Category: Dan’s Tips

Detailed playing articles from Daniel Pilgrim.

Standing when the ball is outside your half

When the ball is outside of your team’s half, you can actively step forward to be nearer the action. Ready to react as the game develops, you can play aggressively to gain the advantage; already ready to move into intercept an attacker or pass into the D, to prevent a scoring chance.

 

A lot of goalkeepers like to stay inside their goal when the ball is outside their half and then move out as the play gets through, allowing them to cover the posts in case of an inrushing attack. However, the more dominant goalkeepers will stand confidently at the top of the D, so they can intercept any stray balls, also giving them a better chance to immediately tackle a forward as they run through the D. 

  

Being aware of the need to be aggressive and acting correspondingly, will further your ability to control the play; able to shut down attacking chances by acting with confidence and awareness of the game’s development.

 

Standing on your line

Rather than coming off their line to prepare for any offensive breakaways into the D, you will often see a lot of goalkeepers staying back on the line, even when the ball is in the opposition’s zone. Passive goalkeepers who are not as comfortable aggressively stepping out to cut off a breakaway by actively running out to tackle, will often stay close to their line, even when the play is outside their half; ‘rooted’ to their goal line. By being so deep, they can play a shot, if a breakaway occurs; covering all options in order to block the incoming shot, rather than challenging out; allowing them to play to their strengths in angle play and reflexes, for a reactive save according to the incoming shot.

 

Staying nearer to the goal line means that the goalkeeper is further way from the play, often unable to react in time to a breakout play from the opposition, through their own defence (facing 2 on 1s, 3 on 2s etc.). As a result of being so deep within the D, you will have to be a lot quicker ‘off the mark’ in reacting to a lone player breaking into the zone, if you intend to tackle them successfully; immediately sprinting straight out, off your line to the top of the D, when you need to confront an open player running into the D, in order to make the interception.

 

standing

 

Staying further back leaves you significantly more vulnerable to the incoming attacker, with speed and multiple options on their side.
Staying further back leaves you significantly more vulnerable to the incoming attacker, with speed and multiple options on their side.

 

Standing at the top of the D

At higher levels of the game, where the action is more fast paced and open, you will often see goalkeepers standing far off their line; readily anticipating an attack when the ball is in the opposition’s half and 25. Standing at the top of the D, you are nearer to the action. With a better view of the action, by gaining a closer view (rather than staring at a distance), you can also get a clearer look at things that are happening and are therefore able to make more accurate calls to your team; relating the dangers of free and mobile opposition players. Other than showing outward confidence to the team and opposition alike, as well as getting a better view of the pitch, from where they can shout commands to their team mates, it allows you to be ‘quick off the blocks’ in responding to defensive breakdowns and resulting scoring opportunities as they occur.

 

By confidently stepping so far out, you are closer to the action; able to quickly intercept a free attacker or pass into the D, without having to move into position to do so (by running in etc.). Ready and anticipating, instead of being ‘on the back foot’ and ‘slow footed’, you can see the danger developing from the outset, and respond immediately to it: showing good anticipation skills and a positive thinking aggressive mindset. This way, you increase your chances of disrupting passing plays simply by being in the right place and the right time.

 

standing1

 

By being active in positioning at the top of the D, you stand a better chance of making attacking interceptions.
By being active in positioning at the top of the D, you stand a better chance of making attacking interceptions.

 

Against a breakaway, an inactive goalkeeper in this situation would normally stand near, or even on the goal line, making it much more difficult to make the interception, as they have to race out in full kit to make the tackle. Being off your guard and not watching the play will leave you an easy target against skilled shooters. However, by being ready for an incoming player you stand a greater chance of successfully making the tackle.

 

Being aggressive

Standing at the top of the D means you are able to shut down plays more easily by being effectively “already there”; not having to sprint out off your line to meet an attacker or loose ball, but simply being on ‘the doorstep’ to the action. By being closer incoming play, you have less to travel to meet the attackers; setting up in an advanced position, ready to deal with overhead aerial passes into the D, leaving you up against an open breakaway situation, or multiple player scenario (with further attackers running in as the ball is held). An aggressive attitude in being ready and alert makes sure you are ready for the challenge; able to spring immediately into action as the player breaks through your defence and in onto goal.

