Dan Pilgrim

Cross training

“Cross training” (or circuit training) is the phrase used to explain athletes training in other sports than the one that is their main focus (i.e. hockey in our case!), to work on inherent skills like muscle memory, reaction speeds, response time, stamina and tactical awareness/decision making. With so much variety available, multiple sports give the chance for a sportsman (or woman!) to work on aspects of their own game outside the constraints and pressures of their sporting environment. Of course, although if, as internationals, they are going to be playing still with games over the course of the summer when everyone else is resting (on the laurels even perhaps!)

When the season is over, it is a good chance to keep the itch at bay (goalkeeping itch that is!) by playing another sport. Otherwise you could add in a short session of another sport to your regular training schedule; an alternative to gym work where the game practice can be more useful for skills like reading the game and such. Apparently the Royal Marines do a lot of cross training, which is enough to provide some inspiration; something that the elite amongst us might prove a catalyst. It’s something extra, even though it might not directly correlate to obvious games in your goalkeeping, and when it comes to goalkeeping, you can stay fresh and have a space to learn and try out new things, even if you don’t intend applying them to the hockey pitch.

Playing ‘out’

Playing as an outfield player (playing ‘out’ as there say in various places in the world, I think!), is useful for goalkeepers because it allows you to see the game from your team mates view. You can then apply this to your game play, as you see the key times in a game, the psychological impact, and how to direct the players in front of you, with better calling and so on. Playing ‘out’, you can see more regards what the view like is from an outfield position, helping you learn how to command your defence in terms of more appropriate and concise calls. And the running around, especially if playing in midfield or up front looking to explode out of the blocks to get to a loose ball or beat the defence, obviously helps for general fitness!

Wicket keeping

Wicket keeping is an activity that goalkeepers seem attracted to quite a bit. David James (more known for his afro, playing in Iceland and his bankruptcy days than world class saves these days), had his chance at a TV based go at wicket keeping. As can be seen below, David used it as an excuse to apply his football based approach, but following the ball and focusing on the ball are things that can be taken from cricket practice and re-applied to our own goalkeeping:

And in hockey, watching the ball through in to the save, is so important in whatever action is called upon, more so in deflections where you have to be focused on the ball entirely to make that last second shift across to make the block. For hockey, both Hinch and Pinner have had a go at wicket keeping technique through English sporting connections, and have seen the positives.

http://www.hockeyimages.co.uk/portfolio353383p1.html

Racquet sports

Racquet sports are great for hand-eye co-ordination, getting that muscle memory working and helping visualisation and your reactions. The posture is similar enough to a goalkeeping stance, working those leg muscles, and by reacting from the hands, you can see and should be able to; see a difference in saving from the hands when you go back to hockey. Rachael Lynch has written some interesting stuff on this, which is worth checking out.

Playing in goal

If you are addicted to playing in goal as much as I am (can’t help it!), then you may consider giving other sports a go when the hockey season is over, just to keep the goalkeeping bug ticking over until the hockey season starts again. Having close friends that are more interested in football comes in handy when they need a goalkeeper to fill in, but I’m sure there are opportunities out there if you really want to look into this an option. Commanding the defence and being vocal are simple but effective things you can get the chance to work on in another 11-sided game format.

Football

Football, being the world’s biggest (most popular) sport, has pretty impressive player base, and it therefore shouldn’t be too hard to get a game in or get involved in so how as some extra training (if for fitness if nothing else!). 11 a side is a little hairy due to the bigger goals and feeling like an ant coming from hockey, as well as not parrying (unless you want to punch everything like a certain Pat Jennings in his early days!). But the athleticism and the kicking can help you work on crossover skills for your hockey season. The need for immediacy for the need to be off your line and out to reach a loose ball can be incredibly useful for reading 1-on-1’s and rushing out, as well as the confidence to.

Five or six-a-side is handy for getting used to player like a sweeper and working on your kicking; more so looking for outlet passes as the first line of attack (last line of defence; first line of attack!). You’ll often be playing as a sweeper, playing the short pass and shifting the ball around and looking for space to put the ball to be useful when looking for space to put the rebound into when you are saving with your feet. Kicking the ball with a strong kick through and follow through will also be put to good use in your upcoming hockey season. In football you’re going to be kicking a lot, and the opportunity to do that is pretty useful, given the fundamental of kicking and saving with the feet in our game.

An interesting case of an elite level goalkeeper doing a bit of football cross training, was Beth Storry before the London Olympics (biased because he’s a Spurs goalkeeper, so sue me!). It was interesting to see the discussion between styles as the goalkeepers analysed the crossovers of technique and application. You can read the write-up and see Storry in action at Tottenham’s training ground at the link below:

http://www.investec.co.uk/about-investec/investec-news/goalkeeping-legends-compare-tactics.html

Futsal

Futsal is pretty popular in Spain and South America, as well as Eastern Europe, so could be worth looking into if you’re from these parts of the globe. It will help you push yourself out your comfort zone to come out and cover; learning to dominate your area. Having to block rather catch also helps out given the automatic tendency will be for you to block rather than catch coming from your hockey style of goalkeeping! So you will have a good chance to use your leg based muscle memory for foot and ‘kick’ saves. Spreading your body to make a large surface area for blocking shots when coming off your line is also handy for charging down a rebound in hockey.

Ice hockey

This might be more applicable to those that play a winter sport (would prefer playing summer sports in summer than on a freezing pitch so obviously jealous!) and then a summer sport in the form of field hockey, but is still a good concept. Again, the emphasis is on catching and swallowing it rebounds, but being dead on with your rebounds is central to being a good goalie on the ice. Interestingly enough, Lev Yashin, who is considered by far the world’s best ever goalkeeper in the footie, was actually a dual athlete goalkeeper. On the edge of Winter Olympic selection, he actually stuck to football and then went on to fame (didn’t get much fortune sadly…). Many critics and reckon that the repetition of angle play in his ice hockey training days helped him iron out problems he had with football, being the key ingredient to the great success he had.

Others:

Handball – can use it for footwork/fitness and Schmeichel’s ‘star jump’ technique
Lacrosse – can use it to work on reactions/reflex saves, hand-eye and reading the game
Floorball – more catching based, but can use this to practise working on hand-eye co-ordination

Non-goalie sports

Rugby or American Football should help with defensive awareness and learning to read the game. As a result, your awareness of how you can work as a defensive unit with your defence and learning to make the right calls relating to repositioning or man marking etc. And there are various other sports that can help with different aspects of goalkeeping like athleticism and explosive power.

Just training!

At the end of the day, it’s just training! There’s no commitment to a season long of another sport; it’s all about trying things out and re-applying what you have learnt from reading the game and blocking shots instinctively. Reading the play in different sports can help you spot defensive breakdowns sooner in a hockey game.

Psychologically it is also a neat trick for you to work on your confidence and playing under pressure (since you are trying something new). Sometimes it can be difficult to develop outside of training with the pressures of playing at a competitive level, and therefore you don’t always get to experiment with confidence (i.e. the certainty of not allowing a goal). So playing another sport allows you to do this and build up your self confidence, which is ever so vital for high performance in goalkeeping.

Taping arm pads

A simple but effective tip for those arm pad wearers out there, who use the removable Obo pads (which also give you more set-up options, if you think about it versus attached ones sewn into the body armour!), more specifically, is to tape them! With the design of the elbow pad that goes around the bone, rather than a hard shell fixed in place, you will see a lot of Obo arm pad users taping their pads to ensure the pad stays fixed in place and gives more flexibility when bending at the joint for those glove saves nearer the body. The tape helps hold the inner bicep protection in place for the newer range of Obo pads, whilst at the same time also helping keeping that bend at the joint for all important flexibility for those instantaneous reflex saves. Some electrical tape taped around the arm pad in this way, will help to keep the pad together and give important movement as stated. With taping, it essentially forces the foam into the bend that you need for that bending motion for save making whilst wearing the arm pads.

