Keeper drills: hands and solo work

Contour catch

"The contour of the ball is round. It is very difficult to catch a round object with two flat surfaces. Therefore, when fielding a shot the goalkeeper must prepare his or her hands in a shape modeling the CONTOUR of the ball thus we will call this the "Contour Catch". The hands must provide a pocket for the ball to fit into comfortably. Many keepers do not understand why they drop so many balls. There is a myth that just by putting two hands up, the ball will stay where it belongs. Not so. There are micro technical considerations that must be addressed. Hard hands/soft handsLets focus on the fingers or more specifically the thumbs. These two digits are the key to solid catching. Poor placement will result in allowing the ball go through the hands and off of the face (or worse, the GOAL!) Ideally, they should be about an inch to an inch and a half apart. Next, the fingers should be spread wide and flexed. The initial contact should be with the tips of the fingers and not the palms. The quieter sounding catches usually indicate good finger tip contact. It is a great complement for a keeper to be told he/she have "soft" hands. Conversely, when a keeper attempts to catch the shot and the resulting sound is as if someone had been slapped, that would be considered "hard hands" and needs immediate attention! In this instance, the hands may be too close together and the fingers are not prepared in the shape of the ball. The ArmsThe arms should be extendend outwards, roughly but not quite parallel to each other, in order to meet the ball. If the arms are extended straight out, a keeper ends up resembling Frankenstien and will catch very little because it is hard to get the palms facing the ball. If the arms are bent close to the body, the elbows are pulled apart which in turn turns the thumbs down making it also difficult to catch consistently.I make it a habit that at least 3 times per week, my keepers train with the weighted Kwik Goal Medicine ball. It has a wonderful influence on their consistency. If a particular keeper has poor hand technique, a med ball bouncing off their face a few times during the session will surely encourage better concentration and attention to detail. Note: I will only use the med ball with those keepers who are 14-15 years and above"


There is an old basketball drill that a player can do themselves.

Get a ball and keep passing the ball behind your back and across your body over and over.

Then do the same thing between your legs in a figure eight.

 

Check out the practice training sessions on my web site, JB Goalkeeping. There is an entire session just on cushioning the ball.

Richie's comment about curving the hands is a good one. The hands should go around the ball, fingers slightly over the top of the ball, and the fingers should be used to contact and cushion the ball as well, not just the palms.