Dan’s Tips – Page 2

Decision making

Decision making is an essential part of goalkeeping in the wider role of influencing the game and eliminating scoring opportunities to reduce the number of shots you face during a game. Shot stopping is obviously down to technique and fundamentals (positioning, angles), but decision making is a skill that is so fundamental and essential, yet difficult to learn and arguably something not totally taught by goalkeeper coaches, in the sense that if you are working purely and simply on technique. You may be able to do well in training focusing on shot stopping and foot work and so on, but if drills are not representative of in-game action or skills, then maybe it is possible to argue that.

Reading the play and making decisions

You have to ‘read’ the play (something I’ll try and discussion in more depth in another article), think things through and analyse the attacking dangers and factor in various potentialities, to be able to make the right choice and apt decision. And getting involved in the play by coming out to block, tackle, or disrupt a pass, is how these decisions come into play. But whilst it often boils down to in-game scenarios like breakthroughs into the D and through your defence, it also relates to things like short corner defences where you decide on the routine to use and the way in which to structure your defence to make the save and shutdown consecutive corner opportunities.

Training sessions and games

For me, the main form of decision making is responding to game changes rather than shot stopping. Stopping is down to angles; being in the right position at the right time, arguably, whereas tackling is getting there at the right time. The decision to come out and tackle and eliminate a breakaway or the decision to intercept a pass is the kind of decisions that impact a game. Too late and leave yourself exposed for a goal, too early and theoretically miss the tackle. Mistiming and not reading cues properly is going to have a knock-on effect on things.

But you don’t really get to experiment and learn timing or interceptions in training, unless you’re doing practise matches on a half pitch say. A lot of club work on drills outside shooting which aid the goalkeeper, but not always. Obviously, you can work on save technique and decisions that affect making the save. And in club training, you may get the chance to work on set piece scenarios within the session, but unless you training sessions are orientated to replicating game experience we’re not getting the most out of it. But without this types of drills (you get it in other sports, why not hockey?!), you cannot really, truly, work on this important skill. Which is where game experience comes in; games are where you get the chance to find out how and when to intercept a breakaway or pass, and game experience is what you build off when you are learning the things you cannot during a training session. Which is why game experience is so crucial. You can be taught it, but in games, that is where you are learning how to apply it properly.

To some degree, the randomness or unexpected turn of events aren’t procured in a rigid, organised drill. It’s not exactly like you learn how to deal with a breakaway or intercept passes so easily in training sessions. You do; you learn the technique, but unless you’re practising something like it with proper intensity (making sure no-one gets hurt though in the process!), then you’re not replicating a true form of what is going to happen a game. Especially if you’re doing club training and all that’s being focused on is shooting practise for the outfield players! Or training without proper direction. There are going to be cases like this, however small, but it depends on the club, coach and whoever runs and organises the drills, perhaps?!

But how it affects us as goalkeepers means we may have to lean on game experience more. This imbalance in training versus games is something football goalkeeping analyst and writer Justin Bryant has written about in regards to football, where he argues that drills need to be altered to accommodate our approach to games, obviously in respect of that goalkeeping style:

http://www.gkicon.com/LatestNews/LatestNewsDetail/tabid/216/ArticleId/158/Difficulty-of-training-decision-making.aspx

Either, training has to change to accommodate situations that help us goalkeepers, or we have to accept that we need to use games as a place to learn ‘off the cuff’, especially early on as we get into the position of goalkeeper.

Decisions and saves

Whilst I would consider tackling and interceptions as the main form of decision making, there is also the obvious choice of how to make a save relative to what you are facing. Say when to leave your feet to dive high or low against a corner’s drag flick, or when to save from a standing position and remain upright. Or when to use a barrier on a short corner etc. The video below shows an interesting example. At 3:32 you can see the goalkeeper is confused whether to stay up to save or push out for a mid-height dive. Over thinking and caught in two minds, they end up not making the save because of this confusion and indecisiveness.

As the goalkeeper goes down, they end up bringing the glove down with them, turning it away from the ball as it comes in from the drag flick and missing it as a result, to end up conceding. He could have stayed up and moved the glove down and across, or gone for the dive to extend and save and push away. But by getting confused and blurring the options and trying to do two things at once, this, the goal, happened. This is national premier league level, so pedantic possibly, but also goes to show the level of acute analysis that is required for performance analysis and such.

Decisions and game involvement

For me, the main featuring of analysis and making choices for decisions is ‘going with the flow’. To analyse and read the play well enough to know how to respond and act accordingly with the decisions you make. When you are playing, you need to be able to have an impact on the game with challenges and the like. You need to be more than just a shot stopper and a ‘keeper’ of you goal (as I will write about at some point!). Something I tried to point to when discussing the ‘sweeper keeper’ because this is the pushed extreme of acting like another defender and taking charge of your D to reduce scoring chances. When playing, you need to be getting involved and doing ‘your bit’. Decision making in this regard relates to being aware of gaps in your defence, timing and a consciousness of what is going on around you and how things will pan out, enough to be able to come out and tackle and so on. You are in the game and you should be a part of it rather than a shot stopping bystander!

Making the ‘right’ decision?

Making the right decision obviously equates to working out the right choice from reading the game and then responding appropriately. A case of making the right selection of save or tackling actions. But even if a goal is scored, have we made the ‘right’ choice? Say sliding out to tackle and only to have the ball lifted over you, like Tindall’s goal against South Africa in the Bejing Olympics where Hibbert made the decision to slide out to meet the GB player, only for Tindall to get the lightest and skilful of touches to get it over his prone body shape coming his way. What more can you do? As demonstrated here:

Even if you allow a goal, for me and me personally (I can’t speak for someone else, if it’s my opinion, which may not be right admittedly!), it’s more important that you commit to the right decision, even if it doesn’t go to plan. Maybe the simplest way of thinking things through is what is the best option is: that you select the best thing to do and do it, then you cannot be at fault, or are at less fault than staying rooted and not committing! Like coming off your line to tackle when it is important you do. Say you decide to leave your post, but you come off your line too late. You get rounded and they score. Well, they were probably going to score if you stayed rooted to the spot on your goal line and didn’t come out to challenge, with the greater amount of exposed space to exploit and smash the ball into, giving them a free shot/’free pass’/goal scoring opportunity without them having to earn it.

For example, see how this sequence of a goalkeeper rushing out off their post pans out. It’s an international game, so (who better else to learn from than the best!), but also a better example and I struggle to find club footage! At 2:05, the goalkeeper decides the course of action is to come off the post and go in for the tackle. They slide in, arguably making the right choice, but still concede. Perhaps they needed to be a little quicker or go for a stick tackle, to take away the ball, as the player carrying the ball managed to lift it over them, but all the same, for what it’s worth, they left their post and didn’t stay passive:

And . This is obviously the game at the highest levels (for club standard arguably! It’s not an international game, but a match in the Hoofdklasse), so criticism is to the minute levels and . At 1:50 the goalkeeper (Cortes for Den Bosch in white) potentially could have gone for the pass and dived out to intercept it and therefore shut down the scoring chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BD6o0PdrHs

As a goalkeeper you should know whether or not to do certain things, or at least, know when to from experience! If say you leave your post to make a tackle along the baseline or dive off the post to stop a pass along the face of goal. Rather than leaving it, you have committed yourself. Showing that you have made the commit to arguably what the right choice is, what you should be doing, I can’t see how staying deep and reacting was going to help, as there are multiple options for the ball carrier to pass to and then to shoot at goal from said pass! At one level, it is the ability to make right choice, and above that, is the ability to do it properly and make the save or stop a goal being scored by taking away the pass from its intended recipient. So should coaches ‘score’ goalkeepers on making the ‘right’ choice rather than not making it at all?

Learning to make decisions

For me, it’s game situations that allow for you to learn how to make decisions and properly. You get the chance to put things into action in a game and the more you experience high level, pressure games, the more you will learn. Soon enough you’ll get to know what works and what doesn’t! Obviously, goalkeeper coaching and coaching from coaches, or advice from older goalkeepers etc. will help things, but at the end of the day, it’s you who has to do the learning. You learn from your mistakes. That’s how things tend to work. Mistakes are life lessons; you prove it, by not letting it happen again! So, hopefully, you can learn from the way you concede goals and learn from it to play in a way where you don’t!

Over thinking

Over thinking is corrosive to the psychology of decision making. Like self doubt when it comes to your shot stopping, if you start to question yourself or think too much, you won’t be able to do your ‘job’ properly. It’s a lot like when de Gea was settling into playing at Man Utd: he wasn’t letting in goals because of other affects on his ‘mental game’, he was afraid of all potential options rather than reacting to what happened in front of him. If you allow this to happen, then you aren’t helping yourself. Analysing is dreadfully important, but over analysing to the point where you can’t make a decision because there are so many potentials running through your mind, isn’t going to help either! You have to see what is happening in terms of attackers getting through your defence and take it from there. The more you over think things, the harder it becomes to make the right choice, as the clip earlier demonstrates. If things get too much, maybe tone it down a lot and just react more to what’s going on in front of you?!

Decisiveness

Whilst making the right choice is the most important thing, you have to be decisive enough to make the choice and stick with it. Like anything in life really. You have to stick to a decision and follow it through. If things don’t go to plan, then afterwards you’re going to have to evaluate what was the right course of action. But if you doubt or question yourself too much, you’re never going to make a decision on what to do in the first place! And it’s not like anyone can do it for you!

Committing means more often than not you are taking yourself out of the play. Especially if you are going down against the run of play, for a slide tackle or dive to intercept etc. because you are taking yourself out of the game, by ‘hitting the pitch’ as you will have trouble getting up immediately after (you’re going to have to be quick with recoveries and quick like you should!), but the point is there. When you commit, that is it: you are not standing up and able to react anymore, you are potentially ‘down and out’, especially with a slide out.

