer much more when they do get in the game if they haven’t been taking live reps between the sticks.
There are a ton of drills that you can do on a patch of grass anywhere you want, at some point though get the goalkeeper between the sticks, otherwise when he or she gets into a game it can be tough. If you’re training a younger keeper get him or her in a goal that’s the size of the goal that they are going to be playing with in their actual games. This is going to allow them to understand how far they are from the crossbar. Certainly the high balls for little keepers are always going to be a big deal, you need to get them used to looking at a ball and knowing where it’s going to end up. The best way to do that is to get them between the sticks, there’s no substitute for that.
Don’t Forget About The Need To Play With Your Feet
Playing with your feet is a natural skill that you need to acquire. You don’t need to be Messi on the ball in order to play in goal, there’s no arguments there. I do feel though that goalkeeper coaches don’t do a good enough job at allocating time to train this, particularly the specific position that a goalkeeper needs to get into, to facilitate a pass back and what the options are going to be from there. I also cringe at the low intensity that some of the drills that are done on the subject tend to have. You can incorporate drills for playing with your feet into footwork exercises, you want to get the goalkeeper away from the goal, and have them control a hard pass, and hit long balls from the ground as well as passes to the other side of the field.
If you’re training multiple goalkeepers you’re going to want them to mimic the pressure that they may face in a game for the player that is doing the exercise in that moment. It’s a drill where you do some footwork exercise all the way outside of the goal, and then receive the pass to then have to make a decision. You can put several targets and direct them to have to pass at a specific target on short notice. The more intense, and game like you can make this drill out to be the better. Even bad technique performed at high intensity works in some level. You need to be able to get them to think on their feet, and use their feet properly.
Goalkeeper Drills For Beginners Conclusion
You don’t necessarily have to be on a field with a full size goal to be able to work on your game. I do think that this is something that plenty of goalkeepers need to hear. There are key aspects of your game such as your diving technique, and working on your catching that can be done virtually anywhere. Ideally with diving you’ll be able to find a nice patch of grass, or even get a puffy yoga mat to be able to dive in any area without hurting yourself. For catching all you need a wall, if you want to get more elaborate you can use a rebounder.
The key to any goalkeeper drills for beginners though, is finding the right level of intensity. You don’t always want to be just going through the motions. Try and find what works for you in the areas that you live where you are going to be able to play in. Even though I did say you don’t need a goal if you can get yourself to a goal about 2 or 3 times a week to be able to work on positioning and get the feel for that you’re going to be doing yourself a huge favor.
