Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Drills for Soccer: Goalkeeping Secrets Revealed



Ever imagined how difficult would it be for a goalkeeper to perform his job effectively and this is the reason why a goalkeeper’s drills should be broadly covered in the drills for soccer? Let’s talk about some soccer drills that are designed for the sole purpose of building a goalkeeper’s skills.

Single-handed catch: Ask for any one of your colleagues to capture the ball in this drill. He or she should be shooting the ball at you when you are positioned on the goal line. He or she should do it on both sides; right and left. The shoots should be to both the sides randomly.

This drill has a dual benefit of improving the goalie’s ability to grab hold of the ball single-handedly and concentrate on the shot. Prior to taking a shot, it’s better if the goalie can keep his feet evenly on the playground and focus on getting the ball as early as possible.

Two-hands catch: Ask your fellow player to put the ball on the ground in these soccer exercises. Move away from the ball at about 5 yards. Now tell your colleague to strike the ball hard and you should try to capture the ball with your stomach acting as a wall to help you.

Fold your hands in a W shaped form so as to have them behind the ball while trying to grab the ball.

Catching Low Shots; these drills for soccer require you to position yourself in the center of the goal-line and remain at a distance of at least 6 yards from the ball. You will aim at saving the goal from low lying shots both to the left and right. These shots examine a goalkeeper’s talents totally because they are a very common attribute in live matches.

Then the shooting player should hit the ball hard but low on either side without giving any clue to the goalie. These drills allow the goalkeeper’s to sharpen their talent to save low shots, predict things upfront, and perk-up their focus.

Tackling High Shots; as is obvious, this drill teaches the goalie to catch the ball in the air. This drill is performed more or less in the same way as the earlier drill other than that one of the team member’s of goalie should kick the ball high up in air. The goalie should not then wait for the ball but jump higher so as to grab the ball early.

It is these drills that make a goalie’s training complete, correct, and commanding. Also, never forget that it is the regular practice of these drills that’ll make you an ever improving player. Your soccer practice schedule for training the goalkeeper’s must include all the above drills.

Obviously, no training program can be complete in itself. When you continue to innovate with the drills, the players will be in a better position to tackle unanticipated situations. Therefore being a coach, pay attention to the technique and encourage players to perform well.

So go ahead and apply these drills for soccer after you’ve equipped yourself with all the relevant information. You’ll see a dramatic change in the speed with which they react to different situations and master them.

If you are interested in getting more knowledge on drills for goalkeepers, join our youth soccer coaching community which offers tons of relevant information on this topic.


Andre Botelho is known online as "The Expert Youth Soccer Coach" and his free Drills for soccer ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. To skyrocket your players' skills and make practice fun in record time, download your free Soccer Drills ebook at: Fun Soccer Drills.


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