To use an oft used clichéd metaphorical analogy, you come across a juncture or crossroads and you have to make a choice, but you can only take one of the paths, because you can’t go down both! So, what is it going to be?! In decision making, you have to be decisive with your gutsy attacking play and able to know what is right for the outcome. You make a decision and it leads to a goal, but if you hadn’t made that decision, would they still have scored regardless? Maybe you could go so far as weighing up percentages to compare, but it’s not always that simple. So when it comes to decision making as a goalkeeper, it’s all about making a choice and ‘sticking to your guns’. Whatever happens afterwards can be analysed and absorbed after the game, but for now, you need to focus on the present of your game and the next scoring opportunity! Go with what works and ask questions later!

Be decisive!

Make the decision! Or make sure you make the right one! I couldn’t decide on a final sub-title to go with the rest of the write-up. That’s it really: at the end of the time, you need to make the right one and do it properly not to concede, ultimately, because otherwise they’re scoring on you! Once you get the hang of analysing and reading the game and then how to react, decision making should make more sense. But of course, you need to have the confidence to do so in the first place!

The cocky goalkeeper

The idea of self confidence is important for goalkeepers when thinking about how to play at their best, game in game out. And one way of thinking about it, is to consider a goalkeeper as cocky or evaluate their cockiness. As I’ve tried to write about recently, it is important to play confidently, ensuring that you are confident to come out and make tackles or interceptions and to get to lose balls that attackers may latch on. If you don’t/didn’t feel happy doing this, then you’re going to struggle to decrease the amount of scoring opportunities you will face in a game. And if you did not feel confident enough going up against the top of the table team or playing in an important and decisive game that could affect your playing ‘career’ (I say, I’m not sure !), then you’ve got to be confident.

Being ‘cocky’

Some people struggle with confidence with the way they play and even though they are good, their self esteem and way their self belief comes across, presenting itself through nervous tension and the like, holds them back from truly dominating. Ironically a lot of extremely talented people throughout history have struggled with low self esteem and yet they are unquestionably some of the world’s greatest minds, ever. Weird, huh! Quiet confidence, quietly confident, is good enough for me! But, there is also sense to the conceptualisation of cockiness. As discussed previously, body language and a goalkeeper that looks happy to be there is going to come across as a goalkeeper that is harder to beat. Make the opposition believe it!

A defence has to be confident in their goalkeeper and a goalkeeper in their defence. If the defence start to lose confidence in their goalkeeper (and fear every time an attacker gets close because they’ll probably score ‘off the bat’ or start shot blocking and getting in front of thing, unnecessarily and causing unneeded redirects etc. own goal anyone?!), then the goalkeeper loses confidence in themselves. And if the goalkeeper starts to lose confidence in their defence, then everything goes bad and will falter. And you don’t want that! So, in some ways, the goalkeeper has to show their confidence (even when they’re not, fake it!) and thus play confidently.

But cockiness is something that goes beyond just a bit of self confidence; it sets the bar for it! Goalkeepers that no matter the ‘weather’ or score line, they still looked assured and in control. Even when things aren’t going right and falling apart around them! They dominate with their presence, absolutely ‘rocking the place’ using band analogies (?!). I think this kind of thing is what can terrify a shooter, other than denying them about four times in a row or something (at which point they concede that you’re going to make it tough for them to score and force them to earn a goal!).

There are some characters in the ‘Goalies Union’ that come across obviously exuberant and commanding (Schmeichel lambasting his defenders for letting a shot through, anyone?!), and it is what we should aspire to be like. Brimming with the love of being under the microscope, loving the stresses of being in a pressure zone, oozing buckets of self esteem. This level of extreme confidence that can spread out and inspire team mates. But pride which comes before a fall, as the saying goes (maybe there’s something in that?!), so it is a fine balancing act of propping ourselves up psychological and putting in performances that match this self professed state of mind.

How

Being cocky is obviously having bags of self confidence and believing you’re the best around. Of course, to some it comes naturally, but in a sense it’s just a case of self assurance and ‘bigging yourself up’. Be sure of yourself. Tell and remind yourself how good you really are. That you ARE going to play amazingly. I AM going to get to this loose ball, I AM unstoppable, I AM going to make this save. That sort of thing, if you get the obvious drift! I’m here because I can do the job and am a better option than the other goalkeepers in the team or club (especially if you’re first choice!).

This is the article that inspired this post and puts up some useful pointers:

http://blog.goalkeepertalk.com/coaching-tips/cocky-goalkeeper-great-keeper/

If not, then what?

It’s easy to think of what will happen if not. Think what would happen if you weren’t cocky or self confident. You wouldn’t be prepared to get into the ‘thick of things’, shut down scoring chances or make an important influence and impact on the game. You wouldn’t make those cracking, unbelievable saves either. So what’s worse, being confident and playing well as a result, or be a nervous, quivering shell of the goalkeeper you once were? I think it’s self explanatory at least.

When it goes pear shaped

Another non-hockey related analogy (as usual!), but the case study of Joe Hart shows the interaction between cockiness, self confidence, and the potential for things to go wrong. All this came after attempting what would have been an audacious header outside his area in true ‘sweeper keeper’ style (Ter Stegen has achieved this at some distance, and Casillas sometimes does this), in the belief that he would have got rid of a scoring chance. Obviously it didn’t go right and Ibrahimovic scored a wonder goal that will go down in the history books almost unsighted of where the goal was for placing the shot.

The situation was a trifle complex from a goalkeeper’s point of view. He decided to go forward, potentially wrongly. The bounce meant he would have had to back track to hit it on the volley and get caught out of place. And so on. As a goalkeeper, you either want to come out and attack the player (like he did, but more extremely!), complicated by the two defenders shadowing Zlatan as he goes forward, or stay back. But having committed (a lot like analysis for the decision making article!), he has to stick with the decision he made. And yet, this decision caused a huge uproar (well, not that much, but still enough!) among the press as they clamoured to have a go at Hart (as the British has a great history of building stars up and then trying to knock them down to the bottom again!).

This video brings up some of the topics for and against cockiness in discussion about Hart’s current form. Roy Keane pointing out that it can be negative, whilst Gary Neville defends the other side of the argument.

http://www.itv.com/sport/football/article/2012-10-16/keane-hart-guilty-of-cockiness/

And for another angle, from a coach’s point of view, this is Mancini’s take on things:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/oct/19/joe-hart-cocky-manchester-city

As you can see (well, read!), a coach can often want their goalkeeper to imbue their own self confidence, so that they take charge of their defence and command the play. To be a goalkeeper that dominates, you will often need to be tremendously confident. If you have confidence issues, then this mindset is going to make the difference in the way you play and interact with your defenders, and having your defence believe in you, is crucial as mentioned early on. Although maybe the elite goalkeepers already have this elite attitude!

But aside from all this trivia waffle, it offers a chance to reflect on things. There are times when you need to be confident to over ride a slump in form, to help you get back on track. A goalkeeper has one bad game and it can literally ruin a goalkeeper’s career. All the fans care about is that one mistake; it doesn’t matter in their eyes, they go on past performances (even more so if it was during a game of more importance) and you have to really work your socks off as a pro goalkeeper I guess to get out of the consequential dog house. And maybe coaches are like that too. Whereas a player can make a slip-up that results in us conceding (!), if we slip up, our head ‘can be on the block’ so to metaphorically speak. We can get dropped from the 1stXI and begin a demise if we don’t get things back under control and grow back our damaged confidence and ego, perhaps. And they say goalkeepers have a hard life!

Cockiness and self confidence

So, as you can tell and may already be aware of, the story of Joe Hart’s woes (which are coming in to his club form as well arguably), reflect the fine balance between confidence and reality. But as Keane actually points out well, it is when you relax and think every match is easy and you’re going to dominate without making any effort or having to because of the opposition team not pushing you to show your true colours of quality. When you get comfortable things start to peter out and your form will drop, as you get complacent. When you think you deserve praise without earning it, when you feel like you don’t have to try that is when it gets imbalanced. That is the crux. A goalkeeper needs to be pushed and if there is little competition to match, the only person who can push you is yourself. To stay on form, without getting overly confident to the point of thinking you don’t have to bother, you have to give it 100% (or maybe 110?!) in training and games, week in week out.

Cocky but not arrogant

For me, it’s great to be cocky and confident and ‘boss’ your defence and team, but if it is not grounded and rooted, it makes no sense! Arrogance is not cool; you just disassociate people with your big headedness that is not grounded in a professional attitude towards things. You don’t want to alienate your team mates and a backlash can be a humbling experience! Imagine the dressing room experience with Kevin Pietersen recently or similar. Egos in the dressing and a self centric approach where you are the worst case, is not exactly akin to a selfless game where you carry your team and do your best for them because you’re letting your self image get in the way! To be cocky, you also have to show it in the quality of your goalkeeping performances, otherwise being too cocky and not playing to match won’t look so great!

Be ‘cocky’!

So, cockiness is a great tool of the ‘mental game’, but it has its obvious pitfalls and is a fine balancing act. Ultimately, there is a difference between arrogance and ‘cockiness’, but a goalkeeper that retains the qualities of imbuing confidence and commanding their team is important as it is in making match winning saves. There’s a lot to think about. I, for one, would endorse the concept of cockiness, especially if it helps with your confidence and ability to play aggressively and dominant in a way that you may not otherwise do, but if goalkeepers cannot play with a display that matches this idea, then they cannot stay cocky!

Playing it ‘your way’

When it comes to sport in general and goalkeeping, we are all different and unique and approach things differently. Like opinions maybe, we’ve all got our own opinion on things! Take runners, it’s a poor analogy, but Mo Farah isn’t exactly going to switch to doing sprints and Usain Bolt isn’t going to do marathons! With lightning speed versus endurance in that example. Everyone has their own strengths and qualities (in life as in goalkeeping!) and it should be realised and acknowledged, that you need to play in the way that suits you. You cannot play like someone else, unless of course of course you play in a similar way and find it useful to ‘shadow’ the way they play from game footage, highlights etc. And when it comes to being aware of kit and how affects the way you play, is a good idea to look at your own set-up and find foam and protection that suits your goalkeeping style.

