Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with keeping your body open to see the whole field.
It’s extremely easy for a keeper to get caught up ball watching and while it’s true the keeper wants to watch the ball, he must also see the rest of the field as well.
When the ball is on one side of the field there is a tendency for the keeper to turn his body in a way so he is square to the ball (in the diagram below, the keeper is positioning his body so that if the black player with the ball were to shoot, the keepers chest is perpendicular to the flight of the ball.
The problem with this is it makes it difficult for the keeper to the rest of the field so if a black player makes a run down the far side, the keeper might not see the run or, might be late giving directions to his teammates
The simple way to avoid this problem is to have the keeper adjust the direction his body is facing. Instead of having his body square to the possible flight of the ball the keeper should open up his body so it’s facing the center of the field which will allow him to see the entire field while still being able to quickly adjust to react to a quick shot.
By simply adjusting the direction the body is facing it allows for much better vision and mobility without losing the ability to make the save.
Have a great day
Lawrence
