Playing Tips – Page 6

Responding to an allowed goal

Being scored on isn’t fun but if you let it get to you, you won’t perform to the best of your ability.

A goalkeeper’s job is never easy and when faced with the task of being unbeatable the pressure can often be intense. Being scored on and allowing goals is part and parcel of being a goalkeeper, but it’s how you respond to that that shows how good you really are. In sport they often say how important the mental game is and with goalkeeping it is no different, if not more important. A goalkeeper’s ability to overcome adversity and bounce back shows they have good mental strength and will be able to perform at their best for their team.

Forget about it!

The best way to respond to a conceded goal is to play like it never happened. Whilst it’s fairly obviously how to forget about it, you need to do your best to put it out of your mind entirely. Ignore the urge to have a go at yourself for letting the goal be scored and work at composure and collecting your thoughts together so that you are prepared for the next chance on goal. Play like it’s 0-0 and forget about the pressure to win. Like the saying “water off a duck’s back” be cool and calm and don’t let it get to you. If you do, then negative thought patterns will sink in and affect your performance.

Whilst it is important to consider how the goal was scored, you need to leave that to the training ground. After the game you can look at how you could have stopped the goal, but for now, you need to work at not letting it get to you. If you think you’re going to lose, then the chances are you will because your heart won’t be in it! In the ‘here and now’ of a game (or trial or practise if you’re that competitive!), your priority is the next shot and keeping your team in the game.

Moving on

Being scored on can easily dampen your spirits and damage your confidence. If you dwell for too long on the goal, then you are likely to hinder your chances of performing well and helping your team get back in the game. The longer you criticise your performance, the harder it will be to self motivate; negative confidence will lead to self doubt which in turn will lead to indecision and poor play which will then lead to more goals if you’re not lucky. Instead, you need to move past the event and refocus your efforts on the task at hand (of stopping more shots and goal scoring opportunities!).

Focusing on the next shot

As it’s been mentioned your priority is to keep your team in the game and to play your best, not to mull over having let a goal in! By focusing and concentrating on the next shot or attempt on goal and visualising yourself stopping it, it will help from letting your mind wander. Focus your mind on the task at hand: your priority is to not let more goals in!

Strong body language

Having seen a lot of games (on YouTube and in person!), I have noticed a habit some goalkeepers have of openly lamenting the fact they have allowed a goal. Whilst it’s good to be emotional as it shows you care (like Murray’s tears at Wimbledon), it gives the wrong impression. Looking dejected and showing signs of bad body language (even if it’s hard to see your face through your helmet!) is actually a bad idea, giving the opposition the impression that you lack confidence and don’t know what you’re doing. Instead of this, do your best to maintain a level of confidence which will provide a positive sense for your team.

dejected — Showing visual signs that the team is getting to you isn’t a good idea!

Bouncing back

Ultimately, the most important thing is to carry on your attempts at being unbeatable. Goals can dash your confidence against the rocks and if you let it get to you it will stop you playing well and ensuring you end up losing. Instead, work to refocus your efforts and carry on playing confidently. This way you can give your team the best chance of winning and the opposition won’t think they can steamroll you.

Being consistent

Playing to a consistent level is going to help you do better over a season and the long term!

Playing to a consistent level is a major part of goalkeeping. Learning how to provide your team with a standard of shot stopping ability they can trust and are confident with becomes the backbone for success. Without it, how do you expect to have a good run during a season? It’s all well and good playing a “blinder” but if you can’t repeat the success next game, what good is it? Coaches are more inclined to pick a goalkeeper who is shown to be consistent and can continue that consistency at a higher level. This is true whether it is at club level or international: if you play well and stop the ball and are giving your team the best chance of winning, then you are more likely to get picked!

Why the need?

When playing for a long stretch of games, you obviously want to be putting in good performances on a regular basis. Not only is it going to help you win a league or tournament, but will show your team and coaching staff that you have what it takes and provide good goalkeeping at critical times no matter the occasion. The better you play, the better your team plays. A team who can trust their goalkeeper to make the timely saves is theoretically more confident going forward, since they have less to worry about being scored on and therefore will increase their scoring chances. By playing confidently and having confidence in your team, everybody wins!