Playing style

Your playing style is unique to you. As you start to develop as a goalkeeper and get used to the position, play up higher levels and grow into the world of goalkeeping, you will get experience of things and start to work out how you do things and approach the game. Analysing this and paying attention to what works for you and what doesn’t, is going to going to help you evolve and reach your best in the long run.

And, as you develop and move forward in your goalkeeping, you will start to recognise what works for you as your ‘style’. Rather than get comfortable and not go on, as you improve, it is important not to get locked into a certain style of play, to some degree. Take the example of David Kettle changing his kit set-up to use a more blocking rhp than the tube style, same for Leon Hayward and Nathan Burgers. Like I have written about before, you should always be looking to improve rather than just see yourself as good enough already, good just doesn’t cut it if you want to be great! So, playing style is no different really. For example, developing your athleticism as you start to face better placed drag flicks on short corners etc.

How you play is up to your strengths. As you learn and get game experience, you will start to do things routinely thanks to muscle memory. But it is still important to ‘upgrade’ your game if you are going up the levels. It is not impossible to change styles, not impossible to adapt and change. As a goalkeeper, you should be constantly looking to improve and evolve (otherwise you’re not trying or working hard enough or pushing yourself to the heights of your abilities!), so perhaps consider things in relation to whether you go down and need a glove for that, or stay up more, say. I went from a tube style glove (which I could never get on with) to an rhp with a bigger blocking surface, which suited my approach to staying up more and blocking upright, for example.

Coaching and learning

Experimenting and trying out new things is the only way to find out if another skill will work for you. The training ground is the best place to do things; you can’t really cost your team in a game! Reading up on things (there are guides around, I’ve no idea if my tips are of any use!), or getting access to a GK specific coach who can provide advice on things is going to be of great use. And when it comes to taking on board new skills, you need to be conscious of your options. Don’t dismiss things and be open-minded. See if it works; if it does great and work it in, if not, don’t! Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. Like match preparation, fail to try and you will!

Working it out

Work out what works for you is all relative. How you work out your ‘style’ relates to how you approach situations and how you like to play the scenario. For example, are you patient and wait to commit, or go early? Are you comfortable being aggressive and coming ‘off your line’? Do you prefer to attack the play and get involved in tackles or interceptions, or do you prefer to try and make the save? Do you bring your lhp (left hand protector/glove) across to make saves on your right, or do you prefer to use your rhp (right hand protector)? Do you like to use your feet in the splits to stop shots, or do you prefer to dive, on corners, say?

So on and so on. These are all things you need to take into account. When questioning how you play, you really to think about all parts of the game. Essentially your goalkeeping coach (if you’re lucky enough to have one!) should be able to analyse your style and strengths to a sufficient degree to tell you what works for you and what doesn’t. Otherwise it’s a case of self analysis or asking other goalkeepers at your club for their thoughts (if they’re happy to/know what they’re talking about!).

Style and save making

Ultimately, there will be times when the right save selection trumps ‘style’. When jumping and leaving your feet for the save is going to be better than trying to stop a flick from a standing position. When logging for a straight strike is going to be useful. When you should have committed to eliminating a pass and so on. These kinds of things will become more obvious, especially so if you get the proper coaching!

Obviously unique styles?

They are a few goalkeepers around that do play styles that are pretty much unique and hard to copy. Andrew Isaacs plays his ‘sweeper keeper’ style and gets involved in distribution. Simon Mason plays a style that is incredibly difficult to emulate, unless you’re very tall, athletic and very experienced! Essentially, they both play uniquely; they play their way and theirs only. And Oriol Fabregas (think he’s been involved in the Spanish national set-up) at RC Barcelona is supposed to play a throwback style of goalkeeping that seems to represent or be influenced by the 80s school of indoor goalkeeping; coming out to challenge, playing… etc. A lot of national league goalkeepers will play fundamentally in similar ways, but ultimately differ slightly in the way they stop shots or get involved in eliminating scoring chances. We are all different: as human beings and as goalkeepers!

Proper coaching?

Take on board what coaches have to say and work their advice into the way you play as a goalkeeper. They should be able to analyse your game and see how your strengths work for you. But I think goalkeeping coaches should be wary of moulding a goalkeeper into a fit that doesn’t fit their qualities, strengths and attributes. Arguably one of the dangers of regular coaching is that you don’t play to a goalie’s natural traits. Such as cutting down their athleticism too much or attacking play and turning them into a ‘blocker’ of shots, say. The danger is that a goalkeeping coach (I honestly don’t think this happens much in hockey, but can and does in other sports i.e. Jonas Gustavsson and Francois Allaire in the NHL perhaps!) moulds the goalkeeper to play a certain style, rather than appreciating the attributes of the goalkeeper they are working with. And on the other side, there are a lot of goalkeepers who will never get elite coaching let alone goalkeeper coaching, so it is for them more case in point to work out how the best play and work to their strengths; learning from others and games as they go along.

What kit works for you?

Similarly, you should take a look at what kit works for you. Another thing you should analyse when considering kit: it relates to your playing style and it has a direct influence on the way you play and make saves. Because different pads offer different properties and styles of play, you should be aware of pads that better suit an upright style and offer more stopping surface and so on. Or gloves that offer better rebound etc. Goalkeeping kit is expensive and if you don’t have a job you need some good sponsors (not sure if parents are always up for that, giving the speed youngsters grow at)! Even if your club provides your kit, you may not be in a position to do this kind of thing, so is obviously a little complicated.

Goalkeepers mixing brands in the EHL

I don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes or annoy certain goalkeepers’ sponsors, but it’s a little obvious to us goalie geeks and kit obsessed analysts when a goalkeeper is wearing a mix of brands. It might not be obvious, but it’s totally obvious to us goalie geek types (obsessed with kit)! It is possible to get options within a brand (say tube versus blocking rhp or style of pad), but mixing brands if you are aware of their features gives further opportunities to maximise kit for your playing style.

In the England hockey league, there are a few examples of goalkeepers who mix brands for certain qualities. Tom Millington went from full Obo to a Mercian lhp (Obo gloves are made to drop the ball, whereas a ‘square’/flat face will push away the rebound with more ping *theoretically*!), but is now obviously in full Mercian and interestingly switched to a tube style rhp, for example. Chris Hibbert has switched to Mercian foam, but still uses his Obo hi rebound rhp (not sure if he struggled to get used to the Mercian rhp design) and customised Obo chest pad with added bicep protection and Obo PE helmet. Chris Rea uses an Obo hi control rhp and the rest TK foam. Maddie Hinch in the women’s league, wears a Mercian Extreme chest pad (I think!), Rob Turner at Bowdon does too (at least he has the shoulders of a Mercian chest pad!). James Bailey too wears ice hockey shoulder caps for extra protection. David Kettle uses all Obo except a TK rhp (including chest and helmet!); some goalkeepers finding the smaller profile easier for ground work (diving, tackles, where the ball is on the ground, to clear etc.) which he has cut away the wrist padding, for more wrist movement/rotation flexibility.

In the Hoofdklasse, Pirmin Blaak uses a total mix; Brabo lhp, Obo hi rebound rhp, TK Soft pads and . Jenniskens uses Brabo pads, lhp and Obo hi rebound rhp. Same for Mark Jenniskens. I haven’t really seen much of this in the AHL as much as my awareness of that league goes, although the Obo chest pad seems pretty popular with some of their notable goalkeepers and it’s notable that Bazeley is still using Mazon elbow pads.

Play it your way!

Ultimately, you need to do things your way! You are you, you can’t be anyone else (in life and goalkeeping for that matter!), and so you need to work out your strengths, work on your weaknesses and develop into a way that plays to these qualities. Sure, there are times when you need to make a certain save selection, but playing to your strengths, like a patient and reflex based yet athletic/acrobatic style is going to be useful on corners and such. For kit too, try and look at options if you can (financing goalie kit is a little tricky sometimes!), just to give yourself the best options for maximising kit to suit the way you play.

Keeping emotions in check

One thing that isn’t always considered when delving into the complexities of the psychological impact of our ‘mental game’ on the way we play, is how we balance the emotions that we feel; the ups and downs, especially within a game where the ability to do so is pretty important and essential to our chances of a comeback say and ‘keeping our team in it’. But these things can and will impact our game if we let them, and it’s important to recognise this when playing in between the posts. Whereas our team mates might feel the highs of a goal scored or the lows and disgruntlement of a goal being allowed, our position and the way we deal with the stresses and pressure of the role is a hard task, with ‘our backs up against the wall’ and ‘up against it’ as they say. Our temperament needs to be more lucid and calm, able to withstand the hardships of a goalkeeper and the things that ‘do our head in’, enough to play to our best. In order to perform to our optimum best, we goalies need to focus on keeping our emotions in check, sufficiently capable of managing things internally to get through the game with our sanity intact!

Emotions

Emotions. Emotions, they are something tricky and befuddling to deal with. Apparently according to some people, we are spiritual beings living out human lives, or is it the other way round?! Yes, those things labelled emotions, that we experience every second, hour and day of our lives! And as goalkeepers we are going to experience them just as much! They are varied and confusing and yet can have a derisive impact on our game if we fail to interact with them properly and get over them.

Forms of emotions are myriad, but the ones that affect us most as goalkeepers that I can think of are below:

Frustration
Anger
Nerves
Lack of confidence
Too much confidence
Self doubt
I think you can really only feel elated after a tough, fought out win!