Otherwise eventually the padding can come loose or just become a nuisance! Like Filip Neusser’s (Czech international and great at indoor!) whose arm pads demonstrate. It’s not the greatest example, but you will be able to notice the effect and get the idea! So with taping, it’s simple but useful when keeping the arm pad together, also helping the pad bend at the joint, for when you turn and bend your arm for glove saves.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12608538@N03/8431574403/

One I did earlier like the Blue Peter saying is a poor attempt by myself to illustrate using some old Obo arm pads I have knocking around, to illustrate how it’s done. A quick bodge job but you get the idea and basics of it! Notice the taping centrally to keep that bend and movement, whilst also helping to keep the padding at the elbow in place and central, over the elbow, to provide all important coverage:

Here you can see Germany’s international second choice Reuss who uses Obo body armour and arm protection, with taping to hold the circular pad at the elbow in place and also to help keep the padding above the elbow (on the forearm) firmly in place:

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/reserve-keeper-felix-reuss-of-germany-takes-a-break-during-news-photo/157837162

And here is retired international Ali McGregor in his playing days with Loughborough Students with taped arm pads:

Goalkeeper or shot stopper?

As you look to move on from the basics of shot stopping and evolving your game as a goalkeeper, you need to think (perhaps thinking hard and conscientiously about it, if you want to!) about how you play as a goalkeeper, and your roles and responsibilities within the team. About how you need to work to intercept and interrupt passes by the opposition to stop them from gaining a chance to score. When you consider it, a goalkeeper should be able to shut down attacks and passing opportunities, providing a presence behind their defence that is able to do their job when the defensive line is ‘caught short’. You will see goalkeepers at the elite levels who play a more proactive style, rushing out to tackle or clear away the ball, especially in the indoor game, where being active and aggressive in challenging and intercepting a pass is really important for a goalkeeper to succeed in the fast paced indoor arena.

And you need to work on being confident stepping off your post or your “line”, if you are to challenge the opposition and restrict their opportunities in your D to score. Bringing in the ability to disrupt chances by coming out to tackle and so forth, you will be able to limit the opposition’s chances. Good shot stoppers are worth their weight in gold, but they also need to be able to have an important impact on their game in order to achieve success.

Pure shot stopper

All goalkeepers are shot stoppers, but some are more inclined to hope on their ability to make the save, perhaps expecting the defence to do the job of intercepting passes and for them to stay where they are. Rather than go out to challenge if needs call upon them to, unable to see past the lens of a goalkeeping simply being there to make the saves (that might have drawn them to the position in the first place) and the need to step out of goal at times to shut down a scoring chance by kicking away a loose ball or going in for a decisive tackle, for example. As a position in our sport, this is an important aspect of the way we play within the game, like football goalkeepers who need to come out and catch crosses on corners, or rush out to tackle, versus ice hockey goalies who are not going to come flying out of their zone to slide tackle a player (unless they’re Dominic Hasek!), or floorball, where it is more a case of shot stopping. And it needs recognising! For some, not others, probably though!!

In a negative way, you could consider a case example of a goalkeeper rooted to their line and fearful of coming out to tackle or intercept. But rather than coming out to challenge, in a positive light, they do themselves an injustice by staying back against the play and expecting a shot to be stoppable. Passively hoping to just have to stop shots instead of be involved in the play, even if a case of a difficult redirect is a potential possibility, say for example. Not confident in their ability to tackle, or just unable to see the point in doing so. A goalkeeper that stays where they are, on the spot, hoping that they will do ok facing a shot that might come in from the top of the D say, that doesn’t come out to tackle or chase lose rebounds, instead expecting to be able to stop all shots.

A ‘goal’ ‘keeper’

Goalkeeping is more than just being there to get behind shots and save them, unfortunately! And the way you approach goalkeeping will have a significant impact on the way you play. You can either be a goalkeeper where you expect to just be there to stop shots and end up not doing a good job of ‘owning your D’, or make sure this isn’t the case! If you take the structure of the word goalkeeper, you can literally get “goal” and “keep”; in this way of thinking, can you consider yourself a goalkeeper who ‘keeps’ their goal? Do you look after your D, or do you stay on your line and get beaten by chances that you could have stopped through coming out to challenge? Do you stop chances turning into goals by eliminating them before they happen, or do you get beaten by them?

Your job as a goalkeeper is more than just simply the saving aspect, there is also passes and potential breakaways to contend with! It’s about more than standing there and being on angle and in the right spot at the right time, all of the time. Wherein a goalkeeper needs to be able to come out and tackle or intercept and will be able to when these situations present themselves. Think about breakaways where you stand a better chance of rushing out to challenge, if you go in for that glorious slide tackle, where you will take the ball off the play and stop the shot happening in the first place. Or interceptions, where making the interception will eliminate the passing option and prevent a high risk scoring opportunity.

Goalkeeper versus shot stopper

When you think about, goalkeeping is more than just a case of shot stopping. You can’t expect to save every shot if you play like that, so making sure you actively play a part in shutting down scoring opportunities means that you can work things into your favour. As you develop and play more games and get more (as a beginner anyway!), you will soon realise and notice that it is more than just the save making that may have brought you to playing the position in the first place.

Sometimes you need to do more than just stop shots. The “sweeper keeper” idea and conceptualisation epitomises the way a goalkeeper can (attack being the best form of the defence!), with the goalkeeper making use of their aggressive abilities to shut down chances instead of having to make the potential save, acting like an extra defender in the way they are involving themselves in the game. Elite goalkeepers are more than just shot stoppers and capable of tackling and challenging appropriately, bringing an extra dimension to their game.

Take this video montage of world class Guus Vogels (who has obviously retired recently, leaving way for Stockmann to take over in his place, for Holland). Notice how amazing his shot stopping abilities are, but also how he is involving himself in the game, making important diving interceptions and challenges; diving off the post and reaching out with his stick say or sliding out to intercept a breakaway forward:

If you think about it, you need to be able to do this as well as make saves when it is right to. Eliminating scoring chances before they happen is an important part of goalkeeping as save making is and you need to know this! It may look good if you have stats where you face a lot of shots or end up saving a lot of shots, but that could also be down to poor rebound control or allowing scoring opportunities to happen by not being proactive like this, so it is important to reflect on the way you play and how you go about the concept of ‘keeping’ goal.

Be a goalkeeper!

Ultimately, you need to be more than just a shot stopper. And a goalkeeper at that! There is more of a responsibility to your team to help them out by challenging and doing the defensive work by coming out to intercept a breakaway among other roles. Therefore there are effectively two sides or parts to a goalkeeper: a shot stopper and an active ‘keeper’ of goal. And if you want to go far up the hockey ladder (or at least improve!), you need to be both! Any goalkeeper worth their weight in gold (or goalie legendary status, take the phrase as inspiration!), as already mentioned (oops with déjà vu!) is a great shot stopper but more importantly also a dominant force within the D. So, make sure you are able to do this, and be a goalkeeper and not just a save maker!

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The art of visualisation

Visualisation is a useful technique for any goalkeeper, to help them with their confidence and save making. Visualising making saves at specific times within the game (say, at short corners) and specific saves, the goalkeeper can visualise the process of the save to help them concrete technique and build on their confidence, whilst helping make those glorious, spectacular saves, because of the self belief developed from these thoughts running through your mind pretty much all the time! Popular in a variety of sports, it can be applied to our own favourite sport, our beloved hockey, and been made use of when we approach our goalkeeping.

How visualising would sort of look, at least in essence!

What is it?

Visualisation is a psychological aid, a way of approaching the game and the art of goalkeeping itself, through the lens of self image, imagining yourself making particular saves or decisions made. Thinking outside of yourself (as you visualise the shooting space the opposing attacker has when facing you) so you can see what the shooter’s options are. Or from an internal perspective, wherein you can effectively see yourself making saves, which in turn will help out making the actual saves when you are called upon to do so.

