Category: Playing Tips

We get a lot of questions about penalty corners, especially lying down on corners. Laying down, or logging, is only one technique that a keeper can apply in the context of his, or her, team’s penalty corner defence. No one technique, or type of defence, will be successful against every corner attack. This month’s tip focuses on some concepts of penalty corner defence and specifically one technique for logging.

Logging builds on the fact that the first struck shot on goal in a penalty corner must be below 18 inches when it crosses the goal line to be a legal goal. Notice that word “struck,” flicks or deflections do not need to be below 18 inches. Continuing on the struck concept, some people can hit the ball hard, very hard in fact. So hard, that when the shot is taken from fifteen yards at the top of the circle, a keeper doesn’t have time to react. Somebody got to thinking and reasoned that if you can’t react to a hit ball from that distance and it has to be below 18 inches, why not have the keeper lie down and not have to react? In theory this sounds quite simple, but in application it can be quite a different matter.

There are a number of variables that need to be taken into consideration when a team decides how they want to defend corners and whether logging is right for you as a keeper. The equipment you use, the surface you play on, the quality of your opposition’s attack (first shot and options), and the strengths of your defence, all need to be factored in when making a decision.

Equipment is the most important factor in even deciding whether logging is an option for you. In my mind, it’s kind of like deciding whether a parachute is a good option for skydiving. As insane as it sounds, I’ve seen keepers lay down with kickers, leg pads, gloves, helmet, small chest pad, and cotton shorts. In logging, a keeper is using his whole body to take away the bottom of the goal, which means your whole body should be protected. Well padded pants, pelvic protection, upper body pads that cover the arms and chest, as well as a throat protector are all highly recommended in addition to standard kit before a keeper even starts to think about logging.

Next comes playing surface. Logging is primarily a turf skill. Given the somewhat unpredictable nature of grass, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to go down on grass. The 18-inch rule on struck shots only applies to raised shots. If a shot is raised because of the ground/grass, the goal counts. In addition, it’s usually harder to stop the ball dead to set up the shot on grass so defences are usually more effective breaking corners up before the shot.

It’s extremely useful to have an idea of what your opponents are capable of doing on a corner. You need to have a pretty good idea that the other team is capable of scoring off a straight shot with a keeper playing upright before logging. You also need to know what other options an opponent has for their corners. Drag flicks, passing options and deflections all can make the logging keeper look silly.

Finally, logging needs to fit in with how your team is defending corners. If your team is breaking up corners at the top of the circle, there is no straight shot to defend. The keeper needs to be able to react to the broken play and the different gaps that open up as a result and is better served by staying up.

Having said all that, logging can be an effective technique when properly implemented. As we talked about before, logging is based on taking away a scoring area that is effectively 18 inches by four yards. The keeper doesn’t have to do that alone; he should have a post player working with him.

The size of the keeper and the reactions of the post player will determine where the two should best position themselves. Going back to the four yard by 18-inch goal, on hits from penalty corners, the post player is responsible for one yard, the keeper three. The post player is positioned to the keeper’s left facing out from the goal. When the keeper goes down, he’s going down to his right (strong stick side). How far the keeper is off his line will depend on his size, speed and the speed of the push out and stop. Generally, a keeper wants to get to a spot between two to four yards off the goal line.

Movement on a corner is all about efficiency. Extra time spent getting set up is time taken away from being set for the shot. This starts with the goalkeeper’s positioning as the corner is being pushed out. Many keepers turn their body to face the player pushing out. They then turn their body to face the shooter. It is simpler for the keeper to face the shooter from the start and just turn his head to see the push out.

Continuing with efficiency, a keeper needs to know exactly how many steps he needs to get set to go down. He needs to know the angle he needs to be on for where the shot is coming from. He needs to how much space he needs to allow for the other players on the corner defence. This knowledge only comes through repetition with the entire defence involved.

