Category: Playing Tips

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!

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.

“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.

‘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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The object of any game (whether you feel that way or not or otherwise!) is to win. And as a goalkeeper we hope that we can consistently play in such a way that we can lead our team to victory time and time again. But it is not always that easy, with the elite goalkeeper able to carve out a reputation for success by rising above the challenges they face. Whilst some goalkeepers potentially get an easy ride by playing on a strong team, the great goalkeeper will be able to find ways to win even on a mediocre or poor team, aware of what they need to do during a game to secure the points. Take Julio Cesar at QPR. Yes, different sport and they haven’t won many (Green got their first win ironically!), but he is able to consistently put in mind blowing performances to keep a clean sheet and earn a draw, like the recent game against Chelsea, helping them come out on top at 1-0. What more can you do than not letting any goals in week in week out?! So in this vein, you should look to emulate this success in your own season, being able to battle through adversity to earn the points and be the hero!

Making the routine stops

Even though the art of practice and training tries to boil down the art of goalkeeping and sport in general into a series of routine actions, it is not always that simple. Get set in your stance, be on angle, react to the shot and make the stop, that kind of thing. But a lot can happen in a game and it won’t always go to plan. So it is important to be able to control the controllable. Getting the job done means being able to make the simple easy looking saves that are just as important as the spectacular, breath taking ones; make sure you are able to stop the ones coming straight you and don’t give away those ones that make you blush.

Making the big saves

The goalies who are really the crème de la crème are the ones that can make the game changing saves; they know it’s happening and they pull it off nonetheless! In other sports this may be more obvious, like ice hockey where a big save changes the whole momentum as the time rushes up the ice to counter-attack after a big save, but they can be just as game changing in our sport. Breakaways, interceptions against a forward through on goal or decisive penalty corner saves when the game is tied, that kind of thing. These kinds of saves can happen at the start of the match when the opposition could gain the lead or at the end when they could tie it up or win. You need to have the mental strength and level of concentration to be intensely aware of the need to pull this off, keeping your team in it with a chance to take the full points. The time to change the game is in your hands and the best goalkeepers will be able to do it on a consistent basis!

Consistency

To win on a consistent basis it needs to become a regular habit, almost a routine. Whether or not you have little to do behind a forward pressing, attacking team, or end up facing a lot of shots behind plenty of defensive breakdowns, the best goalkeepers will find a way to win the game. All the great goalkeepers will win behind high scoring (5 to double figures) or low scoring games (1-0). This is the consistency: the ability to perform well game in game out to allow your team to win. It is the ability to win no matter how many shots you face, to be able to make the game winning save on its own, or the multiple saves that will deny the opposition a comeback. This boils down to not getting to high or low emotionally as things start to rattle your cage as you have to battle against it. Play the full 70 minutes to the best of your ability, not being mentally affected by the score line and give yourself the chance to do your best. Don’t get dismayed, just focus on shot stopping: the team is the one who wins the game, not you, by scoring (well, that’s the way I see it!)! You just have to make sure you keep it that way!

Exuding confidence

Being confident is an essential part of goalkeeping aside from the technical aspects. To win you have to believe you are good enough! Think of Roberto Mancini’s comments about wanting Hart to be cocky. To make those saves and change the game, you have to really believe in your abilities otherwise you will doubt and make mistakes that gift the opposition. Often it comes from within, whilst it may take time, encouragement and strong performances to prove it to yourself. It’s something I intend to write about: be cocky, not arrogant because if something happens you didn’t expect as you said you wouldn’t let it, then you’ll end up looking a wally and your team might doubt you or it could damage that confidence!

Confident goalkeepers believe they will win the game no matter what and make the tough saves look like no big deal. Like Patrick Roy’s brand of confidence (Google for some of his Stanley cup quotes!). They are so confident, they know they are going to stop everything, rather than just ‘can’! This confidence comes from hard work and performing well. Self belief is not about whether your coach thinks you’re good or your team does; you believe you’re good! Taking every step (mental preparation, stretching etc.) to ensure you’ll win helps this.

Being confident is great because it has a knock-on effect you might not have thought about. If you exude confidence, everyone else will play confidently as they reflect on their own ability to play well and do their best. Confidence rubs off! A team is confident when they know they don’t have to cover their eyes when a shot comes in, they know the goalkeeper is going to bail them out so they don’t worry as much! Think about being a team mate of Gomes when he was playing badly. Play well and your team will appreciate it!

Fighting for the win

Goalkeepers who don’t have to prove themselves in my opinion won’t do as well.  If you’ve got something to prove, you’re going to work harder and be more competitive. If you don’t have things handed to you, then you already have motivation to outdo your competition. BUT even those that have proved themselves will continue to work hard as they push their abilities to the limits, if they are the elite, because they don’t want to just want to be good, they want to be the best! Tenaciously battling in training and more importantly in games, to play the best they can and give their team the best chance of winning is where it’s at. They’ll outwork you and fight to make sure they stay first choice, it means that much to them! Battling against the odds is a lot of fun if you want to show you’ve got it as I found in my time as you are the underdog: what do you have to lose?!

The stronger-willed goalkeeper will be the top of the pack. The goalkeeper who is determined to win and passionate about goalkeeping will be the best and their desire is noticeable and easy to spot. Taking extra shots in training, doing fitness outside of organised training, the things expected of an elite athlete anyway! Time not doing this is time wasted to them. This is an aspect of your ‘mental game’ you need to work on if you want to get up the ladder of hockey.

Do your best

It’s a hard task to win on a regular basis and takes time and effort and the passion to win to pull it off. Even if you are on a team stacked with talent, take De Gea at Manchester United, you still need to make important saves as theoretically the less chances a team has the more they will take them as they are limited by the defence (i.e. they will be of a higher quality as they can’t waste the chance on goal and aren’t merely ‘throwing’ shots on goal). And make sure you don’t have ‘a bad day at the office’ if anything else because that won’t help your team out! Be strong, be bold, believe you’ve got the ability and go out there and prove it!

Play to win!

Ultimately, you want to play to win. From the outset of a match, you should be totally focused on the game and winning and nothing else. This is the level of intense concentration of the elite goalkeeper and you have to match it if you want to win that badly! Love goalkeeping and love to win and find ways to win and you’ll be alright! Just make sure you can do it consistently!

Feel I should reference Jeff Lerg’s article for this as there is a lot of influence obvious in the article:

http://mihockeynow.com/2013/01/from-the-crease-the-winning-goaltender/