It’s basically way of seeing yourself make a save, a way of imagining you pulling off some cracking stops or saves that you struggle with, technically, and working through the save process in thinking, so that you can pull off specific saves during an actual game. A skill that allows you to work with your muscle memory to pull off the save as the shot comes and the memory recall causes the save to happen, during the game. Essentially it’s pre-thinking, or thinking about saves in order to make them when it counts. You visualise yourself making a save by diving out in extension say. The visualisation itself is a driving force for helping you do that in reality when you go to make the dive, the visualisation helping you through enacting the proper technique. As well as providing you with reinforcing your confidence and self belief in trusting in your technique, it also helps for playing games where you have little to do and can lose focus or be forced into making an unexpected save that could have a huge impact on the game and score line.

And it’s not something new to something, just something that needs more promotion of! I’ve seen national league goalkeepers go through visualisation, combined with the physical motion and attacking push out with the appropriate limbs, with Greg Lewis at Guildford HC being a specific example as he pushed out with the glove (and mental thought processing), practising a specific save making format on some short corners. Visualisation is something a lot of elite goalkeepers, in a variety of sports, who use it to help them (you can read Gordon Banks, the famous England football goalkeeper, affirming this, in this article

How?

Visualisation is pretty simple if you think about it: it’s just a case of ‘seeing’ yourself making saves. Imagining a diving save, for example. When visualising, you are going through the technique and action of the specific save, working through it in your mind’s eye, and imagining pull off wonder saves, so that you correspondingly play well in the match.

You can work on visualising set saves made. So high or low diving stops at short corners, making glove stops with whichever hand to the appropriate saving side. You can also work in rebound control; visualising where you would put the ball, to a safe place where a second scoring chance is difficult or could lead to a scoring chance if not properly dealt with. And so on.

Apparently, there are two main forms of visualisation that goalkeepers (http://voices.yahoo.com/visualization-techniques-ncaa-college-soccer-goalkeepers-2992419.html) can and should make use of. In first person visualisation, you are imagining pushing out to make the save as the ball comes at you, so seeing an imaginary shot coming at you for you to save. In third person, you can see yourself from an outside perspective, seeing you diving out say for a strong save.

But although it is slightly self explanatory, here are some ideas to help you practise in some quiet place (no distractions for this, like goalie meditation or something!):

See yourself making certain saves
See yourself making those spectacular, awesome saves we as goalkeepers love to make and it should help with your confidence enough to make them in a game, having seen yourself play that well in your mind
See yourself being confident, in the sense that you can stop every shot, and it should have a knock-on effect on the way you play
See yourself from the shooter’s point of view: are you giving away too much shooting space? Are you off-angle or poorly positioned? How much room do they have to shoot into or at? What looks like the easiest scoring chance for them?

Essentially, visualise to the extent that you can improve your game. To the level where seeing yourself make saves in fact makes those saves happen. The list sort of emphasises the types of options but you can work off this to think things through that you have difficulty with.

Why?

Visualisation is a really useful technique for self believe and actual shot stopping. It’s cost effective (it doesn’t cost you anything to work on it by yourself!) and for its seemingly basic level of technique, it is incredibly useful for what it does, as you will see when you give it a go. It is a very productive psychological technique as you look to be an unstoppable goalkeeping force. The benefits and uses of visualisation are twofold. Imagining making a certain save will help you make it in an actual game, whilst also aiding your confidence, giving you a boost in the way you see yourself in terms of ability, so that you can make those important saves. When you do visualise, be confident, so seeing yourself making those saves rather than any negative thinking creeping in! Visualising in your mind’s eye how you are going to make saves should impact you actually making them!

Visualisation is useful for the actual process of shot stopping. According to studies and research, it helps your muscles and brain work in unison. The sport science of it being that the neurones in your brain fire of as you simply imagine the save being made, meaning that your brain is more “switched on” and the neurones will fire quickly as you make the connection between thought of save and save itself, whilst also helping you make the specific save as your muscle memory kicks in and you can call upon the memorised technique to make the appropriate save.

Think about what it is like to make a reflex save. There are times when this will happen, but visualisation can be more useful if it is so possible. Trying to do so in a game is tougher, as you can’t rely on anticipation all the time (if the shooter is good at dummying their intentions, especially in the elite tiers of hockey), so obviously it’s a case of balancing things. But if your head (and thoughts!) are in the right place as the saying goes, then you should be in a better (metaphorical!) position to make every save for every shot that comes at you.

During a game, this is very useful. If you have not had a save to make for quite some time, then it helps with concentration and “awakening” for the save as it happens, perhaps late on in the game, where you have not had the chance to build in to a game with more saves as assistance. It allows you to imagine the next save, so that when you are called into action, you are mentally ready and prepared for the save. This will aid concentration as you focus on the game (or at least what is happening in front of you!) and be ready for a save to be made, versus losing interest in the game and zoning out to the point of being use when you are eventually called upon.

Visualising saves

You can visualise on the build up to a game, so the night or so before you could see yourself making particular saves. Then just before the game in the journey there and during the warm-up. It is also very useful to visualise making saves during the game. If you have time to, when the play is outside your half, you can do this to keep concentrating and keep ready for making saves. Obviously you need to be reading the game and commanding your defence when the ball is out of your area, but you can also visualise, if you can multi task (who said goalkeepers aren’t special?!)!

Visualise!

Ultimately, it’s a good idea to look at visualising as a psychological and developmental technique to help you through games and improve your shot stopping and confidence and concentration levels. Believing that, you should be able to make any save possible is going to have a positive impact on the way you play. A means to see and then make, an exact save. It’s something you can add into your game and training as well, as you can do this in training sessions when practising corners or facing shots. This way, when you go to make a save, you will be more prepared for save making, especially certain types of save as you have mentally ‘practised’ it, and are more confident in yourself as the repetition of visualisation sees you making astonishing saves and stopping anything that comes your way, pumping you up for the big game, say!

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Plyometrics

With plyometrics (turns out it isn’t plymetrics, even though I thought otherwise, always thought it was plymetrics?!) needed for improving your jumping abilities and also useful for increasing agility and your explosive power, it is important that goalkeepers are made aware of this form of training and added it to their regime of outside-structured-training-training! They are a definitive aspect of athleticism when pushing out athletically and aggressively to save and explosiveness, ensuring an agile and athletic style that should crossover into your game and training sessions. It’s a standard part of training and exercising for football goalkeepers, who are expected to leave their feet to intercept and catch crosses, but they, for some reason, seem a little left out of the hockey repertoire.

And for me (and my perception!), they potentially are a very (too harsh?) over looked part of hockey goalkeeping, if you think about it. In the sense that they are not a part of training programme and goalkeepers generally may not be aware of them. So, in the case of reverting this and bringing them into educational and practical use, it would be good to see more , although I guess it’s a little harder (maybe, no excuses!) to jump up and down in full hockey kit, in comparison to football goalkeepers not being as hindered. I guess football has a more grounded coaching system (to some degree), but jumping is perhaps of more importance for catching crosses, which are important parts of the game for explosive based save making and athleticism, but still, it is something that can be used and adapted when we look at upgrading and developing our own game.

Generating force and height

The whole idea of plyometrics is to improve your explosiveness and power for those leaping motions. As well as the height or distance you can achieve (say if using the jumps to help with pushes and pushing out explosively for a full stretch, extension diving save)! It’s not really a repetitive drill in regards to learning things via muscle memory for a specific movement or saving motion, but a move that’s looking to push your ability to ‘explode’ in a movement upwards from your stance with good effort. It’s more about a continued effort to get higher each time and with greater speed.

And then there is the added psychological factor of intensity within your game, wherein you push yourself to play and attack the ball with more desire and explosive power; with this approach to “explosivity” (it’s not a word apparently, so I’ll just instigate the Dickensian neologism clause i.e. make up new words!), helping translate into an agile and athletic performance in games as you leap for ball you might not otherwise reach. When you jump up, you’re trying to push yourself to get higher, faster; to get , so that you can replicate this in a game where you may have to make an outstanding extension save, reaching out, before getting back up for another spectacular stop!

