Coaches in all sports preach stretching is a necessity to be able to play the right way. Stretching, though, is something that usually, at a young age, you don’t see the value of. That leads to a lot of kids not doing things the right way. This can be the first thing about stretching that we need to keep in mind. You need to stretch right to be able to get the benefits that you’re looking for.
Why do I say that stretching is important for goalkeepers? In fact, I would go as far as to say stretching is more important for goalkeepers than it is for players in other positions on the field. There are tangible reasons why this is true. As a goalkeeper, you’re going to be putting your body in positions that other players are not going to mimic. In a lot of cases, what you want to do is be able to stretch your entire body as long as it can go to reach a shot. Therefore, making sure that your muscles are ready to do that is essential.
I pretty much gave away some of the key points that I’m going to be talking about in this article in that last paragraph. What I want to do is talk about how you want to stretch and what parts of the body you want to work on the most. I’m also going to be talking about some of my favorite stretches. Here we go with why stretching is so important for goalkeepers.
What Parts of Your Body Do You Need to Stretch?
I want to make a distinction here before I say anything else. When you get older, your body is going to let you know what you need to stretch. That’s also the case when you’re younger but you’re putting your body through daily workouts. You’re going to need to stretch basically anything that feels tight.
Let’s say, though, you get to a game or training, and you feel perfectly fine nothing hurts. This has never happened to me in my life, but maybe you’re one of the lucky ones. What you want to start with are the hamstrings. These are going to be the muscles on the back of your thigh. In goalkeeper training, since you do a lot of jumping around and starting and stopping, these are going to go through quite the strain. They are also very easy to injure if you have to stretch your legs out to make a save. You want to start there for sure.
The next things that you want to deal with are your arms and your back. It’s a terrible idea to try and throw a ball out in the cold with arms that haven’t been warmed up. With your arms and your back, you’re not only looking for that extra flexibility that you can get from stretching. You mainly want to make sure that they’re well warmed up to deal with a hard shot or fall. It’s always better to hit the ground only when you’ve stretched out enough.
Finally, your calves are also going to be important to stretch out. The reason I talk about calves last, though, is because I get the sense that it’s the only thing some goalkeepers know they have to stretch. It may not even be the most important part of your body that you want to warm up before getting into the action.
Exercises That Can Help You Get Your Body Where It Needs to Be
What I usually like to do is sit on the floor first and stretch my legs out to the side slowly as far as they can go. Then, from that position, you can bend one leg back and arch your back towards the ground as well. This is going to be the first step to make sure you’re dealing with those hamstrings. Once you have those done, you can come back to your seated position and cross one arm to the other side of the body while you push down on your elbow with your other hand.
Then, you want to lift your arms and arch back a bit to get your back warmed up a bit. I would recommend doing all of this before you even touch a ball. Finally, you may want to stand up and do the traditional calf muscle stretches. Grab one leg and pull it back while you try to stand there like a flamingo. This is where you can also touch your toes, the typical soccer stretch that everyone does.
Once you’ve gone through all that, what I like to do is get back to the seated position or on your knees to start diving to low running balls one side and the other. What you want to do is start hitting the ground softly before you move into full-body dives. I am including this in the routine because I feel that diving to these low-running balls is going to allow you to stretch your whole body out to get ready for what’s coming next.
When To Stretch Before Training or Games
I see goalkeepers across all of the top leagues be the first ones to step on the field for warm-ups. That makes sense because we have to get our whole body warmed up. The process that I just talked about with the exercises that can help you out can apply to both games and training. It’s a good little routine to get going from there you’re going to be taking some shots on goal with full-body dives for sure at some point.
In the professional game, there’s a gap between your warm-up time and the moment that you step back on the field. I think in the amateur game, if you can eliminate that gap, you’re going to be better off. So ask the coach to give the instructions that they want to give, and then go do your stretching and your warm-up routine. Get all that done as a lead-up to the game so that you’re ready to go once the whistle sounds.
This is exactly what you’re going to do in training. You’re not going to warm up for training and then go have a chat and sit down for a while before you move onto the second stage. That can happen sometimes when you’re going to be scrimmaging or something like that. In daily training sessions, though, you’re just going to keep going. What I recommend for games, then, is to time your warm-up and stretching to ensure that you’re able to start the game moments after you finish up. Maybe give yourself 5 minutes after the warm-up to get some water, potentially re-stretch, and focus.
That 5-minute mark is the sweet spot; I wouldn’t go further than that. The last thing that you want to do is spend too much time standing around before you get back into action. Goalkeepers, though, are going to see this happen many times though. What can you do to stay in the groove if you will, even if you’re not called to act during a game?
Active Stretching During Games
This is something that I recommend a lot, and I don’t see it talked about enough. It’s especially important when we get to later in the year in the cold weather games. Even if you do a great warm-up, you’re going to get stiff as the game goes on, especially if you’re not called to make any plays. What I recommend in those situations is that you put yourself in the right position first. When the ball is far away, you can walk out of the box. Once you’re in position, start stretching.
You want to make sure that you’re only doing stretching exercises that you can do standing up. In some situations, jogging in place a bit is also going to help. What you want to do is make sure that your muscles are staying loose and ready. If you don’t do this, what happens is that you’re going to tighten up, and then when you’re called into action, it’s going to be harder to react.
This can even be a rather effective way to avoid injuries. That goes back to what I was talking about with not waiting as much before the game to finish your warm-up. The whole idea of warming up is to ensure that your body is ready to go if and when you’re called into action. Since you could be literally standing there for minutes on end as a goalkeeper, you might as well look for ways to stay ready.
It’s a Personal Feeling That You Need to Reach
How long do I need to stretch for? What exercises are going to work best for me? I’ve thrown out a couple of suggestions of things that I know really work well for me. That doesn’t mean that the routine that I put out there is going to be the best thing for you. Stretching, and feeling “ready” before training or a match is a very personal experience. You need to find what works for you and how long you feel you need to warm up to be ready.
The problem that I see, which in turn has led me to want to write this article, is that kids primarily don’t know how to stretch. They don’t see the value in it. There’s an argument to be made that they don’t need to stretch as much because they have more flexibility than older goalkeepers. Still, it’s a good idea to build a routine that works for you. If nothing else, what you’ll be able to achieve is this peak concentration that you’re looking for before games. As your career moves on, the need for stretching is going to catch up to you sooner rather than later.
Building the habit, therefore, is one of the best things that you can do for your career moving forward. Remember that it’s a personal experience. Don’t try to overdo some of these exercises. In some situations, it’s going to be doing you no good. Find what works; everything is a trial and error-process in goalkeeping. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t find what you’re looking for right out of the gate.