On virtually all corner defences, one player comes out from the left of the keeper between the post player and the keeper. This means the keeper won’t be starting from the middle of the goal when the corner is pushed out. The line the keeper takes out of the goal will depend on where the shot is being taken. With the shot taken from the centre of the circle, the keeper will step out lining his right leg up at the centre of the goal if he’s logging. This typically means that he’s stepping out to his left as he goes towards the shooter. If a keeper centres his body on the shot and the goal instead of his right leg he’ll end up covering from the middle of the goal to the right when he lays out, leaving his post player the whole left side of the goal. Once again, you’ll need to work out where you need to go down from through repetition with your post player as you figure out how to most effectively cover the goal.

A couple of things about post players: first and foremost, they are a goalkeeper’s best friends. When a keeper logs on corners, he’s counting on the post player to cover his back. Be consistent and clear with each of your responsibilities and expectations. Once again, this comes through repetition in practice. Penalty corner practice can be dangerous. A post player has to be fearless. There is no blame in short corner defence. There are mistakes, but no one points the finger. Like a keeper, the post player’s positioning on corners will depend on his speed coming off the line, getting set and reaction time. A post player needs to play where he will make saves.

Remembering that he’s responsible for saving shots at an area of the goal one-yard by 18 inches; the post player’s job starts there. I’ll leave specifics of post player technique to the experts, but generally the post player wants to step up even with the keeper as the keeper is set to go down. If the post player sets up behind the keeper he’s vulnerable to deflections off the keeper, deflections by attackers in front of him and will have a long way to go if he’s to help clear rebounds off the keeper’s pads. Helping clear rebounds off the logging keeper’s lower body is an essential part of his responsibilities. A post player makes his job easy by knowing where his goal is and this starts with positioning and playing shots on his front stick. As he steps out, he wants to line his left leg up on the left post. By doing this, shots outside his left leg should be wide of the goal (I won’t guarantee for irregularities in pitches). This is only a start for the post player, depending on the style of defence your team plays and the variations your team encounters the job changes.

Finally we get to logging. There are two primary techniques for laying down on corners. The first starts from a leaning position, the second from a kneeling one. Other people may have different names for the techniques, but for our purposes we’ll simply call them the lean and the kneel (we’ll deal with the kneel and other logging techniques in our next tip).

In the lean technique, a keeper is looking to be set in a leaning position ready to drop when the ball is struck. To recap, his movement will be slightly diagonal left to account for the player coming out from his left as he centres himself on the shot. The distance he comes off his line will depend on his size and speed coming off his line. His set position will be in a crouching lean, with his left shoulder above his right foot. His left hand is at his chest and right hand is down and stick held out to the side.

The keeper set up in the lean position, stick out, left hand in front of the chest, left shoulder over right foot. Note the position of the right leg at the middle of the goal.

As the ball is about to be struck, the keeper collapses his right leg straight out (towards the left post), looking to get his right hip down. At the same time the keeper extends his stick out for maximum width and height. Fully extended means being able to cover the height of the backboards. When laid out, your left hand should cover the right side above your stick. Your stick should cover an area slightly wide of the goal.

Going down on the hit, the keeper collapses the right leg. As the hip comes down and the right leg straightens, the keeper’s body extends to the left.

When a keeper is laid out, make sure your body is vertically angled forward with your left hip and shoulder slightly in front of your right as you’re down. Many keepers set up in the lean with their right foot slightly behind their left to ensure that their body won’t be angled back as they go down. The last thing you want to be is a human ramp, deflecting the ball into the goal. The same applies to your stick. Make sure the toe of your stick is slightly forward so the shot doesn’t deflect in. That may mean adjusting your grip as you set up for corners.

Once down and extended out, the keeper and post player effectively cover the bottom part of the goal.

Some keepers almost brace themselves with their stick in the lean position. This helps them get down more smoothly. You want to get your right hip and arm down and out as quickly as possible when dropping for the hit. By bracing yourself with the stick, you ease your drop as you go down. It’s important not to get stuck on your right elbow. If you do, there will be a gap under your armpit. A keeper doesn’t want to flop. Flopping usually happens when a keeper doesn’t collapse his right leg, but pushes off of it as he goes down. If he does this, he ends up going up before he goes down. He’ll have a hard time getting his legs extended and is usually still coming down when the shot is coming to goal.

