/Can “Goalie Wars” be more than a gimmick?

If you’re not familiar with “goalie wars”, have a little look on YouTube. Essentially, you put two (small) goals 18ish yards apart, stick a goalkeeper in each of them and ask them to score as many goals against each other as possible. They can kick from hands, from the floor or throw the ball into the opposition goalkeeper’s net, but they must do so from within their “area”, which I marked out at 6 yards.

It’s primarily used for coaching children as a fun game during a longer training session, or by YouTube goalkeepers for a bit of light entertainment, but I was curious if it could be more than that. On paper at least, it works real life techniques that goalkeepers use in a game, so if executed correctly, why can’t it be more than a gimmick and something that actually benefits the goalkeepers in a match situation?

It’s worth remembering at this point too, that the specific goalkeepers I’m working with are adults and amateurs who pay-to-play. We aren’t trying to develop the next Manuel Neuer with these sessions, but to have an enjoyable, productive 40 minutes that they can look forward to during the week and that will help them at the weekend.

So, how can it help then?

“Goalie wars” works on and uses a wide range of key techniques that a goalkeeper uses during a match:

1. Distribution – Yes, the distances of the distribution are significantly shorter than they perhaps would be in a match situation, but by aiming into a goal, we aren’t limiting the power at which the keepers can kick or throw and we are encouraging them to focus on the accuracy of their distribution. The smaller the goals used, the more important the accuracy becomes.
2. Shot Stopping – Obviously we are working with powerful shots from a relatively short distance. This leads to some potentially very difficult saves for the keepers, so it’s a good test for their shot-stopping ability, dealing with efforts high in the corners, low at their feet and at different velocities.
3. Fitness – When played at a high intensity, this drill can also be quite physically demanding. On average, you’ll be making a save every 30-60 seconds and having to jump up in between and take a shot yourself, so after 5-10 minutes of this it can be pretty draining. This drill provides a good test of stamina and overall general fitness.
4. Competitiveness – By introducing a points scoring system, you add an element of competitiveness to the drill. “First to 5” will motivate the players and give them a real desire to score the goals, this keeps them engaged and subconciously makes them take it more seriously, something which I hope will transfer to their in-game play.

Ideas for development

During our game, I introduced a number of “rules” throughout. This was to get the players to focus on specific skills or techniques at given times and to keep the drill interesting and not repetitive. Some of the shouts I threw out during the session included:

• “For the next 5 shots you can only throw the ball”
• “For the enxt 5 shots, ground kicks only”
• “Now there are no areas”
• “Now you can’t shoot from before halfway”
• “Now you can’t rush out before the opponent crosses halfway”

Beyond this, the drill could also be developed by working with different sized goals. A 5-a-side goal, for example, would encourage a lot of ground kicking and less volleying as the emphasis would be on keeping the ball low, whilst a 7 or 9-a-side goal would likely see more shots hit higher into the corners, working different techniques for both the kicker and the saver.

You could also play around with the distances between the goals and the size of the areas. This though, is somewhat dictated by the size of the goals you’re using, for example a smaller goal probably warrants a bigger area and vice versa.

Summary

To summarise, I think the drill was a succes and I will definitely look to bring it back in future. From my perspective, it was fun to organise and enjoyable to play around with the rules as things developed, and the feedback from the goalkeepers themselves was also overwhelmingly positive.

Granted, it’s not necessarily something you would do with a group of professional goalkeepers, but when the session is focused on being fun as well as helping them improve as players, I think it certainly has a place.

Photo credit Jeffrey F Lin.