Exercises

Whilst I do have a rough understanding of plyometrics, this article isn’t really focused on specifics and guidelines (couldn’t you tell!)! More of an intro into this form of training; you can find a lot more about them via online searches for “goalkeeper ploymetrics” and such, or in goalkeeping books written for football. But regardless, it’s important to have an awareness about them, especially now that it’s the off-season in Europe and a great time to start doing fitness and off-pitch training in advance of pre-season.

There are some exercises, which you can do by yourself and won’t need a coach or equipment to work on. This also means you obviously don’t need any extra kit or equipment to do so (although you can find somewhere with steps or something I guess, to make use of that to jump on/to!). In terms of working by yourself, there are some basic drills you can do in your own time. You can do static jumps to see how high up you can get and push yourself to get higher each time, or do so more quickly. Skipping is also said to be useful, with the jumping itself on the scale of plyometric exercise.

http://keeper-skool.com/plyometrics-depth-jumps-pure-goalkeeping-power

You can start off with a basic squat jump to begin lightly, and then build up to :

If you have a suitable box to jump onto, then box jumps can also be useful:

Or if you have cones (easy to buy, you can even get them in Tesco’s these days, as far as I remember!), then you can do things like the following to feel “light on your feet” and comfortable hopping around (i.e. for explosive drive off lead foot for a high/low dive).

Practising

Age is going to be a factor according to the intensity; so the older you are (especially if you’re at a high level and about 20/in your 20’s), the more you can do for set reps, and a teenager should be doing a bit, yet not overdoing it! It’s just a case of being sensible but the workload of a mature goalkeeper isn’t the same as a young nine year old, obviously! In football they incorporate plyometrics into a drill that involves shot stopping, so they can work on footwork and plyometrics as a routine (to incorporate them into how they play as a goalkeeper), before making the expected save. When you do the exercises, it’s important to keep to the fundamentals and not go too fast to the point you’re not taking it on or getting the technique right and falling off balance and so on. Start small and build up, working your way up with intensity level and level of advanced technique, as you develop your explosive power and jumping abilities.

Standard jumping can be done anywhere so there’s no excuse! Jumping straight up and having your hands at your sides to balance and as a guidance as to how high you want to bring your knees and foot up is a good place to start. Box or obstacles and hurdles/posts to jump over, can then be utilised for more advanced technique.

The following articles give a developed explanation for the reason you need to do them and the intensity level required:

https://www.keeperstop.com/articles.php?artid=31

http://jinked.net/2012/08/28/improve-goalkeeper-agility-with-plyometrics-training/

Translating into game play

Working on plyometrics should help you become a more explosive and agile goalkeeper in your shot stopping and athleticism and agility as you play with intensity, rather than a passive approach. And there is an argument for the need for this kind of development to help you play to a suitably intense and competitive level in goal. Leaving your feet to make a high ‘diving’ save or jumping to stop drag flicks at a short corner, you need that level of explosive power and athleticism to get to the ball. In open play, diving’ high, or getting off the ground to challenge an aerial pass into the D (as is becoming more popular at the higher levels), you need to be able to get high up to cover. These are two key examples of where plyometrics would help you and your goalkeeping.

Add them to your training schedule!

Ultimately, it is a good idea to consider plyometric training and adding it to your schedule; you can only gain from it! You should also find that you are getting more explosive after such exercises, being more athletic with diving across or low because of the power you can achieve when you jump up or out, this explosive nature translating to your game as you compete more intensely and athletically. And you may want to be pushing yourself to get as high as possible, so you can end up being able to jump like this!

I will try and write (potentially doing a separate guide for off-pitch training and exercises, as I’ve started work on guides for different areas of goalkeeping and set plays and the ‘mental game’, which will eventually be available as downloads in PDF form) more in-depth guidance on variations and more technical and advanced drills, at some point, but for now, I hope this has been of some use!

Turning with the face of the glove

With the glove offering a large surface area to block shots and turn away the ball on either side, it’s important to recognise that you should be facing them towards the play, so that you are already in a position. Like ice hockey goalies and footie goalies do anyway, with the analogy of already being in the right place for the right time (if that makes sense!). Pro-active and active hands are also better than lazy hands! Up and out is potentially how you want to have your gloves and normally the way to go, especially seen in Australia for example (potentially!), but you do see the same across Europe. And by having them faced, you can move with the glove, rather than trying to push out and swat upwards and at the ball.

Facing with the glove

Everyone plays differently (we’re all unique!) and how goalkeepers are taught varies according to coach and country (such as European and the styles within that, versus East Asian and so on), but one thing remains the same in the elite goalkeepers’ stances: they gloves are up and ready. Having the gloves forward is pretty universal at the elite levels, with the gloves out in front (although obviously held low can help with corners when diving, balance in kicking etc.). In Australia they seem to be more pro-active with an attacking, extended out ready stance, without making an overt generalisation! The ‘X stance’ has the gloves up and facing (with the legs also spread out to help react against wide shots and also able to close legs quickly for shots in that gap!). Regardless, it is recognised that raised hands are useful; especially important against quick released fast shots at glove height (where you don’t have much time to react, especially against internationals)!

Moving to face

Moving with the face of the glove conjoins with the concept of attacking the ball. With your gloves already in front of you, it is easier to move out to attack the ball; you are already attacking the shot by being in front of it in the first place. Whether this is pushing out from a more inward , or turning and down from a raised and faced glove, you are still turning in and moving to face the shot, to get the most coverage with the surface area of the blocking glove. Or more simply, if they are in an attacking position (i.e. forward and out, already nearer to the ball and cutting the angle), like a baseball catcher would, moving and tracking with the glove, to stop, as the coach in the last clip by Australian hockey talks about and demonstrates.

A sort of premeditated, precursory set-up with your gloves, where you are in a better position to react because you don’t have to bring your gloves up before making the save. By turning with the glove, than by reacting from a lowered position, you can effectively bring them into block more quickly and more efficiently. Instead of ‘waving’ or swatting with your gloves, and trying to push up for the save, you are in a better position. Obviously this is quite a technical case in point, and I can’t speak with reasoning on the depth of technical understanding for now, but this is still acknowledged as , and explained in the clip shown at the end. Facing and turning with the glove is quite revolutionary in some ways, I guess, because we have always been taught to do things differently and react. It’s one way of thinking and not everyone will agree, but you can see the evidence for yourself to consider it. Either way, turning the glove out and open for the save sees you in a position where you have to do less work because you are letting the gloves do the work. I think on shots wide of the body, it is a more grounded argument, than for attacking actively against those shouts closer to the body.

Follow the footage of the following clip (ignore the training without arm pads if you prefer not to!) and notice how when the goalkeeper moves with the glove in a facing position, he is more successful with turning the gloves. This goalkeeper is practising this via working with a BOLA machine so everything is about repetition of shot stopping (to practise muscle memory if nothing else), he is on the same angle, in the same position, facing the same height of shot, but sometimes moves with the gloves properly, other times not. On the shots outside of the body, further away, I feel it’s because he is pushing out in an attack rather than turning out in a clockwise motion with the glove like a baseball catcher’s. This is what the Australian coach explains in a more detailed way how and why the approach works. Notice also, at the end, how he moves like this with his glove and is more successful (at about 1:18).

Some more terrible illustrations (oops!), but showing things might help with visualisation. Here you can see the way gloves move and of turning in a clockwise motion with the glove already facing out, which should help to explain things. As opposed to pushing out in an attacking way, which is obviously different and better for shots nearer your gloves and body.

As gloves move out facing in a clockwise motion, they are already in a place to block; the glove is doing more of the work as you just move round in that clockwise motion.

Attacking gloves see the glove pushed out explosively as you look to attack at shot nearer you, finding it difficult reaching out wide of the body.

Engaging with the hips

By making saves from a standing position, you need to be opening up with your body properly, in order for fluid movements for the saving motions. You can’t just expect to be rigid and upright in your stance if you need to move out with your hands to block. So you need to engage with your hips as you turn and push out. Whilst words can explain things to some extent (normally the lesser for some people; with the different styles of learning!) and we all learn in different ways, so getting things across visually will do more to explain things, as you can see it for yourself! And as this is the case, so this clip should do the explaining, with greater analysis by one of Australia’s well known GK coaches. As you watch the differences and analysis, there is a better job of explanation than I can manage right now!