 

As a result of being decisive and aggressive in your play, there are a number of possible actions that you can take against opposition plays breaking through the ’25. Disrupting such attacking plays allows your defence to get back in time to help out, as well as shutting down the present scoring chance, to deny the opportunity of a goal against.

 

Such scenarios include:

 

  • Making attacking clearances by clearing loose balls into the D (like aerials or strong hits in), which incoming runners are attempting to latch onto for a tip-in or breakaway chance

  • Making interceptions at the top of the D; running out on the angle of the attacker’s run, to slide tackle, to relieve the attacker of the ball and eliminate a scoring chance

  • Challenge the attacker coming into the D: meeting them early to challenge (staying on your feet and looking big, forcing them to go round you), and forcing them wide, so that you can force the shot wide, or move back with them to block a shot on goal they attempt

 

Being agile

Being aggressive in coming out to the top of the D to challenge coincides with agility and being mobile around the D; in order to get back in time to meet a shot if a pass is made around or into the D for a play on through to goal, you need to be quick enough and athletic enough to get back to cover the open ground. Working on overall fitness (to build up the required ) and practising roaming around the D at training, via respective drills, will help you learn when and how to come out to challenge, whilst being comfortable doing it.

 

Where should I stand?

Ultimately it is up to you to decide where to stand, according to your individual style of game; if you prefer to hang back and play the angles to limit a shooting chance, then you are more likely to play deep within your D and not step out to the top ready to challenge incoming plays. However, to take full control of your D, you need to be aggressive in stepping forward; ready for any attack and following the game play, influencing it as best as possible in ‘dominating the D’. By challenging with your positioning, you are able to control the play and shut down scoring chances; denying the opposition goal opportunities by acting like a spare defender.

 

If you are happy to act aggressively, and confident in your tackling abilities and aggressive style of play (being decisive, so as not to back away from a challenge and give the attacker the upper hand), then you should definitely be active in standing further up in the D when the ball is under control. Having a strong defence to rely on is helpful and important, but communication and awareness of where they are is crucial to success.

What to do after the shot

Down on the play, you are left between a ‘rock and a hard place’; having limited time to recover into your ready stance in readiness for the next save. Working out what to do next and deciding on when to recover, will affect the future outcome of the situation.

Now that you’ve made the low save (like a dive, or have purposefully gone down to block with a barrier) the hardest thing to deal with is getting back up and recovering in time for the secondary save.  Similarly, if you end up on your back, after making a scrambled save, moving across goal, and end up losing your balance, then your situation is made even more tricky by the need to get strong in your stance within the time allowed to recover.

The burning question on your mind, is what to do next; unsure whether to cover shooting space, or take yourself out of the play for a recovery. Do you make the effort to get back up and try to get set? Or do you attempt to make a desperation save against the rebound shot?

 

With the ball potentially coming straight back into play, you have to have your wits about you; aware of what is going on around you, and able to make a dramatic reflex save if required. Your defenders can be extremely helpful in getting the ball out of the zone as the shooters attempt to score on the rebound, and you need to work with them, as well as communicating the dangers they aren’t attentive to.

 

Recovering from the save

Barrier saves are hard to recover from, even without the need for quickness; along with getting up from a save where you have ended up on the pitch. As with all saves, the best recovery is reversing how you made the movement in the first place; pushing up off the stick, getting up on your feet and then going back to your normal stance.

 

after_shot

 

  • Bring your left leg in front of your right leg, planting firmly down on the ground with your left foot

  • Raise yourself up onto your right glove, ready to push up

  • Push yourself up in a single motion,

  • As you do that, bring your right leg underneath your left

  • Kneeling off your right knee, plant your right foot on the ground as you push from it to a standing position

  • Return to your ready stance

 

When pushing, make sure you get as much power as possible in order to get up in one go, otherwise you will struggle and waste precious time or get stranded.

