Category: Rachel’s Tips

There are certain situations in a game where it is both appropriate and inappropriate to use your stick. In this tips section I will be highlighting four major issues you need to consider in relation to stick use:

• Why use your stick?
• Why not to use your stick?
• When to use your stick
• How to use your stick

Firstly “Why use your Stick?” well it is simple, why not utilise every part of your equipment to maximise saving ability.

When wouldn’t you use your stick? Again this is simple, when you can save the ball with your feet, body or hands. Too often young and inexperienced keepers use a stick like a field player to stop a ball. With all the keeping gear on, this is nearly impossible, when a player smashes a ball at you. It is important to keep in mind that a stick is only about 1.5 inches wide so we should not use it as a major factor in saving the ball when we have gear that is much larger.

Players should use their sticks in a variety of situations including:

slide tackling

interceptions
making aerial saves to the right hand side of the body

When using your stick you should see it as an extension to your equipment. People hold the stick differently in separate situations. When in the ready position (on the balls of my feet, body weight forward and hands up) I hold my stick in a comfortable position about mid way down the handle nearing where the grip stops. This allows me to have good control of the stick and stops the stick hitting me in the rib cage when I move it.

When intercepting a ball or taking on attacker one on one I extend my stick to allow me to utilise the whole length of it. This is especially important when you are wanting to cover as much ground as possible during the intercept.

Keepers also use their sticks for assisting to clear the ball where kicking isn’t appropriate at all. Situations like this sometimes occur when the ball has rebounded off of your gear right in front of you and the quickest and most effective thing to do is push it out. This requires very good wrist strength if you are to do it with one hand. Please note that this skill is becoming more difficult with the introduction of foam gloves (I still wouldn’t change my foam gloves for anything in the world.)

It is important to remember that with anything you need to practice all skills. Some are easier to practice than others. Two important skills that keepers need to practice to make use of the stick easier is, firstly, getting from holding the stick in the middle to the extension position with ease and pushing the ball. You can do both of these skills at home or at hockey, all you need is a ball, your stick and gloves.

Good luck with the keeping!

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.

There are many different goalkeepers playing all over the world. Some of them will hold at least one of these traits, if not all. The traits that I perceive to contribute to making a good goalkeeper may not be totally the same as what you would believe.

The position of Goalkeeper needs to be a person who can think and act immediately when a decision is required. Below I have outlined what I think will make a successful goalkeeper and why this is so.

Good Basic Skills
The key to your success as a goalkeeper is having good basic skills. If you do not have good basics you will find it very hard to make even the simplest of saves. Basic saves of importance include instep saves getting wide clearances, hand saves left and right and many more, please refer to previous tips pages for more details.

Reflexes
Reflex saves are vital to the performance of every keeper. If you don't have natural reflexes it is important that you work on these to make sure that you make those match winning saves. As mentioned in previous tips, a good way to improve your reflexes is to get someone to hit tennis balls at you. The balls generally come faster than most hit hockey balls, thus making you react quicker than usual. You can also do this training with hockey balls and getting some one to hit or flick them at you one after the other.

Decision Making
Decision making is something that comes naturally for most and with time it can be greatly improved upon. Decision making comes in two forms: when playing in goal, deciding where to call your players and deciding what save you make and how you are going to make it. The best way to improve this is to simulate match like situations in training.

Speed & Strength
Speed and strength are vital components for success as a goalkeeper. Both of these components are ones that you can work on if you are not naturally gifted in this area. You will need to consult your coach or a physical trainer for more specific detail that is relevant to you as an individual.

Attacking Play
With field players getting better every day it is important that the keeper keeps on top of the situation. An easy way to do this is to be an attacking keeper. By taking charge of the area around you and closing down players as soon as they receive the ball they don't get the chance to have a shot at goal. There is much more information on Attacking Play in the previous tips pages.

The Ability to Accept Responsibility for Actions
Some goalkeepers tend to blame others around them when a ball goes in the back of the net. In many situations this may be the right thing to do, however, on occasions the goalkeeper has neglected to call a player into line or just made a bad save. It is important for the goalkeeper to admit when they have made a mistake as it keeps the team cohesive, and when it is not the fault of the keeper the team will usually recognise this.

After reading this you may think of many other traits you or another goalkeeper may possess that make you a great keeper. . This is only what I think and is here to make you think a little more about your keeping.

Good luck with the keeping!

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.

One of the most important aspects of goal keeping is using your reflexes. Many great match winning saves are made simply using your reflexes. There are many different ways that you can improve on your reflexes which are included below.

