SAVING
Goalkeepers and would be goalkeepers need to get the "feel"
of the football.
There's an old story of a young lad who wanted to play in
goal and his first advice came from a former professional
keeper who told him:
"Get into bed at night and hold a football firmly and
then loosely using both hands. Get the feel of the ball, and
then before going to sleep put the ball down at the side of
the bed. In the morning the first thing you do is pick up
the ball, and go through the handling process again".
It may seem a bit strange, but the old professional was trying
to make the youngster understand the meaning of feeling comfortable
at handling a football.
Being able to catch and hold on to the ball is the key point,
and any goalkeeper will tell you that it's a case of practice,
practice, practice to improve both technique and co-ordination.
In earlier sessions we have discussed various aspects of the
goalkeeping art, so now we turn to the actual saving of shots,
headers at goal.
Primarily a goalkeeper needs to be agile, focussed, courageous
and alert, so here along with handling techniques are a few
opening practices to begin life as the last line of defence.
Practice 1
Goalkeeper (G) between two sticks (S), a server with a number
of fooballs. S serves (by hand), varying the service, full
lob in the air and on the ground. G has to save, then return
the ball to S, who will immediately serve again. S stands
around 5 metres away from the goal. The extra balls are needed,
should the service pass the goalkeeper. This can be tiring
for G, so he should be encouraged by the coach (even by S
if need be) who should ensure that G does have a chance of
serving any service.
The practice must be realistic and G should note
a) that he holds on to the
ball whenever possible
b) tries to get his body behind
the ball when he saves
c) keeps on his toes all the
time, being ready to dive, or throw himself to save when the
need arises.
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