Why Do Goalkeepers Need Speed?

In the old days in organized soccer and in some schoolyards goalkeepers tended to be the hefty kid and the kid that didn’t want to run. These days there is no denying the fact that speed in any sport or activity is necessary to be able to succeed. Before you go to youtube and look up Usain Bolt training videos to help you in goal, you may want to stick around and read about the type of speed that you need in goalkeeping. If you have straight inline speed that is something that can help you in goal, but it’s not necessarily the number one requirement that you need to have

The reason that you do need some type of speed is that a quick reaction time is something that’s always going to come in handy as a goalkeeper. The other type of “speed” that you need is actually mental speed. Goalkeepers arguably have the least amount of time to make decisions in certain types of plays. Even if you could say that we have more time to make decisions the effects of a bad decision by a goalkeeper are greater than they are in any other position on the field.

Do you need speed as a goalkeeper then? The answer is obviously yes, as I mentioned there are different types of speed. What I want to go over in this article are some of the drills that you can do as a goalkeeper to gain speed. At the same time, I want to go over some of the myths that people talk about. For example, should you have to jog multiple laps across the field as a keeper, and what type of weight exercises you can do to gain speed? Before I get to that though I want to mention that when it comes to weights I’m not going to be giving out particular amounts of weight that you should put in the machines. That’s going to depend on your age, ability, weight, and multiple other factors. Get a trainer to help you with a plan tailored to you!

What Type of Speed Do You Need To Have As A Goalkeeper?

Obviously, you don’t need to be able to run the hundred meters in track star like speed. What you do need is to be able to cover about 5 to 10 yards really quickly. Also, what you would need is to be able to quickly take one or two steps in a particular direction and dive. To do that you need to be what they say quick, but not necessarily fast in long distances. I talked about mental speed as well.

Many of the goalkeepers like Edwin Van Der Sar or Gianluigi Buffon were able to play for a long time because of this mental speed. You need to be able to make decisions in split seconds and take off. Why do you need to do this? If you’re able to anticipate the trajectory of the shot and dive or move in that direction you’re going to have a better chance of making the save it’s just that simple.

How do you build up that speed to be able to cover 5 to 10 yards quickly? You can actually do that through a couple of the regular goalkeeping exercises that you would typically do on a daily basis. The mental speed aspect of things is another one of those things that you’re going to be able to build up through practice. I’m going to talk about some of the particular exercises later on. Right now I want to cover some of the training myths to gain speed. To see if any of these traditional training methods actually help increase what I could call “goalkeeping speed”.

Should You Be Doing Extensive Jogging As A Goalkeeper?

This is a topic that a lot of goalkeepers debate over. Most of the coaches or goalkeepers that don’t incorporate major jogging times within their training regimens argue the same thing that you don’t need a lot of inline speed. I actually support the idea that extensive jogging is something that you should be considering. Especially if you’re a goalkeeper that is a little bit heavier or you’re a bit on the short side. Jogging at a decent speed for a considerable amount of time is going to allow to build a lot of calf strength and endurance.

When you have decent endurance you’re going to be able to complete more goalkeeping training exercises and that naturally is going to help you improve your technique quicker. While jogging is not necessarily going to help you be quicker on your feet perse again the endurance factor is going to come into play. You hear a lot of coaches telling you to be “on your toes” this is not a figure of speech. Being on your toes is going to allow you to make quicker first steps. Being on your toes for an extended period of time requires endurance. You can achieve that through jogging.

Can Lifting Weights “Leg Press” Increase Speed?

For years there was a myth that certain types of athletes do not need to lift weights. This myth has since been debunked and these days pretty much every single athlete out there can hit the gym and obtain benefits from this in his or her sport. Now, when it comes to goalkeeping and gaining speed this is not necessarily something that you’ll be able to obtain by just spending hours in the gym. If you’re a professional and you have a weight training program go do that. I don’t think that kids need to be hitting the gym on the first day of training. That being said, there are tangible ways to increase speed by adding weight to certain exercises.

Ankle weights are certainly a variable that you can explore to be able to gain speed. If you use them in footwork exercises they could certainly help you feel much lighter in a game. Having said this, there are a lot of people out there that are against the use of ankle weights because of the strain that they can have on the joints. I would agree I would say that you should go ahead and do a full workout in ankle weights. What I could say is to add them into certain footwork exercises. Foot speed like a dancer is something that is super important for goalkeepers.