Now that he’s down, how does the keeper make a save in the logging position? Saving shots below the waist in a prone position is a fairly straightforward proposition for the keeper. Basically he is just letting the ball hit him. As we mentioned before, the keeper must have his left (top) hip slightly of his right (bottom) or the shot will deflect off of him, up and into the goal. The keeper needs to be consistent with what he does with his feet while down. If the keeper is pointing his toes down for extra length, he needs to do that all the time, otherwise he creates confusion (and deflections) for the post player. In almost all defences where a keeper is down, the post player is responsible for clearing saves off of the keeper’s lower body.

Shots above the prone keeper’s waist present a different set of issues. As the keeper is down waiting for the shot at goal, he wants to keep his left hand at his chest. If the shot is between his waist and chest, the keeper wants to keep the ball as close to his body as possible. The easiest way to do that is to trap the shot, almost patting the ball palm down with his left hand. Depending on the defence a team plays, the keeper may be responsible for clearing these shots. If clearing for himself, the keeper is using his stick, taking his left hand off the ball and sweeping the ball to his left with his stick. If a keeper is clearing for himself, he needs to call it, otherwise he risks hitting the post player with his clear, or just as bad, the two going for the same ball.

As for shots that are above the keeper’s chest in a prone position, much will depend on the height of the shot. Shots on the ground are easier as they can be saved with the stick. The important thing with stick saves is the angle of your stick. Not only is it important that your stick isn’t angled toe back, angling your stick back towards the end line can be most beneficial. You don’t want to deflect the shot into the goal, but if you can put it out of play you’re looking at a long hit, not a fat, juicy rebound.

Taken from an angle, this photo illustrates angling the stick back to save the shot over the endline.

Two areas present a problem: the area under the keeper’s right arm and balls above the stick. Don’t think that because you’re stretched out with your side flat, a ball hit at your right armpit will stop when it hits you. Unless you can dislocate your right arm, there’s always going to be a gap there when you go down. The other bit of nastiness is that there is no padding under your arm. Use your left hand to cover the gap. You also want to use your left hand to make saves above your stick. Just as you want to angle your stick back when making save on the ground to that side, you make your job easier by angling your palm towards the side/end line when making a save with your left hand. Once again, there is a bonus to setting up with your right foot slightly behind your left when setting up in the lean, your body is already angled back towards the end line when you’re stretched out for the save. A keeper is going to need help with rebounds off shots above his chest when he’s down. Many defences keep a player low off to the keeper’s right specifically for that reason. Like rebounds off the keeper’s lower body, there has to be a clear understanding of who is clearing rebounds off the keeper’s hands. In penalty corner defence, confusion equals goals.

We’ve talked about a lot of concepts and mechanics within the skill in this tip. All of them need to be mastered if logging is going to be effective. Footwork needs to be practiced. Set up, positioning, the lean, getting down, the save and clear all need to be done in synch before you can expect to successfully log in games. As mentioned before, success comes with repetition. Make sure your penalty corner defence practice allows you an environment to learn and master the technique.

Practicing logging. Going down on the strike.

Good luck,

Jon

e-mail Jon

Please note that OBO together with Jon O’Haire hold copyright over any material appearing on tips pages. We welcome the printing and distribution of these tips, provided that they are not sold, or used for financial gain. This paragraph must appear on all printed or distributed copies. The photographs above must not be used in any form without express permission from Jon O’Haire.

The concept of angles builds on most effectively using your ready stance to position yourself between the shooter and the goal. In the one ball, one shooter world that can be a pretty simple concept. Throw in variables like your size, your reaction time, passing options and players in the way, and things get complicated. Complicated doesn’t mean impossible, a keeper just needs to take these things into consideration and put them to use.

