[thornwell]

I'm the coach of a girls U10 indoor team. I read somewhere on one of these boards recently someone casually refer to the option of playing without a keeper in indoor youth matches.

I've thought about this for a good week now, and tried it for five minutes with mixed results during our match. However, the more I think about it, the more I like it. I was wondering if anyone out there has any experience trying this out. I'd love to hear it before I start our match this Friday with this formation.

To give you a better idea of my plan:

I've got one defender who is significantly taller and faster than most girls in the league. However, she has never quite converted to the indoor style of play, and prefers to act like a stopper in game instead of left back, where she belongs. (We play 7 a side, including GK) So, my thinking is, she puts on the keeper jersey and then plays her 'natural' stopper position. If she gets in a jam in the box, she reaches down and grabs the ball (which is problematically not intuitive to her).
I'm attracted to this idea b/c of the paucity of accurate shots I've encountered from oppenents during the indoor season. Having my top defender in goal will free up another player to run with my hopelessly overmatched front three.

Any thoughts?

[GKbenji]

I haven't played indoor without an explicit keeper (we pay 6v6, 5 field + K, U14G), but since we do indoor for fun I often use players with little or no experience in goal, with instructions to use their feet if they need to, and not to be afraid to come out of the penalty area and "sweep" if need be. This sounds pretty much like what you're talking about.

One thing that you do need is a player who is not afraid to stand in like a goalkeeper and block shots using their hands if they need to. The player in back must still play like a goalkeeper at times or risk letting in easy goals. It is as much a mindset as a physical skill in this case.

So, the player in back should have the mindset that they are a keeper, but can use their feet and play sweeper/keeper. It's a different spin on what you're talking about, even though in the end the way they play might be very similar.

[bison]

well said - play sweeper keeper, play with your feet but don't forget you have hands.

[NYfutbolfan]

When I was running the program for 6-8 year old boys, we played with a sweeper/keeper for all outdoor games for all teams.

Believe me, this was met with alot resistance from the parents who never played or watched soccer before and those that had played.

They weren't against it because it didn't work, they were against it because it was different.

It can work as a strategy as you are doing, but it is really helpful as a learning tool. I hope you post again with the results of your foray into the netherworld of those of us who are willing to try something new.

[thornwell]

I did use this sparingly throughout the indoor season. The results were successful, but there were problems as well. We conceded two goals with the sweeper keeper over 3 halves of play. This was far below our average of conceding about 2.75 goals per half. However, the girl who was the sweeper/keeper wasn't a natural goalie, and she had a very difficult time remembering that she could use her hands. She was best suited for the position, but she loathed playing it; and it does not help the situation if you know your player just really doesn't want to be doing it this way.

I only reverted to this method if we truly seemed to be overmatched on offense, and were losing the game. If I were the head coach, I would have handled this differently (and used it more), but as I am not, I was limited.

The most noteworthy thing I encountered was how much this strategy confused the other teams. They reason for fewer goals allowed was primarily caused by offensive confusion on the other team's part. One coach started prodding his players to shoot much earlier (mind you, the SW/GK was still back there) and that resulted in a lot of nothing for the opposition. The girls were nervous about progressing against us, partially I think because it made things feel more urgent for them--as a result they were more likely to take poorer shots.

I think I could use this method in a more successful way if I had more time to work it out with the players in advance. (We don't have practice during indoor season).

I hope this explanation satisfies curious minds, and I hope that anyone else who has tried or tries this will post their results here.

[SoccerMan94043]

I always played a keeper, but gave him the option to enter the attack when he saw the opportunity. And I always encouraged him to dribble out of the goal box if there was enough space for a quick counter attack.

[Roush]

Not necessarily a pertinent example, but on my adult indoor team, I am constantly involved in the attack. I am a converted keeper, so I am comfortable with my feet, but definitely also good with my hands.

It's not uncommon for me to make a steal at midfield on long distros from the opposing keeper, or act as a sixth attacker. If you have a strong defender, that's a great idea, but only if the defender has the skills to back up the position.