Tracking consistency

Whereas in American sports they are inclined to track save percentages and goals allowed for each and every goalie performance, it seems harder to analyse how well a goalkeeper performs over a longer period of time. You could always work out the stats for yourself to find a good average; working out a medium level that you can work to improve from. Obviously the more wins you record the better, but by tracking down a base level of shots stopped or games won or goals allowed, you can work on improving your . Other factors like the quality of your defence and your experience (which helps with decision making and playing confidently) will come into play, but at the end of the day, the more shots you stop, the more you give your team the chance of winning on a regular basis.

How to play consistently

Playing consistently is all down to a good ‘mental game’ (which is a very big topic and will hopefully be looked at in more detail in other articles). Learning to play well at away pitches and overcome difficulties that affect your psychological mindset will set you up well for being able to play consistently whatever the game. The more confident you are, the better you will play over an extended period of games.

The trick to playing with consistency is to play your best and give it your all. Even if you lose, you want to make sure you only lost by a goal or two. Heavy defeats are going to affect your analysis of your ability to perform well, whilst going from play really well to playing poorly are not going to look good either.

Playing consistently

The ability to play consistently also comes down to experience. Whilst young goalkeepers can show a lot of talent early on, the more games you have and played and the more experience you have under your belt, is a decisive factor in your ability to turn out a good performance regularly. Unlike outfield players, goalkeepers don’t reach their playing peak until late into their twenties or early thirties, so “earning your colours” will eventually help you turn out strong seasons.

A consistent goalkeeper is one who plays well no matter what. In spite of how well the team performs, the goalkeeper plays well. Consistency is shown by the goalkeeper’s ability to provide their team with the chance to win in good games and bad. If you take a look at the elite goalies in pro sport, you’ll notice the quality of the better performing goalkeepers. Not only do elite goalies steal their team wins but they play well throughout the season, not going through bad patches that cost their team points. Brad Friedel, for example, (even though he is in the twilight of his career) is a very good unsung goalkeeper who provides consistency for his team and has done for a number of teams over a number of seasons.

Be consistent!

Ultimately, you need to try and be consistent in each and every game over your each year’s season and also your entire playing career! Setting yourself a goals against target or number of wins a season can be a way of working towards self improvement and consistency. The key to consistency is simple. Play every game the same; have the same attitude no matter if you think they’re ‘easy wins’ or difficult games and you will find yourself performing at a good standard throughout the season.

Always looking to improve

Being analytical of your own performances and always looking to improve will help you perform better.

Whilst it sounds harsh, it’s no good going through the motions and being happy with poor performances. So you may not want to play competitive or high level hockey (that’s not to say you can’t be competitive at lower levels; a game is what you make it!) because you feel it’s not your thing, but that doesn’t stop looking to improve yourself and be the best goalkeeper you can be. If you can bothered to turn up to every training session and play through rain and snow, then why not be bothered to look to improve your technique and overall game?

Constant improvement

A goalkeeper who wants to play to their best of their ability will always be looking to improve. It is no good getting comfortable with dominating at a step level, if you really want to show how good you are, then you have to test yourself against better shooters! An easy example is the cream of the crop; the international level goalkeeper. Sure, they will be good and if playing at the top level are arguably great at what they do, but to be excellent, to be a cut above the rest and be the best in the world, they really have to push themselves to the limits to play to their best.

The key to improvement is to constantly look to improve. The stated example required a lot of improvement to even get to the stage of being their country’s number one. They will have had to go through hoops and moved up levels at important stages in their playing career, where the jump between levels may have been considerable and required a lot of work. If you are a youngster looking to follow the same path, aside from the level of commitment needed, you will need to be looking to improve all the time. Once you get good at one standard of play it won’t be long until you push yourself to have a go at the next! This constant transition will require you to be pushing yourself to consistently give your all whilst looking to improve and refine your technique as you develop your goalkeeping abilities.

Self analysis

Goalkeeper specific coaches (if you are lucky enough to have one at your club!) should obviously be able to help analyse your game from watching you train and help provide useful feedback, but even if you have access to such support, you should still be prepared to analyse your own game. By being self critical and analysing you will learn more about the game and in turn help develop as a goalkeeper. If you are without regular specific goalkeeper training to help you out, you are going to have to do a bit of independent learning (as they call it in schools these days!).

Keeping a diary of the goals you were scored on, noting what caused them, where and how they were scored will help you learn from your mistakes and hopefully not make the same mistake twice. Similarly, you can use training to work out where you’re going wrong and how you’re getting beaten and then work to improve in these areas (such as getting your balance right during a save attempt, or getting your angles spot on to make the save). In the short term you can look to do better than you did in your last game, whilst over the long term of a season and more, you can try to be able to find overall improvement in your performances.

