The term goalkeeper training equipment can take on a ton of different meanings. Just to be clear in this article we are going to cover, actual training equipment that you need to buy like, cones, plates, sticks, maybe rebounders. At the same time, we may throw in some training specific gear that you may want to be wearing. For the most part though, we are going to be focusing on goalkeeper training equipment items that are meant to help a coach craft a training session. That brings me to another topic though. At this point in time, some of these tools that are out there truly allow goalkeepers to put in training hours on their own. Something that wasn’t necessarily an option back in the day.
Some of the obvious things that we could consider goalkeeper training equipment aren’t things that I want to spend too much time on. So, you’re going to need at least 6 to 8 soccer balls. Particularly if you’re a goalkeeper coach and you’re going to be running sessions. If you’re going to be training on your own you could get things done with less soccer balls. It kind of comes down to how often you feel that the ball is going to leave your grasp and you’re going to have to chase after it. With that out of the way then, I really want to get into some of the equipment that you maybe are on the fence about buying.
Typical Organe Cones or Dish Cones What Do You Need Most?
There are certainly different types of uses for these cones. For example with the typical orange cone you can use it to set up a goal anywhere, but also as an obstacle that you have to jump over. Of course, setting up the cone to do footwork exercises is another use, but that is something that you can achieve with dish cones as well. Even though original orange cones serve better as obstacles I would recommend getting more dish cones. That’s really going to be more useful, and also safer. At the end of the day it may come down to what type of cone variety you can get at a cheaper price. They are a very basic equipment need for training you’re going to want to buy at least like 20 of them.
The reason why I mentioned that dish cones are safer is because if you fall on a dish cone you’ll just squeeze the cone and be alright. When you’re trying to teach someone to play goalkeeper you may want to keep them away from an actual goal at begging of the process. Diving head first into a post is never something that you want to see happen. What you also don’t want to see is a kid eat a red traditional cone. Dish cones are much safer when teaching how to dive, and set up footwork exercises. Again, it may come down to what you find a deal on if I had to pick you know my pick though.
Goalkeeper Training Equipment – Why Coaching Sticks Are Become Increasingly Popular
For goalkeeper coaches the reasons are pretty simple. You’re able to set up a goal wherever you want, and it looks more like goal. The difference between setting up a goal with sticks, and cones is that you have a better visual reference of the size of the goal. With cones that’s hard to get, and that can really mess with your positioning. At the same time you can use the coaching sticks to set up all kinds of drills. The sigsaz drill that you always see players doing with these sticks is just one of them. That’s more for show, really because you should be able to zigzag with just cones.
As goalkeeper training equipment sticks are good to set up different types of drills. What a lot of coaches like to do is tie ribbons or tapes to the sticks to create a bar that goalkeepers have to jump over. Some of the more extreme set up what they call a ring. What you find yourself doing is just jumping over the ribbon and diving to different sides. It’s a way to increase your capacity to really jump and time your dives right. It is true though that this is something that I would only recommended for more experienced goalkeepers. It can be an exercise that may be dangerous for some kids. Particularly if you tie does ribbons too tight. You get a foot caught in one of those and your fall can hurt real bad. I’m saying this from personal experience by the way.
Do You Actually Need To Buy A Net?
I’ve been back and forth on this one, and the simple answer is that if you have enough space to be able to place a net then you can go ahead and buy one. Also if you’re training little kids and they can really benefit from getting a sense of what it’s like to play between the sticks in a net that is the size of the ones that they’re going to be using in little leagues and things like that, there’s certainly value in buying a net. If you’re getting older and you don’t necessarily have enough space to fit a net that is the regular size then it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
What I saw a lot of coaches do back in the day was that they would use sticks and have those nets that literally just stretch out between the two posts. These don’t have a top bar. These can be a good if you’re getting a quality net that’s going to last for a while. The issue is that there are a lot of cheaper options out there. What you don’t want is to buy a net that’s going to get all crooked if it gets hit with a hard shot. Get one with posts that you can really stick in the dirt to make sure that they stay put.
Ladders, Rings, Hurdles, Do You Really Need Them?
