Shot on the ground – Basket Catch

A basket catch is the most reliable technique for catching the shots on the ground.  A common mistake is for a goalkeeper to just stop the ball with his or her palms, but that habit tends to give up costly rebounds.  To do a basket catch for a shot on the ground – slightly bend your knees and turn your palms towards you/facing the sky.  Keep your elbows straight and pinkies together.  Keep your chest low to the ground and reach out for the ball with your hands and guide the ball into your chest.

Shot in the air, but under the goalkeeper’s chest – Basket Catch

The basket catch technique is used for both balls on the ground and balls in the air that are under the goalkeeper’s chest.  The technique doesn’t change whether the shot is in the air or on the ground.  You still want to use your hands to guide the ball securely into your chest.  Remember, as you reach out try to keep your pinkies and elbows together and attack the ball – don’t try to catch it as it hits your chest.

Shot at the goalkeeper’s chest or higher - Contour or “W” Catch

There are two primary techniques for catching a ball above your chest.  Your hands will either make a “W” shape – the tips of your thumbs will be close to each other and your index fingers will be pointing towards the sky.  The contour technique is slightly different, your wrists turn slightly in and your thumbs are almost pointing directly at each other.  Your index fingers will not point directly at the the sky or directly at each other, but right in between.  You’re almost making a diamond or triangle shape with your hands.  With both of these techniques, the majority of the work is coming from your thumb and index fingers.  The rest of your hand is used to support those fingers.

How often do your defenders kick the ball out of bounce for a throw-in? Train your goalkeeper to do more than just take free kicks. Make it a goal to have your goalkeeper’s touch be good enough to make your team as a field player. If your goalkeeper can handle back-passes from your defenders, you will keep possession, not give your opponents a restart in a dangerous spot, and improve your counter-attack from the defensive third.

The easiest way to help your goalkeeper develop foot skills is to involve them in field player drills. Don’t always let your goalie use their hands in team possession drills, get them used to using their feet. They don’t necessarily need to do shooting drills as a field player – just get them some touches each practice.  You should also encourage your goalkeeper to get the ball at their feet at a young age.  Mistakes will happen, especially at a young age, but encourage it anyway.  They’ll get better much more quickly and your keeper can become a serious weapon after a single season.

You have some cones and a bunch of soccer balls, but is that enough to consistently run great goalkeeper sessions?  Probably not unless you’re a real pro… But for those gk coaches that didn’t spend many years in the professional coaching circuit, here are 5 great pieces of coaching equipment (all under $50) that will really spice up your goalkeeper practices:

Agility Hurdles – I loved training through hurdles when I was playing and I love using them as a coaching tool.  They are light and easy to transport back and forth to the field, but they are also a great addition to a goalkeeper training session.  They can be used anywhere in the session from warm-up to cool down.  I have 3 and love using them for pressure training and my current favorite drill, the Explosive Diving Goalkeeper Drill.

If you decide to spend your extra $50 on something below, you can always substitute hurdles for soccer balls, but these are my first choice.  I found quite a few good deals on soccer agility hurdles at Amazon – as low as $40 for a set of six.  If you have a bit more than $50 to spend, the Nike Sparq agility hurdles look pretty cool and they’re adjustable.  The price fluctuates around $55 for a set of 6.

Medicine Balls – Med balls are a great addition to your goalkeeper training equipment because they are so versatile.  They’re especially great when you’re training multiple goalkeepers at once at different skill levels – you can give the more advanced goalkeepers the medicine balls to train with to keep them challenged.  You can find the Select Goalie Ball (they are two different weight levels) for just under $50 if you shop around a bit.  I recommend the 1000 ball, I’ve been using it for years and I never had a goalkeeper tell me it was too heavy.