Starting with basics, a standing keeper should be able to cover a yard to either side of his center (at least that’s what we hope a good ready stance will allow). Building on that premise, the keeper covers two yards. If a keeper stands on the goal line in the middle of the goal, that leaves two yards of open goal (the goal being four yards wide). If the keeper steps off the goal line on a line from the middle of the goal towards the shooter, that area outside the two yards the keeper takes up by standing gets smaller. When the shooter is at the middle of the goal, the most goal area is open. As the ball goes to the sides, the scoring area gets smaller if the keeper maintains the distance he is off the goal line.

A keeper two yards off his line

A keeper four yards off his line

Angles are geometry and the principle builds on the keeper always being on a line from the middle of the goal to where the shot is coming from. Shots can happen from the front stick and the reverse stick. A keeper can’t just line themselves up from the middle of the goal to the player taking the shot, it’s got to be on a line from where the shot is coming from.

When first introducing the concept of angles to young keepers, make the concept concrete. You can do it with ropes. Put a ball at a spot in the circle, get a long rope, tie it to the goal posts and pull the middle of the rope to the ball. When the keeper is centered between the rope, he’s on goal. Let the keeper see it from the shooter’s perspective and from behind the goal. Move the ball and shift the keeper. Angles start with being on line and can be an abstract concept for keepers, young and old.

Depth is the second part of angles. Going back to variables, how far a keeper plays up on the line of the shot will depend on his strengths and weaknesses in relation to where the ball is in the circle, as well as the keeper’s own size, flexibility and reactions. With a simple shot from the top of the circle, a small keeper is going to have to play further out than a big keeper does to cover the same area. Physical abilities (or limitations) require it.

Effectively playing angles means building on your experiences and strengths. To find out what the best distance for a keeper to play off his line is requires patience, discipline and players willing to work with the keeper, especially with beginning and younger players. There is no substitute for experience/practice, but experience has to be structured. It does no good for a keeper to stand in goal for a hundred shots if they’re coming from everywhere and going anywhere.

By putting a keeper in a situation where they take 20 balls from the direct top of the circle and gradually adjusting the distance the keeper plays off their line, the keeper can get a sense of where he’s most effective saving the ball and clearing it to a space. It’s important that you not lose the focus on clearing the ball. Too many times the emphasis of angle work becomes lots of shots, some saves, no consequences (i.e. feedback or second shots). Angles are awareness and a keeper needs to know where they are making their most effective plays of the ball. Set up sets of 20 shots from different positions around the circle, one spot at a time. Give feedback, set up clearing targets, put rebounders in the drill, whatever is appropriate for the level and abilities of your keepers.

Going back to guidelines, there are no set/carved in stone rules for angles for every keeper. Generally, with a set shot at the top of the circle from the center, the keeper will be the farthest off his line. As the set shot shifts to the sides, he can cover the same goal area with similar results by being closer to goal and not as far off his line. My own experience has been that with a shot from just inside the D in the center, I’m most effective playing three yards off my line. As the ball goes to the sides from the edge of the D, that distance goes down to two yards, then one until the ball goes baseline and I go to my post. A lot of people talk about playing angles as an arc, or an extended arc. I’ve used the analogy of the arc being shaped like the top half of an egg, but that also applies to my individual abilities and limitations. Some keepers can play a round arc, I couldn’t.

Angles simplified: an overhead diagram. Each letter represents a shooting position and what a keeper covers simply by being in a ready position on the proper angle.

There are philosophies and principles that can be built on and most of them apply as the ball moves around the circle. When a ball is passed to the left or right from the top of the circle, a keeper can’t move to their left or right simply in the line of the ball, they need to move in relation to the ball and the goal. Their movement is not going to be flat, it’s going to be arced, rounding back to the post. This is an especially critical concept for beginners.

Repositioning on a small pass, shuffle steps.