In contrast, if you think you are good and have proven it, then think again! A good life tip I got taught by one of my lecturers when at university is to “never get comfortable”. If you’re sitting pretty admiring your good work, then the chances are you’re not going to be better than other goalkeepers who are you are going to compete for a spot for (such as county or national trials, or moving clubs and trying to take the starting spot, or stepping up a level) because you aren’t working as hard as you can. Whilst it’s essential to have self belief to play well as a goalkeeper, what I’m trying to get at is the need to do better than you’re already doing. It’s no good sitting on your laurels; you need to get out there and work on your technique so you can beat out the competition and be the unrivalled number one.

Only as good as your last game

A useful phrase that is used by ice hockey and football (soccer) goalies alike, is “you’re only as good as your last game”. This attitude makes you realise that no matter what league you play in or how good you are, your ability can only be analysed by your last performance. In essence, it will push you to improve, making sure you develop your ability to play well consistently. This way of thinking keeps you grounded and will help you analyse your performance, taking into consideration how well you played and the need to do as well or better in your next game.

Not reaching your peak

In my opinion, goalkeepers who do not look to continue their development will stagnate. In essence they will fail to reach their potential simply because they aren’t looking to do even better. Ok, so they are critically and analytically good (if taking high level goalkeepers as an example), but they can be even better. They (and you possibly!) are letting themselves down by not giving it your all and trying to do better than you are currently. Again, it’s all about the desire to play your best. If you want to be the best around, then you need to really be looking to improve at every given opportunity, even if you don’t think you need improving! Nobody’s totally perfect and there’s got to be something goalkeeping wise they can work on!

Go out and improve!

Aside from the level of technique required for stepping up a level, even if you don’t wish to play at higher levels, you can still be looking to improve. At the end of the day if you love goalkeeping that much and love making saves, you can’t deny you want to play your best (even if you are playing for the sake of enjoyment) and working on improving means you have a greater chance of doing that. So, ultimately, it’s a win win situation: the more you improve the better you’ll get and the more saves you’ll make!

Never say never!

Never giving up on the play shows good mental strength and the determination to win.

When it seems that all is lost and the ball is goal bound and you’re surely going to concede, it can be easy to just simply give in and accept defeat. But that’s where you’re wrong! I’ve made plenty of saves desperately scrambling back to deny a goal scoring opportunity and due to the effort in recovering ground and not giving up on the play, have been able to stop a goal being scored. It can be quite an achievement, let alone lead to a great deal of satisfaction just to wipe the smile off the shooter’s face. Isn’t that what goalkeeping is all about?! Too many times have I watched highlights on Match of the Day with football (soccer) goalies simply watching the ball go past them, normally on free kicks (although arguably you could say you can’t be too critical as at that level the ball travels so fast they know they’ve been beat). Wouldn’t you rather give it your best shot (not sure if that can be considered a pun!) and see if you can stop it?

Diving back

One way of dealing with such a scenario is to dive back on the play; diving back towards goal, trying to reach the shot. This is easier said than done, but if the ball is on the pitch and need lifted, then is obviously easier to pull off! Against a passing play you can cut the angle if the ball is headed towards you. That said if the ball looks like it’s about to cross the line but you have the time to stop it, diving back with your stick extended can stop it in its tracks. Although it’s a different sport altogether, you’ll find plenty of highlight reel saves by ice hockey goalies who reach back behind them to stop the puck crossing the line.

Don’t give up!

Essentially you need to have a never give up attitude in order to stop yourself being beaten. Normally you expect to have to dive across or recover from an initial save where the ball has shot out (if the shot was difficult to control), if you are to make the stop. How you make the save is obviously dependent on the situation. If you’re out in the door leaving an “empty goal” for the shooter, then you’ll probably need to sprint across to get in its way, whilst if you are faced with an immediate follow up, you’ll need to do your best to recover into your ready stance quickly to make the next save. Similarly, if you have been beaten on a 1-on-1, then you can attempt to get back into your zone to get in the way of the shot, or run parallel to try and cut off the shooting lane.

A good drill to practise this mentality is one I was taught a while ago dubbed “the killer” (because of how much it will wear you out!) which is apparently used by goalkeeper coaches in Holland. The drill starts off with three balls in a line, the goalkeeper runs out, slides to clear away the ball and then has to run back to try and stop a ball the coach has thrown towards goal. This process is repeated, testing the goalkeeper’s mental and physical strengths. It basically teaches you to never give up on the play, running back to try and stop the ball crossing the line. If you can do it in drills then surely you can pull it off in games!