Tennis Balls
Tennis balls are a great way to get quicker reflexes. If you get someone to hit a bucket of balls at you with little time in-between each ball this will make your reaction time shorter. Tennis balls serve two purposes: firstly, if hit with a tennis racquet they fly faster than most hit balls; and secondly, if you get hit they don't hurt as much. (You may like to note that you can also do this with only your upper-body protection on.)

Hockey Balls
Lining up hockey balls and having them fired rapidly at you can work just as good as anything else. If you have sets of 10-12 balls this is usually enough to get the repetition that is required for improvement. Start with the balls around the 10 yard mark (flicking them) then gradually move them closer to the player.

Turn and Save
Start with your back to the ball (hitter) when he/she says "turn", turn around and save the ball. They are to hit/push/flick/throw the ball as they say turn. Make sure that you turn different ways to get a balance of movement.

Hitting to Boards
If you can get some big wooden boards all you have to do is get someone to hit the ball to the board on an angle, making sure that the ball goes towards the net ensuring the keeper has to make a save. By doing this you are changing the angle that the ball is travelling thus once again improving your reaction time.

Golf Balls
Although I haven't done much of this you can use a golf ball by throwing it up against a wall and trying to catch it. This can be done by directly throwing the ball to the wall or doing a bounce throw. (Make sure there aren't any windows that you can break!)

On Angles
Don't forget to vary what you are doing with your reflex work. Many saves that need to be made during a game are on angles so don't forget to vary the angle that you are making the save on.

High and Low
When the balls are hit or flicked at you, remember to make sure that you are being made to save a variety of balls including high, low, wide and straight at you.

It is important to remember that you can be as creative as you like with all of your training. If you think it through and it is safe then give it a go and see if it works for you.

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.

For many goalkeepers saves with the hand or stick seem more satisfying than any others. Whether this is because the crowd likes it more, or just the simple fact that they seem more spectacular or harder to execute…who knows? In this tips section I will endeavour to give you some simple advice and suggestions of how to make those saves being simple or tremendously difficult.

Firstly, I will address what the basic requirements of making an aerial save. Points to consider when making hand saves include:

• Start in the attacking position (on balls of the feet, body weight slightly forward and hands up).
• Watch the ball all the way from the stick to your own glove or stick.
• It is easier to save a ball in the air if your hands are already in the air. This decreases the time needed to travel to the ball (it really gives you a head start).
• When making a save with the left hand it may help to rotate the wrist slightly to get the ball moving in a direction away from the play. This movement is only minimal but it can be very effective and should only be used with balls that are coming straight towards you.



• When making a stick save it is best to only move the stick in a vertical direction If you start to move the stick horizontally you then increase the chance of making mistakes.

When making saves with the stick it is a good idea to try and get your left hand across to try and cover as much territory as possible. If you start this technique at an early stage in your goalkeeping it will become second nature.

Making those Marvellous Saves
You need to practice diving. Diving is one of the hardest things to practice as you can cause serious injury to yourself if it is not done correctly with the right equipment. As many of you would know in a game when you make a brilliant save it doesn't matter how you land you simply don't feel a thing especially if you win, however during practice you feel every little thing even if it doesn't really hurt.

There are a number of ways that you can do this:

• Get some training mats or a mattress.
• Use a gymnastics foam pit.
• Add extra protection to your equipment.
• Diving into a swimming pool.
• Practice with soccer goalkeepers (good ones).

All of these suggestions will help you in gaining full stretch for those really hard high and wide balls.

As with other drills it is important to remember to watch the ball from when it has left the stick all the way to your hand, stick, leg or body. This may sound easy, however it is hard and does require a lot of self discipline and constant reminding of yourself to make it happen all the time.

Belief in yourself and that you can save anything is equally important in achieving great saves. If you are having trouble making these saves or believing in yourself then you may want to mentally go over the saves in your own head and see yourself making the saves over and over. This does actually work, if you break the save up into sections and work through how you will make the save.

Making Really High Saves
To make those extra special saves you need explosive power in your legs. If you don't have any power then it is almost impossible for you to jump and make the save. You can do this through a strength program which will incorporate both strength and power. If this is not available you may want to practice jumping in the air with your gear on. Or even jumping on a box up to 10 times in a row with a reasonable break in-between for 3 sets (make sure it is not a cardboard box).

