Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today's topic will be simple
communication from the goalkeeper.
This newsletter is in response to an inquiry from a young subscriber who simply said that
he was being told by his coach to be more vocal but that he didn't know what to say.
The three most important calls for a keeper to make are "keeper",
"away" and "back". When a keeper calls "keeper" this
means to leave the ball for the keeper to take. By calling keeper, this means that
all of her teammates should get out of the way and allow the keeper free access to the
ball. It also is a cue that people must get in behind the keeper to cover for her in
case the keeper does not get the ball. The calling of "keeper" takes priority
above all others and should never be interfered with.
When the keeper yells "away" this means that she will not be coming out for the
ball and also that she does not want the ball passed back to her. Upon hearing this
call, the ball must be played away and should never be played back to the keeper at this
time.
The call of "back" means that the keeper wants the ball played back to her.
Upon hearing this call, the ball MUST be played back because if it is not and
possession is lost, the keeper most likely will be caught out of position. The
difference between the call "back" and the call "keeper" is that when
the call "keeper" is made, it means to leave the ball alone while when the call
"back" is made, it means to play the ball back to the keeper.
All of these calls must be abided by. In my opinion, if a keeper makes any of these
calls, it must be complied to by the field players and the field players should take this
call to be just as commanding as if I, as a coach. told them what to do. If the
keeper makes a call and the field players don't listen, I believe the field player should
be removed from the field as the keeper has to be listened to in this situation. If
the keeper makes the wrong call, then that is something she must deal with.
While these are the three most important things for a keeper to call, there are other
things that determine the level of success of a keeper. From a defensive standpoint,
a keeper needs to assign marks and rearrange the defense in order to make sure that
the opposing players are marked up and the defense is organized. A keeper keeping her team
organized from a defensive standpoint will allow her to make less saves and also to allow
less goals.
From an offensive standpoint, a keeper should talk to her teammates to let them know that
there is a man fast approaching ("man on" would be an appropriate call).
Also, if the keeper can get the players off the ball to move and be in proper support then
this will allow her teammates to maintain possession which in turn means less required and
less goals allowed.
For a beginning keeper, this should allow them to get better while not complicating
matters too much.