The following is a clip of South Korea’s goalkeeper Myung-Ho Lee making three concurrent saves in spectacular fashion in the 2009 men’s Champions Trophy tournament in Melbourne. He makes the initial save before recovering to make the second, before launching himself across the goal mouth to deny the Australians. With all that effort no wonder he ends up out of breath! And who says you can’t be unbeatable?!

Never surrender!

Ultimately, all it takes is a desire to stop every shot. Whilst it’s up to you and your confidence, you can try and make yourself unbeatable in games. Trying to stop everything thrown at you (or should that be fired or shot at you?!) and a desire to keep a big “0” or a clean sheet shows your team mates how much you want to win and should hopefully rub off them and inspire them. Remember, never say never! A ‘can do’ attitude is all it takes!

Are you a ‘fighter’?

Fighting for your starting spot in a club or team is important for success!

Not that I condone violence or anything (showing passion for your sport doesn’t mean you need to get in a full on brawl; that’s ice hockey you’re thinking of!), but to really put yourself to the test and evolve your game, you’ll need to show some fighting spirit. Champions are those that overcome adversity and challenges to reach their peak. It’s lonely at the top because it takes a lot of willpower to get there. As in life, things won’t always go your way; you have to step up to the mark and tough it out. Some things are worth fighting for and if you really want to go far in hockey and see how good you really are, then you’ll do whatever it takes to get there.

Why bother?

Obviously if you are going to look to step up your competitively, you’ll begin to question why you bother. As you grow up (or you’ve already reached that stage!) you’ll realise that as much as it saddens me to say it, over things will become a priority (after all you’ll need a job to pay for equipment when you’re too old for your parents to and such like!). What would make you get up early on a weekend to go play in the cold and wet? Why would you go through a long training session after a hard day at what? So, what it boils down to essentially is: how much do you love goalkeeping? And who doesn’t? And if you don’t, then why are you in goal?! It’s the love of the game that keeps us playing and if you lose sight of that enjoyment you may end up giving up on goalkeeping altogether.

Why do you need to?

If you are young and want to attempt to get the opportunity to represent your country or at that stage where you are ready to make the step to progress to national league play, then you are going to be in with a hard task. You might think you’re working hard but even if you are, be assured that out there the ones who already compete at this level are already working hard, if not harder than you. To be in with a chance of outdoing them and taking the spot, you have to be working ten times as hard as them or something like that! To make sure you out do the competition, you really have to give it your all.

Even if you are lucky enough to be in that position of being the first choice, then you still have to keep going with your efforts. If you get too comfortable being the number one and you start slipping up, then the chances are you’ll have someone nipping at the heels (hopefully inspired by this article!) that is looking to take your spot. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of competition after all! Hockey is unfortunately an amateur sport in most countries and if you ever did get the chance to represent your country at the highest level there is (like at the upcoming Olympics), then it would take a lot of sacrifice and commit to make it happen.

How to fight

If you are going to go about making an effort with your goalkeeping, then it shouldn’t really be an issue of how to go about it. For example, I heard about a guy who would jog a lap of the pitch before kitting up and then jog a lap after the game before warming down. If you have that stamina after putting in all your effort into playing well throughout the game, then you’re on to something! That being said I followed the advice! Go the extra mile, make every second count. Work hard in training and set yourself targets of how may shots you can stop. In games take responsibility for your mistakes and let your defence know that it was your fault because it will help develop team spirit (they don’t always like taking the blame after all!). Perseverance is key to making a go of things and it’s all about sticking out the tough times. So you had a bad game? So what! Make sure you make amends in the next one. So you didn’t get a clean sheet and you feel responsible for it because the team played well? Again, acknowledge it and move on!

Have you got what it takes?

Your fighting spirit will depend on how much you want it. I used to get the train up to London from my parent’s house for a return journey that clocked in at about three years (not that I let the club know!) because I had landed the opportunity to fight for a reserve spot with a national premier league team (although I’m not sure why I’m letting the secret out now!). Of course I was working (my studies meant the opportunity filtered out in the end), but I make the extra commitment to travel that distance and landed the spot. I found an opportunity where I could be noticed and took it by the horns, having been overlooked time and again by bigger clubs and throughout county and other trials. The moral of that story (if you want to learn from it!), is that when opportunity knocks you should be ready to take it and do your best when you do.