Again, even with explosive power you need to make sure that you are watching the ball and making the right decision. If the ball is going out why would you want to try and save it and risk it going in the back of the net. It is good to cover everything, however, just make sure that you are not making spectacular looking saves just for the sake of it and that it is the best option for making that particular save.

Have fun and good luck!

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.

After numerous questions over the last month I have decided to do a section on training drills. Training a goalkeeper or being a goalkeeper can sometimes be challenging to think of new drills to do at training so I am going to try to assist you.

One of the most important things that you need to do to keep variety is to make sure that you are creative and if you have a mental block for new ideas, you need to ask other coaches and players for some of their ideas.

The following drills are to be done with goalkeepers in individual session or small group sessions. This often helps when you need to watch what a player is doing or just need a help with drills that involve more than one person to get the best out of the goalkeeper.

Drill 1: Reflex Work
The balls need to be at the top of the circle, have a hitter hitting the balls at the tyres or wooden boards on an angle so that the ball comes off in a different direction.

Objectives of this drill are: Make the save. Try to clear the 1st save wide. Clear the ball wide if not on 1st save.

Drill 2: Wide Clearances, Fatigue and High Lobs
Coach or player is at the top of the circle with a heap of balls. The balls are thrown in bouncing no higher than knee height. Balls should be at the goalkeeper and slightly wider.

The objective is for the goalkeeper to become fatigued and make quality hard saves clearing the ball wide.

Setting up in the same way you can also practice saving high balls that have been flicked on corners or in general play.

Objective: Keeper needs to get back as quick as possible and when making the save if the ball is high enough get it back over the net.

Drill 3: Rebounding
The balls are hit in towards the goalkeeper. Two players are set near the keeper picking up any rebounds, playing the ball out until it is out of play. The coach / hitter may also lob balls in slowly so that the keeper is forced to make a save or meet the ball before the player does.

This drill will help making the second and third save if necessary. Players are encouraged to clear the ball wide and strong on the first save.

Drill 4: Making a Hard Shot Save after Quick Movement
The coach / player calls “go” and the keeper leaves the cone to sprint across, set and make the save. This drill needs to be done with a walk back recovery.

Objective: To get across the goal as quick as possible and make a good quality save with a wide clearance.

Drill 5: Interceptions
The coach / player passes the ball into the circle in-between the keeper and the player. The goalkeeper is required to try and beat the player to the ball and clear it, or meet the player as they are receiving the ball. This is directly related to being an attacking keeper and making life difficult for your opponents. Again a walk back recovery.

Drill 6 : Turn and Save
This drill is very straight forward. The keeper stands facing the net with their back to the top of the circle. When the coach / player calls “go” the keeper turns quickly and makes a reflex save. Balls can be pushed, flicked or hit.

Drill 7: Warming up two Keepers
To many times coaches are faced with warming up more than one keeper. As a keeper I appreciate how boring it is to kick balls at each other, so I thought I would share an idea of one of my coaches, Kath Partridge.

Both keepers stand in the goal, closer to the post than the penalty spot. When the keepers receive the ball they put it back to the hitter. Communication is vital during this drill, as you don’t want to have keepers going for the same ball. After a few minutes you may suggest to the keepers that they swap sides.

Drill 8: Repetition Sliding
The keepers starts in the middle of the goal and sprints and slides into A, gets up quickly and sprints backwards to goal line, this is then repeated to B and C. This is very taxing and it is a good idea to give generous recovery time so that the maximum benefit can be achieved.

If the keeper is having trouble sliding at cones, get a player to be moving to the spot of the cone so it is a little more realistic.

Good luck with the drills and remember that you need to be creative when thinking about drills. I hope that you get some ideas from these and share them with other keepers and coaches. If you have a good drill that is a little different please let me know as I am always after new drills.

Good luck with the keeping

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.

In each defending situation each player has a general role, depending on the coach or the team, they might have a specific role for a specific game. Defensive systems are set up as a guide only.

Following is my interpretation of the Australian system that has been in place for over 20 years. This does differ from what teams are using presently however the basic principles of all defence is the same. I will highlight what I believe the role for each of the main defending players includes:

GK Goal Keeper:
Keep the ball out of the net

RB Right Fullback:
Last line of defence, tackling and communication, marks the CF and anyone else that is left floating around

LB Left Fullback:
Last line of defence, tackling and communication, same marking situation as RB

RH Right Halfback:
Attacking half, generally marks the LW and Left Inside

LH Left Halfback:
Defensive half, marks RW and Right Inside

CH Centre Half:
Marks opposite CH and sometimes CF or who ever is there, generally a playmaker and good distributor of the ball

RI Right Inside:
Marks the LI and is there as a player to pass too when the play is on the right side

LI Left Inside:
Marks the RI and is there as a player to pass too when the play is on the left side

Diagram 1A&B refer to the general movement of the defence when the ball is over to one side. A shuffle effect occurs with players on the opposite side shuffling across to be inline with the play. You will notice that on both diagrams that the RW or LW comes back when the ball is on the opposite side to create a let out pass.

