Soccer Training Tips: 5 Sure-fire Tips To Coach Goalkeepers
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 coach’s job tougher and more complex when training goalkeepers for soccer.
Based on the method of play in soccer, goalkeepers are the first line of offense and last line of defense. These players don’t think twice before putting their body in harms way to stop or block the ball from getting into the goalpost. They are always prepared to grab hold of the ball by pitching into any direction whatsoever.
Goalkeeper’s training for soccer on different skills and techniques can be one tough job depending upon their role requirements and level of play. This also requires you to take into consideration his mental state and train him on various skills accordingly.
Only one player in the team can be compared to a goalkeeper and that is the goal hungry striker. Almost all goalies have essentially played as goal hungry strikers at one point or the other in their soccer careers. You’ll frequently encounter a one on one battle at various levels of competition between goalies and forwards.
Of all the soccer training tips, the one essential for the goalie to follow is that he should stay balanced and be aware of the center of gravity of the body. This will improve the activity of the goalie and the state of readiness of the player to make remarkable gains in a game setting.
Though most goalkeepers in soccer are tall with long arms and big hands, but even if otherwise they easily compensate for the need of physical built 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. Goalkeepers should perform soccer drills that improve upon their skills specific to their role in the game once they have finished doing regular warm up exercises with the team.
Goalkeepers have a dominant personality and in that sense they are also the leaders of the teams. Therefore, they need to be constantly supported by all their teammates in successfully doing their job by being in a representative capacity.
The goalie can handle the ball only in the 18 yard box. If the ball is touched by any player’s arm other than the goalkeeper, the opposing party gets a free kick. It’s a penalty shoot from “the spot” in case of a goalkeepers’ team member.
Your next step? To take what you’ve just learned and apply the above soccer training tips as goalkeepers are definitely leaders in the 18 yard box, and should get due respect from their team. 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.
Soccer Training Tips: The Truth About Stretching
Let me tell you that stretching is an vital part of soccer training tips and professional coaches highly recommend it along with almost every player in every sport practicing it daily? Soccer is a sport which is continuously growing and developing in its intricacy.
There are two kinds of stretching; static and dynamic, that are slotted in planning training for the soccer season.
Static stretching requires the kids to extend their muscles as far as they can and hold for a given duration of time. Recurring motions, rebounding, and rhythmic bouncing are performed by the players while doing dynamic stretching. Generally, static stretching is considered as more effective and involves less risk than dynamic stretching.
There are some advantages of practicing stretching discussed in this article that improve a player’s ability to become an exceptional player.
Stretching reduces injuries: When players do stretching every day and keep doing it for a long time, it promotes their muscle growth that reduces the risk of injury. Stretching also provides a way of increasing the muscle size and strength.
Stretching influences flexibility: Stretching puts off the loss of flexibility. However, the support is more convincing for a long-term stretching line up than for shorter periods of time.
Stretching for some minutes prior to any occasion is liable to improve flexibility. But the best of all soccer training tips is to spread a stretching program over a period of months, leading to a constant increase in range of motion.
Stretching betters’ performance: When the stretching program is planned after considering the player’s soccer specific needs, their performance improves.
Make stretching fun for the kids: You can do this by including a variety of soccer drills into your training regimen. Keep changing the warm up activities that are performed before stretching. Try tag games, ball tag, and keep away.
Contemplate on the stretching, sense and know each stretch, along with checking for stiffness in the body.
For almost all players, one single 15-30 minute stretch for each muscle group is sufficient but some may need longer stretches and more repetitions.
The reason for this is that when the temperature of muscles is higher than normal, stiffness decreases and extensibility increases. Kids who hope to retain or boost their flexibility can somewhat reach this goal by stretching. When their body temperature is higher as against normal, it makes it safer and more productive to stretch.
For this reason, some kids are made to do stretching even after their workout also. If your kids stretch for 5-10 minutes after performing soccer skills, their muscles will not tighten too fast.
Generally, players who exercise an active warm-up prior to stretching get a better range of motion than those who only stretch. So if injury prevention is your aim, stop stretching before exercise and increase the warm up time.
Some food for thought; one of the most important soccer training tips is that hurried stretching is meaningless and boring and doesn’t help your players gain flexibility, so allow them some extra time when they are feeling inflexible or stiff. You can get more such tips and tactics by subscribing to our youth soccer coaching community that has several relevant articles, videos, and periodic newsletters.
Andre Botelho is the author of “The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide” and he’s a recognized expert in the subject of youth soccer coaching. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Youth Soccer Drills.