So I recommend you watch this video produced by Hockey Australia which explains it much better than I could! The guys taking (facing, for some reason ‘taking shots’ is more so heard in American lexicon!) shots are Australia U21s as much as I’m aware (definitely happy to be corrected if wrong, usually am!), so at this level, the coaches will be wanting to interpret and improve their technical aspects to an intense level. Notice the in-depth analysis picking apart how the hips need to be engaged properly:

Face!

Ultimately, whether or not you want to turn with the glove all the time, it is definitely important to face with them. The more you face the ball with your gloves and the more you are active with them, obviously the better you are going to be with your shot stopping against glove high and wider shots! Rather than swiping at the ball, you are moving with the blocking face already covering to block, as you go. Think of how you show the glove to the shooter; turning it away shows less coverage and gives them more room to shoot into (visually and literally), but with your glove out and facing, this is not the case as you cover more.

However, this is a write-up based on looking into the technique, rather than endorsing it totally (all I do agree with it!!). Purely to proffer some goalie education, to allow for thought and contemplation on technique, rather than arguing which is the most optimum way of doing things, especially if you haven’t seen the video yet!

Lunging

Lunging, as the technique has become known as (or is referred to as, because it is, after all, a lunging motion!), has become a new and useful addition to the saving repertoire offered to us hockey goalkeepers. An option a lot like making splits saves, the difference being related to the ability to drive with the head and maintain balance and thus keep rebounds down and controlled (versus bouncing up and away!). Rather than pushing out low and dropping, the goalkeeper stays upright and extends out with the leg, pushing from an upright position to extend out with the leg to reach the ball, as opposed to diving and hitting the deck and the complications of recoveries and consequential save making.

With a more controlled rebound and an easier push in to the motion, potentially, from a wider leg stance within what is often referred to as the ‘X stance’, it gives the goalkeeper a more technical approach to splitting across to save. Stereotypically speaking (over generalising is a bad idea, in any regard!), it seems to be a trend that has developed in Australia (Stephen Mowlam seems to have been a driving force, or at least played a part in its recognition, using a wide stance that incorporated this aspect of saving with the legs, whilst still being able to ‘shut the barn doors’ quickly and efficiently!) and from there, along with others making it popular, it seems to have been absorbed into styles across the globe. Kathleen Partridge, the former Australian international, who has produced the goalkeeping guide “Goalkeeping Skills and Drills” (a recommended read), wrote about the lunge as one of the technical aspects she covered in her book.

The ‘lunge’

Whilst it sounds a little unorthodox or a scrambling save, it’s not specifically a desperation save attempt. Instead, you are essentially just going a bit further than you can reach simply stopping shots with your pad or kicker from a standing position. Say you can reach so far by simply reacting from within your stance, but, with a lunge, you are going that extra distance with your push out with your leg. Obviously this requires a little bit of extra flexibility, which stretching and Yoga and that kind of thing can aid and help out with, but if you don’t have massive amounts of natural flexibility, you may prefer to stick to diving for those saves you cannot reach from your angle and positioning, with your stance, but it’s always worth giving it a go and trying out new things to see if they work for you (as mentioned in the ‘playing it your way’ article).

Like the definition of lunge suggests, it’s a saving motion that involves a position where one leg is positioned forward with the knee bent and flat foot of that driven lunged leg, with the other leg positioned behind it. And also happens to be used with regards to fitness exercise and cross-training! It’s an explosive push to attack the ball and cut the angle wide of you. Unlike a more reactive, passive save where you simply respond to shots and turn your leg/foot to make the save from your ready stance, you are more so ‘aggressively’ pushing in to stop the ball. So, combined with the ’30 degrees’ and ‘attacking the ball’ saves, gives a greater option to push out and really attack shots that you are not otherwise able to reach from that reactive approach and stance; exploding out from the stance from the save.

This is sort of what a lunge save looks like, with a better illustration from an action photo:

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/scotland-goalkeeper-abigail-walker-blocks-a-shot-while-news-photo/104789820?Language=en-GB

You can kind of see it, the lunge and its momentum in, this clip, although it’s mainly out of shot in this clip at 0:14:25

And this clip demonstrates it all quite well. So, the goalie is young and teeny and tiny, but you get the idea from the way he is reacting to the shots! Essentially, you’re not moving with footwork to get behind and save, instead, you’re ‘staying put’ and planting and pushing out with the leg to get behind the ball to cover the angle and save.

Making the save

You should still be able to turn the kicker, as you normally would, during the save to help control the redirect and turn away the rebound to a safe area (where there are no attackers to poach it back, hopefully!). Balance remains the same, with you doing what you would in any standing save to keep the rebound down and controlled (I need to write a more in-depth explanation of this at some point!). Driving through and being explosive is important to getting distance on the rebound. Both feet plant as you push into the momentum, to help with staying upright. The back leg will also mirror the front to help in this regards.

This is probably the worst sketch I could do (I’ll come back and change it when I have more time!), but you get the rough idea of things (I think, or at least, hope!). Left leg is a better illustration of technique than the right!!

Pushing out

When you lunge, you are driving out with your leg in extension in order to reach the ball with the increased surface area coverage of the kicker/pad versus rhp/stick or lhp with a dive. You are pushing out explosively to reach the ball as it comes at you (especially if facing elite level, fast paced shots for instance). It helps if you have good reflexes! You want to be explosive and forceful, driving with power and precision and speed to make the save. But, more technically, when you push, you need to drive at it, keep your head up and over and then drive through, as you would with an attacking clearance say (keeping the foot down though!).

The following clip is about the closest I’ve got to finding a useful video example. At 0:34, watch how the goalkeeper pushes out further than his stance already covers, lunging out to stop and also attacking as discussed while doing so. Of course, he is using a wider spaced ‘X stance’ with his legs, but he is still pushing out wide in extension (obviously has less space to cover and less of a push to make, given the space his legs already cover!):

Pictures may also help illustrate and display things as well. The lunge should be looking like this, as you push out:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Kelburne/Mens3rdXIReservePlateFinal2012#5739527404743362994

To this:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Kelburne/Mens3rdXIReservePlateFinal2012#5739527511966229842

Head over the ball

Whereas a split, might see you drop awkwardly (going down with your upper half as you drop into the split leg position etc.) or lose balance slightly, theoretically a lunge, if done properly, should actually aid in balance and therefore provide a more controlled rebound and save. This is the added benefit of the way the lunge works and can be used. A lunge cannot go as far as a split (because you not positioning the leg out i.e. it’s not being pushed down and flat, out; it’s the foot that’s being pushed out) in full extension, but has the beneficial edge regards balancing. In any case, you want to have your head over, for the save, to ensure balance goes down through your body positioning, for a controlled save and rebound.

‘Planting’

When you push out and make the save, you ‘plant’ so that you get in the right position and help stay rooted and therefore balanced. This way, you can limit any issues with balancing. So, when ‘lunging’ to make a save, you also want to ‘plant’. Can’t go too far into this technically, as haven’t yet worked out the absolute specifics, but ‘planting’ is common with any leg/foot save from a standing position. You want to ‘plant’ as you explode and push out. In essence, the foot is the lead, and you are looking to stretch it out and then plant it down as you extend, to get behind the ball on the angle and make the save. But, it’s also important to ‘plant’ with the other stance to mirror weight and balance out.

A planted back foot helps to strengthen your rootedness so you don’t tilt over either side as you drive out. Turning the foot in the direction of the lead leg should help retain balance as you don’t turn your other leg away from that angle. If you do, you’re half turned in the way you want and half not! So you are leaning wrong and turning your body away from the shot. But with both feet angled on that angle, you are ensuring you don’t turn away, even in the slightest, getting all of your body in positioning behind the shot. Driving with the hips, this is(another topic I want to cover at some point!).

At 3:11 , notice how the goalkeeper slips, loses balance and falls back, thus taking them out of the ‘play’ and getting beaten. Instead, reinforcing balance with your back foot in a parallel with the angle of the driving foot, should help with balancing and ultimately making the save.