 

Keep your eyes on the ball at all times, so you are aware of where it is and whether another shot is coming your way or not. You can keep your glove out in front of you at all times in case of a shot, which you can stop with the glove.

 

after_shot1

 

As you get better and stronger from practise, you can eliminate getting up off the knee and get up in a single motion instead.

 

When to recover

As the goalkeeper facing the shots, it is important to come to your own conclusions about when to recover in time; if you recover too early you may leave yourself vulnerable, whereas if you stay down for too long, you will leave yourself open to lifted shots.

 

Depending on how the play is developing, and your confidence in your own recovery speeds, you should recover for the next shot as it develops.

 

Pointers

When you recover depends on the situation and how the play has developed. If you can recover and it is best to do so, then get back up quickly, otherwise stay down and get ready to block another shot!

 

  • Once the ball is cleared from the zone and away from danger, you can get up again normally

  • If the ball rebounds to the top of the D, get up as quickly as possible using the recovery technique

 

Staying down

Sometimes the only thing you can do against the shot is to stay down. You don’t have enough time to recover, so the best thing is to remain down, allowing you to cover the low shot. You can attempt to get in the way of rebound opportunities, using your body to cover the shooting space, even putting your hand in front of the shot to cover more space. Rolling over onto your back can help you cover low on-pitch strikes using the snow angel desperation technique as explained later on.

 

The shooter’s priority here is to get the ball over or through you as quickly as possible. You can bank on their nervousness and desire to get the shot off as soon as possible, simply shooting straight into you.

 

Relying on your defenders

Some of us are blessed with good defenders who know our style of play and decision making in dealing with shots. By staying down on the play and letting our defenders deal with clearing the rebound, we can increase coverage of the bottom of the net, in case the attackers try to lift the ball or shoot at your prone frame as they attempt to get the ball out of the D.

 

You will generally not have time to recover, so letting your defenders do the job for you will help you in dealing with the situation.

Analysing your in-game play

It is important to analyse any game you play; allowing you to evaluate key areas of weakness that can be improved, as well as working out your strengths. Whilst a bad game is best forgotten, you can look back on your performance to learn from your mistakes and not commit them in the future.

As a goalkeeper intent on making it big, you should always consider how well you played in the game. You may think you’ve done your best, but there’s always something you could have done better, or a play you could have prevented. Even if you played a ‘blinding’ game and kept a clean sheet, there are still things that you can work on! Seeing every game as an opportunity to improve, instead of being already being ‘perfect’ will help you greatly in developing your own game in order to succeed as best you can.

 

Remember: goalkeeping is a journey of develop, and by the time you reach your peak, you will be more of a finished product, in your overall understanding of the game and therefore ability to control the play, compared to when you first started in ‘between the sticks’.

 

Weaknesses

Weaknesses are basically areas of the game that still need to be worked on.

If you are aware , then you need to work twice as hard to get rid of those bad habits. Not all of our potential weaknesses are down to skills and abilities though; a poor mental approach to the game could leave the team in disarray as the goalkeeper ‘folds’ under the pressure.

 

Below are some examples:

 

  • Ability to make great acrobatic saves, but uncontrolled; giving away easy rebounds

  • Poor angle play letting in ‘soft’ goals

  • Lack of aggression leading to easy break away opportunities

  • Poor recovery, meaning the goalkeeper is out of the play for too long

  • Gives up easily (in a tough game), therefore putting his team at a disadvantage

  • Failure to control rebounds – puts them straight back out to the player, or does not chase after the ball to kick clear

  • Does not dominate the D; fails to properly control the play, unable to read the game and over commits too easily in situations, leaving open shooting space

  • Fails to shout out instructions or call out plays, for the defence to control the play, leading to scoring opportunities

 

Strengths

A strong goalkeeper is one who is capable of winning games, and has the confidence to back it up. It takes hard work to develop into a great shot stopper, as the examples show:

 