It’s important that as the keeper moves, he stays square to the ball and the goal as the ball travels. We talked about this in the last tip, The Ready Position. A goalkeeper can most easily make a positive play of the ball if he’s square to the shooter. I like to try to keep things easy. Easy for me is using short, quick, shuffle steps (never crossover steps). By doing this, I stay in my ready position (or reasonably close) as I move. The result is I maintain the ability to make a positive play on a shot while moving.

When there are big changes of angle from left to right or right to left, a keeper may have to drop back to center and realign himself when taking on a forward or shot to get on an angle from goal. The OBO goalkeeping video does an excellent job of illustrating this concept. If a keeper goes from one angle to the next on a pass without realigning himself, he’s never in the goal when the shot happens and he ends up going out at where the ball was as opposed to where it’s going, i.e. at goal from the new angle.

Repositioning on alarge pass, realign.

You can incorporate movement (big and small) in to simple drills that start with a pass to the side and result in a shot. Once again, make sure these drills are structured. If a keeper is off on his angle, stop the drill, show him where he is and make the correction. An important correction is not only showing the keeper where he needs to be, but also how he needs to get there. If you don’t have the players to do this drill with a pass, have the keeper start from a cone at a fixed point and on the coach’s call take a shot from a different angle. As keepers become more proficient, you can add a couple of different angles and call them by number, or allow forwards to make passes within the circle to change the angle. The key is proficiency. If a keeper can’t consistently save and clear a shot with one change of angle, do not expect him to play shots where there are three changes of angle.

We’ve talked about the distance a keeper plays off the line with a shot from a set spot. That all changes with a little thing called a pass. A shot from the endline isn’t necessarily dangerous, but a pass to a player at the penalty spot from the endline is. Similarly, an opponent with the ball and a defender on him is not likely to be as dangerous as the opponent’s open teammate. Modern hockey has shown that a keeper can’t just be a goalkeeper, he needs to be a circle defender. Sometimes a keeper can stay back and be set for a shot, other times he might need to step up and intercept a pass, some times he might have to step up to pressure/smother a shot. Blagoevgrad . Angles incorporate all of that.

Playing the situation: A keeper angled to play the pass and the shot from the side.

Angles build on knowing where you are in the circle. We’ve talked a lot about keepers being a circle defender and not just making plays of the ball on the goal line. There’s not a whole lot of advantage to a keeper coming off his line, if the result is that he’s going to concede a goal on the pass because he doesn’t know where he is. It’s important to know where you are in the goal from landmarks around the field. Use landmarks like the opposite goal, the arcs of the circle, the 25 at the sideline and long hit marks to find your bearings. Too many times a keeper uses a marker like the penalty spot to find center. That’s fine if all your plays are two yards from the goal. As soon as you get farther than seven yards off your line, you have to look back to find where you are. A keeper never wants to look back to find where he is.

There are extremes to everything. The further out a keeper plays, the more net he or she covers, but at the price of less reaction time to save the shot. At the same time, the further out a keeper plays, the easier he or she is to pass around. Effectively playing angles means finding a balance between extremes and incorporating your strengths in to your positioning.

Good luck,

Jon

e-mail Jon

Please note that OBO together with Jon O’Haire hold copyright over any material appearing on tips pages. We welcome the printing and distribution of these tips, provided that they are not sold, or used for financial gain. This paragraph must appear on all printed or distributed copies. The photographs above must not be used in any form without express permission from Jon O’Haire.

Before a keeper can make a save, he’s got to be in a place where he can even attempt to make a save. That is the crux of basic positioning. A goalkeeper’s primary responsibility revolves around keeping a ball out of the goal. Take a good look at that goal, the one that is seven foot by twelve foot, 84 square feet. Throw in the fact that object to be stopped is a little more than seven inches in circumference and weighs about eight ounces and that the object in question can travel more than 100 miles an hour… a quick show of hands… who thinks this is going to be an easy position? Nobody ever said it was going to be easy, but good basic positioning can make goalkeeping an easier position.

