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Soccer Training Tips: A Guide To Coaching Goalkeepers

August 25th, 2010

The importance of soccer training tips for goalkeepers can be easily made out from the fact that a goalkeeper is the only player on the field who can touch the ball with both arms and hands.

For this reason, the soccer skills of a goalie give him an advantage over all the other players on the field. But this makes a soccer coach’s job quite challenging when it comes to coaching goalkeepers.

Depending on the method of play, soccer goalkeepers are often the first line of offence and last line of defense. They will not hesitate in putting their bodies in harms way to stop or block a shot into the goal. They are always geared up to go along any direction to capture the ball.

A goalie’s training for soccer can be very challenging, keeping in view their specific role requirements and their level of play. At the same time, his or her mental state should be kept in mind while teaching him various skills.

Soccer Training

Only one player in the team can be compared to a goalkeeper and that is the goal hungry striker. In fact, some of the best goalies have also been great strikers at one point or the other. You’ll frequently encounter a one on one battle at various levels of competition between goalies and forwards.

When it comes to soccer training tips, staying balanced and knowing the center of gravity of the body is of the essence to the goalkeeper. This will improve the activity of the goalie and the state of readiness of the player to make remarkable gains in a game setting.

Although most soccer goalkeepers are tall and have long arms and big hands, but even if he or she is short, they usually compensate for the lack of height with good vertical and lateral mobility.

A coach must always remember that though goalkeepers have a good sense of self-worth but even then they need constant motivation. Soccer Goalkeepers need to do their regular warm ups with the team, but then separate from the team and perform the specific soccer drills that will prepare them for the game.

Goalkeepers have a dominant personality and in that sense they are also the leaders of the teams. So they should be placed in a voiced and representative capacity so that they can successfully accomplish their duties with the support of all the team members.

The goalie is allowed to handle the ball only in the 18 yard box. If there is anyone other than the goalie, who gets to touch the ball, the opponent team wins a free kick. If it is a goalie’s teammate, it’s a penalty shoot from “the spot”.

So your job now is to use these soccer training tips to improve goalkeeper’s performance on the field as they are the leaders inside the 18 yard box and should be valued by their teammates. Join our youth soccer coaching community that has numerous relevant articles, newsletters, videos, and podcasts to help your broaden your knowledge on soccer coaching.

Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Soccer Drills.