  • Good rebound control preventing secondary scoring chances

  • Confident in intercepting passes to prevent scoring opportunities

  • Organises the defence well, so that they see few shots

  • Strong reflexes and reads the play well; making good saves when called upon in penalty corners

  • Doesn’t give the opposition the upper hand by not showing emotion (keeps up the appearance of being unbeatable, rather than showing weakness)

 

What you need to improve on

By analysing your mistakes in the game, and what you should have done or could have done better to reduce the number of shots you faced, or improper technique, in using the wrong save for the situation, or poor technique resulting in the opposition gaining possession of the ball, like a weak clearance. Looking back at the game will help you work out what needs improving; practising a different save may be a better way of controlling the rebound. Discuss with your coach what you need to work on, and always look to improve yourself: if you want to be the best of the best, you’ll have to work for it.

 

Keeping notes

A great idea is to keep a record of your games, using a paper flip book or storing documents on a computer. After each game I like to evaluate my performance in order too isolate weaknesses and see what needs working order to successfully win tight games where the all-important save is decisive, so I don’t make the same mistake twice. Writing down what I did well, what goals I let in; when they occurred (i.e. if late in the game as a result of reduced concentration), how I could have actually stopped them going in, and what I did wrong, I can analyse key areas of my own game. This way I can keep track of weaknesses and trouble spot areas within the game, like set-plays (if they are a recurring problem), so I don’t commit them again in the next game, as well as staying aware of my strengths.

 

Although it is good to put a bad game behind you and focus on the next, it is more important to work out what needs working on and prevent it from happening again. This way, you will ultimately improve and play better, to your full potential.

Keep your gloves in front of your body!

Holding your gloves allows you to be get control of more raised shots by being nearer to the incoming ball, instead of having to react to every shot; pushing into the save. This is important when facing faster and harder shots, where you have less time to react to the shot, and therefore have a harder time controlling where the rebound will end up.

An important feature of your ready stance is your glove positioning. If you keep your hands low and inactive, out of the way where they can only block low, you make them effectively useless; taking them out of action for a raised save. However, by bringing them up, where you can then be able to move with greater reaction to counter act the speed of the shot. As raised drag flicks are virtually unstoppable when roofed into the top corners, it is important to try and combat this. With your gloves in front of your body, you do not have to bring the arm up on the save; this makes it easy to get your glove on saves to control the shot and rebounds, rather than missing the shot entirely.

 

A raised glove stance is a technique used by soccer and ice hockey goalies to maximise shot stopping abilities by ‘being set’ before the shot, and works just as well when applied to hockey. The theory behind it is that with your gloves already ready; in position for the immediate save, you do not have to move as much on reacting to the shot. The closer you are to the ball, the less you have to react to the shot, due to forward preparation. It makes life easier shot stopping as you close down the shooter’s options, speeding up your reaction to the shot as you have more time to react by being nearer the incoming ball.

 

Being pro-active with your stance, you can actively challenge the shooter; covering space and limiting their shooting options. Mentally and physically ready for the shot, you are set before the play more able to deal with the impending strike.

 

Hands tight to the body

There is a tendency to routinely forget or ignore a proper ready stance, and be lazy in positioning your gloves, simply letting them drop to your sides. Limiting yourself in your ability to save shots by being held back against the incoming shot is not good: against a fast strike, you cannot react in time to stop it properly. The further your gloves are from the ball, the harder the save is; reacting late to the shot as it comes in and requiring you to lift your arms up high within an instant, whilst covering less space (so the shooter can see more of the goal, and you cannot close off options).

 

With your hands ‘back’ and close to your body, you are limiting your ability to make saves. There is also the possibility of interference, with your arms rubbing and bashing into your body, as you lock them into your stance, which can prevent full range of movement. Trying to be over reliant on reflexes is a bad idea – you simply cannot stop high shots with a low glove position. You can make the best use of your reflexes by having your hands already up for the save; increasing your reaction speeds against the shot and therefore reacting immediately, gaining the edge needed to stop the ball.