You will find less expensive medicine balls, but I recommend a soccer medicine ball.  It will last longer on the field, you can do more goalkeeper training drills (anything when the ball bounces), and your goalkeepers won’t have to change their hand shapes when catching this.  Also, other med balls may tear up goalkeeper gloves since they are not designed to be worn with latex gloves (they’re designed to be grippy without any gloves for gym use).

Flags or Coaching Sticks/Poles - These have been called so many different things, I found it tough to name in this post.  If you’re sticking to your $50 budget, you’ll have an easier time finding cheap corner flags which will do the trick just fine – I found ones for under $4 a piece (pictured below).  The actual coaching sticks and poles are pretty nice looking and more durable, but they are more expensive.  You can still find a set of coaching sticks for under $50, but you’ll really have to look.  Here’s a set for $40.

So what are these good for – any kind of agility related training.  A goalkeeper has to move through traffic when going to snag a cross, you can replicate that in your training session with these.  It’s simple as lining these up a foot apart and having the goalkeeper weave in and out and then go for a high ball.  When I was young, I had a goalkeeper coach teach me extension dives by tying a string between to flags and had me dive over it.  You can also use these as goal posts rather than just using cones.  They’re pretty versatile as well.

Goalkeeper Training Soccer Balls – Goalkeeper training balls are different from goalkeeper med balls and sometimes look like typical soccer balls. The ones that look like soccer balls have special weights in random panels that make the ball have unpredictable bounces which is great for reflex training and getting your goalkeepers to put their body behind the ball.  The goalkeeper training balls that don’t look like a soccer ball are smaller and sometimes not perfectly round.  These will have a much more of a random and unpredictable bounce, but it will take more creativity to think of new drills with these (you can just do normal goalkeeping drills with a soccer ball goalkeeper reflex ball).

You can find each of these reflex balls under $50.  The newer version of the Select Goalie Reflex balls will be $50 with free shipping and you can find the older version for $35.  The Uhlsport reflex trainer pictured is tough to find, but is inexpensive and sold for close to $25.  The other reflex training ball pictured is called a Response Ball, and the Edge can be found for just under $50.

Agility Ladder – An agility ladder won’t only enhance your goalie training sessions, but it will save some time since you won’t have to line up a bunch of cones for a few footwork drills.  Agility ladders are also a great investment if you happen to also train and coach full teams as field players can also benefit from the extra footwork.  They’re great for goalkeeper warm-up drills and cool downs and everything in between.  They’re also super easy to transport back and forth to the field.  This was the one of the first pieces of soccer equipment I bought when I first started training goalkeepers – I was probably around 14 at the time.  It paid dividends and I would even take it to the park for a few workouts by myself.

You can find a cheap agility ladder for about $25 with a carrying case.  I wouldn’t worry too much about the length of the ladder since endurance shouldn’t be too much of a goal when you train your goalkeepers.  Anything around 15 or 20 feet should do just fine.

