Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Communication Between Head Coach and Goalkeeper Coach

A soccer team which has a goalie coach is very lucky. If a soccer team is lucky to have a head coach and keeper coach who communicate their training objectives to one another, the goalkeepers and the team will profit greatly. Harmony and communication within the entire group, not just between the field players, is of the utmost importance to a successful team performance. The goalkeeper must develop a sense of responsibility within the team. He or she must be involved as a vital element of the team.

All players on a team are assigned crucial roles and it is important that they recognize how each other functions in order to form a cohesive unit. When we coordinate our efforts with the efforts of others we speed the way to the team goals. This type of cooperation builds success.

We all know that the goalkeeper is very distinctive and has special demands to confront in a match that are very different from the field players. So, the goalkeeper requires special training to meet these special skills. Training keepers on separate islands away from the team has some merit, however to maximize the keeper’s contribution to the team, the keeper must interact in all phases of team development.

As a result of the four step rule, back pass rule, and now the six second rule, the role of the goalkeeper is changing. These limitations not only affect the goalie, but they also affect the team as a whole.

Goalkeeper experts are not the best goalkeeper coaches. It is the game that is the best goalkeeper coach. However, a knowledgeable goal coach can guide the keeper by combining the assessment of technical efficiency, psychological makeup, and the physical aspects of training with the strategic aspects of matches.

When you fit the goalkeeper into the team training, you will be able to address such issues as: Shot handling and crosses under pressure, initiating the attack from the back, back pass strategies, defensive restarts, off side trap, spacing between the keeper and defenders, team communication, etc. It is also important that the goalkeeper’s voice is familiar to his or her teammates. Not only the tone of the voice, but the terminology as well. A well organized defense sees fewer shots and thus concedes fewer goals. This organization needs to be trained.

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