Go out and fight for it!

Ultimately not all of us goalkeepers want to play nationally or at high domestic league level, but for those that do, you’re going to need to fight every last round for the chance to play at the top. Having said that, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of self improvement and desire to be the best you can be. So you may not be waiting by the telephone for someone to ring you up and let you know you’re in with a chance of making the reserves for the Olympic squad, but who’s to say you can’t go about working to be the best goalkeeper in your league or club? So go on, go out and make a difference!

Can I paint my poly p helmet?

qna
Question:
I would like to know if I could paint my OBO Poly P helmet, and if so, what kind of paint is the most recommended?

Answer:
As the Poly P helmet is plastic, it’s a little bit easier to paint than some of the fiberglass masks. Most of the Poly helmets already have the color blended in the plastic so it’s simply a matter of painting over them and how detailed a paint job you’re looking to do. The preparation you do will determine the longevity and durability of your paint job. Basically you’re looking for paint that is labeled For Plastics (as opposed to metals) and you can find a wide range of colors in spray cans at most hardware stores. Make sure the helmet is clean, wash it with a mild detergent, rinse it well and let it dry. If you’re looking to go big, and paint the whole helmet I’d recommend putting a primer base down, especially if you’re putting a lighter color on a dark colored helmet. If you’re only painting sections of the helmet and leaving parts of the base color then you skip the primer. Make sure you let the primer and paint dry between coats. Paint has to cure and it won’t bond to a surface if you’re just piling coat upon coat of uncured paint. Clear coat is also a good idea as a top layer to add durability to the finish. A couple of warnings, obviously hockey masks are collision type items and plastic is a somewhat flexible material, paint will chip with contact. Be patient. The amount of time you spend in preparation and execution go along way towards determining the quality of your finished product. Depending on what you’re looking for as a paint scheme, plastic decals can offer a durable solution. There are graphic companies that make them for ice hockey goalie helmets and you can read about them if you Google “Goalie Helmet Decals.”

good luck,

Jon

Improve your stick and glove saves

This is one of my favourite drills to do as a goalkeeper. It is great to use in the preseason or just when you want to mix things up from your usual training in gear. I use it mainly to improve my hand speed and also my ability to save balls with my stick. It has always been a strength of mine yet given the weight of a stick, if you get things wrong it is very difficult to save a high ball stick side. So practice is crucial.

For this exercise you will need 3-10 tennis balls. The more the better but you can do it with just 3. You will also need your stick, both gloves and a friend. The person doesn’t need to be particularly gifted so a friend, family member, team- mate or coach is fine.

Stand about 2 meters away from the thrower and in a ready stance. To start with just have your friend throw one tennis ball at a time to varying positions. Make sure you catch with one hand as much as possible. Increase the speed of the throws and continue varying heights. If you want this to be a conditioning session keep going for about a minute then rest.

The next exercise is more specific to your stick. Here your friend can throw the balls or hit them with a tennis racquet, cricket bat whatever they prefer. Each ball should go stick side and using your stick alone you want to save each ball by watching it right onto your stick every time. Start with slow balls at similar height then move to high balls and much quicker balls.

Repetition is important here but keep the quality up by resting when you loose focus. Its very important that you follow every ball with you eyes all the way onto the stick.

The final progression is to put your gloves on and do reps of 10-15 shots. Return to your ready stance between every shot and ensure that you watch the ball onto your stick or glove for every shot.

I would love to hear your feedback on these skills sessions so please leave a comment below.

This is the ready stance we now use in the Hockeyroos. Up tall with gloves up

Watch the ball on to your stick. Step across with your leg as you reach for it

Go directly to the ball with your stick, don’t swing at it.

Watch the ball on to the centre of your glove

Book or PDF? Using an open source approach?!

Just a lot of random thoughts on how best to move forward with the plan of ever getting a book out there. Would be helpful to get comments and feedback on what people want or if at all they like the idea?!

As long as it’s ok with the powers that be so to speak, I hope I can make use of this post to work out what plans can be made to further the use of this resource. It’s there and supported, so why not make full use of it? If you have read my profile thingamajig (which gives a little about me and why I write on here), I wrote a book when I was about 16/17, which I had naively hoped to get published, which obviously will take time to rewrite, given that I know it needs a LOT of work to be useful, in retrospect. Ironically time is not something I have much of these days, in spite of having being turned down by some very well known and reputable publishers on the basis of ROI – return on investment.

