Welcome to the Goalkeeping
Newsletter. Today's topic is something that has been a bit controversial ever
since the Women's World Cup Finals. This edition will deal with penalty kicks. I
don't want to get into the whole issue of whether the keepers were within their
rights to come off the goal line as much as they did. All I will say is the rule
allows a keeper to move along her line before the ball is kicked but she must
stay on her line until contact with the ball has been made. However, it is
only a violation of the rule if the referee says it is. It certainly is to the
keeper’s advantage to come off her line early but I don't believe as a coach,
I should encourage a player to violate the rules (if they do it on their own
then that is their choice).
It's important to remember that all
of the pressure during a penalty kick is on the shooter. Take your time and let
the shooter think about the situation as long as possible. Also, let the
keeper see how confident you are of the situation. If you are going to look scared or be
complaining to the ref. and your teammates, this gives the shooter the belief
that you don't have faith in yourself. Be confident and be in control.
The first thing to do is to break
the goal into thirds. Your primary responsibility is to protect the middle
third. Especially in youth soccer, I believe it is a terrible idea to guess and
lose the opportunity to make the easy save. Instead of guessing, you can make
some educated assumptions to help you move in one direction while still taking
into consideration protecting your middle third.
We will start with the proper stance
for a penalty kick. Assume the same position as is normal except with your hands
out wider and also held up higher. The reason for this change in the positioning
of the hands is simply to make you look bigger in the goal. This is done for
reasons of intimidation but also will allow you to handle high balls easier.
The next thing to do is to choose
the spot you want to start from. I recommend starting a foot or two off center.
This allows you to still protect your middle third but now you are trying to
take control of the situation by making the shooter think about which side to
go. Normally, the shooter is in control but by being just SLIGHTLY off centered,
it will make the shooter think and now you are winning this battle. You would
want them to shoot to the side that they normally don't shoot. You can know this
by having watched them in previous matches or by having scouting reports.
Other ways to know which direction
the shooter might be going is by watching their approach. If they are shooting
with their right foot and are coming at a large angle then they most likely will
be shooting to the keepers left side. The reason you can make this conclusion is
that for them to shoot to the keeper’s right side, they have to wrap their leg
around the ball and they would have increased their chances of shanking the
ball. If the shooter is coming at a smaller angle then you have to look for
other cues. The next one is to try to figure out which part of the foot the
shooter is going to use. If it's the inside of the foot (the most common for
youth players) then you will want to watch the knee of the shooters kicking leg.
If, as the shooter, approaches the ball, you see the inside of the knee, this
means the shooter is going toward the keepers left side. If you don't see the
inside of the knee, then the ball will most likely be going toward the keepers
right side. This is a very reliable visual cue and even works if the shooter is
using their instep although it's not quite as obvious.
Once you have an idea of which
direction the shooter is going, take this into consideration, take advantage of
your knowledge but still, control your middle third first.
The rest of my
advice on penalty kicks is to be patient, be confident and to practice them as
much as possible. Experience makes a huge difference in this situation. This is
a prime example of where keepers must make quick decisions early and the
successful keepers must be smart to be successful.