Adrenaline rushes

Although not particularly impactful towards our game, adrenaline does present something interesting; if we get a rush, then however small, it can bring in a boost of confidence or get us feeling a little hyper or overactive when it isn’t needed. An adrenaline rush can often boost our confidence a little, as we face the dangers of those outfielders and their powerful shots. Where we slide out to block after a rebound, or go in for a tackle and there’s a danger of being hit (especially if you’re ‘padding down’, however reduced!) or make an acrobatic save, which you realise is top drawer and a highlight reel one, then you may end up a little ‘geed up’ as a result! Our blood gets pumping and we feel invincible, or at least start to. Obviously you want to not get too caught up in the rush, especially if you give up a goal and it significantly dampens your spirits! Really, it’s a case of riding things and not getting too caught up in the moment, although it does seem to be useful to motivate us to charge down rebounds, attack a clearance, intercept a crucial pass etc.!

Anger

Competitiveness can blur into frustration occasionally, if we are competing in an especially important game for table positioning or playing against a top of the league team or maybe even one that is regarded as playing aggressively and chirpy themselves or perhaps a little cheating! It’s easy to get frustrated as a goalkeeper, especially if you’re arguably playing a blinder and being the man of the match for your team and yet they’re not doing their part by not scoring or helping you out! Or you have a potential reason to be getting annoyed and having emotions build up negatively, like somebody purposefully trying to injure you maybe, or standing in front of you to block your vision and saying things to ‘get under your skin’ etc.

You need to ignore it, I guess and just focus on playing your game in between the posts. No, it’s in no way easy, but if you let them get to you and beat you, then they’ve won. Like the school bullies in some weird analogy. And we have to be ‘the bigger man’ (or woman) and bigger goalkeeper. Otherwise this sort of thing can happen! We can lash out on goal, ourselves (maybe, I’ve heard of outfield players that don’t wear shin pads and smack their stick on them after an error, ouch!) or maybe others.

http://www.eastleighnews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/goalie.jpg

And for a hockey related outburst, you can always take the example of ‘post bangers’. Here’s Chris Bristow (with Surbiton) obviously a little annoyed at having conceded against Southgate. There are a few goalkeepers around the leagues that will bang their post in frustration to vent (poor goal!)! It’s not a significantly big deal and shows our passion for winning, although I do worry for paint chipping/stick damage, I’m just trying to make light of things and sound engaging! I for one would drop kick my gloves after a bad game where my shot stopping made no difference to the score line, so I’m no different, there you have it!

“Boing!”

Not sure who this photo belongs to (for accreditation) so apologies for copyright etc.

But, there is also the potentiality for things ‘getting out of hand’. You hear it in other sports like football, or the goalies in ice hockey where they’ll chop at people’s legs, shoulder check a guy coming through (yes, even goalies can ‘hit’ in ice hockey, need to find a video example!) or take a shot with their stick in between the legs of whoever got too close. Billy Smith and Ed Belfour were true examples of guys that didn’t like you in the crease! In all seriousness, there is the danger of becoming a danger. I always worry about the moral implications of slide tackles, especially when you see or hear of forwards getting flipped over. A friend broke his collar bone being upended in a football match, so there is seriousness behind things. I’m not saying tackling is an ugly business, but it’s how you do it and why you do it, especially if there may not be a reason to.

But keeping aggression and angst in check as a goalkeeper is kind of important. You may feel the need to make things right and even want to take vengeance on a player or members of the team you are playing against for some slight or something. Say if someone injured one of your team mates or you were being pushed around or wacked at. I’ve been physically knocked over and bundled over running out for a ball and play carried on = confidence ruined! You may be more prepared to let your feelings take over your actions, making rash challenges and being overly aggressively than need be, thus ending up conceding more than we should have: out of silly costly errors that came from our feelings about things. This sounds a lot like a little random drivel, but I honestly do hope it makes a some amount of sense!

Nerves

We all get nervous, to some degree. Nerves are good when mixed with confidence; a lethal cocktail because the nerves keep us in check, whilst mixing with the confidence when we realise we are good enough to play at a certain level, or similar. In exams if I knew I was going to do well, I normally would (they were the parts of my degree I got most of my firsts!). And when I played with apprehension or mistrust of myself or worry, I played well and showed my talent. But it’s not always like that and everyone interacts with it differently. Set routines or kitting up a certain way, and similar may help, along with a good warm-up and things like that. But really, ultimately, you can’t really let them get to your. Hold your head up, believe in yourself and go out there and enjoy yourself; it’s a game, we play it because we enjoy it!

Over confidence

On the flip side, you can be a little too pleased with yourself and a bit borderline cocky, which can hinder you because you forget the ‘bread and better’ saves of goalkeeping or expect to get a clean sheet without having to earn it! Perhaps!! This is important when it comes to matches, especially if playing against a lower placed team perhaps and expect a walkover, except it turns out differently and they give you a run for your money (even though it’s an ‘amateur’ sport, you get the idea!). If we honestly feel like a demigod or totally unbeatable and we play like we aren’t and ‘don’t show up at the races’, then it’s not going to make us look too good and will probably knock our self impression and ego down a peg or two! Imagine the upset of an underdog upset when you’re not the underdog! Confidence is essential, but being realistic about it and not ‘letting things get to your head’ after comments, commendations and team appreciation etc. is just as important. Confident yes, egotistical no!

Doubt

Again, doubt is another negative impact that can have a big and potentially catastrophic impact on our performances as goalkeepers. If we doubt ourselves, then we’ll struggle to make saves and our decision making will be poor as we second guess or over analyse and over think and never commit to a decision that may have been the right one! Playing a stronger team or moving up a level in hockey, we may begin to doubt how good we are. But, beating ourselves up about things isn’t going to help either really. So, remind yourself how good you really are, remember that you are good otherwise your team wouldn’t have chosen you and play like you are!

Calm, cool and collected

So, as I’ve tried to suggest, there is a lot to the emotions that we run the gauntlet of, as goalkeepers. But to really succeed in ‘whatever weather’ good or bad (well, match wise, as a metaphorical analogy), we need to keep things in check and maintain a level headed approach. Keeping things balanced. We should be more like Jedi monks or something! ‘Emotional stability’ is what this is: the ability to be unfazed throughout the whole 70 minutes every weekend for the whole season. A hard task, but worth it, because if we don’t, we won’t play well!

Keep a level head!

Ultimately, you want to be able to manage your emotions so that things don’t affect the way you play in goal. Don’t let things get to you, don’t let them niggle away at you or cause you problems that can affect your game, instead focus on the positives, don’t get carried away and don’t think you’re not good enough! It’s in no way easy, but rise to the challenge and display your mental strength! Rise above the difficulties, and make sure your goalkeeping is reflected in your ability to cope with adversity.

The goalkeeper duel

A game is essentially down to how the goalkeeper performs, at each end of the pitch. The more goals one of them allows, the more likely their team is to lose, obviously! Ultimately, it’s a battle between the goalkeepers. Yes, but really any game (as I’d like to think!), it boils down to how well the goalkeeper at each end performs. If one has a bad day the office then they’re probably going to lose and lose out in points, and if the other does well, with the backing of their team, they can win and take home the three points with and for their team! But really, if you are struggling to find motivation in a game to play well, then perhaps you may want to think about mirroring yourself and your goalkeeping performance in response to the other team’s goalkeeper that you are facing up to?! And a simple yet potentially effective way of rethinking psychological inspiration and the ‘mental game’, is to consider the chance to prove yourself as a goalkeeper and pitting yourself against your opposite number, to encourage yourself to outperform them.

Goalie legends Vogels v.s. England’s Fair in a friendly match at Bisham Abbey. Don’t think I could have a career in promotional ads!

Pitting yourself against your opposite

In the blue corner, we have… and in the red corner, we have…! Ok, so hockey and goalkeeping particularly, isn’t exactly boxing or its promotional aides. But you may want to consider things like they’re the clash of the titans! Or a widely touted heavyweight bout! At least, when two of the world class best and arguable best in the world, greats like Vogels, Stephen Mowlam or Simon Mason, ever face up against each other, in goalkeeping terms, that is pretty much it! If you have turned up to a game and just aren’t ‘feeling it’ or are not too geed up on the idea of playing well, one way to trigger some amount of self motivation and encourage yourself to ‘up’ your play and play to your best, is the concept of outplaying your opposite number (goalkeeper!) at the other end of the pitch. If you want to prove who is best out of the two of you and want to inspire yourself if confidence is lacking or you’re just not ‘showing up at the races’, then imagining things like this and pushing yourself on to showing how good you can really play, you can starting showing your ability (perhaps just to show off to said opposite number!) and come out on top! Think about it; if you want to really show yourself up, now is the chance to, and thinking of it like that every game should inspire you enough to put in regular man of the match worthy performances!

Outdoing your opponent

When you’re pitting yourself against another goalkeeper, you want to be able to match them, like in tennis, point for point; save for save. It’s no good just thinking about it, you’ve got to do it! Challenge yourself to stop every shot as it happens and stop or limit every scoring opportunity that develops. Don’t just ‘sit pretty’ and be a ‘ball watcher’; an observer more than a goalkeeper! Matching them save for save and stopping everything that comes your way, you are looking to come out on top. Of course, facing fewer shots affects this, but still, quality over quantity! You may often see this in a very close game where the score is a 0-0 game or low scoring tie and every scoring chance and opportunity are as a result more important to the outcome of the game, which are being kept to a minimum, is decisive and therefore incredibly essential for the goalkeeper to stop. This year, I’ve been able to get along to a few games where this has happened in the national league, and it really has been a battle between the two goalkeepers to keep their team in it.