This is the kind of parallel and mirroring you theoretically should/would see within a lunge:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=458227380915163&set=pb.215515558519681.-2207520000.1364056381&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash4%2F388520_458227380915163_1438802130_n.jpg&size=716%2C960

Saving option

The ‘lunge’ as a save is another ‘tool’ in the ‘toolkit’, a way of thinking espoused by a lot of ice hockey goalie coaches. In this sense, it gives you another option for your approach to save making and chance to play to your own personal strengths. But, it furthers the abilities of balancing within a splits style save. If you prefer to stand up on your feet and play a patient, responsive, upright game, it offers the chance to do so by extending out with the kicker for the save.

Whereas a dive close to the body takes you out of the game, at least for a little while as you rush to get back up, a ‘lunge’ sort of cuts corners in getting back in the game for a consecutive save. Unlike a split, it is theoretically easier to recover from and also has the added benefit of a more controlled rebound, with your head over and rebound thus kept down and not bouncing up and away! On shots that are outside your angle and cannot be reached just by using your position, and angle, and reacting within your stance, you should be able to reach them lunging and attacking the ball in forceful extension. If you are comfortable with the eye-co-ordination with your feet and have strong footwork and flexibility, you may prefer this over diving nearer to the body, where you are still up on your foot, with an easier process of getting to the next shot, immediately ready for the next stop you face.

The number one

So. You want to be the number one, right? You want to be the first choice, the one your team turns to, to play for them and get the wins? The one with the honour, the prestige and all the glory; the go-to-guy, the hero, the saviour of your team, the highlight reel shot stopper. You want to be considered the best around, maybe even the best of the best. Well, good for you. But do you know what cost it’ll come at; the blood, sweat and tears that it will take you to achieve this dream? Because, let’s face it, it’s in no way easy and takes a lot of personal sacrifice and effort. It’s going to be a hard fought, tough ride. You may even end up earning it after a battle with an incumbent (i.e. the current starter who is well respected by the team/club and been in the starting spot for a while now), but you might lose it to someone else looking to do what you’re intent to achieve.

And with that being the same case for anyone that comes after you, you’ll always have someone nipping at your heels trying to take that very same spot you had to compete for in the first place. But that should be motivation to keep onto it and beat them out from overcoming you and your spot, not to slip into lack of effort because you get down about things! Are you prepared to go the distance and go that extra mile, and always be giving all you’ve got no matter what? It’s no easy task, but someone’s got to do it; well, you’ve got to, if you want to get there! Life isn’t (always) a bed of roses, if it is, you can’t see the thorns (well, that’s not to say life isn’t enjoyable or isn’t a gift, that’s just admitting that sometimes it will be hard and hard work!). And, if you don’t have to work hard for something, especially in sport, you’re not going to be pushed to play your absolute best because you’ll always be at cruising speed (or level!). So, in a way, it’s important you have competition and really fight for your chances.

Not all goalkeepers wear the number 1 shirt, but still stake their claim on the starting position for their team or nation nonetheless.

Work ethic

How hard you apply yourself to something (whatever that may be, in life) has a big impact on things and the way people see you. Take training sessions: are you prepared to put in, even if you don’t much out of it as a goalkeeper; focusing on the basics like stance, angles and attacking shots? You get out what you put in, as they, in any aspect of life! A lot of people (maybe it’s just youngsters with the wrong attitude, or an assumption that talent means you don’t have to work that hard!), seem to think you will get by on natural talent without the need to work hard at things. Let’s just think about it for a moment. A goalkeeper with not all of the attributes of an elite goalkeeper can outdo one that does, purely based on work ethic, constantly pushing themselves to improve, and hard work. Essentially, because they are working hard, they should perform better (something I’ll try and cover more in depth later). Compare this to a naturally talented goalkeeper who is capable of really dominating, but not doing so, because they aren’t pushing themselves, in comparison to the goalkeeper edging them out because they are!

Talent doesn’t necessarily give you a one way ticket (not sure that’s the best phrase) to success. Similarly pure athleticism which hasn’t been harnessed or concreted through technical understanding (take Tim Howard in his early days) can see a goalkeeper still making the saves and getting the job done, even if it isn’t always pretty! But, coaching is helpful for refining and harnessing these attributes, so seeking out coaching help or going to summer camps should help you learn to improve and make these habits routine in the regular season. Either way, you still have to work for it! First, you need the talent, and then you need to push yourself as much as possible to keep developing and evolving up the scale of elite standard goalkeeper.

You have to work hard and you have to earn it! It doesn’t come for free! You don’t just rock up to a goalkeeper genie and say hi, I’d like to make my wish of being the world’s best hockey goalkeeper a reality. A dream come true. Humour aside, it’s a big effort and you need to graft and put in the hours to out graft and then outshine people who want that elite level starting spot just as much as you do (maybe they want it more, even!). Some people dream and some people go out and make those dreams real!! Also dieting (eating well, not slimming down!), not wasting time on things that could get in the way of sporting commitments outside of hockey, in order to be in optimum shape for games, is important. Also, staying in good athletic shape is important because you are retaining fitness levels and staying sharp.

Fighting it out

There is only one starting spot, it’s not like you’re a rolling sub for an outfield position. With one spot, you have to fight for it unlike anything else another player might have to go through in a club or team! And with the 1^stXI spot, this is even more so. Sometimes, the only way in is to force yourself into the position and beat the other goalkeeper out of theirs. They may see it as a reason to ‘up’ own game, or even unfair (as they worked hard to get way they are; especially unfair if you do take hold of the spot), but you have a challenge on your hands regardless! Your attitude is everything, especially if you want to be the first choice, of a national league level club, for example! And even if you do manage to wrestle the starting spot off a team mate, the coach still has the right/chance to yank you out of a game or switch things up and drop you (back down the pile). Take Szcesny and Fabianski (who is the one actually getting the starts right now, in spite of the doubters, whilst Maonnone deputised for a string of games) at Arsenal.

If you have been the only goalkeeper around in teams/club as a youngster developing, then you may not be used to a stringent level of competition and get used to not fighting for your place. But once you climb the ladder and get to the highest rungs, you will soon realise how much of a fight you will have for the starting spot, or spots at the top levels within your club! Once you get to the elite tiers, you really are fighting for your spot.

If you have the wrong attitude and don’t want to fight for it, then you’re not going to get anyway or develop as a goalkeeper with the right skill set and right mind set! Once in the elite level, you’ll quickly realise how much you have to want that opportunity to get where you want! Otherwise you will be outworked, outrun, outgunned (in terms of save making!) even and perhaps go back down the ladder because a situation has arisen that will change circumstances for you, such as another goalkeeper joining the club who has played at a higher level previously or has more experience than you do, thus affecting your positioning in the club tiers and chance for high level games.

Fighting for your place

Without going back and saying exactly what I said, through rephrasing or just rewriting it (and rewriting the “fighter” article from a while ago), I want to allude to how good you are versus how good people think you are or rate you as. What you don’t want to do is end up “blowing your own trumpet” and thinking you’re the best around when you still haven’t proven that’s the case. And getting overly confident and full of yourself to the point it’s damaging to your game because you don’t bring your ‘A game’ because you don’t think you will have to work and be tested (not the same as being confident constructively and having buckets of self belief!). It’s easy to play well for a few games (versus a season), and end up “over rated” simply because you have played some ‘blinders’, but if you can’t play to this level consistently, that is the difference maker. In the sense that if you ended up hitting a bad patch and unable to bounce back, you may not be playing as you will get dropped for another goalkeeper that may be able to consistently play well versus ‘streaky’ wins and losses, because you’re not used to fighting for a win, or struggle to bounce back after a bad game.

