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 Parts of the body for catching

EDITION 2

First of all, I would like to thank people for their responses to my first newsletter.  I have received a number of suggestions for topics to write about and because of this I have decided to have two editions this week. I will send the third edition tomorrow.

Today’s Newsletter deals with the most important parts of the body in goalkeeping.

In my opinion, the three most important parts are the hands (pretty obvious), the eyes and the feet.  I believe everyone would agree on the hands although there are some disagreements regarding the positioning of a keeper’s hand.  I have been reading how some coaches believe that the best way to receive a ball above the waist is catching using the traditional W catch while others believe that the hands should be closed down a bit into something that resembles more of a diamond.  Which is the better technique?     Truthfully, like most things, it all depends upon the individual.    Factors that have to be taken into consideration are hand size, hand strength, height etc.   Personally, I prefer a compromise of the two.

The eyes are the second most important part of the body for keepers.  When you see a keeper who makes great saves and then lets in the easy goal, it is typically a result of being too lazy to watch the ball into their hands.  Frequently, the difference between a good keeper and a great keeper is their ability/willingness to watch the ball all the way into their hands.  Great keepers do it and good keepers don't (bad keepers don't move their feet as I will talk about next so it doesn't matter whether they watch the ball since they don't get to it).  I did a drill this fall with a couple of keepers in which they simply had a catch and they had to watch the ball into their hands and stare at it for an additional count of two (since they were keepers I had to make sure they could count that high).  After a short time of doing this, I had them go to catching the ball one handed but still having to watch the ball for a count of two after receiving it.  They were shocked at how many balls they were catching and holding.     All the result of using their eyes.

The feet are the third extremely important part of the body.  As a general rule, a keeper MUST get their body behind the ball.  I don't care how easy you think a ball is to catch.  Nor do I care how good your hands are or how well you watch the ball into your hands or how well you watch a ball into your hands, if you don't move your feet to get your body behind the ball you will not be successful.  I watch a lot of keepers make unnecessary dives because of an unwillingness to move the feet. One way to develop this ability is to do a drill where you are not allowed to touch a ball if you can't get your body behind it.  Have a person serve the ball to you so you are challenged to move to get behind the ball.  After a couple of times of having to sprint after the ball since you had to let it go because you didn't get your body behind the ball, you will find it becomes much easier to get behind the ball.  Another way to work on your footwork is to stand approximately one yard behind the goal line and have hit at you (and to the side of you).  As soon as the ball is played, the keeper has to get in front of the goal line and behind the ball.  This will force you to move your feet and get behind the ball every time. 

If you really concentrate on the three most important parts of the keepers’ body, you will notice a significant improvement in their play.

I hope you find this to be helpful.  Please send my any questions, comments or suggestions to comments@finesoccer.com

Also, if you know of anyone else who might be interested in this newsletter, please have them visit www.finesoccer.com/subscrib.htm

Have a great day

Lawrence Fine

We would like to thank Lawrence Fine and FineSoccer.com for allowing us to publish this article on the NASL website.  Please visit http://www.FineSoccer.com and sign up for Lawrence's free coaching newsletters and articles.

Created: 12/20/99
Last Updated: 08/14/03

Since February 24, 1999
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