The following clip is a great demonstration of Reading’s Nick Brothers (at the time, he has since left the sport as far as I’m aware, sadly), going up against RC Barcelona’s Oriol Fabregas in the Euro Hockey League. The score line was incredibly close and both did the utmost to try and outdo one another and show their worth, making some quality stops and cracking saves:

Competitive but constructive rivalry

Of course, being a member of the ‘Goalies Union’, it’s not like you need to hate the goalkeeper you’re going up against! I guess if you’re battling it out with another goalkeeper in your club or classification group for international selection say, you may be a lot more emotionally engaged with the battle of fighting for a place or proving your talent, but ultimately, we’re all goalkeepers and we’re the only ones that fully understand each other! I don’t think outfield players really care that much about the intricacies of kit modifications, or how our positioning etc. resulted in the save that won the game and so on! They just want us to make sure win the game, or at least, we don’t slip up! It’s a good idea to pit yourself against the goalie at the other end, just so you have something to focus on regards to mentality, and at the end of the game, remember to shake their hand and say something encouraging (you’d want the same!); well played and all! So, really, it’s just a game at the end of the day (sure I won’t get away with saying that!); it’s what you put into life and sport that makes the difference. So, simply put, put everything you’ve got into a game and enjoy the efforts afterwards!

Tom Skinner and Simon Mason are all smiles at the hand shake after a national league game between Bath and Guildford!

Out duel your opposite!

Ultimately, if you’re struggling for motivation and finding it hard to settle into the game or have conceded and are getting despondent, which is effecting your performance and therefore your team’s chances for a result, a quick trick for your psychology and ‘mental game’ is just to focus on how well the goalkeeper you’re facing up against is doing and outdoing them. It’s a simple but thoughtful idea! If you’re a little nervous, self doubting or lacking confidence to start the game, then reminding yourself that you are the better goalkeeper and pushing yourself on to prove it in your goalkeeping performance during the game, may just be handy for doing so!

Being a goalkeeper is boring

I don’t particularly think it is (although it can be very frustrating behind a team with a poor record), but at times you’ve got to be a little controversial to make a point, especially in writing. Those saves that make you look flash or superman aren’t going to be in every game and as your playing life develops, you’ll probably start to reconsider how you think about the position! In training you will often have a lot to do, but during games, you may not, commanding your defence and stopping chances developing before they come to fruition. But really, the boredom affects your game in terms of your ability to concentrate, pay attention and be able to make the important, decisive save as it happens, whenever it occurs time wise during the game (say early on to help keep your team in with a chance of taking the lead, or near the end of the match, to ensure you win!).

Tom Millington looking a little bored as his team takes a short corner down the other end of the pitch!

Goalkeeping is boring

Well, to be honest, it can be. You may get games where you get to test your mettle and face a lot of shots, but otherwise, you won’t face that many shots. And it’s not about how many saves you make ultimately; it’s about being able to make the timely, crucial save at the right time! Playing behind a strong defence means you’re going to have little work to do but important work when you do; when something does get through, it’s potentially more dangerous to the score line and thus more pressure on you to ‘step up to the plate’!

At the highest level, the defence is so strong and team efforts so much and team work close knit, that you may only face few amount of shots or scoring opportunities to intercept. If you think about it, expecting to face lots of shots and being man of the match and showing your talent, is a quite a lot different to the expectations of having a single shot to save at the end of the game which could be the decision maker and yet we are expected to, have to, make the stop regardless! In ice hockey this is a lot different, with goalies expected to face up to 30 shots a game on a regular basis; in a match in the KHL (Russian pro league) this month, a goalie faced 60 shots, faced pretty much all of them and still lost! Heart breaking!

Hockey is a lot different in the way we face shots and are expected to deal with them. A lot like a premier league game in football where facing more than 10 shots is unheard of (Jaaskelainen faced about 12 for this seasons’ record recently against Tottenham!). Sorry to keep using football analogies! Yes, you still have to be ready for action as the speed of the game is such that you have to be keyed in to respond immediately, but maybe you can argue that you will have less shots to face, making it even more crucial (and demanding as a result!) that you make the stops despite how many you face. One shot and one conceded goal is all the difference it takes to change the game. And should be taken seriously!

Ex-Old Louts goalie Stuart Hendy gets so bored he turns around to check his goal is still there!!

Reduced amount of saves to make

If you have started out on a team where you regularly face a lot of shots and find it helps you get into the game as you ‘build up a rhythm’, you may find it difficult to playing on a strong team where the defensive structuring and play is so great that you will only be called upon a few teams in every game. If, like me, you prefer to see more shots to get comfortable in a game, then it’s going to be difficult (to say the least!) to be able to mentally prepare and ‘come up trumps’ when you do eventually see some action. A heavy workload is different to facing only a few but decisive shots and scoring chances. The less shots you face, the more the opposition have to be careful in well executing and taking them to ensure they score, whilst having an impact on the way you play; with your confidence and trust in yourself to make the few but decisive saves when necessary.

Having little to do

With few shots, it is even more critical that you can concentrate and be alert to make the save when a scoring chance does happen; making it more stressful and pressurised! You have to be ‘awake’ all game for when you do eventually see a shot! When you are called upon you have to make that save. Goalkeeping is more than just stopping shots; it is being able to make the important ones when they most matter! Your one totally decisive save is going to be the game changer and needs to be made for your team to take home the three points.

So even if you can use stats and records to work out a goalkeeper’s performance and who is better at shot stopping, arguably to some degree, it doesn’t matter how many saves you make: if you can’t make the crucial one that keeps the score in your team’s favour, then you’ve let your team down, essentially. Harsh but realistic! Not for the weak is goalkeeping! But I think as you get older, begin to peak and grow into the position, you can overcome the nerves and tense mentality to be confident in knowing when you will be called upon and strong mentally to make that save.

Boredom and concentration

Elite goalkeepers have an amazing attention span. Imagine having nothing to do all game and then having to make an all-decisive save to keep the score as a win or prevent it from being a loss. To be honest, I can admit to (even though I probably shouldn’t!) having difficulties with staying alert if there is not much action down my end of the pitch and can get a little bored, only to be caught out by something happening unexpectedly for me to react to! Elite goalkeepers have elite concentration. If they slip up mentally, they’re pretty much bound to make a mistake because you expect opposition at that level to have attackers that will exploit these mistakes; if they didn’t you’d be thinking they’re overhyped! So as a result they’re obviously going to be paying full attention the whole game, no matter what.

The concentration levels are intense. Goalkeeping is intense. Sport is intense, so is competitiveness and playing at the elite level, it’s going to be as intense as it gets! And if you want a clean sheet, should be too (whatever level you play!). You really have to concentrate. And concentrate hard, with all of your being and mind. Just like Tim Howard, who actually has Tourettes (well documented in fact http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/06/16/goalkeeper-tim-howard-shuts-tourettes/), and is quoted often as mentioning that he has found that the level of concentration required to play in goal at the highest levels helps him overcome the negative side effects of this condition. At least, that’s what I’ve read and heard. This is in and of itself an amazing feat and not something to merely overlook or smirk at.

It also goes to show that if you want to achieve something badly enough, you’ll let nothing stand in your way! And self discipline (obviously very important if you’re a student athlete amongst other things and not letting anger boil over in a physical match say), much like concentrating, is especially part of this process. I thought I’d include that bit of lesser known goalie fact because it just goes to show how much you have to overcome to put aside the nervousness, pressures of goalkeeping and do all you can to focus on the game.

Ignoring the boredom and staying alert

The easiest, simplest and yet ridiculously difficult way is obvious: don’t think (removing any thoughts; positive or negative and eliminating worry), just read and follow the game and react to it. Don’t think, just do! I’ve been learning about Zen Buddhism (I’ve done a little of Buddhist meditation for personal reasons and also find it helpful for calming before a match, but nothing to this extent!) and how it can apply to goalkeeping. A lot like the way goalies across sports are looking at the mentality of golfers (who have an incredibly strong ‘mental game’ as expected!). When applied to hockey, the ability to think of nothing and just react and respond to the game as it unfolds is very handy. It’s refreshing and helps with focus, indescribably useful! So going from irritable or nervous or bored, I have taught myself to just totally focus on the game and nothing else. Pure focus. I recommend you research it! And it’s something I’ll hopefully write about in appropriate depth soon.

The idea is the ‘no thoughts thoughts’ way of thinking (yes Word that’s repetition, leave me alone!), where you abandon all thoughts to purely focus on what is happening in front of you, a lot like meditation in Yoga. By not thinking, you’re not over complicating things, you’re not over thinking (see de Gea’s struggles last season as a football analogy, can’t think of any goalkeepers in hockey struggling like that at the moment!), you just react and are able to make the right choices as a result. You take away the burdens and problems of nervous tension. Concentrating intensely without the chance to get bored; for the fully 70 minutes just focusing intensely on the game. Once you’ve finished, you can go back to random thinking and the generic stuff of whatever else goes on in your head! But in the game, you give it your all. It removes ALL distractions and thus will help you concentrate to play at your best!

Pay attention! Don’t get bored!

Not getting bored might be easier said than done, but if you teach yourself to eliminate thoughts or boredom and just concentrate totally, with all of your mind and focus, you should be able to do it every game. Concentration levels is something I tried to write about before when I started writing for the Keepers Resources site (it’s in another article somewhere!), but it depends on you as a goalkeeper. Some goalkeepers find it easy to concentrate with nothing happening, otherwise don’t and want to be stopping a lot of shots! Games don’t go that way all the time, so it’s a good idea on working out how to concentrate so when that scoring opportunity does present itself, you are ready to react accordingly.

Welcome to ‘the suck’

“The suck” as the Americans call it (I think I’m right there, please correct me if I’m wrong any would-be American readers!), is to do with things sucking and just learning to live with it, in the modern sense, I *think*! It’s something I read about somewhere recently in some discussion online between ice hockey goalies and thought it could be applied for understanding the ‘mental game’ and how we as goalkeepers need to be able to deal with the pressures and pains of playing the position we love, but more than; to manage the sensitivity of not letting things get to us. Without the ability to overcome the ‘suck’ in a goalkeeper’s season, it can have terrible affects on your team’s season. Just like the attempt to use ‘swagger’ as a way in to looking at self confidence, this is the chance to use a conceptualisation of dealing with adversity and a chance to do the flipside and look at how you keep it together when things are getting difficult. Especially so within a game (where you want to turn things around to tie it up or make a comeback) and also in a season (if it has derailed).