Playing without an ego

This may sound odd considering what I’ve discussed when needing to be ‘cocky’ and confident. But it is still important to remember yourself and your role within the team as a goalkeeper. The goalkeeper carries their team, not the other way round, but that doesn’t mean they should get too ‘big for their boots’! The “egoless approach”, which is something ice hockey goalie analyst Justin Goldman has written about, is important very much so and equates to getting on with playing well and showing how good you are without needing commendations lauded on you. Actions speak louder than words! So show how good you are without saying so!! Something I might have missed in the ‘cocky’ goalkeeper article, but . A selfish attitude doesn’t get you far and will annoy team mates. Also blaming others if . Team mates prefer it if you are open and take responsibility on board (takes the blame off their shoulders!) and .

Always improving

Another important thing when it comes down pushing for the first team place, is how you need to be constantly evolving versus staying as is and getting complacent, which you can read about in the write-up I did previously. Joe Hart will always say that he’s “always looking to improve”. He is never stopping in the way he wants to push himself and reach new heights and always get better. Rather than being happy with how things are. So, he might not be at the top of his game right now (neither is Reina), but his attitude speaks for itself. He is always looking to get better. He is not sitting around and saying ‘I’m so great, look at me, blah blah blah’ or listening to people saying he’s the, or one of, the world’s best, he’s going out there and working hard to make it happen. Versus not and being complacent, lazy and expecting such comments to just be given to you! Don’t be lazy, be like Hart, have the heart to improve!!

Self analytical

Being analytical of your own game means being able to analyse your weakness and look to improve them, and even to work on refining your strengths. To step outside of yourself and critically consider how well you play. To be able to identify key areas and look to improve them. You can’t improve if you don’t think you don’t have anything to work on! You can’t reach perfection if you think you’re perfect already. When you’re not! At first you may not feel comfortable to think about yourself in this way, but you need to be assured and confident enough to do so. By looking at yourself in the mirror and considering how well you play or are playing during a season, you can improve greatly as you pinpoint things that need working on. It’s not a case of being your own worst enemy, but a cool headed analytical means. This is case of personal reflection, a desire to improve and be the best player (and goalkeeper!) you can be. A positive rather than negative attitude or viewpoint. Sometimes, the only person who can analyse your performances (other than a coach or team mate or fellow goalkeeper at your club even), is yourself, especially if you don’t have a goalkeeping coach to work with. So you need to be able to do so and improve your game and your level of analysis as you do so.

Be the number one!

Ultimately, not everyone wants to be the best in the world or the best at their club, just the best player (goalkeeper!) they can be. There’s nothing wrong with that, at all, in fact, it’s better to want to be the best at everything you can be rather than for anything else. If you are talented inherently, then pushing yourself to be the best you can is going to be make you one of the best around! Even if you don’t think you can, you can still have the same mindset of that of an elite goalkeeper. Like people say and I stated, it’s your work ethic and if you work hard, then coaches will notice it and you may also outwork other goalkeepers and rise up the ranks. Want to be the first option for team selection, want to outdo everyone else and want to make that spot yours and no-one else’s! Don’t just be happy with second best. A goalkeeper who expects to win games or train or play well, without putting in the effort is not getting to get too far! So, work hard, analyse, look to improve, and you should make the number one spot yours (eventually?!)!!

The need for speed

Not the video game I used to enjoy playing as a youngster, but making use of a title with the phrase with an allusion to the same premise, when it comes to getting involved with the game and being able to instantly sprint out when called upon, rather than looking like you’re not interested in winning! Arguably, whilst a goalkeeper may not be ‘on the move’ all the time as their team mates go up and down the pitch, the goalkeeper needs to able to react explosively and be able to run as quickly as possible within their kit to charge down an attacker or rebound opportunity say. And when it comes to your role and play within the overall game as a goalkeeper, you have to be ‘quick off the mark’ and a ‘speed demon’ (well, maybe not, that’s more like ‘Need for Speed’ but the metaphor’s there!) in relation to sprinting out for loose balls or interceptions; same for foot work and getting across goal.

Tom Millington of Wimbledon rushes out to beat an attacker to get to the loose ball.

Excuse the blurry photo: goalies moving at the speed of light (shutter speeds wrong!)!

Quicksilver

You might know ‘Quicksilver’ from the surf/skate/snow brand if you’re into ‘alternative’ sports, or as its synonym for mercury, but I think the terminology can be applied when reflecting on how we play as goalkeepers. Maybe it’s a poor definition as it is referred to as something that changes quickly and is difficult to contain. Goalkeepers are difficult to contain (like ‘Animal’ maybe!) but I’m not sure we’re shape shifters! Without rambling as my brain does work, I still think it is a useful way into contemplating and thinking the way a goalkeeper needs to be quick on their feet and able to quickly respond to passes into the D from aerials or breakaways and so on. A goalkeeper has to be able to rush out, whether it be off their line to slide tackle, or to get to a loose ball to ‘kick out of the park’ and get rid of that great scoring opportunity (i.e. if a player is coming in to close and latch onto it!). Fitness wise goalkeepers are expected to put up good times on beep tests and the like at the elite levels, just like the other players (don’t see why goalkeepers shouldn’t push themselves to show that goalies rule!), but sprinting is a little different; different technique and different impact on the body.. Long distance running or stamina based (need to check the sports science, my understanding isn’t so great, didn’t study it!) running is not the same as explosive sprints.

I am naturally fast (theoretically, I’m no Usain Bolt!), maybe, so perhaps this natural aspect can have an effect on us goalkeepers in the way things happen as we use our natural speed to impact the game? But that’s not to see it’s not impossible to improve or push yourself to play intensely and sprint out when required! You can work on technique and your attitude to sprinting with explosiveness itself. I was still involved with sprint teams as a youngster and ranked high when competing in school competitions for the 100 meters. So I guess this is pretty useful for a goalkeeper who needs to react instantaneously and as fast as possible when game changes occur which you need to shut down. In my opinion, the quicker you naturally are, the better you are to get there quicker than the next guy (or goalkeeper if you’re competing for a spot!). But this doesn’t mean you can’t work on sprint technique or being explosive. You can practise speed time and work on your ability to run in kit, which is no easy task!

Goalkeepers need to be able to speedily rush out to have an effect on the game when things occur that the goalkeeper in question needs to respond to. If they don’t, they can concede by not getting to a breakaway with the required speed, or not getting to a rebound or secondary or consecutive scoring chance quickly enough say! Goalkeepers need to be like a coiled spring, ready to spring out with momentum. Explosive and agile, whether that be in shot stopping and instantaneous recoveries to get back into the play and behind a consecutive scoring chance, or when rushing across to make a save on the other side of goal, goalkeepers should look like they want to make the save or play, versus not responding intensely and therefore not looking like they want to win! You could say some may be attracted to the position (at first sight and then grow into the position!) because they think it will mean they won’t have to run around as much, but that’s definitely not the case! Whereas we all know that your kit needs to be like a second skin and you have to be as fast as physically possible. You need the agility of a fast track sprinter if you want to be able to chase down loose balls and make timely interceptions and these needs, need to be incorporated into our game as goalkeepers!

Times when you need to be able to ‘get out the blocks as soon as possible include situations as follows:

Sprinting out off the line to challenge
Rushing out to cut off a breakaway
Racing to get to a loose ball or behind it to cover
Getting across to the other side of goal to block or cover
Running out to make a decisive interception

The following video illustrates this ‘need for speed’, with the university men’s goalkeeper (wearing the helmet/cage combo) rushing out off his line to challenge an attack, as well as sprinting across to deal with a second chance opportunity:

Explosive!

Whereas outfielders are constantly back and forth across the pitch, a goalkeeper has a more contained approach to running around. Potentially! Yes, they do move around a lot in their stance and have footwork to see them readjust to each post or angle as the ball is moved around the pitch, but when running out to meet opportunities, things are a little different. They are more explosive in small amounts i.e. there should be few times when you really need to rush out to attack an opportunity. Unless there’s something going wrong, you’re not facing lots of breakaways, constantly running out to challenge, during a game, one after another! If a goalkeeper is playing behind a strong defensive unit during the game, then they aren’t going to have come off their ‘line’ to challenge all that often. BUT when it happens they’re going to have to and have to quickly! So aside from moving around laterally around the D, explosive sprinting is where you’re going to have to move instantly with speed.

