Soccer Goalie Drills: [Printable Drill Diagrams]

When developing our goalkeepers we have to take a slightly different approach to their training. Most coaches will segregate their goalkeepers from rest of the team, have them working alone or with a bunch of other goalkeepers.

Now, while that certainly has it’s benefits and can work, when coaching young goalkeepers (8+) it’s far more beneficial to have them integrated with your team as much as possible.

By this I mean ensuring that they get plenty of time playing outfield as they do in goal.

Why?

Well apart from the obvious social benefits, modern day goalkeepers are required to be comfortable with the ball at their feet, be able to pass the ball out from the back and have the confidence to beat a player if the need arises. And the best way to achieve these things are by letting your goalkeepers train with your team – in goal AND out.

As I mentioned though, there will be time that you’ll need specific goalkeeper training for your young players. So what do you do?

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Soccer Goalie Key Coaching Points

Depending on the age group you’re working with you’re going to want to use some or all of the following coaching points in your training sessions;

Basic Goalie Coaching Points

• Both hands move together
• Keep hands behind the ball
• Create a diamond shape with the fingers (Index fingers turned towards each other with the thumbs close to one another)
• Elbows should be tucked in
• For low catches: The arms should out in front of the torso with the elbows tucked in and the palms facing upwards. As the ball enters the arms, goalkeepers need to be encouraged to wrap the ball into close to their chest
• For rolling ground balls: Goalkeepers should be encouraged to put one knee down and step one foot beside the ball. When picking the ball up, again, the elbows tucked in with the palms facing up.
• For high catches: Hands should represent a ‘W’ with the the little fingers being the outside of the ‘W’ and the thumbs representing the middle
• Goalkeepers ready position: Keepers should be on the balls of their feet, with their knees slightly bent while staying relaxed and focused on the ball
• Step in to the ball when making the save
• When make the save, they should be encouraged to side step or shuffle into position getting their body behind the ball
• When making the save goalies should be encouraged to push the ball away from the attackers
• Stay focused on the ball until they have it safely in their hands

More Advanced Goalkeeping Coaching Points

When following the game the keeper needs to be aware of the position of the ball and where that ball might end up going. Once your comfortable with the standard of your keepers development you can move onto other aspect of their game such as; angles, distribution and reading the game. When looking at these areas of development, here’s a few key coaching points to keep in mind;

• Narrow the angles: The keeper needs to follow the position of the ball. If the ball is center of the goal then generally speaking the keeper needs to also be center of the goal. If however, the ball moves slightly over to either side of the pitch the keeper with need to adjust his position to reflect the new position of the ball. This is what’s known as ‘narrowing the angles’
• Distributing the ball: Goalies can distribute the ball in 3 ways; they can roll the ball, throw the ball or kick the ball. You should constantly work on the different distributions methods and allow you keeper to develop the confidence to choose the right one when it comes to games and matches. Where possible, you’ll want your keepers to distribute the ball out wide away from the initial pressure
• Reading the game:  Things to keep in mind for this are; reading the most influential players on the pitch, identifying what foot a player is likely to shoot with, where the open players are and runs that their own team-mates are making.

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In this guide, I have put together 10 soccer goalie drills that can be used across your training sessions. Some drills requires goalkeepers to work on their own, some a great for pre-game warm up drills and others can be used with maximum participation from other players on the team.

Goalkeeper Equipment

For each drill you’re going to need at least;

Some of the goalie drills below will require additional equipment. I have listed these under each drill. While you don’t absolutely need additional pieces of equipment they are highly recommend not only for drill variation but the overall development and engagement of your young goalkeepers.

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Goalie Warm Up Circuit

This drill is a simple circuit warm up that combines a number areas your goalkeepers need to work on.

You can have this set up and have a number of keepers run through in a continuous circuit.

Again, as with any circuit type drill you don’t need to use the exact stations I have illustrated above – there are plenty of other variations, drills, skills and activities you could add to this. Just remember to keep it simple but effective.

You could also use a soccer rebounder as one of your stations. You’ll get some soccer rebounder drill idea in another drill further down – but for this drill specifically they’d work really well.

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Unpredictable

Coaching Points

The drills requires 3 attackers feeding the ball in from different angles, some different sized and shaped cones to disrupt the balls roll / flight path and some mannequins to act as defenders to obstruct the keepers view.

On the call the keeper must get round the mannequins, be aware of what attacker is playing the ball in and react to save the ball. The goalkeeper should not know what attacker is playing the ball in.

Progression

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Target Box

Coaching Points

For this drill the more keepers you have on your team / at your club the better – however if you’re struggling to get 4 keepers you can have other outfield players take part. In-fact for younger players this would be a great warm up activity for everyone.

The game starts by one keeper serving the ball underarm into another keepers quarter.

The ball is allowed to bounce once – and then must be palmed / hit into another keepers box. If the ball bounces twice or outside the area that keeper loses a point. All keepers start with 5 points.

Progression

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Reaction

Coaching Points

For the colored cones, whenever the player/coach calls out a color the keeper must quickly move to that color, come back to the middle and react in time to save the shot.

For the outside equipment, same rules apply. This is a great drill that can be used as part of your pre-game warm up.

Progression

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Not In My Backyard

Coaching Points

To start the drill, the keeper passes the ball to the attacker who tried to get past the keeper into the shaded area. The keeper must stop him by either saving the ball from going into the area or forcing the attacker into the ‘dead’ zone.

Progression

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Soccer Rebounder Drills

Coaching Points

Soccer Rebounders… the quick scoop

I won’t spend this whole post going into detail on the different soccer rebounders currently on the market as I have already done that here. However what I will say, is at the very least I’d recommend grabbing one of the Crazy Catch products as each model comes with both an ‘insane’ and ‘sane’ rebound  netting.

• Sane: When the ball rebounds, it comes back in a predictable way
• Insane: The ball returns to the thrower in an unpredictable way

I’ve gone into more detail on the whole Crazy Catch product range here…

These aren’t any specific drills per se – but each sections highlights some of the ways in which your can add and use soccer rebounders to your goalie training.

• 1) Your goalkeepers can help develop each other. One throws the ball at the rebounder while the other makes the save. Alternate between goalkeepers.
• 2) Individual training – can be used as part of a pre-game warm up
• 3) Using a handheld rebounder
• 4) Progressing the drill a little more so the keeper has to react to the rebounder ball and then a shot from one of the the attackers.

Progression

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Get There First

For this simple drill, the coach / player kicks the ball towards the gates – the keeper must react and pick up the ball before it crosses the line.

This is another great little drill you can use before games.

Progression

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Colored Gates

Coaching Points

To start the coach hits a ball towards the keeper. The keeper must catch the ball, feed it back then react to what ever color the coach calls.

If for example, the coach calls a color (eg Blue) or calls ‘Goal’ – the keeper must get to that gate as quickly as possible to save another shot before returning back to the middle.

Progression

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Colored Gates

Coaching Points

Each player has a number/letter. The coach calls out the a player and that player must have a shot on goal. Once the keeper catches the ball they must then roll or throw the ball towards one of the targets. In this case, there’s 2 goals and 2 mannequins.

Progression

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4-Goal

Coaching Points

Each player has a number/letter. The coach calls out the a player and that player must have a shot on goal. Once the keeper catches the ball they must then roll or throw the ball towards one of the targets. In this case, there’s 2 goals and 2 mannequins.

Progression

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