A Representative Goalkeeper’s Guide to Keeping

The first rule of being a goal keeper is to be confident. If you don’t think you can make the save, you never will. You don’t need to be cocky, just be quietly confident.

The second rule of being a goal keeper is to always keep your eyes on the ball. So many times I have seen a Keeper look away for a split second, without realizing that the striker just fired off a shot.

The third and final rule of being a goal keeper is not to be scared of the ball, and the opposing team’s players. Sure, sometimes they might be bigger than you, but under the rules they are barely allowed to touch you, and most players realize that.

The situations in which you HAVE to make a save are:

1. One on one with the striker (Ran around the defense)
2. Corners (headers or normal shots)
3. Free Kicks
4. And finally, normal shots with players between you and the striker

When you are one on one with a striker, if they are being closely followed by a defender and you think the defender will put him under pressure, give him a chance to catch up before advancing. If there is no defender near the striker and they are getting close to the goal, move towards him slowly, then they will either shoot (Hopefully giving you time to react) or take another touch in. If they do take another touch, sprint as fast as you can and scream at the top of your lungs “KEEPERS!” This will put the striker off. The last step to saving the day in this situation is to dive at there feet. This is where most keepers are worried they will hurt or get hurt. The trick is to dive on the ball and curl around it, not allowing the striker even a faint chance of trying to kick the ball. Please note however that a good striker will be able to score more times than not.

Corners. A shot resulting from a corner is always hard to save. People are between you and the ball, and the striker is almost always close to the goal. One way to avoid this is to come out and claim the ball in the air before the striker gets a shot by either punching it away or catching it. Make sure you always have someone on near post and back post to help stop any loose shots. Good luck.

Free kicks are one of the most nervous times for a goalkeeper during a match. Most good teams have a free kick taker that can hit the upper 90 of the goal fairly easily. The simple way of stopping this is to position you and the wall correctly. The wall should always block near post, and you should not be able to see the ball through the wall. Position well and it is very hard to score.

Normal shots, while being in my opinion easier to save, can still present a problem to any keeper. To increase the chance of saving a shot, the trick is to position yourself correctly. Positioning is arguably the most important skill in keeping. To be able to force the angle of the shot to go only a meter to the side of you means the striker has to have pin point aiming to get it past you. If you are having trouble with your positioning (It normally just comes with game practice) go talk to a senior Goalkeeper at your club.

The best way to train all these is in game experience, so try and play as many games as you can, and try and get down to the pitch with your friends as well. Good luck and happy Keeping.