By Wayne Henderson -
Sometimes as a coach you may not get everything in your session exactly as you would like it, for example you may be working in a smaller area on the training pitch, or you may not have as many goalkeepers as you thought you might have, or, a popular situation that I have come across on a regular basis is that you dont get as much time with your goalkeepers as you would prefer. In this situation you, as a coach then need to make the most of the time you have with your keepers.
This drill is a good example of working with your goalkeepers for 20 – 40 minutes and you are working on many different technical aspects of their game.
Crossing
Distribution
Movement
Focus
And shot-stopping
The set up is as follows – 3 feeders – 1 delivering a cross from the wide area, 1 starting in between the penalty spot and 6 yard box applying slight pressure to the goalkeeper, and 1 delivering a shot from 20 yards out from goal in a central area (anywhere around the D at the edge of the box) and 1 goalkeeper, all players should rotate throughout the drill.
The feeder from the wide area starts the drill with delivering a cross into the 6 yard box that the goalkeeper will come and collect at its highest point. The player who started in between the 6 yard box and penalty spot also attacks the ball passively to begin with. This gets the goalkeeper used to having players around them when they are collecting crosses.
Once the ‘keeper has collected the cross he/she throws the ball back out to the crosser, at the same time the passive attacker now moves back to the penalty spot to act as an attacker and get in the goalkeepers line of sight. As shown in Diagram below
The goalkeeper now has to move quickly in to position to get ready to make a save from the feeder who is striking the ball from the ground. It is very important that the feeder waits until the goalkeeper is in his/her ready position before taking the shot at goal. It is also vital the attacker on the penalty spot is focused because shots will be coming very close to him/her and they must be ready to adjust their position accordingly.
The positioning of the striker can change and depending on the striker’s ability, this could develop the drill even further.
If the striker can curl the ball around the attacker on the penalty spot, this now increases the focus required by the goalkeeper, because the ball will be hidden by the attacker on the penalty spot for a split second as the shot passes him/her on way to the goal. This is a great variation to bring to the drill as it replicates situations that happen in a game regularly.
Repeat the drill 4-6 times per goalkeeper
By Wayne Henderson