Logic and experience have taught me that if a keeper goes into the net without a plan, goals will happen with alarming frequency. Throw in a plan that allows the keeper to make a play on a shot from a place where he’s not having to desperately dive across the goal to make every save and that frequency starts to go down. In talking about a goalkeeper’s attributes, we talked about things like size, strength, speed and flexibility. These are the ingredients each keeper brings to his game and are unique to him. Successful goalkeeping means taking stock of your attributes and from those strengths, formulating a plan or philosophy as to how and from where you want to defend the goal and the circle. Solid, basic positioning should allow the keeper to make the most of his strengths.

We’ve already discussed the practical problems a keeper is going to have defending the goal. Big net, small, hard, fast ball, you remember. Difficult, right? That doesn’t mean that a keeper’s job has to be impossible. Great shots will go in, but not every shot in a hockey game is decided by a great shot. The longer you watch hockey, the more you realise a lot of games aren’t decided by a great goal at all, rather they’re won or lost on the basis of the “ugly” goal. “Ugly” goals are the ones that leave a keeper shaking his head in disgust immediately after they happen and can keep him awake at night long afterwards. They’re the ones you say to yourself, “Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve, didn’t” and then to the world at large, a big, fat “Sorry.”

Essentially, basic positioning means never having to say you’re sorry. It revolves around three principles:

How the keeper stands as balls are played around and to him;

Where he moves or positions himself as the ball moves around him; and

How he moves to get himself to those in-between positions.

How a keeper stands in goal will depend on where the ball is on the field. Essentially we’re talking about what’s commonly referred to as a “ready” position. Ready is a fairly vague term. Ready for what? Goalkeeping requires several different types and level of readiness. Typically the term is used to describe a keeper’s stance immediately before a shot comes at him. How ready and what he’s ready for will depend on the distance between the keeper and the shot and the amount of ground he has to cover before he can make a play on the ball.

First off, playing the ball is critical. Playing the ball and being played by the ball are two entirely different things. When a keeper plays the ball, he is active and acting, he makes the save and is able to clear the ball. When the ball plays the keeper, he is acted upon, he is a passenger. Typically in these situations, he makes the save by either getting hit with the ball or desperately lunging to reach it. The clear is secondary, if at all, and the rebounds are dangerous. Sometimes a keeper has no choice but to make this type of save, but often keepers make this type of save because they weren’t “ready” when the shot is taken.

There’s no one perfect ready position for every keeper. Every keeper is different and as such, has their own strengths. Having said that, there are common things that keepers are looking to do as they play a shot. They’re looking to make the save, first off. They’re looking to clear the ball to safety as quickly as possible. They’re looking to get into a position to play any rebound should they be unable to clear the ball. Save, clear, recover, when you start to think about a stance that allows you to do those things, you start to build the framework for a ready position.

In evaluating the ready position of successful keepers, several common characteristics emerge. Starting from bottom to top, the first thing you notice is that the keeper’s weight is up on the balls of his feet, about shoulder-width apart. If you watch or play good tennis, the stance is very much like a player getting set to return serve. A keeper who wants to play the ball on a save, wants a good base to push off from with his feet. To do this he needs to be able to push off from his non-kicking/saving leg for low balls to the sides. If he can do this, he leads with his head when he extends to the side. Typically, when he pushes off to the side, he’s also coming slightly forward. He wants to play the ball in front of his shoulders from where he’s started in his ready position. When he does this, he cuts off angle at the same time as he extends out. We’ll talk much more about angles in a bit.

There are some things you want to avoid in setting up with your feet. If a keeper’s weight is back on his heels, the keeper will usually lead with his foot out in front of the rest of his body. When a keeper gets his foot out in front of his head and body, the ball either pops up because of the angle of contact on his kicker or goes nowhere because he’s basically making the save with the bottom of his foot. Neither are good results.

When a keeper gets too wide with his feet in his ready position, he also has a hard time pushing off explosively on his non-kicking leg. The result is he’s not able to fully extend with his kicking/saving leg and isn’t able to reach balls that are wide of his body. When his feet are too close together, a keeper can usually push off from his non-kicking leg, but will often get “stuck” picking his saving leg up to make a save. His weight becomes very forward, and he’s almost falling to the side when he makes the save. Because his weight is so forward, this falling causes his foot to get stuck and not fully extend.

