Goalkeeper rebounders have burst on the scene as one of the favorites add ons of goalkeeper coaches. I saw a lot of pro goalkeepers throughout the pandemic use them to be able to work out without the help of someone else taking the shots. Knowing that I would have to say that the answer to the question I’m posing of “Do goalkeeper rebounders really work?” is yes. However, that’s not necessarily the full story. I’ve also come across plenty of goalkeepers and goalkeeper coaches who have been left underwhelmed by the effectiveness of this training equipment. Before you go out and buy a goalkeeper rebounder you may want to have a clear sense of what you’re going to use it for. There’s also an argument to be made that it won’t necessarily be helpful to every goalkeeper out there.
One of the arguments against this type of equipment is that you have to force yourself to try and find ways to incorporate goalkeeper rebounders to your workouts. A lot of the ways that people end up putting them in their routines makes them rather ineffective. That argument in my view is just as valid when you see that the ball maybe isn’t coming back with enough force to the point where you’re putting in the work trying to make clean catches off rebounders. I would actually make the argument that you could outgrow goalkeeper rebounders. I’ll get to that in a bit, but first I want to explore what the purpose of rebounders is, and what other options you have out there.
What’s The Purpose of Goalkeeper Rebounders?
The purpose of goalkeeper rebounders is simple enough. They just deflect the ball back at you. The way that you’re able to use this effect to your advantage while training is going to be up to you. There are certainly creative ways to be able to use a rebounder in a way that you’re actually getting a work out. At the same time they can be perfect for working on fundamentals like catching or even passing and reception technique. Multiple times on the site I’ve talked about hitting a ball against a wall to have it come back at you multiple times. I contend that this is the best way to develop a catching technique.
Maybe one of the things that I don’t love about rebounders is that plenty of them take too much off the ball in my opinion. So what happens is that you have to really put some effort into your initial kick or throw to be able to get a rebound back that you can work with. That can be a positive or a negative thing depending on how you look at it. For example, it’s a good way for kids to get into the habit of developing a good catching technique. You can be more or less sure that the ball won’t come at them too hard since they could be the ones making the initial contact.
You Won’t Always Get A “Clean” Rebound
This is one of the issues that I have with rebounders. Of course, you’re going to expect the ball to lose some velocity after coming off the rebounder. I just feel like it dies on you too much though. One of the positives that I talked about with getting kids to use them loses all its purpose if that kid isn’t able to kick or throw the ball on the rebounder hard enough to get a ball back that’s tricky enough to catch. This is one of the issues that I have with kids goalkeeper training. There are a lot of lobs and balls that you’re asking them to save or catch that are not game-like even for them.
With rebounders that take a lot off the ball when you throw it against them, you’ll end up with plenty of these soft balls and lobs that don’t really challenge you at all. You could literally go out and get some wooden planks or something similar to that to rebound the ball on and get a better return that you can actually work with. Now, I do think that if you know that you’re not going to get the best rebound as a coach you have to get creative and put these things in drills and spots that are useful. That’s basically the only way to be able to combat this sense that the ball just dies on you from these rebounders, and so they don’t really work.
Are They Better For Older or Younger Players?
I’m asking this question because when I started the article I had the sense that they could be a true asset for younger players because if they were the ones bouncing the ball off these rebounders they would get it back with a relatively similar force than the one that they put in. In my view this could help goalkeeper coaches who are teaching these young kids. A lot of times as I just mentioned I see them just throwing lobs, and being really conservative with the kids. It’s natural the last thing that you want to do is hurt a kid. It’s also hard though to get a sense for when you can crack things up. If they are kicking the ball themselves it may be easier to get a speed on the ball that’s relevant to what they’ll see in games within their age group.
The problem I see for the young ones is that if they aren’t strong enough to bounce the ball with the right force on the rebounder the ball is just going to die on them. Ultimately you’re left with the lobs that I said you would be trying to avoid in the first place. So, although I tried my theory out, and came up with mixed results I can’t really answer this question. Maybe there’s a certain age that you get to when the kids can start using goalkeeper rebounders to their benefit. For us older guys they can be a good way to work on fundamentals. There’s really not much else that you can do. Maybe some of those corner kick drills you have guys with rebounders using them instead of their heads to get the ball towards the goal.
