First time indoor player with rule question...help!!

umm all this is personal opinion and im answering on the rules of normal soccer, guessing its not different in indoor.

you can obviously only use your hands in the box (or the arc, whichever they use). you can pick up a ball from your teammate if they head it, chest it, shoulder it, etc to you as long as they dont use their legs or if they kick it and inadvertantly goes to u, ie: tries to clear it and it goes backwards to you by accident.

and before you read this take in mind im no goalie...
you come off the line whenever you think you can beat the opponent to a loose ball.
to cut down the angle...i would say you dont wanna come out too early or come out too far. i'd say if they have a breakaway you would come out quicker. maybe when they are within 10-15 of you.

im gonna shut up. im thinking now a real goalie should give tips of coming out.

 

Depends on how big the goal on your indoor field is. Generally always come off the line when you can get to a loose ball before the attacker. However, be very wary of coming off the line (to get a cross or something) in indoor - the walls keep the ball in play, so if you come out an miss it the ball will pinball around making it much more likely to go in.

Also, when defending sharp angle shots, stay really close to the post (the edge I guess in indoor). In outdoor, a shot that is slightly wide is no danger. In indoor it will bounce back to the inside, and I've seen many shots which were just wide go in off the goalies themselves because they left a space between them and the post.

 

Rules differ from league to league. In my league, the field is dvided into 3 parts like hockey, i can receive the ball from anywhere on the field, and can only pick it up when it's played back to me inside my defensive 3rd. Ball can't be brought back over the line once it's crossed to be handled with ur hands.

As for when you come out, if it's a break away, time your run so you meet him 2-3 yards inside the box. Come out in a controlled manner, faster is better but in indoor there really isn't a "no man's land" where you can get chipped from, it takes something special. Have your knees bent, make yourself big, and have your hands out to the sides. Not parrallel to your legs though, at a comfortable medium in which you can raise them or lower them depending on the shot. When you meet the attacker, you want to jockey him much like a defender would. The moment he touches the ball ahead him that's when you go to make the stop. Keep your eye on the ball and either grab or knock it forward (usually the attacker will have forward momentum), the ball will roll away from the goal while the attacker continues forward towards the goal.

If the attacker shoots while your coming out, you have to recognize this (swings his leg back), get set and get ready for a shot. It's EXREMELY tough to make a stop when your moving forward and the ball is played to the sides.


Pebotodi: I disagree with playing closer to the near post unless the ball is flush with the back wall. In indoor the box is so much more congested, any ball played off the back wall and into the box should be dealt with by defenders, the best you can do is slide over and prepare for a shot.

 

coming off the line is really a personal prefernce personely I like to stay around the 6 when the appossing team is in my half of the field. you should be where you feel comterbul about not being chipped and that you have cut down the angle.
if there are few defenders arround when the opposing team is in the 18 or right about in it I will normally charge if they are head on but if they are to the side I will come out just enough so that I am outside the near post, so that any balls shot that i for whatever reason I dont catch will not go into the goal but out or hit the wall.
if there are several defenders around I tend to back off a bit .

I hope that helps