As you go up, the knees and the waist are the next significant areas in the ready position. The knees and waist are bent so that the keeper’s chest and head are over, or slightly forward, of his knees. When his head and shoulders are forward, he’s more able to lead with his head to make the save. If he can lead with his head, he gets more extension and can more effectively save/clear the shot (we’ll discuss this concept in much greater detail later).

If a keeper is too upright at his knees and waist, he can still have his weight on the balls of his feet, but he’s unable to keep his weight forward and attack the ball when he goes to play it. A keeper who plays too deep in a crouch can also have problems. The keeper has too much bend at his knees and his waist, expends a lot of wasted energy just maintaining a ready position. Forget about being explosive to make the save, by the time the shot comes, the keeper who has too much bend either ends up falling forward as he goes to make a play on the ball or is dropping back on his heels from fatigue.

Chest and arms are next as we move up and probably the area where there is the most variation in the ready position. The keeper wants to keep his chest above, or in front of his knees. This allows him to keep his weight forward. By also keeping his hands and arms in front of him, the keeper further reinforces keeping his weight forward while maintaining balance. Some coaches prefer keepers to play with their hands out to the side. This allows the keeper to take up more space, but the ready position isn’t completely about taking up space. With his hands out to his side, as opposed to in front of him, the keeper has a harder time moving forward to the shot and maintaining balance. As a result, he might make the save, but often is off-balance if there is a rebound. The keeper who holds his hands out in front of him, also has an easier time opening his shoulders to his side when making a save/clear (once again, more about this later).

A good example of the ready position from the side, weight is on the balls of the feet, with knees, chest and head forward.

Examples of the ready position head on. Note that with hands in front (see previous tip on aerial balls) that the feet are a little wider. With hands out to the side, a keeper’s shoulders can get pinned back leaving him prone to having his weight back.

What a good ready position can let you do. Actively playing the ball, the keeper has a good base to cross over and clear the ball using his right foot with power and accuracy.

Having said all that, there is room for variation in the ready position. The bottom line is keepers should be judged by their effectiveness and not their appearance. Going back to the things we want a keeper to be able to do out of his ready position, save, clear, recover, if a keeper can do all this with an unorthodox stance, it may be best to leave him be. If those things aren’t happening, then it’s time to tinker.

We’ve talked about how to stand when a ball is played towards him, part two is where to stand. This second part to basic positioning revolves around the concept of angles.

Stay tuned!

Good luck,

Jon

e-mail Jon

Please note that OBO together with Jon O’Haire hold copyright over any material appearing on tips pages. We welcome the printing and distribution of these tips, provided that they are not sold, or used for financial gain. This paragraph must appear on all printed or distributed copies. The photographs above must not be used in any form without express permission from Jon O’Haire.

One of the most important factors in the development of a goalkeeper is getting good, basic instruction early. Too many times, the first specialised instruction a keeper receives is after he/she has been identified as an elite keeper.

Good, basic instruction isn’t difficult. It requires a coach to have an understanding of the skills required of the position, a concept of what he wants the position played like and the ability to reinforce them. A keeper coach doesn’t need to have been a keeper, they don’t even need to be a keeper coach, he/she has to be an advocate for the position and is responsible for making sure that keepers have the opportunity to learn through supervised repetition.

Supervised repetition is the setting for what works best for your needs. Whether it be making 15 extra minutes to go to goal in a team training session or pulling eight local keepers together for a regional training weekend, it’s the time you’re working with keepers to work on specific situations or skills.

For the purposes of this tip, I just want to focus on coaching beginning keepers. I think it’s important to identify as a team, and in some ways as a league/region how you want to develop keepers. In the ideal world, every team has a qualified keeper coach. Reality says it can be anyone including the team’s one and only coach. Some leagues have been creative and arranged for a keeper coach to be shared among the league’s teams. Whatever your scenario, my experience has been that you get the most success working with keepers by having a specific coach work with a group in controlled settings.

