Today's topic deals with making the save.

When training keepers, I put a great deal of emphasis on technique. Everything from catching the ball properly to proper footwork to diving (and landing properly). It's been my experience that the more things are done correctly, the more success one will have as a keeper. If a keeper catches the ball properly, they will, in the long run, hold onto a lot more balls than if they don't catch the ball properly. If they use proper footwork, they will get to many more balls than if they don't use proper footwork. If they dive properly, not only will they get to more balls but they will also greatly decrease the likelihood of getting injured.

However, it's important to remember that not all saves will be pretty. Not all saves will be textbook saves. Not all saves would be considered proper.

The thing to remember is all saves do keep the ball out of the goal. In the same way that a team gets one point for a goal regardless of whether it's a spectacular bicycle kick or an ugly toe poke, an ugly save counts the same as a spectacular save.

A couple of weeks ago, Tim Howard made a save with his shoulder to help preserve the win for Everton FC. There was nothing conventional about the save but by getting his body behind the ball, his team got the three points for the win.

Too often, keepers don't work on technique because they think ugly works just fine for them. By working on things properly, it will increase their likelihood for success but they must remember a save is a save is a save.

Whether it's a kick save, a face save or any other type of a save, be happy with whatever it takes to keep the ball out of the goal and then reevaluate to see if there might have been a better way to do things.

WITH ANY OF THESE TRAINING IDEAS, IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS YOU CAN EMAIL COACH SCOTT AT AIINGTII@HOTMAIL.COM

Today's topic deals with having opponents in the wall when you are defending free kicks.

The reason you, as a goalkeeper, want to have a wall when defending free kicks is for the wall to make the area you have to defend to prevent a direct goal smaller. Without a wall, you need to defend all 8 yards of the width of the goal. With a wall, you want the wall to prevent a direct shot on goal towards part of the goal so instead of defending 8 yards of width, you might only have to defend 4 or 6 yards.

In the diagram below, the black team has a direct free kick. The keeper has chosen to have a 3 man wall to prevent a straight shot toward the near post.



The more players in the wall, the more of the goal is protected. However, the more people in the wall, the further the keeper is from the center of the goal and if a ball is played over the wall, the more players in the wall, the less likely the keeper has enough time to get over and make the save.

Because of this, the keeper wants enough players in the wall to make the goal smaller but not too many players in the wall to make it impossible to guard the goal.

Things become more complicated when the opponent puts a couple of players in the wall.



The offensive players in the world are trying to do a couple of things. First, they are trying to block the vision of the keeper. The more players in that area (regardless of which team the players are on) the harder for the keeper to see. Another thing these players are trying to do is deflect the ball as it's shooting past them.

The best way for the defending team to deal with this issue is to place a player behind each of the opposing players in the wall.
While this still makes it difficult for the keeper to see the ball and to cover chips over the wall, it does address the issue of the deflections. The defenders behind the opponents are there to try to block any shot or deflection that might come there way.

If there are too many people in the wall, the keeper wont be able to position himself on the end of the wall (but further back) and instead will have to move closer to the middle of the goal and try to get low and see the ball through the various players legs.

It's important for the keeper to communicate to his team exactly what he wants in these situations. There really aren't right and wrong ways to do things in these situations but rather, each keeper will have a preference and will need to make sure the entire team is on the same page and is doing what they want.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFO ON KEEPER TRAINING CONTACT COACH AT AIINGTII@HOTMAIL.COM

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today's topic deals with catching balls that are waist high.

Watching many keepers warm up, when the ball is tossed or kicked toward their waist, they will lower their hands and with their wrists bent, will try to catch the ball in the same basic hand position as if they were catching a ball chest height. This means their hands are either in a W or diamond shape.

The problem with this is it's not a the way they will be able to catch a hard shot waist high in a game. If they were to try to catch a hard shot using this technique, the best that could happen would be they would drop the ball. The worst is they will injure their wrists.

The proper way to catch a ball that is waist height is using the same hand positioning as if the ball were at the knees. The palms are close together facing outward, fingers pointed down and upon making contact with the ball, the hands are behind and under the ball with the forearms directly behind the ball. The chest and head are over the ball so that if you bobble the ball, it will fall down to the ground and you can quickly scoop it up.

So if this is the proper way to catch a ball, why do keepers catch softer balls in training using the incorrect method? The simple answer is the incorrect mthod is also the easier way and they chose the easy way because many people are lazy by nature. It's easy to be a lazy goalkeeper but the good goalkeepers try to do things right every time and not just when it's the easy way.

On balls that are waist high, get your body behind the ball, hands in the proper position, upper body over the ball and develop the good habit's that will be needed in a real game situation.

Using their hands to make a save is obviously the first thought anybody has about shot stopping.

But, if the goalkeeper is not in position they’ll never get the chance to use their hands.

Fast feet - Cover the ground as fast as possible to make the save.

Handling - Priority should always be to catch the ball, but if catching is not possible, where can the ball be safely deflected to.



You need one goal and six cones placed six yards from the goal line with one yard between each cone.

The coach stands approximately 10 yards from goal line. The goalkeeper must be “on their toes” at starting position.

Server calls “Go” for the goalkeeper to start.

The goalkeeper moves quickly between the cones.

Ball is served as goalkeeper gets to last cone.

Encourage the goalkeeper to step “into line/down the line” of the ball.

Recovery saves: if goalkeeper doesn’t catch the shot, they must quickly get back up and cover the rebound.

Progress by getting the goalkeeper to complete the footwork facing the goal, then spinning when they reach the last cone. This reduces the amount of reaction time they have. Add a server at the other end. As soon as a save is made the keeper repeats the drill in the opposite direction.

COACHES YOU CAN USE POLES AS WELL FOR THIS DRILL.