The book idea (pay me for my time, please?!)

Originally I really wanted to get a series of books published to help the hockey goalkeeping community – not because I want my name printed with something, although admittedly that would be nice, or to be in print, something which I will work towards. Everybody knows that (field) hockey is a sport with not the greatest support base of something like soccer (football where I am!) or American Football, for example, to juxtapose the two! Goalkeepers are often left to themselves and their own devices and teach themselves technique, which may not always be the best way of going about things. I myself did not get goalkeeper specific goalkeeping, until I was on the cusp of breaking into the top league in England (well, sort of!). If someone has recognisable talent, how are they objectively going to improve technically, if they cannot get the right support?

I think it’s ok for me to say that an initial idea when communicating with Obo, was to have me publish a book that can be downloaded for the price of a coffee. Which isn’t much considering I can get a large filter for £1.20 (I know how to shop around and am probably lucky to be able to get such a price for the quality, though not everyone likes filter coffee!), and I happen to drink a lot of coffee these days! Whilst I’m extremely grateful for the support of Simon and the rest of the Obo team in the various ways they have helped me, but it’s difficult for me not to consider attempting reimbursement for my proposal.

As someone trying to break into writing as a means for paying the bills outside of Obo’s great Keepers Resources site, I know full well that a lot of companies can’t afford to pay me an office salary. As much as everyone loves something for free, everything comes at a cost; in this case, time! I think Obo suggested they would be happy to support me going down that avenue, in terms of allowing advertisement, but again, it is not their problem or in their interests to help me write a book when they are a company who sells equipment! The fact they set up the KR site, which is revolutionary and innovative in helping the goalkeeping community at large, considering no other company has bothered to do such a thing. Goalkeepers truly matter with Obo!

Due to the nature of the establish companies feeling they would not get enough sales to get back the return on printing costs, images etc. I have looked into “vanity” or self publishing. I can do such a thing online quite easily, having done my research, but would prefer to know what people think first. Having said that, the passion for hockey and writing means I would happily work for free, it’s just difficult to do so, when time is money and I have very little time as it is. Whilst I want to do everything in life, am finding it’s not possible to fit everything into the limited hours of a day on a regular basis!

My problem lies in the fact that I am not an accredited coach. Whilst I do have a suitably sound hockey CV (subjectively!), I am not Martijn Drijver! My articles seem to have been well received (I’d hope at least) and the sports publishing companies thought the manuscript was well written, even though I know it deserves redoing. I hope my writing ability stands for itself and that my technical analysis is ok, but I am certain a lot of people would dislike my stance on things because of not having accredited references.

Coaching or personal based approach?

The other thing to think about a book approach is how to make it usable. Should it be for goalkeepers who don’t ever get coaching, or should it have a drills-centred approach, other than just technical advice? Kathleen Partridge has produced a brilliant guide but for some people this may be not as helpful, especially if they have no chance of going through drills with a coach who understands what they are talking about! However, if there is no coach and these drills cannot objectively be incorporated into training due to the ignorance of a lot of team coaches. Not taking anything away from Kathleen’s hard and tremendous work though, it must be said, for I don’t wish to offend!

PDF guides?

In trying to rewrite the book, I went about splitting up areas of the game and producing guides in regards to each technical aspect, which are still works in progress. I think if beginners had access to developed theories they may be able to pick things up pretty quickly and advance their understanding in limited time. As a result, I could release these as downloadable PDF documents for use, which Obo have previously agreed to.

Open sourced?

In terms of working through what to write and redrafting these manuscripts, I am looking at open sourcing it to improve the quality for if or when I ever publish them. A lot of writers in a number of fields and genres are tapping into the open source approach and community feedback in order to produce something everyone would be happy to read. Although you can never please everyone! However, one of the obvious downsides of this approach is that you, the reader, would already know what’s been written, considering it would have been already read to make sure it was good enough!

Getting photos is not too difficult (though I have to confess to obviously pinching others’ handiwork from time to time!) as I got myself a shiny SLR a while back and have a fair amount of pictures from high level games to utilise. Additionally, there are sports photographers and goalkeeping enthusiasts like myself, who are happy to help provide suitable visual representations of saves and technique. My drawing skills aren’t brilliant, but I know graphic designers and artists who could help out.

I have also considered a collaborative project but people seem short on time or are not interested. A lot of coaches hold down full time jobs and have responsibilities which come with life, like family, so I understand that. However, I think it would be a good idea if possible and would ensure what I was writing was adequate for helping the goalkeeping community at large.