 

gloves_out

 

 Gloves out

With your gloves out in front of you, you can get behind the save more easily; with more power and speed. Logically, you are closer to the ball on the raised shot: the closer you are, the less you have to react (as you are already in position for the save) and can therefore reduce reaction times for a fast reflex save against screened shots or quick shots. By pushing out with strong momentum, and less distance to travel to meet the ball, you can power into the save and force the rebound away further, with the momentum.

 

In contrast, to a stance with your gloves placed down by your sides, you can be more flexible and active with your hands out, getting your gloves on every shot that comes your way; pro-actively reacting to shots, with greater movement and fluidity, rather than trying to push into saves outside your comfort zone (if playing a tighter stance). With your hands out in front of your body, you have less work to do, enabling you to react quicker with greater aptitude.

 

Against drag flicks, with great height and speed (i.e. crossbar height), it is impossible to bring your gloves up high enough from a low starting position to reach into a raised save; therefore, by having the gloves up and out in the space, you stand a better chance of reaching the ball on time.

 

 gloves_out2

 

Gravity works the same way, so it is easier to drop your gloves for a lower save, as you can quickly bring your glove down, facing the ball, to build up a blocking barrier (if needs be around the hip), when dealing with a shot around the body. If you face a lower shot than expected within this position, then you can simply bring your gloves down; reacting to the danger as it presents itself and blocking instinctively.

 

Pointers:

 

  • Hold your gloves out in front of you (about the third of a stick length or more) to move them away from your body

  • Try to get your gloves to shoulder or chest height to bring them up for higher shots

  • Have your elbows outside your body (bringing the arms out to the side so they are horizontal), so they do not interfere, and free up the range of available movement

  • With both hands out, you can be active with your rhp as well – don’t always try to bring your glove across, if you can make the block with your rhp

 

Working on strengthening your arms will help you in being able to hold your gloves out in your stance (without getting tired and then lazy) for the full length of the game, especially if you use a heavy stick – weight training (for keepers aged 16 and over) can be helpful with this. Wrist weights on the hands also be useful in building up resistance on glove positioning.

 

Fransisco Cortes of Club Egara (current Spanish number 1 keeper) is a great example to watch and learn from; he has a ready stance with his gloves far forward, consistently positioning all the time, in every game situation, in order to be active with his glove saves. You can watch highlights of him in action at the Euro Hockey league website , or search for “Spain hockey” or “Club Egara” on YouTube. Vogels (the well known Dutch no. 1) also uses the same glove positioning, out in front of his body (search for “Netherlands hockey”, “HGC”, or “Hoofdklasse” on YouTube to watch him in action).

 

gloves_out3 

Be active

The key to having your gloves out for saves, is making it become a standard thing. To make sure you are doing it, you have to programme your mind to get set in the same stance all the time. Train yourself to get into a proper hand stance every time you set for the shot, so that it becomes automatic during games. In training purposefully practise with your gloves out on all shots; this will then transfer into games where you will find yourself automatically pushing your gloves out.

 

Ultimately, it is up to the individual to decide how you position your gloves, but having the gloves out does improve the ability to stop shots around you, with greater capability. It is not being passive, but the opposite; you are quicker moving into the save than when trying to push out from a tight stance, with the gloves close into the body, taking advantage of reaction times on really fast shots, to give yourself the best fighting chance of a save.

Strengthen Those Wrists!

Hey guys and gals,

“I see so many goalkeepers have there hands down by their sides and then cannot move them quick enough to get them to any aerial shots.” (Quoted from my coach).

I do it sometimes i must admit that, but i have found something that can potentially help the lazy people out there like me.

I’m thinking that stronger wrist muscles will make it easier to lift your stick and hands up to those high balls, and also faster.

So here’s my solution;

DSC02268

Its an extremely powerful gyroscope that can put up to 12kg(i think) of pressure on your wrists.

I’m not an expert about it but you can find a bit more info here.

I’m picking that it will be popular with strikers as well but lets not tell them our secrets just yet.

Hope it helps some of you guys.

