By Danny Carvalho,
This session was designed to minimize “mad scientists” invention when it comes to train your goalies. Simple, straight to the point, technical guided and quite efficient.
Warm Up
Simply have the coach take four shots on goal to get the goalie to stop the shot in the air. Perform four to six sets for each GK.
Activity 1
We have all seen this before (mostly in yhe youth game): GKs performing fantastic “photographic-instagramable-cinematographic” saves in the air like true heroes and then it only takes one low shot to beat them. Got to work on the ground saves!
Do four shots for each goalie, four to six sets.
Don’t exaggerate on the number of shots in a row.
1. It’s not game realistic
2. A save is a high intensity effort. It demands an appropriate interval
Activity 2
Ok, I’ll come clean. This one has quite of the invention.
Place some of your old and wrecked equipment in the six-yard box. The goal is to have obstacles to deflect the ball and have the GK work on their speed of reaction to stop the deflected shot. Quite like a game situation where a shot is taken with a bunch of players on the way.
Once again, four shots per GK, four to six sets each.
Activity 3
I call this one the “Machine Gun drill”.
Have a cone at each side of the goal, a good number of balls and players ready to take shots. At the coach’s command, the first player takes the shot. GK stops it, runs around a cone and get back to try to stop another shot. And this is how it goes non-stop until the last shot.
As this is usually and end of session challenge, you can do up to five shots, two or three sets per goalie
By Danny Carvalho, DOC at Corinthians Campinas Youth Club, Brasil