Are They A Must-Have For Goalkeeper Coaches?
They’re a nice asset to have. There are certainly benefits to having these rebounders compared to maybe using wooden planks or other types of items to be able to essentially replicate what you get with goalkeeper rebounders. For one, goalkeeper rebounders are usually easier to carry around than some pieces of wood. I remember that in one of the spots in my professional career the goalkeeper coach had a stool that he would make use for some drills. There’s an argument to be made that if you have a stool that is sturdy enough to be able to kick the ball off it, a stool can serve more purposes than goalkeeper rebounders.
With all that in mind, I just don’t think that rebounders truly provide something that’s overly unique. For example, I’ve talked about the large rubber bands that goalkeepers now use in training. With those there’s not really a ton that you can do to replicate the benefits that you get with rubber bands through another item. We can debate the effectiveness of the exercises that you can perform with rubber bands for sure. When it comes to goalkeeper rebounders though, there are ways to replicate the benefits that you get with them through other items. Just on that alone I would say that they’re not necessarily a must-have. That doesn’t mean though that they can’t serve as a nice add-on for goalkeeper coaches.
Boring Drills At Home With Goalkeeper Rebounders Can Really Help Your Game
If I would be able to go back to my younger years to see what I would do differently to potentially have a better career it would be doing boring dumb drills with rebounders on the wall at my house for long periods of time. Why do I say this? Well, really on a personal level I was never a goalkeeper with great hands, and that translated to not being overly confident when it came to crosses. That part of your game is something that you’re going to be able to work on extensively with goalkeeper rebounders. In that sense it has to be said that goalkeeper rebounders really do work.
The exercises that I’m recommending are simple enough. All you really have to do is get a ball and bounce it against the rebounder and catch it as it comes back to you. The good thing about a rebounder is that you’re going to be able to adjust the speed if you will. Ultimately even if you don’t get a ball back at the same speed in which you threw it to begin with you can always add some more power to your original throws to make sure that you’re getting back a ball that’s a challenge for you to catch. If you take about a half hour every single day, and you do this you’re going to improve. There’s no way that you won’t. Particularly if you’re replicating proper technique.
They Can Certainly Help You Save On Repainting Your Walls
Rebounders are going to help you save your walls or maybe another part of your house from wear and tear. Up until recently I did not own a rebounder. So what I had to do was literally bounce a ball up against the walls at my house and catch it back. The concept is exactly the same as what you can expect from a rebounder. There’s an argument to be made that in some walls the bounce back is going to be stronger than it is on rebounders. You won’t get that effect of having the ball die on you like you could with rebounders. The wear and tear on the walls though can certainly be a problem. I’m certain my parents would’ve preferred that I didn’t tear down their walls.
Now that I’ve got my own place I understand how important it is to make sure that everything around the house stays in decent shape. Particularly if you’re renting the house since you won’t get that deposit back if the place is too torn up. Come to think of it, I still didn’t get it back last time, so I definitely should’ve done more training in my previous house. Any way, rebounders are also going to allow you to have that effect of getting the ball to bounce back towards you even if you’re not near a wall or a bench or any other item that myself or the goalkeeper coaches that I’ve had over the years have had to use.
Do Goalkeeper Rebounders Really Work – Conclusion
You can find a purpose for them. I guess that’s basically what I’ve been trying to get at the entire article. Would I like them to be a bit more useful? That’s true as well. Maybe my issue is that a lot of times the drills that I see being set up with these aren’t truly game like. That may have a bit to do for example with my bias against lobs and slow balls in general. At times when we’re going too easy in training for goalkeepers of any age we’re doing them a disservice. You’re learning to dive to balls or make catches that you won’t really need in a game. The ball is usually going to come a lot faster.
If you do decide that you’re going to add goalkeeper rebounders to your equipment setup for training make sure that you draw up some interesting drills. I’m sure that there are cool drills out there that you’re going to be able to do with these. Also, as I mentioned they can be a good way to just practice your catching technique. I’m going to get one and have it home so that I can improve my catching technique in my work breaks, and we’ll see how it goes.