Travis

Beginner to Advanced Goalie

Now that you’ve put on the pads and learnt the basics of ‘keeping, it’s time to put your ambition into action. To reach your peak and play to your best, you have to work hard to ensure your technique and game style develops properly. If you want the glory at the end of the hard journey, then you’ll happily work hard for it!

Now that you have conquered the basics of being the responsible iron man of your team, the real hard work begins. The hard slog to perfection is more difficult and apparent than it seems; remember that you’re not the only one out there who wants to make the team. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, but you have go out there and practise regularly to prove that you’re the best there is.

There’s no point turning up to a trial thinking that you can just get breeze through it. At the end of the day, when your parents have stopped watching your games, and you have unfamiliar teams and coaches, the only person you can rely on to push yourself is you. Make the most of your opportunities, and do the best you can, otherwise you’ll regret it later. There are a number of older people that you may meet in your sporting career, or workplace who’ll say “I could’ve, should’ve, would’ve but didn’t … get where I wanted to”.

If it’s your dream to make it big, and you want it that badly, don’t let that person be you: you should be prepared to do whatever it takes to get there, and have a smile on your face whilst you’re at it.

How to reach your pinnacle

In order to reach your best, (in fact most goalkeepers in whatever sport don’t reach their best years until they are in their 30s), you will have to work harder than you think is ever possible. Devoting your life to achieving your dreams is just that: you have to sacrifice every waking hour to the sport you wish to play. There are a number of areas that you will need to work on, other than the specifics of save making, to ensure that you can get to the level you deserve.

Constant training

The only way you’re going to stay at a high level is to practise, practise, and practise, and then practise some more. Training continuously week in week out, day in and day out may be extremely draining emotionally and physically, let alone the time management it involves with having to juggle school work or a job to support yourself. However, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and if your ambition is to get to the top one day, or to stay there if you’re already pushing yourself to the highest level of competitivesness, it makes it easier to progress at a quicker rate over a shorter period of time (rather than trying to play at your best by only training once a week).  Top internationals train something like 22 hours a week in their efforts to play thier best at the Olympics! Now that’s commitment!!

Improving your skill base

Now that you have a basic understanding of save types and game use, you need to be adding to your ‘bank of saves’. The more techniques you have under your belt, the greater the ability and chance you have of stopping different shots, the more capable you are to deal with specific situations, knowing how and when to make the save. The better chance you have of stopping the shot when you are forced to think on your feet, the better you will play, whilst easy-to-read game plays will give you the chance to dominate the game.

Improving your decision making

By watching other games, other keepers, whether in local or club games, online on field hockey websites (like videos on YouTube – do a search for field hockey, or more specific like the Olympics, or watch highlights on www.ehlhockey.tv ), or videoing yourself and watching it back, you can learn how to judge and read the game. Making the right decision will make you the best goalkeeper around: correct save selection, how you react to set plays, and whether or not you play aggressively. Obviously you cannot define how the game will go, but making the right decisions will get you the win. Reading the game will give you an edge, whilst making the right decisions will result in less mistakes, and therefore less goals.

Improving recovery

Recovery is important to your game, since having made the save you will need to recover in time for the next shot, and poor recovery or slow reactions will result in an easy goal for the opposition. By practising a number of drills specific to situations where quick recovery is essential and will separate the good from the bad; poor recovery will leave open net opportunities for the opposing forwards to get easy goals. It is necessary to improve your recoveries to keep you in the game, and up to the fast level of game play. Maintaining an appropriate level of fitness and working on specific body muscle groups to strengthen specific joints and movement, will help and benefit your recovery times.

More advice

Whilst this book may, and hopefully will, guide you through your progression as a developing goalkeeper in field hockey (yes, no matter how good we think we are, we should always be trying to push ourselves to the next level), there is still a lot more to learn about. Even though it can be a challenge to find specific and useful nuggets of information out there on the topic, if you look hard enough, you should be rewarded for your search.