I want to be clear on this, what you need, and what you can have are completly different things. In this article what I’m trying to do is create a list of goalkeeper training equipment that I feel are must haves. Can you put in more elaborate footwork drills with that ladder that you probably won’t have with disc cones? Sure, I would say that’s more or less a true statement. The same thing goes for hurdles, you can potentially incorporate a higher degree of difficulty and need for effort in your training exercises. If you have a limited budget to be able to buy this type of equipment would any of these 3 be on your first shopping list? I would say no, for a couple of reasons.
Ladders, rings, and hurdles are potentially more expensive pieces of equipment. When you take that into account, and then you realize that they are not even going to be equipment sets that you’ll implement in every session it just starts to make less and less sense to include them in your original shopping list. At least that’s how I see it. I’m sure that there are goalkeeper coaches out there that could disagree, they just need the ladder for proper footwork or want the hurdles to force their goalkeepers to get that sense of high impact training. I don’t see it though, it’s just an opinion.
Goalkeeper Training Equipment – A Rebounder Could Be Key If You Train Alone
When thinking about the items that I could include as part of your goalkeeper training equipment list, this was one of those that I always thought of as a novelty product. I’ve even bought some of those things that have rubberbands attached to them and they are supposed to launch the ball back at you. Maybe I’m just not overly athletic to be able to make something like that work for me. Rebounders for a long time I feel were exactly on the list of novelty products, but I do think that technology has evolved so much that good rebounders that we have today can certainly help you train. Particularly if you’re able to get the ball to rebound with enough force.
One of the things that I feel coaches fall short on is knowing when to up the ante with training intensity. I’m referring to how hard they kick balls towards their young goalkeepers. I know it’s a delicate line, but there comes a time when if you’re just lobbing the ball and going through the motions you’re not going to really get a sense for the speed of the ball in an actual game even within your own age group. A rebounder for that matter can literally get the ball back to you at a speed that you’re able to achieve when kicking it. Practicing catching drills with something like that can be very beneficial.
Goalkeeper Bungy Cords, Probably Higher On The List Than People Think
Goalkeeper bungy cords, well actually they don’t necessarily have to be goalkeeper specific, but this type of equipment has become very popular. I didn’t love the idea of having to train with these, that’s exactly the point. At the begging, especially if you’re not necessarily fit using this is going to be a challenge. When you start incorporating them into the different exercises that you’ll be able to do you add a layer of difficulty to even the simple exercises that you can do. Also, you’re going to have to put in more effort and strength. That’s a great way to get yourself in shape doing goalkeeper drills without necessarily having to spend hours in the gym. I’m one of those old school guys that is more into functional training and not pumping iron.
This is one of the ways that you can gain strength without having to kill yourself at the gym. At the same time you’re putting in technical work. What’s not to like about this idea? What I would say is that if you’re going to try this route don’t try and cut costs too much. By the right equipment that is meant to be able to stretch properly and set up safe drills at the begging and gradually increase the level of resistance that these can provide, and difficulty of the drills. These cords are one of those pieces of equipment that if you don’t use them properly you can really end up hurting yourself. With that in mind they are also a piece of equipment that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend younger keepers use. Maybe 12 or 13 years old is the youngest that you can get started on these.
Goalkeeper Training Equipment – Conclusion
The bottom line here is that you can go out and buy all sorts of equipment, but if you’re not creative enough to come up with drills that are going to improve your game it can be all for not. Where you are going to be able to train should also play a role in that decision process that you have to go through to see what you want to buy. There’s nothing wrong with only having a small plot of grass to be able to train in, if you know that’s going to be the case then it makes less sense to buy all of the equipment in the world that you won’t even be able to use.
Just a quick extra tip before I wrap up here, one of the questions that comes up a lot when trying to decide what type of goalkeeper training equipment you actually need, is how many balls you need to train. I would go for 4 as the lower end of the spectrum. If you can get about 6 you’re going to be just fine. This will allow you to have this ability to maximize the reps on any drill that you want to do. For most keepers 6 balls in one exercise is just the right amount. If you want to be more intense going to 8 is probably good for a pro experience.