What’s best?

I would happily still go ahead with a book or guide if there is still interest. Then again, it’s best to know what the community wants. As long as Obo would be happy to support this (not financially of course), then I could go ahead drawing up a timed schedule. Another possibility is releasing a ‘book’ via PDF as they have done in the past. I could learn DTP skills if needs be and have started taking photos to support my articles given the threat of copyright infringement and lack of availability. I have always hoped that other writers would come out of the woodwork and get posting on here. So if you are interested, please get in touch. I may just be of the mindset not to care what people think of me in order to write, as I have experienced in my studies, given that people tend not to contribute to discussion for fear of their opinions being ‘wrong’. I think an open source project involving constant feedback from the community at large, as well as setting up a base of writers, would be a better way of going about things. I’m not interested in writing to get my name printed (otherwise I wouldn’t write under a pseudonym!), I tend to write because I enjoy it and enjoy helping others (although now I doubt I even do that)

Although I feel I can adequately articulate and put into words how to play the role of a goalkeeper, I am fully aware that everybody learns differently. I for one actually learn by being shown how to do something, then doing it myself and learning from my own personal mistakes. So my proposal to put forward is simply based on what people require. Are people actually interested in being taught technique? Or do they want to improve on the more important aspects of the ‘mental game’ and such like (a good goalkeeper is a confident one, always remember that; otherwise you’ll end up second-guessing and failing to perform at your best)?

Anyhow, I thought it would be a good use of the medium of this site to find out what I can offer and obviously to check if people are still interested in me writing, and if so, if they think I’m any good!

Please get in touch!

The idea of this was to make use of the comment function. Please post up what you think could be done to make best use of this site and help Obo give back to the goalkeeping community (as far as I know, they are the only company to facilitate this feature, although there are independent forums out there). So, essentially, please leave a comment (replying to the article) to voice your views (keep the thoughts happy though please!). It would obviously help a lot in regards to knowing what the global community out there would like to get out of this, if at all.

Hand-eye co-ordination

As promised, have finally got round to uploading some new content. Having read the feedback on the Facebook page and the KR site, have found an article I previously wrote, which may or may not be of any use considering people seem to know what to do!

Hand-eye co-ordination is essentially related to how you watch shots into the save (how you “read” the shot and then appropriately react with the right save selection). It obviously helps you to make saves with your hands, as you watch the ball into your gloves! It is important to work on your skills to make sure that you can properly track the ball into glove saves. As it affects your ability to make the save, by being able to watch the ball and then move your glove in to stop the shot, you must regularly practise to improve.

Hand-eye co-ordination is a required part of your game: if you do not have the technique to see and stop the shot, how are you going to make saves to the sides with your hands, or block in front of your body? It is a simple fact that you need good hand-eye co-ordination to play at a high level in a game that revolves around speed and raised shots. Unlike soccer where the ball is larger and therefore easier to see, hockey obviously uses a smaller ball, so you’re going to have a tough time seeing the ball, especially through screens. By improving your hand-eye co-ordination, you can be able to stop shots more easily.

Bouncy ball

Bouncy balls are a great and fun way of practising your hand-eye co-ordination. They are really easy to get; you can buy them in corner shops, children’s toy shops, or sports shops. You can practise by throwing the ball hard onto the floor and then try to catch it; watching the ball take its unexpected bounce and into the catch. By doing this you have to use your eyes to watch the ball from its redirection, keeping up with the change of angle: this way, you are actively using your hand-eye co-ordination to make the catch.

“Wall ball”

Throwing a ball against the wall is a great and simple way of practising hand-eye co-ordination. The ball is thrown against the wall diagonally, bouncing off the angle to be caught at the other side.

You can vary the difficulty of the drill by making things harder for yourself to work that much harder. You can close your eyes when you throw the ball and then open them to make the catch. Because you cannot see where the ball is going (or on its initial throw), you have less knowledge as to where it’s going. Also, clapping in between a catch is another way. Try to make a clap between throwing and catching the ball to speed up your movements. By doing this, you can test your abilities even further; forcing your reactions to be faster.

Juggling

Juggling is a great way of learning to watch the shot into your equipment; watching the balls as you juggle. You have to maintain concentration throughout, watching the ball as it goes airborne, before catching it. You can start out with one or two, and then see how far you can progress. Juggling three balls in a row, or juggling two at the same time, are possible ways of challenging yourself to improve.

