Question:
I have begun to teach the instep method. The biggest problem I am seeing with my goalie is that a direct shot is coming at her and she misses the ball on her instep and it ends up going between her legs. It almost looks like her leg is going too far. Do you have any advice?
Answer:
A couple of things… with any new technique, be patient. When your keeper tries to contact the ball, she should be lining the ball up on the area of her foot between her ankle and the bend of the foot back to the ankle (the centre of the instep area on most kickers). It sounds like she may currently be lining the ball up too far back on her foot, nearer to her heel. She may have to cross one foot in front of the other at shots directly at her. This is ok if she is pushing off from her non-kicking leg.
Make sure she is leading with her head when she looks to save. If she is back with her weight it will look as if she is reaching too far. To do that, she must push off with her non-kicking leg, which requires good body position to start off, along with a surprising amount of footwork for those new to the technique to set up the simple instep clear.
Stick with it! Also, check out the kicking drills tip, but remember, with any new technique, realise there will be a learning curve. Don’t expect a keeper to save/clear at game pace until she has mastered the curve. Good luck and keep me posted how things go.