When you come out, and you’re looking to warm up before a game you usually try and mimic what you see on TV or when you go to the stadium. When I was younger I loved going to games at the stadium, and I especially enjoyed arriving early to the venue, because that meant that I was going to get the chance to see the goalkeepers warm up. I’m here to tell you that for the most part goalkeeper warm up routines before games didn’t change virtually at all for the better part of 20 years. When you go out to warm up to your games though, should you be looking to mimic what your favorite goalkeeper does? The short answer is probably, no!
You see when you go out and you just try and replicate what you see other goalkeepers do you may be missing the point of warming up. When you’re warming up, what you’re trying to do is to get your body ready to play. Read that again, that’s the key: what works for you won’t necessarily work for me or Marc Andre Ter Stegen. Even if goalkeepers always seem to go through the same routine. I’m going to be looking to debunk or mostly question some of the common warm up routines that goalkeepers have. In the process hopefully I’ll help you craft a warm up routine that can work wonders for you!
Make Sure You Get Used To The Ball First
This is one of the first things that I like to do. Even if you find that you need to stretch first, which does happen with age you understand the need for it, the first thing that I want to do is touch the ball. For me since I’m someone who doesn’t have great catch skills, or maybe not the best confidence to make some of these clean saves this is oddly what I want to start with. I guess I feel this need to activate the little confidence that I do have. You don’t have to get too cute here, get someone to drop kick balls at a decent speed so that you can catch them cleanly. As you’re doing that you can start stretching out a little bit as well.
For younger keepers it’s ok to throw the ball to them. What I recommend is doing what they call a chest pass in basketball. Essentially what you’re trying to do is get the ball to the goalkeeper with enough speed to make the situation a bit more game-like. Obviously, the speed at which you’ll be throwing or kicking the ball depends on the age of the goalkeeper. There’s a certain age, maybe 12 upward where I don’t like doing any warm up drills with lobs or just softly throwing the ball for goalkeepers to catch it. I don’t feel that’s game like at all. You can throw a couple lobs later just to get them jumping up for the ball, but not necessarily as the main course here.
Get To Stretching
At this point you’ve gotten a couple of catches in. remember though, it’s just clean catches that should go right to the body. An old goalkeeper coach of mine would always say aim your drop kick at their face, that’s where the ball should go! Now with stretching I would say really try and stretch out the part of your body that you feel is going to need it the most. The legs are obviously an important part of it, for goalkeepers though, arms should be in the picture. Pick a routine that suits you, but don’t be afraid to get some extra stretches in on certain parts of the body that may need it that particular day.
It’s hard to really make kids understand the need for stretching I think. I remember that in my younger days stretching was just something that I went through the motions on. A lot of times when I was young and dumb I thought stretching was for the weak! Now, if I don’t stretch thoroughly before games I don’t make it out of the first 15 minutes! For young players it’s a good idea to test some of the limits when stretching, you gotta feel it! Don’t over do it of course particularly before games, but stretching is certainly important. For goalkeepers for example it’s important to stretch your back out, so you can do a drill where you make a catch from a drop kicked ball, and then arch back almost like in a ballet pose to drop the ball on the ground behind you.
Start Diving Slowly
At this point you’re going to start wanting to hit the ground. I do recommend that you follow the progression up to this point. The last thing that you want to do, and we’ve all been there, is to get to a game late, and have the first ball that you have to dive to be a top corner shot. Obviously if you didn’t get a chance to warm up you’re going to be at a major disadvantage. Hence, the importance of this progression that I’m talking about. At first what you want to do is get on your knees, and start diving from one side to the next. For me, I want a live ball from this point forward, I don’t want to be diving to a static ball.
The reason for this is to just get used to how the ball feels, and maybe you can get a sense of what the field condition might be. In these first diving exercises you can have the coach or whoever is helping you warm up roll the ball from side to side so that you can get a sense for how you’re falling and all of that. Maybe we’ll do five or six dives to each side, really depending on how far away from the game we are at this point. You don’t want to over do it regardless. One of the key things about warming up is making sure that you have enough left in the tank for the important part which is obviously the game.