Keeping the ball up

A great drill that you can do when in pads at training or before a match is to do the equivalent of “keepy-uppies” with your glove and a spare hockey ball. You can do this by starting off kicking the ball up off your kickers (like a soccer player would do) or bouncing it off your gloves and stick. You can do this just before training or a game to help you focus on the ball. The idea is to keep the ball going and up for as long as possible. Try to keep it for as long as you can; the longer you can keep it up, the better your hand-eye co-ordination and focus on the ball will get.

This clip shows you how to do it:

Catching

Throwing and catching a ball in with someone else can help with your reading skills. You are having to watch the pass and then make the catch; working on your hand-eye co-ordination. With a partner, you can throw a tennis ball around between you, varying the speed and distance between yourselves to make it more difficult.

Other sports

Again, cross training in other sports can benefit your goalkeeping in hockey (playing other sports to work on your own skills within your chosen sport you want to focus on). Any sport that involves catching is great for working your hand-eye co-ordination. Playing in goal in soccer is a goalkeeping orientated way: in soccer, the goalie has to catch the ball to make a successful save, where you have to watch the ball into the catch. Racquet sports are good as you have to focus on the ball when serving and hitting; the ball can also take some unexpected bounces, making it harder; working on improving your hand-eye co-ordination.

Baseball (an American sport) is a good alternative: you have a glove that you need to watch the ball into to be able to make a good catch, as you throw the ball between you and a friend (this could also be done off a wall by yourself). To compare with another sport, Pekka Rinne is especially good right now in the NHL ice hockey league because of his ability to swallow up rebounds with a glove hand that acts much like a baseball catcher’s. Being the wicket keeper in cricket is a similarly good idea, as you have to watch the ball to be able to catch the batter out. Rugby or American Football could be other potential possibilities; you have to pass the ball around by throwing it and catching it; the odd shape of the ball makes it more difficult.

Apology and new directive

A statement of apology and aim for the future of staying committed to this project.

Didn’t know where else to put this, but figured it would be best to provide an update on my lack of input so to speak. In my absence from Keeper’s Resources, I was hoping others would step in to fill the case and that has happened to a degree, but not as much as I’d hoped. Rome wasn’t built in a day (as I was told before I started), so might as well keep persevering. In my opinion, my best articles over the time I tried writing for Obo were ‘out there’ and more interesting. Without going into detail, have found myself a little busy as a student and interest in the sport waned (although I have judged people for lack of commitment in regards to various things, have to be held accountable for my own lack of support for the goalkeeping hockey community).

Without sounding zany, human beings are always subjective so it goes without a doubt that people aren’t always going to agree with what I think and vice versa. I try to write objectively having researched before I wrote articles. I would rather create discussion than not, but don’t want to offend, hoping to simply offer up an alternative opinion: in some cases in life I’ve found it is just best to agree to disagree. I’d like to think I’m open minded and am happy to change my view on things, as there are two sides to everything.

I started out writing for Obo in the naive belief that I may be able to help others. Being published by a well known company was an achievement that wouldn’t have ever come to fruition without Simon’s choice to gamble on my writing ability. I am fully aware that I have no qualifications in coaching which makes life difficult and I’m probably just an enthusiast. I have since tried getting qualified and had the opportunity to coach in the English system but that obviously fell through. Writing under a pseudonym means I can admittedly use anonymity to hide away from personal attack and also helps shun the idea of ‘fame’ (had an interesting discussion in a seminar recently, given I feel strongly about never wanting to attempt to be immortalised in history by having my name published at the end of a piece). If people feel it’s important to know, I can say to what level I was at if you all would feel better about it, but I feel that’s in the past now. Having stepped out of the sport means I have realised I still enjoy being a part of it and looking in from a distance, without being drawn into personal bias (I hope) should better my writer.

Retiring so young may be a disadvantage but right now I cannot play to the level I want; might as well quit whilst I’m ahead! Having persevered with various things that haven’t worked out (in life in general), I think it may be better with this new approach. So without further ado, here is my apology and hope for the future. I am happy to be held accountable to that so pester me if I don’t! My approach this year will be to provide quality rather than quanity and to contribute as and when I can given that my writing career is slowly taking off.

If you’d like to give my ego a boost (have enough self confidence as it is though!), feel free to comment or offer up a different viewpoint. However, I think admin has rights to delete anything inappropriate if it ever did come to that (not saying it would)…