What Type of Exercises Should I Be Doing To Gain Goalkeeper Speed?

A lot of young keepers hate when the coach brings out the cones and plates and makes them do footwork drills. These types of drills are really the only way that you’re going to be able to gain real speed. Particularly if the cones are arranged in such a way that they are forcing you to mimic the trajectory that you would be taking in goal with an incoming shot. I love the drills where you have to do the footwork and then sprint to a spot and make a save. The reason why I like these drills is because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing in a real game. Ideally, in a game, you’re going to be on your toes and you’re going to have to go from 0 to full speed in a short burst.

If you’re a coach and you want to do drills without the ball to sprinkle them in as conditioning the basketball style wind sprints are always a good idea. If you can mix a variation of the traditional wind sprints where you have to touch the line to a drill where you’re making a saving or diving to a stationary ball it can work great.

When you’re on your own and you want to train and increase your speed you can do the stationary ball variation. The other thing that you can do is put different balls at a particular length that you can sprint to and then kick them against a wall to force you to dive to a particular side or make a frontal catch or a scoop. These are drills that if you have a decent-sized backyard at home with a nice wall or fence you can do on your own. They will help you increase foot speed and help with decent ball striking.

Should Speed Be Something You Should Be Training To Improve Everyday

If you’re currently training five days a week or more I would not advise that you do speed and explosive training exercises every single day of the week. Doing so could put too much strain on muscles and ligaments and that’s when we have injuries. If you’re on the other side of 25 like myself and up, speed drills are certainly not ones that you’re going to want to be doing on a daily basis. Again, the risk of injury can be too great. With kids that train maybe two or three times a week, it’s probably ok that you mix in some speed and conditioning in every session.

There are two main reasons why I would say with kids training “too” much speed is not a big issue. Number one is that with kids the risk of injury is not as great as it is with older folks. If you’re older it’s always a good idea to stretch maybe even more than you regularly do if you’re going to be sprinting or doing excessive footwork style drills. If you’re going to use ankle weights this becomes even more important.

The second reason why I don’t really have a problem with kids doing speed drills on a consistent basis is that speed is one of the things that is going to allow them to improve their game ironically quickly. If you’re able to get to the ball with ease it’s going to be more likely that you’ll make the save. Even if the save is with your face your stomach, whatever it may be. When you do things quickly a lot of the upper body technical issues are going to show up and be much more evident. As I mentioned if you’re getting to the ball and you can’t make the save then it’s evident that you have a hand technique issue. That’s something that I would rather have the need to correct down the line. Instead of having to see my goalkeeper coming up short every single time because of speed issues. That’s going to include their mental speed and decision making.

The Real Secret To Increasing Speed As A Goalkeeper

I love exploring different drills and different methods to be able to improve your skillset as a keeper. This is something that you do though to make sure you keep things fun. At the end of the day, anyone of us who got in goal and stayed there probably did so because we found it fun. Mixing things up in training then allows goalkeepers to continue to have fun. That’s something that you shouldn’t lose sight of as a goalkeeper or goalkeeper coach. Now, what’s the secret that I promised I would give out to increase speed? The secret is … Go really hard in practice every single day! That’s the only way that you’re going to be able to increase your speed and your abilities in general.

When you’re doing proper training there are moments in time where you are going to want to literally drop dead. There are other moments where you feel that you literally are going to do so. If you’re not getting a work out from goalkeeper training that is literally exhausting, maybe not to the point of faint, of course, something could be wrong. Ask your coaches to up the intensity. A lot of times coaches are complacent in making the training boring and not allowing you to improve. When you go hard or you are forced to go hard there is a better chance that you’ll obtain overall better shape.

So … Why Do Goalkeepers Need Speed?

You need quickness more than speed to be able to put yourself in the right positions to make saves or accurate interceptions. It’s simple if you can arrive at the ball faster there is a better chance that you’ll make the save. That doesn’t mean that all goalkeepers should rival world-class sprinters. You can make up some lack of speed with proper positioning and you only get that through training and mostly playing or being able to accurately mimic game-like scenarios. If you train hard there is a better chance that you’ll obtain the desired speed quickly!