Weather permitting – many teams are currently training indoors on hard surfaces. Growing up with pretty dreadful winters, I did my time of indoor soccer practices on all different kinds of surfaces from clay tennis courts to gym floors to any type of turf imaginable. On some of these surfaces coaches expected me to play like I normally would on grass and some made it a rule not to dive. I’ve trained with other goalkeepers that would wear knee pads and elbow pads and then had coaches demand they take the pads off.
In my opinion goalkeepers should only wear knee or elbow pads when they have an injury. Regardless of the age, extra padding allows goalkeepers technique to slip. Volleyball players wear knee pads because the proper technique for a dig, requires them to drop to their knees quickly. Goalkeepers are NEVER supposed to dive on their knees!
Goalkeepers shouldn’t wear extra padding, but they should wear long sleeves and pants when training, especially on poor surfaces. Long sleeve goalkeeper jerseys and pants (or 3/4 soccer pants) will protect goalkeepers from cuts on their forearms and thighs.
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