By Wayne Henderson -
At this time of year in the United Kingdom the adverse weather conditions can cause havoc when preparing and delivering your coaching sessions. Due to frost and snow, The Grass pitches we use were unplayable and we found ourselves and the rest of our team training on a smaller than usual Astroturf pitch. As a result, I came across a problem I hadn’t confronted for a few years – training in a limited space. Although this could have been a problem it is still possible to deliver a quality session albeit, in a relatively small area.
Warm-Up
Side stepping through the cones to take a lobbed feed.
Variation
Feed can change to a volley or Diving save from thrown feed.
Passing and Handling
Set up
1 Goalkeeper, 3 feeders, a 4-6 yard goal marked by poles or cones, with a small 2 yard area marked at each side of the goal.
Feeders 1 and 3 always lob ball into small marked area to the side of the goal for the keeper to pass the ball back 1st time by volley or ½ volley.
Feeder 1 always lobs to keepers right foot. Feeder 3 always lobs to keepers left foot.
Feeder 2 delivers a ½ volley feed every time the goalkeeper gets to the middle point of the goal.
Coaching Points
Coach is looking for good quality of passing from the goalkeeper, preferably back into the feeder’s hands. As soon as the keeper has made the pass, he/she must quickly move into position and be in a good, balanced ready position when feeder 2 is ready to shoot.
Progression
With older goalkeepers the drill can continue, working side to side for up to 3 or 4 passes with each foot and all the saves in between, depending on the age of the goalkeepers.
Crossing and Shot-Stopping
Set up
1 Goalkeeper, 3 feeders and 1 small cone marking out 5 yard goal for goalkeeper to defend throughout the drill.
Feeder 1 – will lob ball into front post area, for keeper to catch at highest point and throw ball back to feeder.
Feeder 2 will ½ volley ball into 5 yard goal once keeper has quickly got into position in 5 yard goal.
Feeder 3 strikes shot from ground once keeper is in position
Variations
Feeder 1 can reproduce a cut back along the ground instead of a lob.
Feeders 2 and 3 can vary the type of feeds they give the goalkeeper i.e.
½ volley, Low ½ volley, dipping volley or strike from ground etc.
If for whatever reason, that you don’t have a lot of space available, with a little bit of planning and thought it is possible to deliver a quality session that can incorporate many aspects of goalkeeping, in this example with limited space our goalkeepers worked on Handling, Crossing, Passing and shot stopping.
By Wayne Henderson