By controlled settings I mean drills where you can focus on specific skills, giving keepers the opportunity to practice and master skills. It all sounds rather dry, but it shouldn’t. It’s practice; and practice is games; and games are fun. Mastering skills should be fun. It takes a lot to create an environment where keepers are constantly motivated, but if you do that you win half the battle.

Going back to the fun/motivating stuff, I’ll start with something not fun, but important. Make a list of all the skills that you want your keepers to have. That will be the foundation of getting what you want out of the experience as a coach. Turning the list in to drills isn’t hard. Get a feeder, put balls repetitively in a place, and give the keepers the opportunity to play those balls and voila, you have drills. Still doesn’t quite sound like fun, though.

It’s all in the presentation when it comes to drills. Footwork has to be fun, left footed instep clearing has to be fun, stick-side aerials have to be fun. Fun is greatly influenced by what and how actions are reinforced. By that, I mean a coach praising a desired quality/effort/execution in a natural, enthusiastic way, a la “great skill!”

Going back to beginning keepers, recognise that there are a variety of qualities to the position: flexibility, strength, agility and co-ordination are all required to execute skills. You have to coach them. You can do that with games and relays easily enough. Think of the footwork required as a ball travels around the circle and lay a course for the keepers to go through. You can turn it into a race by having the keepers run it for time, while still concentrating on form. You don’t want to reinforce bad form. I have the hand/toss game that I have in one of the earlier tips. Make it a situation appropriate to keepers age/level. I think for beginning keepers it’s important to make it a game.

As far as basic skills, I think it’s crucial to emphasise from the first time a keeper puts pads on, the ball has to go some place; that the save is a save/clear. A good way of developing a skills inventory is to think of shots that can happen in a game, where they go in goal and where a keeper has to be able to clear them. Right-side balls with pace at hands and feet, left-side, balls with medium pace and all have to be cleared to left and right.

With a little imagination, that’s the next phase for developing your curriculum. Put a feeder in with a bunch of balls, they have to put it at a spot, the keeper has to play it to a target. The target could be another keeper, it could be two cones, it could be a keeper defending two cones, it could be a field player, it could be anything, just reinforce the concept that the ball has to go somewhere. Getting there could take two skills. Make sure that keepers have the time and opportunity to finish a ball. Count how many times a keeper is able to hit the target. Move the targets, have them worth different points, there are a ton of extensions you can add on to a drill. Put rebounders in that the keeper has to clear through.

Quality and quantity are important when teaching skills. You don’t want to have a keeper in a drill so long that they’re tired and can’t do anything but get hit. Groups of three or four work well as far as getting good repetitions and staying fresh. You can have them take five to ten balls and switch out, or recycle them so that they go one after the other.

Movement is important. Keepers need to be able to play shots from a static position and shots as they’re moving. Footwork is critical in determining how a keeper can play a ball. How a keeper plays a ball is going to dictate what he can do next, i.e. recovery. A keeper needs to be able to play the second shot. When you think of all of these elements, there’s a lot to reinforce.

It’s important to use the resources available to you when working with beginning keepers. We might not have a ton of hockey balls, but we probably have a tennis racquet and a ton of balls, we probably have a soccer ball. Use these things. I like to use a size three soccer ball and just have keepers play the ball first time with their feet with just a stick in their hand. Have the keepers kick in a group and see how many kicks they can put together. Have them call the keeper they want to kick to.

Use your imagination. I think there are a million fun drills out there for the taking if we just use our minds. On a co-operative note, I think it’s important to share ideas.

An important part of coaching keepers is identifying what motivates them. This is especially true with younger keepers. Some times it might be silly, but if it gets them to do what you want them to do, who’s to argue.

I think coaching beginning keepers can be a very rewarding experience. You see them grow so quickly with structured attention. Hopefully that’s something that’s happening in your area and if not, maybe you could get it going!

Good luck,

Jon

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