Evaluate Where You Are & What May Be Missing
At this point the natural progression is going to see you start with harder shots, and obviously you’re going to be standing up and what we’re trying to do is mimic game situations. We’ll get to that though, what I like to do after those first few dives is give myself or the goalkeeper that I’m helping out at the time a chance to say if anything hurts or anything seems off. This is going to be your last chance to stretch something out or do whatever that you need to do to feel comfortable enough to go on to the next level of the warm-up.
The reason why I want to go over this now is because if I move on to higher intensity plays, and there is an issue that could be aggravated it could get worse. Usually at this point you’re still in time to maybe, as I said, stretch something out, or tape something that needs to be taped. I would recommend that goalkeeper coaches really take this time. What I feel happens to us goalkeepers is that you’re there, and right next to the game you’re not going to say that anything hurts! Particularly if you’re already in that grove of the pre game warm up there’s a lot of nerves running through the body. If you notice I’m trying to convey the idea that warm ups should be slow, and methodical. Maybe at the end we’ll really crack it up, but they are the chance to look into certain details whether it’s a technical issue or physical issue, this is your last chance to catch it.
Move Towards More Intense Shots On Goal
This is the natural progression of a goalkeeper warm up before games. What I would recommend is to really find a coach or someone who is a bit more active. Why do I say this? Because a lot of times what I see is that the person helping warm up goalkeepers will just stand in the middle of the goal, maybe a bit outside the box and shoot from there. Yes, of course you’re going to get a workout as a goalkeeper from something like this, but if you can, I would suggest doing something that’s a little more game-like.
What you can do is put the ball on the ground as a shooter and come at the goal from different angles to take different types of shots. Of course, what you’re trying to do is get your goalkeeper loose for the game. At the same time though what you’d be doing with this more active warm up is give the goalkeeper a chance to find themselves within the goal. A lot of times what we’re doing is looking for telling points in the grass, or you’ll see the goalkeeper leave marks in different parts of the goal.
That’s all done to help position themselves when the ball is coming from different angles. Therefore, this more active style of warm up is what I’d recommend. Also, it has a playground element to it. It can help remind the goalkeeper that this is a game after all, and we’re here to have some fun!
Crosses & Goal kicks – Is This Something That You Should Be Doing?
All goalkeepers pro or not usually want to end their goalkeeper warm up before games with crosses or goal kicks. Should you be doing this? There’s certainly a positive element to doing this. I think I would say goal kicks are a must, and crosses should be too, but here’s my issue with that. A lot of times goalkeeper coaches don’t train crosses then they want you to do a crossing drill before a game. How in the world is this going to help your confidence, which by the way is one of the things that you’re trying to build when warming up? The short answer is that it’s not unless you’re good at coming out for crosses. So yes, crosses should be something that you should be warming up for, but it shouldn’t be something that you just do on game days!
Goal kicks, punts, throwing the ball out these are all things that are a must as well. Again I would say the key here is to try and make everything as game-like as possible. You can have maybe a short target and a long target that you’re trying to hit. You as the goalkeeper doing the warm-up can catch the cross and decide whether you want to put the ball on the ground and practice a goal kick or get a punt in whatever you feel like doing. Be real loose about it, there’s no reason to get up tight!
Goalkeeper Warm Up Before Games – Conclusion
Ultimately what you’re going to want to do is create your own routine for warming up. A lot of the things that I talked about in this article represent what I feel when I’m getting ready for a game. Maybe though, you really need to take the edge before a game, so you’re going to go harder in warm ups. You can dial up the intensity for sure, that’s not my cup of tea, but I understand it may be for some people.
If there are two things that I feel any routine needs, it’s contact with the ball. Make sure that you catch enough balls before you start the game so that you feel comfortable and confident. The second thing is that diving progression that I talked about. I would never recommend that your first dive be a ball that hits the post when you’re coming from the other side of the goal. I’m sure younger keepers can handle turning up the heat much quicker than I can at this point. Still, it’s not a good idea to exert yourself to the max of your capacities as soon as you step on the field. That can apply to any physical activity that you want to do!