1. Make Every Service Count - It’s vital for a goalkeeper coach to be good with his/her feet and encourage the same from other training goalkeepers. If for whatever reason your shots and serves are off, adjust the drill. It’s extremely frustrating for a goalkeeper to run through cones, jump through hurdles, or do an up down and not get a shot on goal. At the same token, it’s also frustrating for a goalkeeper to do any kind of footwork and not have a shot at saving the ball because timing is off. Volleys instead of shots, tosses instead of services from the feet, and changing the distance are all easy ways for a coach to adjust their services. As for adjusting the timing, consider taking a touch (or not taking a touch) or moving further away from the goal when you’re shooting.
2. Quick Catching Drills During The Goalkeeper’s Rest - Before you give your goalkeeper a water break, do a quick handling drill to work on catching while the goalkeeper is tired. I like doing the 20 catches drill – the goalkeeper goes down on his/her knees and I stand about 5 yards away and volley the ball above the goalkeeper’s waist. This seems easy, but it’s actually tough to concentrate on a simple task when you’re tired. 20 catches in a row is a great goal (just make sure you’re not kicking them too easy).
3. Incorporate Goalkeeper Distribution As Much As Possible – If you’re training a younger goalkeeper that needs work on punting, have him/her volley the ball back to you.  Same goes for throwing the ball, especially with younger and smaller goalkeepers.  Instead of your goalkeeper just under-handed tossing the ball to you when your 20 yards away, have them throw it to you.  But don’t let them throw it to your hands, have them play your feet like they would in a game.
4. Use Warm-up Drills As A Foundation To Your Session – If your goalkeeper training session calls for a few breakaway drills, try to incorporate a warm-up drill that involves the goalkeeper hitting the ground.  If your session focuses on crosses, add high balls to the goalkeepers warm-up.  Make the necessary adjustments to your goalkeeper’s technique during the warm-up.
5. Plan Your Goalkeeper Session In Advance, But Be Flexible - Don’t waste time figuring out what to do next, plan your goalkeeper sessions ahead of time or at least think of what area of goalkeeping you want to cover.  When in advance you can have a much smoother transition between drills and have drills that build off one another.  At the same time, don’t be too rigid with your plans.  If your goalkeeper is struggling with an early drill, spend extra time on it or adjust it so your goalkeeper is getting something out of it.  The same applies if a drill seems too easy – make it more difficult (see tip #1) or move on to the next quicker.  Have a plan, but be flexible.

Equipment needed: 4 – 6 soccer balls, and 2 cones (or a goal)

Drill Duration: about 8 reps on both sides

Setup:
Have the goalkeeper lay on his/her chest in front of one goal post with his/her head facing out. The coach should stand 12 to 20 yards away.

Steps:

1. The goalkeeper begins chest down at the near post facing out of the goal. The coach can be anywhere between 12 to 20 yards away to mimic a cross going on the ground across the goal to an opponent – the coach can stand closer to the near post or in the middle of the goal (since it’s all a likely game situation).
2. The coach gives the command for the goalkeeper to get up and get across the goal and set for the shot. The coach should take a touch before he or she shoots, but that is not necessary. The coach should also vary the shots and shoot for the near post and far post.
3. After the play is over, the goalkeeper returns to the same post to repeat the drill.

**** If your goalkeeper does not seem like he or she is setting before the ball is striked, shoot early at the near post – most likely the goalkeeper will be off balance.

3 Ways to Teach Goalkeepers Patience with Crosses & Corner Kicks

Working on punts and goal kicks can be pretty boring for a goalkeeper - you can either make them punt or kick into the goal or with a partner.  This is a really simple and fun goalkeeper drill that I like to play with my goalkeepers.  It mainly works on goalkeeper distribution, specifically punts, goal kicks, and dropkicks, but also works on catching high balls.

Equipment needed: 4 – 6 soccer balls, 8 cones, and space
Drill Duration: It’s a game – set a score to play to

Setup:
Create 2 evenly sized squares (at least 10 x 10 yards) and put them between 10 and 40 yards apart. The distance will depend on your goalkeepers skill level with punts, dropkicks, and goal kicks.

Rules:
The goalie can score a point by either kicking the ball so it drops in the opposing goalkeepers square or catches the ball before it bounces outside of their square. The coach or goalkeepers should decide on the distribution to use – punts, dropkick, or goal kick.

Steps:

• Determine the type of distribution and set a score – I personally like to do a practice round and then decide on how many points wins before we keep score. This way, you can accurately set a score that will keep the game running long (or short) enough on time.
• One goalkeeper starts with the ball and serves it from behind or in the back half of their square. For the goalkeeper that’s serving the ball, they want to try to make it bounce in the opposing goalkeeper’s square.
• The opposing goalkeeper tries to catch the ball at its highest point while making an early and loud keeper call. After the play, the goalkeeper who received will then serve the ball to the opposing goalkeeper.
• Repeat until the decided amount of points to win has been scored.

View the printable version of this goalkeeper drill.