‘The suck’

According to Urban Dictionary (which is like trying to reference an academic paper with Wikipedia!), it apparently originally comes from the Vietnam War era, used by the US Marine Corps, defining undesirable conditions. But it also testifies to the enduring qualities of mental strength, the ability to continue on regardless in the worst of conditions to get the job done. Ok, so being a soldier and a goalkeeper are two different things and nothing alike really, but putting things aside from a moment, metaphorically, the analogy can be applied to those off days where the score line ends up particularly disheartening and embarrassing; the bad days at the office and the times our team mates are having a go at us or trying to tell us how to do things when they’ve never played in goal, or are causing goals through deflections!

Sometimes things suck

Let’s face it; goalkeeping is a pretty thankless task. Sometimes, when things aren’t going our way, obviously! We can win games only if they do their part and defend and score! It’s like life sometimes. Sometimes things don’t go your way and you’re really up against it. Pinned to the wall, backed into a corner, so maybe you just have to learn to fight back (with your goalkeeping performances and psychological stamina, no punching please, it’s not ice hockey where you actually get goalie fights!)! “Tough times come and go but only tough people stay.” That one is a toughie; but if you have to face bigger struggles, you’re practically the bigger person despite what people will say. “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you’ve stronger.” It does, but it leaves scars and can make you bitter. Alas! You’ve heard the clichéd phrases time and time again, but what of it? There’s a lot of truth about them, with the adages of perseverance and qualities of endurance. But can they apply to goalkeeping? I think so, at least when faced with the mental battles of confidence and performance.

You play really well to keep your team in it and they don’t acknowledge our efforts. The important but necessary things get overlooked and ignored, but you know that you had a game and kept them in it! That’s the irony of the goalkeeping insight and knowing how goals are scored on us and whether we were actually doing a good job of things or not. But without us, our teams would not be able to win (and there wouldn’t be much point playing as we are the person they need to score past!). And you can’t play a game without us (unless you’ve got a kicking back!)! So, really, it’s case of getting used to the mental frustration of ‘doing your part’ and the team sometimes not.

Not letting things get to you

Rather than actually let ‘the suck’ overcome you and beat you mentally, you can step away from negative thinking and reset the balance. Even if you’re starting to lose your grip on things regards confidence and confidence in your team mates, you’re doing your best; you play and lose as a team, so what else can you do but continue on regardless to ensure you put in the best performance they can ask of you? Positively affirmation and reminding yourself how good you actually are is going to be better than thinking your rubbish and then playing like you are! The tricky thing of psychology, self perception and confidence!

“Water off a duck’s back” as the saying goes. Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t turn up to a game not even bothering to try (like purposefully failing an exam or something?!), but, similarly, you shouldn’t let things get to you so much that you can’t play to your best. Ok, so you hold your hand up to it (you’d be surprised how that helps your team as you are admitting responsibility, which they seem to prefer as the onus is no longer on them!) and admit your fault. But then you move on from it. You can’t live in the past, like in life; it’s all about the present! Don’t think about how the game is in the other team’s favour; focus on how you can make sure you win! It’s important to be competitive and great to care about the game and your performance in goal, enough to get a little angry or miffed, but don’t overdo it! Doubt or overly critical self criticism can be a little corrosive psychologically and have the wrong impact on how you play for the rest of the game.

I used to get into a right sulk if I conceded, especially in a close game, where I felt I’d let my team down and could have and should have stopped it! And games where I did all I could but the defence wasn’t great (young time, inexperienced, that kind of excuse!) and the score line favoured the other side more greatly, it would lead to me chucking my gloves off at the end of the game in disgust and annoyance (I saw Ian Scanlon do it when he lost by a goal to East Grinstead a few weekends ago; the frustration shows we care and he wasn’t to blame, with a pretty much perfect performance!). I just didn’t want to let goals in! And sometimes, it would have a bad knock-on effect on how I played. So, the advice is: play like it didn’t happen and carry on regardless, so you can keep your confidence and thus performance up! That way, you give your team the best chance to win (via a comeback) or tie things up. If you don’t carry on saving shots well, it’s not going to happen!

Play like you just don’t care

Ok, this sounds a little contentious and bad advice, but that’s how hyperbole works! Whilst you want to be competitive and you do need to care about the score line (how else are you going to win?!), you should not get to the point where you don’t believe in yourself anymore or get annoyed at your team mates (that won’t help you either!). Don’t let it get to you. Don’t let the score line lead to a bad defeat because it has derailed your confidence in your true abilities as a goalkeeper. There are going to be times when things don’t go your way and you feel like you’re a ‘polo’ (as the outfielders may call you: shots go through you or something!).

So what? If you get niggled and irritated by things, your performance may disintegrate, but if you carry on like it didn’t happen, and continue to play on confidently and strongly, that’s better than the other option? Right! Goals are a fact of life for a goalkeeper: it’s how you move on from things (build a bridge and get over it as they say!) and ensure you still perform to your best and don’t make mistakes again after that goal has been allowed.

Keep calm and carry on!

As the popular saying that you can find on mugs, posters, pretty much everything these days (which seems to have reached its peak to be honest!) goes, “Keep calm and carry on”. Do it! Carry on regardless and stay confident like you were before! It’s no good getting put off by conceding if you can’t concentrate or believe in your abilities as a goalkeeper to change the game and make decisive saves, if it is really going to affect your play and in a negative way. Instead, concentrate on maintaining a strong level of play. Don’t get downhearted and lose interest. Double up your efforts and make sure you don’t allow another one in!

A lot of goalkeepers that play professionally can be quoted as saying that they put a ‘bad day at the office’ out of their mind and just focus on the next game, rather than getting caught up in the feelings of despondency and regret (over bad mistakes etc. that cost the team the game and such). Getting flustered isn’t going to help anyone and getting downbeat about things isn’t going to get you to ‘get into the game’ if you’re losing confidence and interest concentration can drift, your performance can end up sub-par when you were doing so well etc. These things happen and you need to readjust and reapply yourself from stopping anything else getting past you! The elite goalkeepers also have an elite mindset; they let their confidence deal with things and overcome it mentally to carry on playing to their best, doing all they can to keep their time in it. They’re elite for many reasons and in every expecting of goalkeeping they are among the world’s elite (otherwise they wouldn’t be there, in that position!).

Admittedly, I have been using this clip a lot (I guess that’s to do with how much I like it!) for representative of points and of different things but on the second corner that Vismaan (black jersey, black gloves and orange Brabo pads) concedes, he seems to ‘pull himself together’, you can sort of see the change in body language where he accepts the goal has been scored against him and shrugs it off:

Here, in the following photo, Stuart Hendy appears pretty non-plussed and relaxed about things after just allowing a goal! He won the game, making (so maybe that proves the point?!).

“Meh… so what!” What I’d like to think Hendy was thinking at least!

Don’t let it suck!

If you give your all and don’t get dismayed by negative thinking, then that’s all your team can ask of you! Play your best, overcome the odds, do all you can and you can’t have any complaints from your team mates (even if they do, you still know they’re wrong, that’s most important!!). Off days and grumblings from your team mates, they’re just other things to learn to deal with. You can’t aggregate the importance of mental strength but it is so crucial; 90% psychology and 10% skill as the saying goes in sport. Mental strength is about the deep, entrenched strength of personality and mind and self belief to overcome significant challenges, whether in life or goalkeeping and so not taking things too seriously can help a little.

Goalie ‘swagger’

‘Swagger’ is not exactly what you expect to think of when referring to hockey. But when it comes to goalkeeping (which is a part of the sport!), then you might be open minded in reconsidering!

‘Swagger’ is not exactly what you expect to think of when referring to hockey. But when it comes to goalkeeping (which is a part of the sport!), then you might be open minded in reconsidering! I’m not sure how it will translate internationally with the translate feature though! ‘Swag’, without sounding trite (I’m not exactly the definition of ‘street’ and it’s not exactly something you expect in the hockey community!) is a phrase often used when it comes to ice hockey, with goalies talking about how they look, and how they can experiment with pad colours and set-ups to look better and stylish! Who said goalkeepers didn’t have style?!

Well, in ice hockey, they can specialise their kit (we still can; Obo obviously offer the chance for two tone pads but not many do, although Monarch are introducing it!) and ‘dress up’ to ‘look the part’ and ‘cool’. I did play it for a bit (bit of a goalie connoisseur trying my hand at most sports, although do play outfield occasionally!!) and still pay attention to forums and blogs etc. for thoughts and ways of ‘thinking outside the box’; Justin Goldman s a great goalie writer and inspiration and whilst ice hockey is obviously a totally different technique and way of playing in goal, has a great level of insight for the mental game and psychological aspects of sport.

But regardless, it’s just a way in to contemplating body language and how you appear to your opposition. Easy to beat or hard to beat? You may not have played them yet and you don’t want to give them the wrong impression! I wanted to write about the conceptualisation of ‘swagger’ as a chance to discuss self belief, and thought this would be a good way in to introduce exploring the mode of self belief that has to be learnt through experience effectively and that potentially cannot be taught. You have to play like it and have the personality to match!

Why?

It’s a great way of looking at how confident you are on the pitch. You NEED to be confident, because it’s arguably the most pressured position on the pitch and if you’re not confident, you want play to your best or ‘do yourself proud’ with your performance. Self belief is either natural and deeply inherent for the person, or is buffed up by things that make you feel confident. You have to really trust in this positive self perception, or things can go belly up as you doubt your abilities and back away from tackles etc. or plays where you need to be aggressive with your play. Thinking about ‘swagger’ is just a vehicle for contemplating how your confidence comes across, a way of establishing this in the ‘mental game’ of the goalkeeping world.

