/Pre-season 2021-22 session

This week marked my return to training for the first time this season and boy did it feel good to be back on the grass!

The session was broken up into four main sections, some of which were inspired by various different practices and techniques I’ve picked up from other coaches I’ve either observed in person or come across online.

Plyometrics

The first topic I wanted to introduce the guys to was plyometrics. Although not a new thing, plyo is something I first became aware of through the excellent Conor O’Keefe and something that I think has a really strong basis for use within goalkeeping, particularly during pre-season.

For anyone who doesn’t know, plyometrics focuses on explosiveness, power and speed, three areas which are present in most match scenarios a keeper will face. Whether it’s pushing off for a big dive, climbing above bodies to claim a cross or sprinting out to take the ball from the feet of an onrushing attacker, improving your explosiveness, power and speed all play a huge part in increasing your chances of completing that final action and being an effective goalkeeper.

Our plyo session was just a short 10-15 minute introduction to the concept, the aim being to give the goalkeepers as much information and opportunity to try out new things as possible.

For more information on this, check out this video.

Footwork and short distribution

This practice was inspired by a session I observed being delivered by Paul Walker a few weeks back, focusing on receiving the ball to feet, adjusting and moving it accordingly and finding the right pass out of danger.

The concept was fairly simple and started with some basic footwork activation, playing the ball into the ‘keeper’s feet, getting him to take a touch to open up a new angle and then play a simple short pass out to his “defender”. In the absence of mannequins, four poles were also placed around the area where the keeper was to provide an element of distraction and something else to think about.

The evolution of this practice then involved encouraging the keeper to break the lines, taking his touch forwards and pushing the play up the field quicker, before always introducing the added pressure of being closed down by a high press. The idea behind these progressions was to first allow to keepers to get warmed up and be comfortable with receiving and playing the ball from feet, before gradually forcing them to think quicker and be more decisive in their actions.

There’s no doubt that footwork is a huge part of the modern game and something that all goalkeepers are almost expected to be better at, so sessions like this are vital in ensuring we train all key aspects of our game, not just making saves.

Longer distribution, crossing and shot-stopping

This mixed-focus practice was designed to be a little more dynamic and offer more of an insight into match-realistic scenarios. Each iteration of the drill takes around 30 seconds, includes one goalkeeper and three “coaches” and adopted the following process:

1. Coach 1 (red team) will play a simple volley to hands
2. GK (blue) catches and throws back
3. Coach 1 then places ball on the floor and plays low, hard pass into GK to simulate a backpass
4. GK takes the ball, changes the angle and plays a mid-range pass out to Coach 2 on the wing
5. Coach 2 then plays a high cross into the box, which Coach 1 and Coach 3 are present (though not actively challenging) for
6. GK makes decision on whether to claim cross, punch clear or let it go – whichever action they decide is most suitable for the cross
7. GK must then quickly reset to goal as Coach 3 lines up a shot-to-score from the angle to finish the set

I’m a big fan of this practice as it works a number of key areas of goalkeeping in a short space of time, without diluting any of them too much. As well as the technical benefits of this in regard to playing the right pass, claiming the cross and stopping the shot, participants are also working the mental side of their game with regards to their decision making on what to do with the cross and choosing the right movements for any given phase.

The first part of this practice was included to act as a natural lead-on from the previous section of the session, taking what we worked on with receiving, moving and distributing the ball and transferring it into a different environment.

The “L”

Much like how the last practice followed on from the previous one, this one also transfers aspects of that one too, allowing us to keep it feeling as though it’s one tied-together session and not simply a set of unrelated drills stuck together.

I picked the idea for this practice up from watching Camberley Town goalkeeper coach Dease Kerrison over on YouTube. Although fairly straightforward in concept, it’s a high-paced all-action section of our session that gets the ‘keepers down on the ground, making multiple saves in quick succession and building match fitness in the process.

The only equipment used here was three poles (or cones). This practice is a nice mix between an announced one and an unannounced one, with the goalkeeper knowing who the service is coming from but not where the final shot will be placed. The process was as follows:

1. GK1 receives a shot from Coach 2. This is not a shot to beat, but could be low, mid or high, to the side or down the middle – the service is mixed.
2. Immediately after making the save, GK1 must move left to the other “goal” where they receive another shot from Coach 1, again with a mixed delivery.
3. GK2 then repeats the same process, with the two goalkeepers rotating through 5-10 high-intensity sets before resting
4. In our case, Coach 2 was also a goalkeeper, so at this point he switched with one of the other two and the practice was repeated.

Summary

It was great to back out on the grass and to take a bumper 1-hour session for the first time in many months. The session was well planned in advance and executed as intended, with all goalkeepers seemingly enjoying their time and also receiving a hard workout, as you might expect in pre-season.

I was forced to adapt the practices mid-way through as a third keeper joined in, but I always welcome challenges like this in order to keep me on my toes, and in fact the additional body really helped make our main practice more effective for those taking part.