Diagram 2 highlights positions that should be taken if the ball is on the right hand side of the field for the attacking team. You will notice that most of the players are marked and are marking. The LI is marking the space to enable her/him to move freely to any player that becomes free. The LI is also there to receive the let out pass when the defenders regain possession. You will notice that the LB is not marking anyone, this is deliberate so that they can be a back up for the LH if the ball gets through. The LB should only be free is everyone else is marked!

Diagram 3 is again another example of a defensive set up. You will note that a slight change in the positioning of the players occurs. The RH is not man to man marking, they are giving the attacker some breathing space. Where the attacker is in relation to the ball they are not in any danger if they cover the line to the ball and are not too far away.

All players are generally in-between the player and the goal. If you look closely you will notice that the RB is actually level with the player. This allows he/she to beat the player to the ball, they must stand close to the player to tackle if necessary, this is different form the days when people were instructed to stand behind the player. The LI is again marking space, they do not necessarily have to come back this far but being a goalkeeper I prefer this so that you have an extra person in defence.

Diagram 4 highlights the set up of the defence when taking a 16yrd free hit. The LH is out wide for the quick transfer of play. The positioning of the other players allows them to have their own space to receive the ball in and move with it or pass it off.

With the ball on the right side you will notice that the RW has dropped back a little. This is due to the RH taking a deep wide position and the need for a player to come back and help. It is important that players do not crowd each other and the spaces as this usually results in a turn over of possession.

Please note that this is only a basic guideline of one defensive pattern. Something that I have found important is that each situation is different and it is important to trust your goalkeeper to make the right decisions with calling their defenders.

They should have control of the whole situation from the 50 yard line onwards, as they have the best view of the whole field. It is also important to remember that goal keepers need to concentrate on making saves so the other defenders need to take responsibility for communication also

Good luck with the keeping!

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.

Please note that I am not a qualified expert in this area and all that I have written is on my own previous experiences. Many people play all year round both indoor and outdoor, but for some that don't play all year round there is a time out period generally called the off season.

Training during the off season doesn't have to include putting your gear on. For me I find it better not to put my gear on, assuring that I will be fresh for the coming season.

The tendency to stop training during this time is sometimes overwhelming but the goalkeeper who is committed to bettering their game will continue to train during this valuable time.

The value of the off season can never be underestimated. Getting stronger, fitter and faster is something that is best done in this period. As we all know, a goalkeeper needs to have a high level of concentration throughout the whole game. This can be helped tremendously over the off season.

The Whole Approach:
What do we work on?

• Strength
• Aerobic fitness
• Speed
• Agility
• Variety

Strength Training
This should be done in consultation with a fitness trainer or strength and conditioning coach. Some exercises that are good for improving general strength are:

• Squats
• Bench press
• Lateral pull down
• Sit ups
• Biceps curls
• Leg press
• Leg curls
• Leg extension

A basic guideline is that you should do 3 sets of each exercise with 8-12 repetitions in each set. Please remember that it is also good to have a break between each set generally 2 times as long as it takes to do the exercise.

Aerobic Fitness
Aerobic fitness is something that not all people enjoy doing. Aerobic fitness can be done in many forms, from running to roller-blading. For goalkeepers it is important that you do have a level of fitness so that your concentration level is up to a satisfactory level that can help you sustain your focus for the whole 70 minutes.

Aerobic fitness doesn't need to be long and tedious, frequent sessions for a 20-30 minute duration should be sufficient to sustain and maintain aerobic fitness, if done at a reasonable pace (not a stroll in the park).

Speed and Agility
Speed and agility are two of the most important things a goalkeeper needs physically to be able to perform to their highest level.

Being a goal keeper, sprinting and quick changes of direction are things that we do in every game. Thus, this area should hold great importance to goal keepers and be reflected in your training sessions.

Recovery is an important aspect of doing sprints and agility. It is essential that you work out what you are actually doing it for, speed, agility or anaerobic fitness.

