By Scott Housden -
The drill below is superb for allowing the goalkeeper to improve their fitness within their goalkeeping environment. It can be used as a warm up for a main session on diving, or indeed as a component for a conditioning session throughout the season and also pre-season.
Set Up
The drill is best suited for 5 – 6 goalkeepers. Remember that all serves are thrown and not kicked throughout this drill.
1) The goalkeeper starts at the central cone and quickly moves to the first cone, touching it with both hands and then getting in a ‘set’ position. As the goalkeeper sets, server 1 underarm throws the ball towards the goalkeeper’s left at around waist height allowing the goalkeeper to make a comfortable ‘foot, knee, shoulder’ diving save to their left. The goalkeeper recovers quickly and moves quickly back to touch the central cone.
2) The goalkeeper then moves quickly to touch the second cone and ‘set’ where server 2 underarm throws the ball towards the goalkeeper’s left at around waist height allowing the goalkeeper to make a comfortable ‘foot, knee, shoulder’ diving save to their left. The goalkeeper returns the ball to the server whilst they are still on the ground. The goalkeeper recovers quickly to their feet and touches the second cone again, ‘sets’ and performs a second ‘foot, knee, shoulder’ diving save, again returning the ball to the server whilst they are grounded. The goalkeeper recovers quickly and moves quickly back to touch the central cone.
3) This is repeated at the third cone where the goalkeeper performs three ‘foot, knee, shoulder’ diving saves before they recover quickly back to touch the central cone.
4) This is repeated at the fourth cone where the goalkeeper performs four ‘foot, knee, shoulder’ diving saves before they recover quickly back to touch the central cone.
5) When completed at the fourth cone, the next goalkeeper quickly starts.
This is then repeated albeit with all ‘foot, knee, shoulder’ saves being on the right hand side of the goalkeeper.
6) The final phase of the drill is completed with the goalkeeper having to perform diving saves to the left and to the right before they can move on to the next cones (i.e. left, right, left right etc.), with a total of two diving saves made at the first cone (left then right), four at the second cone (left, right x 2), six at the third cone and 8 at the fourth cone (left, right x 4).
Coaching Points
As we are working on specific goalkeeper conditioning we must ensure that all actions involved in undertaking this drill albeit simple are done to the best of the goalkeeper’s ability, especially when they are fatiguing.
• Quick balanced movement to each cone, with a balanced ‘set’ position ready to make a save.
• Attacking the ball and leading with your hands when making a ‘foot knee shoulder’ diving save.
• Quick recovery after making a diving save using your top ‘pendulum’ leg and forward moving top shoulder motion.
• Try to encourage consistency throughout the drill (quick balanced movement, ‘set’ position and diving technique).
By Scott Housden
Scott is both a UEFA ‘B’ and UEFA ‘B’ Goalkeeping Coach and holds a Masters in Sports Management. He has been a goalkeeper coach in professional football in the UK and Australia at First Team, Academy and Women’s levels. He currently runs a Goalkeeper Academy in the Western Suburbs of Brisbane, Australia.
