By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork and the drop step.
Start with a keeper in goal, a speed ladder in front of him and a server 15 yards out.
The keeper starts by taking quick steps through the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive shape and passing.
Start with a 60 x 40 field broken into vertical quarters. There are 4 players in each quarter, with one team in 2 quarters and the other team in the other 2 quarters.
One team starts with the ball on one end. The opposing players in the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible. Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive footwork. One of the big problems players have in defending is poor footwork. If the players work at getting into a good stance/position and then using proper footwork to move backwards they frequently do so
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork for high crosses.
Start with a server with a ball near the 18 and end line, 4 cones that are one yard apart starting at the near post a few keepers near the far post.
The first keeper starts by stepping between each cone, touching and
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick footwork, changes of directions and diving.
Start with the keeper in a proper stance between two cones. There are two more cones 3 yards in front of the keeper and 3 yards to the side and a server 10 yards away with a ball.
The server starts by pointing to one of the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on getting to goal quickly.
There is a big emphasis these days on possession, working the ball out of the back and having a big build up. This activity works on the exact opposite, it’s about getting to goal quickly.
Start with a small sided field (in this case we will
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a 3 v 3 game with quick transition.
Start with a 40 x 25 grid with 4 foot wide goals on each end line. There is a 3 v 3 match up in the middle and each team has a second group of 3 behind their defensive end line.
The teams in the middle play a regular small sided game. The one exception is when a team gts scored upon, the team that gave up the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with the keeper giving himself room on free kicks (when possible).
We will start using the example of a free kick from 35 yards out and near the sideline.
Too often a keeper will allow the attacking team to get
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on short keeper distribution.
This activity requires one keeper and 5 field players. One field player starts behind the keeper and the others are 10 yards away with balls. There are 2 cones 15 yards to each side of the keeper.
The first player with the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive shape and preventing the penetrating pass.
Start with a 20 x 10 grid just beyond the top of the D. There are three attacking players and two defending players. There is also a keeper in goal.
The three attacking players start with a
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on punching and making the second save.
Start with a keeper in goal and 4 players spread around the 18 with balls.
One of the players out wide crosses the ball in and the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on developing play out of the midfield.
Start using half a field with a line 35 yards out. There is a keeper in goal, two attacking players and two defending players in the final quarter and four attacking players and three defending players in the area near midfield.
The attacking team starts with the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on passing, receiving and overlapping runs.
Start with an area 30 x 15. There are 2 players on each end and 2 players in the middle. One of the players on an end starts with a ball.
The player with the ball starts by passing to one of the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on reactions and quick dives.
While keepers love the excitement of the extended dive to save the shot hit toward the upper corner, the reality is the tough save is the hard low shot just to the side of the keeper. That hard low shot to the side is difficult to get down in time for, difficult to get the legs out of the way and extremely difficult to hold onto the ball. This series of activities works to prepare the keeper for this situation.
Start with a goal that is 3 yards wide. A keeper is in goal and a server is 5 yards away with balls.
To start the keeper plays a hard ball just to the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with when keepers are struggling.
Too often, when a keeper is struggling the coach thinks the proper response is...work harder. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the right solution.
The alternative is when a keeper is struggling, go back to the basics.
This is the time to look at the most important parts of the body for catching. One of the very first articles I wrote for FineSoccer.com was the three most important parts of the body for catching. 16 years later, they are still the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on playing off of the target player.
Start with a target player at the top of the 18, a defender right behind him (and players prepared to take their place) a server 40 yards out and a line of attackers even with the server. The server has balls and there is a keeper in goal.
The server starts by playing a ball into the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on shotblocking from different angles.
Start with two servers with balls on the 18, each even with a goal post. There is a keeper in goal and another keeper waiting on the side of the goal.
The first server starts by
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick passing combinations and shooting.
Start with three players in a triangle just outside the 18. The first player has a ball. There is a line of players outside the triangle with balls waiting to take the first player's spot. There is also a keeper in goal.
The first player passes to the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on technical training of diving and coming forward on the dive.
This can be used after the exercise from last week's post.
Start with 2 lines of staggered cones, 5 yards apart. There is one keeper who starts at one end between the two lines and a server 10 yards away, in between the cones.
The keeper starts by moving forward and the server
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 1 v 1 play and getting shots in tight spaces.
Too often we work on shooting with a stationary ball or with a lot of space to work within. This activity helps prepare the attacking player to be able to get a shot hit in a tight space.
Start with an attacking player on the top of the D, a defender at the top of the 18 and a keeper in goal. The attacking player has a ball.
As soon as the attacker touches the ball, the game is
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on coming forward on dives.
Start with a rectangle that us 8 yards wide and 4 yards deep. There is a keeper in the middle of the rectangle and a server, with a ball, on each end line, 10 yards away.
One server starts by playing a ball to a cone. The keeper must get out of the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible. Todays featured activity works on receiving balls, turning and quick touches. A player starts in between 2 cones that are 6 yards apart. There is a server, with a ball, 10 yards away. The server plays a ball on the ground, directly to the player. The receiving
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on hard passes, applying high pressure and receiving a ball under pressure and beating a defender.
Start with a 40 x 20 grid with a line 15 yards from one of the end line. There is a player on each end line and the one closest to the line in the middle has a ball.
The player with the ball drives a
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick movement, balance, and catching.
Start with a keeper standing in a 6 x 6 square. Each corner is numbered 1-4. There is a server 10 yards away with a ball.
The server calls a number and the keeper must
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