Speed = 2 minutes recovery
Agility = 2 minutes recovery
Anaerobic fitness = walk back recovery and start again

(Short sprints of no longer than 25 yards varying in distance.)

I have included some diagrams for your reference of example drills. I have been given some of these drills, but don't forget you can make your own up so that you have plenty of variety. Make sure if you are doing your own drills that you include forward, side ways, turning and backwards movements. Varying the distance – acceleration and deceleration are an important part of the game, so your body must be conditioned to cope with these. . Lateral movement builds muscles for the many saves that don't require as simple forward movement.

Short sprints to the twenty five.

Varying the distance – acceleration and deceleration are an important part of the game, so your body must be conditioned to cope with these.

Lateral movement bulds muscles for the many saves that don’t require as simple forward movement.

More lateral movement.

This diagram describes running around in all sorts of directions.

Variety
This is the essence of a good off season program. If you love running then you can go running every day, but for many of us variety is what keeps us going. Some examples of things that you can do include:

• Running
• Swimming
• Cycling
• Tennis
• Squash
• Roller Blading
• Canoeing
• Kayaking
• Rowing

…or anything that you can get your heart rate up for a sustainable period. I'm sure that some of you can become creative in this area.

Finally, keeping a diary of your activities is a good idea. It enables you to have an accurate record so that you can evaluate your performance in your personal program. This also helps you to see whether or not you need to increase or decrease your work load.

Good luck with it all and don't forget to consult your coach about a program for you during off season.

Good luck with the keeping!

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.

As many of us know, training with the whole team can sometimes be a little tedious, especially when the coach does not include the goalkeeper in the sessions to the best of their ability. We have all been through sessions when all that is done is goal shooting. Don't get me wrong this is a good thing to do but it has a time and a place just like everything else.

There are ways to incorporate goal keepers into your training sessions which make the sessions more enjoyable for not only the keeper but the whole team.

The first step in this is to liaise with the goalkeeper or coach in your team making sure the requirements of your team and keeper are fulfilled. A happy keeper usually means a happy and successful team.

Getting the most out of a session is quite easy for a goalkeeper. If you treat each save as though it is a save in a game then you should get the maximum benefit out of your session. This is the easy part, complications set in when all that is done is continual goal shooting or sessions where the keeper doesn't touch the ball.

A quality training session should include:

• goal setting
• thorough physical warm-up
• thorough skills warm up
• shooting drill
• game like drills
• specific keeping skills

Goal setting

Setting goals for each session is extremely valuable and can not be over looked. If you go into a session and without planning, then it is likely that you will not get anything out of the training session. . It can be something as simple as making sure your clearances are going wide and flat or making sure that your positioning is correct when meeting players during one on ones.

Thorough Physical Warm-up

Your warm-up should be as thorough as it is for a game. Start by doing laps, stretching and joint mobility exercises. This could then be followed by run throughs so that your legs are used to doing quick explosive exercises.

(Put your gear on)

Thorough Skills Warm Up and Shooting Drill

I start with balls in close and gradually move them out to the top of the circle. At the beginning of the first stage I kick the ball back at the person who is warming me up. This helps to get good accuracy. As the warm up progresses I tend to get the ball wider to practice wide clearances.

The next stage of the preparation is to sharpen my reflexes. I have the balls lined up around the penalty spot. The person who is warming me up then flicks and chips the balls at me one after the other, not giving me enough time to set for the next save.

This is followed by a team drill of rapid fire shots to sharpen my reflexes. It is important that you do not feel the need to stay in the goal for the whole time. If you are the only keeper at training then make sure you get adequate rest and recovery. Perhaps you could be in for 5 and then out for 5 shots as you would in a sharing situation.

Game like Drills

It is extremely important that a keeper and the team's coach both understand the importance of this. For the keeper, it is great practice for calling the defence. As someone once told me, if you don't get a touch all day you have done your job, simply by calling all of the right moves.

Drills that can be used are 3 on 2's, 4 on 2's and 1 on 1's. These drills are often used by coaches but sometimes are used too far away from the goal. For goal keepers these are most useful in the 25 yard area coming from all areas of the field. Defence versus the attack is also extremely valuable. This can be done starting outside the circle in a situation like a free hit. An important point is to have the attackers out numbering the defence.

Specific Keeping Skills

This is up to the individual to liase with the coach on specific needs or concerns that you have. I think you need to be proactive in this area and make sure that you get what you want out of a session that you require for improvement.

Good luck with your training sessions and keep on enjoying your hockey.

Please note that OBO together with Rachel Durdin 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.