Looking good

Look good, feel good, play good. It’s something that Obo discuss and makes a lot of sense and may be useful for you. But it also affects how your opponents see you. Look like you are unbeatable and they may feel you are going to be hard to beat! And conversely, look like you are a bad, and you may just well let in a few too many (bad days at the office aren’t fun!). Plus if you feel like a nervous wreck and things don’t go to plan, you may end up probably playing bad as doubt creeps in, so better to look hard to beat and not let things get to you! Psychologically you want to endorse this self belief so that you can play like it. Mind games and that malarkey may well also come into play as you get the opposition to believe you really are that unbeatable and going to stop them every time!

‘Swagger’ in the way you present yourself

‘Swagger’ as previously discussed, can easily be considered in the way your kit looks. That are lots of goalkeepers in the elite leagues that have pretty nice looking set-ups, even if the look is pretty standard (all red for TK right now etc. but Obo allows for the customisation for ‘swag’!). David Kettle (Welsh international) had a particularly swish blue and black colour look whilst at East Grinstead (the blue tk rhp helping complete the look!) and is now back with a more blue look (orange inners) at Surbiton after playing with a more mismatching look so far this season. Whilst Richard Potton at EG has a more orange look throughout, with blue on the inners of his pads. Aside from having kit that is shiny and well looked after, I’m not really sure how else you can look the part! Goalkeepers who will always look to experiment with kit, so even then, if they decide to use different types of kit for playing style and technical reasons, then it isn’t going to be a complete picture or universal set-up!

But ‘swagger’, like the way the ‘kids on the block’ talk about, is a lot about how you hold and present yourself. Fashion wise and also looking rough and tough. In a game if you look comfortable and seem like you’re going to stop every shot that comes at you, then your opposition is going to treat you so with more respect. But in goalkeeping, along with the loud verbal commanding of your defence, you want to cut a composed and yet imposing figure, an impression of cutthroat last man back to shut down their attacks.

One example is when I went along to see England in some international games a few years back. And watching from the stands and observing the goalkeepers in the game, was surprised to see Brothers look a little poserish (not a word and don’t mean to sound condescending, just how I saw things at the time!). It was a weekender against India. ‘Fairy’ (James Fair) played the first game and it was Nick Brothers’ turn ‘in between the posts’. The way he held himself and the air and presence about him as if he thought he was the best in the world (or something like that, I don’t know how to phrase it; I’ll never be that good and I do rate him highly as a ’keeper anyway!).

I thought it a little odd and different. But it makes a lot of sense now looking back in retrospect. If playing in front of a large crowd (probably not as big as the crowd at the England game, unfortunately!) and the added pressure, you can let the nerves get to you a little and affect your performance or you can overcome it by ignoring it and come across confident. Oriol Fabregas at RC Barcelona also comes across pretty emboldened. In this way, you’re doing the opposite of letting things and the opposition get to you; you’re showing that you are not nervous (even if you might be, by a tad!) and actually raring to go and stop everything that comes your way. ‘Gigi’ Buffon for Juventus and Italy and all time legend is a great footballing example of this; the way he stands high at corners and just carries himself looking confident the whole game. And he’s one of, if not often, the world’s best, so who can argue against that!

To extend and twist the metaphor, you can also consider how you express your confidence in the way you look (when not in your ready stance etc.). ‘Standing tall’ as a phrase (generally applied to life!) when applied to goalkeeping relates to bringing your ‘A game’ and giving your all no matter how good your team is (i.e. if you’re being shelled, you still do your best to stop every shot!), but can also in a sense relate to how you appear and how confident you are. Outside of goalkeeper, it’s been well researched that if you are hunched up, you feel worse mentally. Physiologically and psychologically impacting how you act. If you look hunched and crunching inwards, yousay a last corner of a game when the whistle has blown!

So in this sense, with body language, you are coming across to the opposition as not particularly confident in your own abilities. Personally, I just think I know too much random stuff, but I really do think it has a lot of impact for psychology and thus worth considering when thinking about the ‘mental game’ as a goalie in hockey. I’m not sure how this is understood in sports science, but theoretically makes a lot of sense. A straight back is needed in your ready stance anyway, but if you hold yourself upright as discussed in the following, you appear more content (you should be happy to be there, you’re in goal after all and you’re supposed to love it!) with the pressures and confident.

For example, look at the way Tom Millington (blue/orange tone Obo pads) looks and comes across in this clip; and when the play is not in his half, he still looks pretty composed and (versus shaky about a breakaway!):

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Low gloves at short corners

Just like I wrote about a couple of years back about using high gloves to help make standing saves against drag flicks at corners, the opposite (low gloves) can be argued as well, for those menacing and difficult low placed flicks you cannot reach from your standing position. Thoughts and analysis on how gravity and holding them low equates to reaching such flicks, as well as a new trend that seems to be becoming popular at short corners.

Whilst I have written about a raised glove positioning at corners, to allow you to make high saves from a standing position and also to make bringing the gloves into position during a high dive easier, there is also a good reason to have your gloves down low at a corner. It all depends on the level you play at and the style of drag flicks or shots you face. Standing up with gloves high, it is easier to move in to save a high flick, but if you are facing a difficultly placed flick that you cannot reach with your legs down low, where you may have to dive low and with low gloves, is obviously easier to get closer to the ball more quickly from that position.

Lowering your gloves

Having low positioned hands equates to being able to bring your gloves into play to stop a low ball, where you are extending out wide against a difficult-to-stop drag flick that is not quite on the floor and not particularly off it. Whilst a lot flick takers do go to flick high, there is a lot of sense in having a low glove positioning in your stance to allow you to get nearer a low ball with your gloves when facing a low placed and very difficult to stop, tricky, drag flick wide, low and down, or into the corners, where you need to really extend and push out into making the save. Just like where you have your gloves high to move up or out, from a standing position. With your gloves low you can quickly bring them in to block the ball as you make the dive; already low, allowing you to drop them even quicker to stop the ball.

It’s something Nick Brothers did a lot when playing club hockey for national premier league side Reading and when representing England or GB internationally (he has hung up the pads, sadly). Nick Brothers had his gloves low in a general stance (which you don’t seem much of these days) to help getting low for a save more quickly (seen at 9:01 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2SeiavimsE) and Simon Mason seems to still uses a stance like this (well, his gloves are low at least!). But, he also kept this low glove stance when dealing with short corners.

As can be seen at 1:29; although he gets his rhp on it, it bounces up and away, done to wrist rotation but a very difficult save to make regardless:

Saving low

As suggested, it should be easier theoretically for your gloves to be used from a low position when going up against low and wide flicks that you cannot stop from a standing position. With gravity coming into play and an incredibly fast drag flick being faced, the lower your gloves, the quicker it should theoretically be to bring them in to save the flick as you go down. Here’s the legendary Simon Mason making such a save at 2:01, getting the right glove and stick low to stop:

With your gloves already low, it should theoretically assist pushing out wide in extension in a low/mid-dive against flicks outside your reach when standing, as Brothers demonstrates:

New trending?

Unlike Brother’s stance where his gloves were outside the body than tucked beside, there seems to be a new trend in goalkeeping, which I wanted to comment on after the realisation! This alteration can be noticed if you watch Stubbings and Belgian goalkeeper van Rysselberghe (who’ll be mentioned later!). Diccon Stubbings (goalkeeper for Canterbury in the England Hockey League) has made an interesting change to the way he sets up at penalty corners, with a ready stance, that almost looks lackadaisical (edit: yes, I get to use an awesomely elongated word when discussing goalkeeping!) and kind of displaying an nonchalant within the ‘mental game’ regards to outside , unaware of goalkeeping technique and perspective! His gloves are just still by his side then pushed out into anything resembling a ready stance.

Here you can see his previous stance on corners whilst at Holcombe, where it has the gloves higher and around the body, in front:

http://www.holcombehc.org.uk/gallery/Kent%20Cup/2010%20-%20Mens%20Cup%20Final/PICT6900.jpg

Here is the new stance I’ve seen of him using at Canterbury, essentially just a very relaxed stance, with the gloves dropped to his side, ready to push out low.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12608538@N03/8502764329/in/pool-1375155@N25

In the following video, noticing how he gets low quickly to stop (he’s in the red TK pads and black shirt and black helmet) and generally reverts to a low glove positioning in his ready stance when shots are in close. At about 9:24 you can see this in practise. Richard Mantell likes to flick low and Stubbings has obviously gone with expecting him to and it looks like the ball goes wide, or he does manage to make a cracking save getting low with the stick.

On the consecutive corner, you can see how having a low glove stance makes it easier to block standing up against a flick near to the hips and around the body, or to dive into, if necessary.

Stuart Hendy, Old Loughtonians goalkeeper (again, another retiree, at least I think; not on the EHL web page team sheet anyway!) also used this set-up against short corners as of late, to help him deal with lower placed flicks. Here’s a photo of him making such a save a season ago against Oxted:

The photo below illustrates the stance where he would set up with his gloves low.

But seemly unlike the other goalkeepers (mentioned and to be mentioned, see below!), he changes his glove positioning as and when at suits, which can be seen demonstrated here at 1:42:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPMixfySWBA

And here at 9:50:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ICj9ODArkA

This is also something Belgian international goalkeeper (Vanasch has beaten him out of the starting spot, with Gucasoff now second choice and Leroy having been part of the training squad), David van Rysselberghe, does a lot of. Rather than keeping his gloves up at shoulder or chest height in his stance on the corner (the rest of the time for game, he retains a ‘normal’ ready stance with gloves up around chest/shoulders, a lot like Stubbings), he keeps his gloves very low, in case of the danger of a save that is down towards the backboard.

Ignore the goal but notice how low he keeps his gloves, and like Stubbings, basically stands there looking like he’s not really bothered, gloves dropped to the sides of his body!

High or low?

It all depends on the flicks you expect to face. Most of the time, I would expect flicks to be higher; around head height, wide of you, or wide of you outside the body (hip height say, where you have to extend out into a dive to reach). But some flick takers like the difficult positioning just above the floor and at the post or between you and the defender, which is tricky to defend and can cause confusion. Assumptions can be made depending on the places the flick takers look to go for. Scouting your opposition always helps and is essential for this approach. It’s still possible to get your gloves low from a raised position in your stance when you dive, but it depends on where you expect the ball to end up and if you need to extend as far out as possible to reach the corners etc. It’s something I’m going to write about in more detail in another article.

