Worcester Goalkeeping Academy session 5- Friday 2nd November

Friday 2nd November: Worcester Goalkeeping Academy session 5:

Tonight was my last session with the set of goalkeepers I had been given for 3 weeks. It was going to mean that we put everything they had learnt so far into practise, by combining both footwork and handling into the main activities. As always we started with a warm-up on what was a very cold evening. The warm-up was a basic pulse raiser in which the ‘keepers had the ball in their hands at all time and jogged to the edge of the box before throwing the ball in the air and shouting “KEEPERS” before catching it above their heads. We did this a number of times with jogging, sidestepping, high knees and heel flicks. We then did some more dynamic stretching to ensure the muscles were warmed up well.

The first main activity we did with the goalkeepers was a test of their footwork, making them do a ladder with quick feet before side stepping in and out of cones and making a low save. The ‘keepers completed this task to a good standard once I had reminded them of a couple of little things they need to be doing like keeping their steps small and quick. To make this harder I progressed it by making them make 2 low saves, one from me and one from Jimmy who was helping me for the evening. This was a tough fitness task for the keepers but it showed the improvements they had made over the couple of weeks with their quick footwork across goal helping them to make saves.

The next main activity we did was with the goalkeepers starting led out in the middle of the goal, when the sever shouted ‘GO’ they had to get up and sidestep to both posts quickly before making a save at the far post, this meant the quick feet and handling came into action together. Me and Jimmy made them start from a range of positions in order to test their endurance for making double saves throughout a game. All the ‘keepers completed this task well and I was pleased to see an improvement with what I saw from them on week 1.

Jimmy then said we should do some SAQ’s with the ‘keepers as it continues with the footwork and endurance theme of the evening. This included them using ladders and hoops to get through and then take a volley to test their handling, again although there were some tired efforts the keepers completed this to a good standard. We finished with every ‘keeper from the academy doing the crossbar challenge.