Other books

Although few and far between, there are a few books out there with potential reading material to learn from, concerning how to keep your goal, there are a few gems of knowledge in existence; if you can find them that is. You can find some scraps of information on goalkeeping in old hockey books, with much better guides on stretching and body work found in ice hockey goaltending books. Keep your mind open to new ideas on diving saves and the like, or improving your mental game and rebound control you could read some soccer and ice hockey books.

Other resources

Watching live games

Another easy and great idea is to actually go and watch live games; even if it means watching a game played by one of your club’s teams. By watching the goalkeepers play, you can analyse and pick apart their game, working out their strengths and weaknesses, helping you to simplify yours; by realising their mistakes, you can reduce the number you make. After all, playing the game at the highest level always comes down to making the right decision in the right situation, so cutting down your options and selecting the most efficient will make you a better goalkeeper.

Diving stick saves

Diving stick side is the most obvious example of an athletic goalkeeper, with the goalie extended out low to the stick side to stop the ball along the ground. This is the most basic dive, the one websites or team training session leaders preached to you about. It’s the simplest, and the most obvious; it generally implies diving to the right with your stick. Diving stick side allows you to reach out to low shots that go past you on your right side, on shots that are often out of reach. Make sure you follow through with the saving motion; watching the ball into the save to ensure that you make full contact with your stick to stop the ball getting past you.

 

stick_dive

 

diving_stick-save 

To make a successful diving stick save, you should follow this process:

 

  • Step off with your right foot in the direction of the shot

  • Lean out to the right and crouch slightly for the dive

  • Driving from the flat of your foot, make sure you get enough power in the movement

  • Dive out with your stick arm extended towards the incoming ball (if necessary, you can extend the stick out to get further reach)

  • Land onto the pitch, pushing the stick out to make contact with the ball for the save; angling the stick diagonally to push away the rebound

  • When landing the save, land on the hips and arms, absorbing the impact, landing the stick to make contact with the floor

  • Ball makes connection with the stick, which is then stopped and cleared to safety, if possible

  • After making the save, recover to the standing stance, ready for the next shot: be quick to react, so you don’t give the shooter extra time

 

Pointers

Stay low throughout the dive to cover the shot. When executing the save, slide the stick out and along the ground to control the dive. If the ball is still out of reach, you can extend your stick out to get distance on the save. You can angle the stick towards the back line to direct the ball to safety.

 

Avoid landing on the elbow, which will otherwise get easily damaged after continually diving onto it. Instead, try to land on your forearm (the front of the arm – elbow to wrist); pushing out with your arm to drop there.

 

The first picture is from Yahoo Euro Sport images; the second from Alex Master’s sports action photography www.alex-masters.com  

Lateral movement

Moving in shuffles is an essential part of getting around the D; staying in front of the play where you can block, rather than being side-on and turned away from goal.

Lateral movement (side to side) is the key area of movement around the circle. Think of your movement area as a mini semi-circle of the larger D you play in; this is the space you need to cover to protect your goal. By moving sideways, you can change your angle against the opposition; moving across to deal with the new attacker as the pass is made.

 

Shuffles

Shuffling is the essential form of movement for a goalkeeper to move across the face of goal. If you watch soccer goalkeepers, the move is very similar; basically, it is sidestepping across to the side you wish to move to. When pushing across from the pushing foot (depending on your left or right direction), make sure your keep in your ready stance, holding your hands up ready for a shot.

 

shuffle1

 shuffle

 

 

 

 

 

  

The following diagram illustrates the shuffle off the right foot moving to the right (the shuffle is a sideways movement, with you moving left or right to move into the space to your side):

 

shuffle2

 

Closing holes

With the shuffle opening up a large space between the open legs when moving, a lot of keepers (up to the pros; Stephen Lambert is a good example, and you could find footage of him actively doing this, playing for Australia in the recent Olympics). This closing off of open space when moving makes sure you have no space showing, in case of a shot; when facing a screen or in-close action when facing goal mouth scrambles, or when facing a deflection as you move across goal – more important in higher levels when shooters like to go for this area, as it is easy to expose.