Aerial ‘punts’

Another article trying to ‘think outside the box’ and consider the goalkeeper’s options for punting away high balls or punting a high ball as an outlet pass.

Edit: managed to get some action shots after heading to Guildford to watch a game, where Mason thankfully did so!!

Punt kicks are what are common in football, but whilst a rarity in hockey are seemingly being introduced by some goalkeepers experimenting with the limits of the position. Kind of like the kick to restart play from the goalkeeper’s box in football, but without the ball being on the ground! Essentially kicking to punt away a raised ball, whether from a self pass, or from a high ball. And as I want to point, it has become something that even goalkeepers in our sport of hockey are experimenting with, pushing the limits on what a goalkeeper can or supposedly, can’t do. Andrew Isaacs at Havant is the main goalkeeper using the technique in the EHL, but you will sometimes see goalkeepers clearing with the top of the kicker, to aid in getting distance against a raised pass, anyway. It is obviously quite an advanced trick as it only has a rare usage and is pretty difficult (to do well!)!

Technique

The technique of kicking away with the top of the kicker is essentially just like a drop punt kick in football. But with a trickier technicality, obviously, as you are wearing foam pads! And except that you can’t use your hands to drop the ball for the kick! Which makes things harder as you have to flip the ball up with your stick before you punt away (often from the self pass set-up with a defender passing the ball). And it also helps to have a variant and learn to kick as a ball comes at you on the drop of an aerial etc.

Get behind the aerial or ball dropping towards you (so you don’t miss it!)
Swing with the leg into the kick as the ball comes at you
As you do, turn your foot at the angle you want the ball to be directed at; don’t turn the kicker ‘face’ away, it is the angling of the foot that directs the kick away and clearance (visualise or be aware of the sideline, 25 to help etc.)
Have the ‘face’ of the top of the kicker connecting with the ball (making the most of the surface area) and getting as much on it as possibly, preferably from the middle
Continue to drive through the ball as you would when kicking normally, so that you get as much power on the kick as possible
Finally, bring the foot back and reset, to rebalance and get back to a standing position or your ready stance

As this picture of Max Weinhold illustrates:

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/goalkeeper-max-winhold-of-germany-clears-the-ball-during-news-photo/149657218

If you want to start from a free hit, then you will need to flip the ball up with your stick to get the ball high enough for a good drop to get distance on the kick. You can see the technique that is similar to what Isaacs uses, with Stockmann attempting a kick to a player to keep the play going, in the following clip. The process involves flipping the ball up with good stick control to punt away, as has been said. This can be seen at 3:41 playing time (Jaap stops the ball with his glove first):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzt6VFu9lbU

Although pretty blurry (sorry!!), the following pictures show the process. Mason kicks with his right unlike Isaacs:

Football goalkeepers obviously do this more regularly, as they drop a caught ball to punt away. Following advice and ‘cross training’ gives more in-depth analysis on technique. The JB Goalkeeping blog is great for this and the link gives useful information:

http://www.jbgoalkeeping.com/distribute.html#handkick

Starting play with the free hit

There was a lot of talk when the free hit rule changed and the self pass option became introduced into the hockey world. And some goalkeepers considered making use of it to allow further options to get the ball up the pitch quickly and confuse the opposition team at the same time. Obviously with aerials being allowed at free hits in hockey, it doesn’t seem quite so unique or needed as the player can release an aerial! It is something that ‘Mace’ (Simon Mason, ex-GB, current first choice at Guildford) when it became something of interest. He was accurate with it and could get it quite far (heard he did a couple of times but seen it done in training; happy to be corrected if wrong!).

But this is something that Andrew Isaacs at Havant has started pioneering and test. Doing essentially what Stockmann can be seen doing, but at the restart and with more regularity and trying for greater distance and accuracy. He did it last season, but may not be doing it quite so much this season! And haven’t been able to get to any of their games to check!

You can see the process at 0:10 (it, the first, looks to be an assist on a goal scoring opportunity) and then 0:20 and 0:58 and 1:10 (basically all the way throughout the video but pernickety in timing for skipping through!). He seems to kick with the left from the free hit restart, but know he is comfortable with kicking with both feet, seeing him ‘punt’ a flick into the D with his right before. Not sure if 0:58 is an example of him kicking away a loose high ball as he does, as a little out of focus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78eXwzkZ0p0&feature=related

It’s a big ask in hockey where it’s unexpected and will take a lot to pull it off accurately, making it seem less likely to be used so regularly! Kicking over distance, where you have to predict the drop, is a little different to kicking on the floor. Football goalkeepers at the elite level are judged on their pinpoint accuracy with their kicking and to get an aerial kick to a player without ‘making it dangerous’ requires this even more so, if done in hockey. The following is a great example. Timing, direct and power for distance all come into play. Gazzaniga at Southampton may have only got a few Premier league starts this season, but I was surprised by his ability with distribution. His accuracy is pretty amazing and has gotten a lot of assists for starting scoring opportunities. See at 0:35, for a short but precise pass. Watch for 0:46 and 1:00 for great examples and evidence of this! And the rest are good enough to watch and see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SHTGdf1oFs

Sidetracking as I often do, but in football, goalkeepers are seen as the extra defender and distributor, which hockey goalkeepers can learn from, if open minded and ‘thinking outside the box’! Joe Hart will often take free kicks outside his area and command distribution, as another example. In football they love it if you set up goals for them and outside the stereotype of goalkeepers accept you more as a team mate, but I can’t see it catching on in football!

A clearance method

Other than restarting play, a punt kick also gives further options when dealing with high balls into the D. Of course, if it’s an aerial pass into the D, it’s a pretty difficult to judge and get right. But, with an elite skilled goalkeeper, because reading the game for them is at a high level and more opportunities like this are faced, then it may be of use. If the timing is such that the attacker isn’t going to get their first, but you need to clear because otherwise the ball could run on for them to latch onto, then it is something to consider. Possibly!

The following link takes you to a picture of Chris Bristow (in his time at Surbiton), clearing with a punt on a ball inside the D:

http://www.simonhartphotography.com/_photo_7383115.html

Clearing with greater force

If dealing with an aerial flicked into the D, swatting at it with the glove won’t actually do much. At least, that’s what I’ve found. Even if you’ve got good rebound properties with your glove, putting it just outside the D requires help from defenders (who may not be there) and such. Having witnessed Isaacs do it in person in a friendly against Holcombe, I’ve observed its uses. With a kick away, he managed to get it to distance and well controlled with accuracy, to the sidelines; much further than a clearance with the glove. You can’t really do that with a glove and a kick if done with power, provides another option. Unorthodox, yes and very difficult to teach but it is also very handy. A skill used appropriately in the right situation, which effectively is what the science of goalkeeping technique and tactics is about really. Having ‘tools in your toolbox’ as Mitch Korn teaches in ice hockey and something to be learnt from.

In the video of Isaacs, you can see Millington (playing for Exeter) just about (the camera angle blocking him out of shot!) at about 1:15 playing time.

‘Face’ of the kicker

Interestingly, Isaacs uses Mercian kickers, which do not have buckles on the ‘face’ which could potentially affect the ability to punt the ball. Gryphon, Mazon and Grays also use this strapping system. I’m not sure exactly, to what depth, or how much protruding buckles can affect the punt itself, but having seen Obo users pull it off in training, don’t think it presents much of an issue.

Use?

Ultimately, it is an extra option, to confuse the opposition, or to help with a difficult ball that needs clearing. It has a very specific use and takes a lot of working on to be comfortable with, although I do like the idea of goalkeepers in hockey being more comfortable with the ball ‘at their feet’ as in football. You may want to prioritise on more important skills, but if you’ve got everything else sorted, may want to add it to your repertoire (especially if you are at a level where aerials into the D are more common). And basically if anything else, it’s a lot of fun to experiment and muck about in training (if you get the chance!) or you can just go down a park or ‘rec’ with a football and have a go, outside of your hockey training schedule.

Even if you don’t ever use it in a game, it is practising important skills of goalkeeping. At the fundamentals, it’s working on eye contact, so hand-eye (foot-eye in this case!), tracking the ball with vision, footwork and working with kicking and feeling comfortable with the ball at your feet. And stick work as well as you flip the ball up to punt clear.

You will see elite goalkeepers using it and you may even consider it yourself (maybe, perhaps!). But it’s a skill in itself and has a lot of finesse and panache I guess as it’s pretty precarious and requires a lot of self confidence and comfortable approach with the skill being pulled off, because otherwise you end up looking like a total Wally, as the ball skips past! It would take a lot of practise and confidence to pull it off in games, but can still be utilised as an option for a strong clearance against a high pass.

Food for thought?!

Or maybe not! But I think it’s good to be seeing goalkeepers push the boundaries and experiment with the goalkeeper as an option as distributor and for clearing. But, it’s not like I’m recommending you go out and teach yourself it to use in games! The article was written as a means to explore and engage with the idea of what a goalkeeper can and should do, as an extra defender perhaps. It’s just a chance to get you to think! Thinking about the position of goalkeeper and the goalkeeper’s role within the team.

Personally, I would really like to see hockey becoming a lot more like football (hearing the cries of dismay!) in relation to goalkeeping (not anything else!), where the goalkeeper is an outlet pass option, accurate and comfortable with the ball at their feet, and ‘the fifth defender’. Ice hockey is no different, where the goaltender is taught to ‘dump the puck’ with a long pass and can even assist on goals, so in terms of this, I think hockey (goalkeeping) is a little behind the times on boundary pushing and someone like Isaacs could have an impact on the way we think about playing in goal and revolutionise the approach to the position and thoughts about it. Just my take on things! Not as if they’re groundbreaking or anything (my opinion that is)!