You can’t really argue that you don’t need good reflexes to be a decent goalkeeper. I recently talked about this topic and one of the things that I mentioned is that goalkeeper reflexes are at times innate. That’s why you see guys like Ter Stegen, Memo Ochoa, or Yann Sommer making saves that you don’t see on a regular basis even within the pro game. However, goalkeeper reflexes can also be developed. What I’m trying to say is that we’re not all going to be at the same starting spot, but if you work hard at it there’s no reason why you can’t develop decent reflexes. Even if you’re never going to be a cat between the sticks. I hope that’s not too discouraging, it’s not meant to be.
Sometimes what I see though in training young goalkeepers is that some of them come in day one and have a knack for close range saves. Others just can’t seem to find the ball. That’s just how some cards are dealt. We could say the same thing about kicking power for example. There are certain players that can kick the ball to the moon at a very early age. Others just take a little more development. In this situation it falls on the coaches to realize what your players may be struggling with so that you can then step in and try to help them develop that part of their game. Most goalkeeper skills are developed through a ton of repetition. At times this can get rather boring, especially for young goalkeepers. The good thing about goalkeeper reflexes is that there are a ton of drills to develop them.
Goalkeeper Reflexes – What You’re Actually Trying To Develop
This is one of the things that a lot of people don’t get. Yes, you’re trying to develop goalkeeper reflexes, we understand that in name. What you’re in essence doing though is trying to get your body to react in a certain way to a set situation without you really having to think about what you’re doing. If we want to get poetic about it, reacting to the ball properly has to be like breathing. It’s something that you do without thinking! Why do I say this? Because when someone gets a header in right in front of you, you’re not going to have the time to think about the way that you want to react. What’s going to come out is a natural response for the body.
If you’re someone who ducks for example when you feel that a ball is headed your way you may have a longer way towards developing proper goalkeeper reflexes. Then someone who is more likely to want to find the ball and make a catch. Again I’m not saying this to discourage anyone, but it is a fact that since what we’re trying to do here is essentially develop a natural reaction to something that people that innately react in the way that we need to as goalkeepers have a head start. The only way that I’ve seen this work is through repetition of different drills that are aimed at teaching your body how to react. If you stick with it, there’s no reason why you can’t become a keeper with decent reflexes. Especially if you’re doing the right drills to develop your skills.
Hand Placement Is Going To Be Key
Hand placement is going to be key because that’s what is going to give you a chance to make a play on the ball or not. What do I recommend for this? It’s going to be starting slow. I’m going to get into more elaborate drills in the next paragraph. With the youngest kids though, what you want to do is literally take the ball right in front of them and push it in their direction and have them react to the ball. You want to do it one time to see how they naturally respond to the ball. From there you can start saying ok you want to put your hands up this way when the ball is in the air.
Essentially try to get their hands in a spot where they can make a play on the ball. Even if the technique is not 100% there yet. You want to get them to put their hands when the ball is coming at them. Another thing that you have to work on through something like this is losing that sense of fear. The last thing that you want as a goalkeeper is to duck when there’s a ball incoming. Also, you don’t want to put your hands in your face as a mode of protection and in essence fear. In many ways what we’re training is an unnatural reflex. So that means that we have to remove factory settings so that our goalkeepers can feel comfortable being alert to a ball heading their way even from close range.
Drills For Goalkeeper Reflexes
As I said when you’re dealing with goalkeepers that are very young you don’t want to get too cute too early. Because you may be trying to get them to do a drill that they’re not ready for. The second step though would be to have your goalkeepers deal with incoming shots from close range at different angles. You get two things with this drill. You’re forcing your goalkeepers to react to a ball that’s coming in from close range. Likewise, you’ll also be working on positioning which is going to be key for these types of plays. If you have multiple kids of the same age group you can put them up in a semi circle across the goal and have them foot or through the ball at the one in goal. You want to go from direct shots to the body to shots within their frame.
Other ways to train reflexes are through rebounders, obstacles in front of goal that can alter the trajectory of a shot. Another drill that has become very popular is having one guy or girl stand in front of the goalkeeper and deliberately alter the trajectory of an incoming shot. This is going to help goalkeepers find ways to react to long shots that are deflected at close range. Something that’s actually very game-like. In doing so you’re developing your goalkeeper reflexes quite a bit. With older goalkeepers that have been through some training already you can open up this drill a lot. To try and get each goalkeeper to find their own ways to react to close range shots or deflections.
Knowing When To Pick Up Speed
This is going to be one of the most important things about developing your goalkeeper reflexes. When you’re working with young kids you want to take things as slow as you can. Then gradually you’re going to be picking up the speed and the power on some of these shots. A lot of times with kids speed is going to be your ally so that you don’t have to put yourself in that situation where you may be hitting one of your kids with a very hard shot. The good thing about the second drill that I described is that you don’t need to put too much power behind the shot for a good deflection to challenge your young keepers.
If you’re going to do the other drill where you got kids lined up ready to take a shot at whoever is in goal it may be a blessing to have kids within the same age group. Anyone that you know has a little more power on their leg you can just let them know that they need to dial it back a bit. You can have them kick though and that’s going to give your keepers an accurate reading of the shots that they may face. At the same time it can be good to develop their kicking skills. As a goalkeeper you’re going to be asked to help out in drills for teammates all the time, so it’s a good idea to start young.
No Doubt This Is Going To Weave Out A Lot Of Potential Goalkeepers
Although as a goalkeeper coach you should actively be looking to keep your goalies safe there are times when you’re going to get hit in the face or other parts of your body. The position is at times not fun at all. When it comes to goalkeeper reflexes even if you try your hardest to make sure that the shots you face in the drills don’t go directly to your face they might. Even if you make it a point to not kick too hard particularly to kids that are rather young they may still get nailed. It could be argued that part of developing these reflexes is learning what can happen when you don’t react. In fact, sometimes you do react, and you put your body in harm’s way in an effort to make the save.
When you’re able to deliberately move in a way that goes against the human instinct of staying safe all to make sure you make a save it could be argued that you’ve won the reflexes challenge. What I mentioned in the beginning of the article is that what we’re trying to do is train our bodies to do something that is most likely not going to come naturally. Why do I say then that this process is going to weave out a lot of potential goalkeepers? Well, not everyone is going to be ok with getting hit in the face or other parts. That’s essentially something that you’re going to have to be willing to do consistently. Especially when it comes to reflex saves. If you can’t bring yourself to do it, you may want to look for another position.
Is Imitating Other Goalkeepers A Good Idea?
More often than not it’s a good idea to look at videos from the top goalkeepers in the world and try to imitate what they do. In reality what you should probably be doing is trying to adapt though what they do to your game. You could end up with a variation of what they do that you can do even better, and it can benefit your game. For example, let’s take Ter Stegen. He’s got amazing range on shots that are coming in from a position that’s really close. Those one-handed stabs at the ball though aren’t always the best idea. What you can do is try and mimic some of his footwork, but with potentially better hand placement to deal with these close range shots.
Memo Ochoa is another perfect example of this. He’s got a knack for getting to certain balls from close range without even having the best footwork. What can you mimic then? His work ethic to make sure that you have the leg strength to dive with as much power as he does. Practice to make sure you can have as quick a reaction as he does. Then work on your catching technique to make sure that you avoid giving up all the second chance opportunities that he’s known to provide with those weak rebounds. Ultimately since we’re trying to build a natural reaction here you have to be more you than anything else.