 

When pushing across, lead the back leg into the lead leg, in order to close gaps by pushing to lock the pads together, or be as close as possible to block. This extra coverage against shots, with the security of no gaps. However, comes at the cost of movement (since it slows you down when moving to force your legs together, which can be costly when moving with speed against the play is vital). So if you’ve got to dash across the D to get back into space, then you have to balance the importance of speed, by ignoring the need to cover gaps and sacrifice coverage for extra movement.

 

lateral_move

 

Moving around your D

Moving around your D is just as important as controlling it; if you’re not moving into position every time the ball moves, you’re not going to be into position to make the save. Shuffling is the main vehicle for moving around, for sideways movement across the D and between attackers, but don’t rule out running sideways, backwards or forwards – how else are you going to charge down the shot, or rush back to fill up space?

 

Moving with the play

To be able to react to the play’s development and be ready to make an immediate save when called upon, you have to constantly be moving with the play itself. With the change in pace and direction, you have to be adapting your position to match. If you are not and caught unawares, you make the opposition’s life all too easy; not being set on the angle and leaving a wide open net to shoot at.

 

Moving constantly to re-position in the arc (that has been talked about in previous articles; http://blog.obo.co.nz/2009/05/18/the-arc-around-goal/) will dramatically improve your shot stopping and ability to play the angles to your advantage, instead of being forced into a difficult save as the ball moves into the open space you were not ready for.

 

moving_d

 

Focus on the ball

You can arrange your movements by where you are in relation to where the ball is; moving with the ball to keep up with the scoring chances and angles for incoming shots. Your head should be on a swivel, constantly checking to see where the ball is, in case a long pass or run has been made, and then moving your body to adapt to the change in play; kind of like a turkey in a farmyard!

 

When the ball gets past your half way line you can relax, but once it’s over the line and an attack can easily appear out of nowhere you need to be ‘switched on’ and alert; ready to spring into action.

Finding The post

Sometimes when moving around goal and focusing on the play around you, you can forget where you are in relation to the post and lose your angles; ‘tapping’ the post is a simple way of getting round this.

To help you gage where you are when you cialis 5mg move on or off the post, you can use your hands effectively to help you out: the further you are away from the post, the further you have to reach back to find out where you are in relation to the goal and your angles. Once you’ve found the goal post, you should be able to step backwards successfully onto the post, ready to cut off a possible shot. This allows you to reset your angles and set your positioning for a potential save or block: aware of where you are in relation to the amount of net space you cover (by standing over or away from the post) according to the expected shot; ready to move off, into a save off and outside the post, if the shooter decides to target that area instead.

 

Knowing your angles is essential to finding your whereabouts in order to move around the posts in order to make saves. If you happen to watch GB’s current no. 1, Alistair MacGregor of Loughborough Students, you’ll notice this is a technique he has perfected down to a tee.

 

‘Tapping’ the posts

When moving off your glove side goal post to step out into the play, you can reach back and out with your glove arm; tapping the post with your glove to check your positioning in relation to the goal. Just like soccer goalkeepers that ‘punch’ the post with the side of their bunched up fist, or tapping with their fingers, you can tap the inside post with top of your glove, or push against it with your palm. You can basically ‘feel’ your way around to work out where you should be standing. This way, you are able to find where you are in relation to the post (and goal in general) and then reset your angles accordingly to deal with the action around you.

 

findingpost1

 

For movement onto and off your right post, you can use a similar technique to find the goal post with your stick; swinging it round to tap against the post to check the line of angle. Like ice hockey goalies who regularly tap their posts to check their bearings, you can use your stick actively; pushing out to tap the post. Check the noise made; the louder, the better. Theoretically, the louder the sound is, the closer the post is (helpful if you are too busy focusing on the play to look at the post itself), whereas the quieter it is, the further away the post is. The distance you have to reach out with the stick will also tell you how far you are from the post – if you have to extend the stick to reach it, then you are too far away from it.

 

finding-post

 

First picture comes from England Hockey; the second is supplied by Alex Master’s action photos – www.alex-masters.com