By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on reaction saves on close shots.
When we think about goalkeeping, and more specifically shot blocking, we think big goals and shots to the upper corners.
In this activity it’s close in shots with a keeper protecting a small goal.
Start with a goal that is
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork, diving and being creative in shot blocking.
The other day I was speaking with a friend who asked “do you think the game of soccer would be a lot different if keepers couldn’t use their hands?”. My first thought was “this is a typical thought process of a non soccer person” but then I started thinking more about this.
One of the most enjoyable training activities I have done is a simple shooting activity with a server just outside the 18 with a line of balls and a keeper in goal.
The server shoots on goal and the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on forward dives.
Start with a keeper in goal, a server with some balls at the top of the 18 and two field players just in front of the keeper.
The ball gets played, on the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on dealing with distractions.
Start with a keeper in goal, a server 15 yards out and two players in front of the keeper. The server has a few balls.
As the server shoots a ball, the two
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays featured activity is a simple drill that works on catching and footwork.
Start with two keepers facing each other from 5 yards apart. Each keeper has a ball in his hands.
Each keeper tosses the ball, underhand, slightly to
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with developing good habits to deal with rebounds.
Coaches like to do a lot of pressure training which can be defined as a lot of activity in a short period of time. An example of this would be a server with a line of balls and a keeper in goal.
The server shoots the balls as quickly as
Continue readingBy Keith Scarlett
This activity works on technical and tactical aspects of finishing, passing, attacking in a 1v1 situation and goalkeeping.
Set-up:
Field length is 44 yards (length of the penalty area). Width is from the edge/corner of the penalty area to the midfield line. Two flags should be placed in the middle of each end line to be used as goals. 4 additional cones should be placed equidistant from each corner-flag (goal-post) and each corner cone on the end lines; per the diagram.
Each goal should have a goalkeeper in it whom is playing full-out and the balls should be split into two groups and placed
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on dribbling, passing, shooting and goalkeeping.
Start with two goals set up 40 yards apart. There is a keeper in each goal and 2 mannequins in the middle yards apart (if you don’t have a mannequin, corner flags, coaching sticks or, if necessary cones will work. There are 2 lines of players with balls 5 yards to the opposite side of each goal.
To start, the first player in each line dribbles at the near
I don't think most coaches give a lot of thought to the needs of their goalkeepers when they sit down to plan their session. They're usually just another player in the team for most of the session and then go in goal when it comes time to shoot or play a game. While it's important for all goalkeepers, especially young goalkeepers, to work with the ball at their feet they also need to train with the team in functional exercises. This establishes a link between the goalkeeper rest of the team that will translate to game day.
A book that got me thinking about this subject is, "Team Training for the Goalkeeper" by John Murphy. In this book Murphy gives examples for training your goalkeepers with the team in all phases of training. Warm-up, Functional Training, Possession, Small-Sided Games, Phase of Play exercises and 11 v 11 setting are all discussed. He also includes full sessions that integrate the goalkeeper throughout the session.
Here are a few warm-up exercises
Continue readingWelcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured topic works on recognition, positioning and shot blocking.
This activity uses two cones 8 yards apart representing a goal and a keeper in the goal. There are 6 players (3 on each side) spread out around 18 yards from goal with balls.
Play starts by one of the players taking a short touch of their ball. This is the keepers signal so he
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 1 v 1 attacking and defending as well as goalkeeping. A great deal of emphasis should be put on the individual defending in this game as it’s a part of the game that is frequently neglected. To learn more about how to do this please check out the DVD Coaching Individual Defending: Attitude and Technique.
Start with 2 goals 30 yards apart with a keeper in each goal. There should be a group of players with balls near the right post of each goal.
The first player on the black team starts by dribbling out at full speed and
Many years ago, when I first created FineSoccer.com I described one of my favorite fitness activities. It’s a combination of breakaways, sprints, defending and goalkeeping and over 10 years later it’s still one of the best conditioning activities I know.
This activity requires two full sized goals, a keeper in each goal and 4-6 players to the right side of each goal. The size of the field can vary as the further the goals are from each other the greater the distance of each run but the closer they are together the more runs each player will get in a given time period. I have done this with goals as close as 35 yards apart and as far apart as 120 yards. In this example we are going to go with the goals 60 yards apart.
This is a breakaway activity with a defender chasing. To start, one player from the