Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on reacting to rebounds.
Most of a keepers training deals with balls coming toward them. It makes sense since most shots come toward the keeper. The thing to keep in mind is when there is a rebound (off the keeper, off the posts, off a defender) the ball might be going away from the goal.
Here is a simple activity to work on reactions and covering rebounds.
Start with a keeper standing in a ready position and a server 5 yards behind him with a ball in his hands.
The server tosses the ball against the keepers back and as soon as the ball hits his back, he must turn around and dive on the ball.
Sometimes the ball gets tossed against the back and other times it gets tossed against the legs. The keeper must react quickly and get to the ball as quickly as possible.
Next, they do the exact same thing but once the ball bounces off of the keeper, the server tries to win the ball. Now, the keeper must react quickly enough to prevent the server from winning the ball.
The ball will be going off on different angles depending upon how the ball is tossed so this will force the keeper to react accordingly.
This type of activity is a good change of pace and will help the keeper be prepared for reacting to rebounds.
Have a great day!
Lawrenceg
