Goalkeeping The First Steps For The Beginner I believe that every player should take a turn in every position, goalkeeper included. After a while you will find that certain kids have a wish to make that their role and others will be naturally talented in the position. Ideally you want a minimum of two players on your roster that are reasonable playing in goal; this is so that you have cover for injuries or illness. Even at the point where you have your group of keepers I would recommend that all your players still take a turn in goal, but, you should start to do some specialist keeper work with those who have a flair for the position.
How your goalkeeper should stand The first thing that you should coach is how they should stand. The best way a player should be standing is with their feet slightly apart, about shoulder width. Their arms should be raised up around the chest with their fingers slightly open. They should be moderately crouching forward so that their body weight is over their knees, which should mean that they are in a good position to jump. Ideally, your keeper should practice moving around in this position, forwards and backwards, side to side using side stepping movements or little hops. They do not need to spend the whole game in this position as this would be tiring but need to assume this position when the opposition attack. Which brings me on to the second point, concentration.
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Work on concentration One thing that every goalkeeper needs is the ability to concentrate on the game; not just watch, but be aware of what is going on and anticipate potential moves. This is difficult to coach, but you need to watch and see if your keepers are responding early enough during drills and matches. If you are having a small sided training game you could stop the action and point out the potential 'dangers' and how the keeper should be positioning themselves. Do this tactfully so that the child does not feel picked on. Maybe you could point out other players positioning too.
Positioning One thing you may find with early stage goalkeepers is that they tend to spend most of their time on the goal-line between the sticks (goalposts). Teach them that they can come away from the line and that it can help them make the save. This is called "narrowing the angle". This makes the goalkeeper look bigger compared to the goal and gives the attacker less of a target to shoot at. There is no need to mention what it is called or why they are doing it to start with, other than to say it will help them make the save. Another point that many coaches fail to mention when talking about positioning is that your keepers need to be aware of where they are in relation to the goal. I suggest you do not get too hung up about it early on but I feel it needs to be taught from the beginning. It is part of the whole process of concentrating on the game.
Be aware of the goal If the attacker is approaching the goal the keeper needs to be taught that they must be aware that the attacker may try to beat them with a shot to the left or right, so they need to know where they are standing in relation to the goal. This can be perfected with drills, but, make sure you teach them and don't rely on the keeper just picking it up as they go along. Now your goalkeepers can move on to drills that will help them perfect their technique, and I will cover these in another article.
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