Quick recoveries

Whilst they may not be considered specifically related to moving quickly in kit to attack scoring chances, quick recoveries are still an important aspect of playing actively. You have to react just as quickly and intensely as you need to be when sprinting out. And anyway, the two connect together, especially when getting back onto your feet as quickly as possible in order to rush across to the other side of goal, say! With great speed and intensity in order to make the save. Don’t wait, don’t expect to be able to just make the save where you are; get back on your feet as quickly as you can and get involved in the action rather than ‘sitting out’ the play as a backseat driver or observer!

Breakaways

When faced with a breakaway opportunity for the opposition, as they get through the defence, the goalkeeper needs to be quick off their line to come out and stop it in its tracks. Obviously, you are going to have move with speed. Although, obviously timing comes into this as you don’t want to get there too early and not be able to tackle, but time it precisely so that you make the intercept bang on time (and get there exactly when you mean to, like Gandalf!). Either way, you still need to move quickly in your kit to get there in time.

Chasing down loose balls

This is a very important aspect of being able to move around your D and pitch (although we can only go as far as the 25, need to get in umpiring to work on remembering things!). If we are faced with a free-for-all free ball that has come loose, we need to get there before an opposition player does, as they could obviously score from it. A powerful rebound may be redirected on the save and latched onto by a player, even if we do make a controlled save with the rebound (power of shots at elite levels make this possible), and if so, the goalkeeper needs to do something to try and disrupt a second chance.

Similarly, any loose ball that has come from the result of a pass or similar needs to be dealt with. You need to rush out to close the ball done, or better yet, kick it with power clear and at distance away from another chance on goal. You may be safe enough to watch it off the pitch, but you still need to get across to cover just in case! This ability to read the game and clear, or watch it off, is decisive; you need to be able to stop another attack from occurring. And a loose ball is anyone’s so you need to claim it and stop the team scoring most importantly!

Bromley’s goalkeeper sprints to cover a loose ball, which thankfully goes over the line (after the photo was taken!).

And most importantly you really need to be fast enough to beat the attacker to the ball! Which means you’ve got to be faster than a quick attacker, whilst sprinting in kit! This also comes down to ‘attacking clearances’ when rushing out to kick and then drive through.

Interceptions

Again, like a breakaway is a form of interception, intercepting passes to stop a goal being scored off the pass and redirect or space opened up by exposing your far side, you need to be quick on your feet to get there and meet the ball as it’s passed across. You’re not going to be able to get on the end of the ball or reach it to intercept the pass and block it from reaching its intended recipient, unless it’s near to you! So, again, speed and awareness is needed.

Lateral plays

Some goalkeepers prefer to react to the pass as it is played across. Either to get across to stop or to move with and attack the pass. Instead of just looking to cut off the ball carrier or challenge them. In this case, either way, you are still moving across with speed and strong footwork as you move across in your stance in order to get across to attempt the save. Less sprinting and more quicksilver shuffling!

Post to post

Moving post to post other than for coverage as the play moves, you may also find yourself out of position thanks to having to go out and meet an attacker, only for the play to change! You may leave your post to challenge, sliding off to deal with a baseline attack. You may stop it; the ball gets loose, free to another opposition player and then have to go all the way across to the other side of goal to deal with this new, changed threat! If you don’t then you’re not going to have any chance of making the crucial save! This requires determination and all the attributes of agility and strong footwork to get across in time. You really need to be fast as quicksilver at a time like this!

The following clip shows an amazing save by Hampstead and Westminster and England A goalkeeper Ian Scanlon. He goes to challenge to his left as the ball carrier comes in, only for the ball holder to release the ball and pass to another attacker who has arrived, running into the D. Out of position, he has to readjust and rush across to the other side of goal to deal with the consequential shot. This is the exactly the kind of save discussed in the ‘Never say never’ article about never giving up on the play. He doesn’t give up on the play or get negative; instead, he rushes across, has great foot speed and then dives to make a save that keeps the score level. Amazing save! Without that his team aren’t in it! It shows solid fundamentals of foot work, agility, drive and passion when it comes to the save, something to learn from! Save is at about 0:25 playing time.

Working on your speed

Like I reckon, speed is something natural but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your running. You can use leg weights and resistance training theoretically (I’m sure a sports scientist can correct me and explain it better!) to build up the speed you run at and explosively push through when sprinting. Along with footwork drills for quicker footwork! Working on basic sprint technique is going to improve sprinting speeds anyway as you’ll move faster than you did before! There’s a chance to improve even if you are not naturally the fastest around. But working on short controlled bursts of sprinting routinely over time should help you get quicker bit by bit. You can work on sprinting out of kit and then bring this into training sessions if you have time spare or before shots to get some practise in.

Like this sort of thing, sort of (should be easy to search for other examples and drills!)!

Have quick feet!

Ultimately, as a goalkeeper you need to be able to respond to the game as a defensive breakdown occurs, but you also need to be able to get involved in the play, by rushing out with your quick speed to close down attackers or loose balls and so on, as mentioned. You need to be quick and instantaneous, as fast as possible to get there as quickly as you can otherwise you’re already consigned to defeat! This is the same for recoveries to get back into the play and with saves, playing with intensity and athleticism, as written about before. Without this desire to win and stop goals by stopping opportunities with speed to close them down, you cannot really expect to win or dominant games as a goalkeeper. You need to play with an unbridled intensity that reflects your desire to win and be prepared to sprint out to stop shots occurring versus shot stopping! Food for thought! And whilst this write-up follows the more obvious implications of sprinting out, quick shuffles in your stance are just as important!!

Thermals

Along with baselayers, which are great for wicking away sweat as I’ve written about some time back, thermals can be pretty useful when playing in the winter months (whichever side of the globe you’re on, the earth spins on an axis after all!). In fact, there are some thermals that do that as well, so you can get rid of built up sweat (as you play well and build up a sweat, as they say in ice hockey, “working up a sweat out on the ice”!) and stay warm at the same time. Pretty useful, “killing two birds with one stone as the phrase goes”, goalkeeping wise! I currently have a pair of thermals that I also wear when skiing or maybe, eventually, snowboarding (if and when I get the rare opportunity to do some snow sports!) that are a pretty quality set that also wick away sweat, for warming the legs! Personally, I’m not a fan of British weather. I know it’s not the coldest place in the world (I’ve seen some awesome pictures of Canadian hockey goalies – I think they were – warming up outside in the snow!) but it can never make its mind up, so those dreary, cold and wet days when you’re playing in the damp that can get through your kit and the chill that gets to your bones, it’s handy to have something to keep you warm!

Theoretically (need to prove it somehow!), what thermals do is essentially ensure your muscles keep warm so that when you stretch out you don’t tweak something or risk injury; turning or twisting unexpectedly etc. Where you may go long periods of time during a match with inactivity, you may be called upon to make an unexpected save as the play finally comes into your half and then D. Keeping your muscles warm actually means that when you do go to make a save, say lunging and extending with a split, you’re not endangering yourself injury wise. As opposed to making such a save as reflex when you are cold, where theoretically speaking (need to check the sport science!), it could cause you to tense up more and then pull something (I think, that’s how it works!). So ultimately, it does offer an option of keeping you and your muscles warm, without having to stretch continuously to keep warm, although I’d do that regardless just to make sure!

So, thermals are something you may want to consider. You get the usual thermals or the wicking baselayer thermals depending on your preference. You can get them on online sites or even Ebay (I did and can recommend them!) and potentially in stores that sell snow sports gear and such. Cold gear compression baselayers are what they call them, something like that, or search for snow sport baselayers!

And for evidence of a goalkeeper, here’s Hamish Coates just before a game with HWHC against East Grinstead, coming over from Australia and getting used to the somewhat rubbish climate in England (although admittedly he wasn’t wearing them in a game against Beeston, maybe because of him benching at the EG game?)!

http://lsp.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/2013-02-24-East-Grinstead-v-Hampstead-Westminster/G0000GKY9WmayJEk/I00008mdh4.pDTmo/C00007yz.QmldEgQ