Coaches Blog

The longer I coach goalkeepers, the more I am assured that the athletic aspect of goalkeeping is completely vital to our success. What I mean by that is that we must be using our speed and strength in our movements. Some types of goalkeeping technique limits our natural and athletic movement, reducing either our strength or speed or both. This just cannot happen. Often it is technique for the sheer sake of technique that does this to us.

Let me give an example.

When you watch a basketball player jump up to dunk a basketball, he or she does not bring the knee up. The reason not is that bringing the knee up causes the player to lean back reducing speed and height in the jump. This will also reduce momentum in the jump, obviously reducing height even more.

When jumping for a cross or a high ball, goalkeepers are often asked or coached to bring up their knee for protection. In most cases, this will limit the goalkeepers athleticism in the height of their jump. The goalkeeper should only be bringing the knee up in the case of a ball coming down in the space immediately in front of the goalkeeper. This will allow the goalkeeper to get high in their jump in cases where they don't have time for momentum or space to run up into the jump. For the most part, balls are not played right into the goalkeeper with much opposition, they are mostly played to the side of the Keeper (driven crosses or corner kicks). Generally though, the goalkeeper is asked to do this so that they are protected from a collision.

Which brings me to the next example.

When you watch football, how many times do you see a wide receiver bring his knee up to protect himself when he jumps up to catch a high thrown ball. Never, right? But talk about a person in need of protection against getting hit, especially when running through the middle of the field. He does not bring his knee up because doing so will cause his shoulders to go back and not only limit his ability to remain fast but also strong in the catch. This will also cause him to stop when he lands. This is dangerous for him in a number of ways. If he does not run out of the space he caught the ball in he will most assuredly be hit harder than otherwise because he has stopped or slown down, but worse he is off balance on the landing and cannot brace himself for impact by leaning in to the collision. By limiting his ability to be strong in the air, he also limits the height on his jump. More concerning though is the fact that he can't continue to move as quickly to get himself out of the space where he caught the ball.

The idea in asking the goalkeeper to bring up the knee is not necessarily a bad one, but the practice of it is lacking. In many cases though, it stops the player from staying fast into the save, causes them to lean back when going up for the ball, and forces them to run up under the ball with the ball flying over and behind the player. This is something that we see often, goalkeepers running under the ball and looking as though they miss timed the jump. This is due to their desire to bring the knee up, they have to step too far under it and let it get above them. It is very athletically difficult to jump as high as possible while bringing the knee up without the ball getting over the head, and stay fast through the process.

I personally, would rather have a goalkeeper stay forward so that they are braced for impact in the air and have the ability to land and get out of the space of impact quickly to avoid a collision altogether. This is especially the case on a driven ball (like on a corner kick) that is to the side of the goalkeeper. By allowing themselves to remain forward, the goalkeeper maximises their speed in to space (allowing for a longer range), increases their ability to jump (allowing them to get up for a higher ball), and keeps themselves in a position to brace themselves for impact in the case of being hit (which gives them more confidence to go for the ball in the first place). Now the goalkeeper also has the ability to deliver a blow instead of being knocked back.

All this being said, none of what I have mentioned even brings up the fact that bringing the knee up and into a player of the opposing team is not only dangerous to the other player, but in the modern game is often called as dangerous play often resulting (rightly so) in a penalty kick.

This explanation may fly against some generally accepted goalkeeping techniques, but if it goes against general athleticism, we must question the practice of it.

Technique just for the sake of technique is simply silly!! Technique must makes us (or keep us) quick and strong!

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