Are you a soccer goalie with lofty performance goals this year? If you truly set the (cross)bar high, Total Soccer can help you improve your skills with private soccer training in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and the surrounding communities. Additionally, you can work to improve the three essential skills listed below whenever you are training or practicing your goalkeeping abilities. Before learning about how you should apply each skill, check out the infographic below to see how they look on the field:
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Communication
The best goalies aren’t the ones who can make two or three diving stops in a row — it’s the goalies who never even have to block a shot. As goalkeeper, your job is to command the team — especially your defense — and keep everyone organized in order to prevent too many shots from being taken. Of course, this is also a coaching responsibility, but goalies stand right in front of the net and can pick up on patterns as the game unfolds, so in a game situation, they typically know exactly where defenders are needed.
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Covering Angles
A skilled goalie knows that they cannot simply stand on the goal line and hope for the best — when the opponent is pressuring your defense, you need to be constantly moving and adjusting your position so that strikers will have a have to shoot around you. When executed properly, “shooting around you” means that they will either kick the ball out of play or into a wall of your defenders. If you find yourself in a one-on-one scenario where the opponent is dribbling towards you freely, run towards them and make yourself as big as possible. Wait for the opponent to make the first move, or else they may fake you out and go around you.
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Blocking the High Ball
Blocking a high shot is one of the hardest things to do as a goalie. In a scenario where the opponent takes a high shot, you may want to simply push or punch the ball away, rather than attempting to catch a ball you can barely reach. Remember to stay focused on the ball, not the person kicking it or opponents standing elsewhere on the field. To protect yourself from collisions on crosses and other plays where there may be a crowd near the goal, bend one of your knees towards your body while jumping to create a barrier.
These three skills are crucial for soccer goalies, but there are so many more factors that make a great goalkeeper! Our personal soccer trainers help goalies throughout Montgomery County and Bucks County master the art of goalkeeping — call today to get signed up!