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EDITION 4 Welcome to the fourth edition of the
Keeper’s Newsletter. As a follow up to last week’s issues,
I would like to address a few things. Michael Barr (keeper at the College
of Charleston) wrote in with a great point about individual training. His
idea is to take all of the individual pressure training drills and slow them
down a bit and emphasize the technical side of the drill and they make great
individual training drills. A couple of examples of these drills which
Michael sent in were to start in a sitting position and then bounce the ball up
high and get to your feet to practice receiving high balls with the emphasis on
proper hand position and footwork. Another example is to roll the ball
though your legs (back to front) and then attack the ball practicing either
collapse dives or smothering breakaways. There are so many
variations that you can work on. The only limitation is your imagination Today’s subject deals with distribution. It’s easy to learn how to distribute the ball but much more difficult to understand when, where and to whom this should be done. I decided to write about this after watching an indoor tournament this past weekend. I watched ages’ ranging from U12’s though U19’s boys and girls. I kept being reminded of a story a friend told me a few years ago. He was reffing a U8 game and each time the keeper would make a save, he would role the ball right back to the opposing player. Sometimes he would save the second shot other times he wouldn’t. My friend stopped the game and explained that he should throw the ball to his own teammates. The little boy responded that when he threw the ball directly to the other team, he got the ball back quickly. When I heard that story, I thought it was cute but the more soccer I watch, the more I think most keepers must think this way. I constantly see keepers putting their teammates into 50/50 situations when the truth is teams should capitalize on all of their opportunities. Not only should teams never lose the ball once the keeper has possession but they MUST use this as the first leg of the attack. Whether it is indoor or outdoor soccer, it is completely unacceptable to not understand the importance of possession. Most keepers have played basketball at some point in their life. Basketball coaches go ballistic when a player throws the ball away yet soccer coaches are much too accepting of this in their sport. The most important thing to realize is that the first responsibility of keepers is to keep the ball out of the back of their own net. The easiest way to do this is by keeping the ball away from the opposing team. Having said this, what is the easiest way to accomplish this? The first thing to do is work with your team to put them in position to play them the ball. This means getting them deep, wide and moving. Let them know there is a visual cue for them to begin their transition from offense to defense. This visual cue should be when they see the keeper has caught the ball and pulled it in to safety. At this sight, the rest of the team can position themselves to best capitalize on the situations. If the team does not react properly, it is the keeper’s responsibility to direct them to better positions. If you see a player available a short distance away with no opposing player in the way, serve a bowled ball with absolutely no bouncing. I see too many balls played where the field player has to receive a ball at her knees or waist rather then at her feet. Not only should the ball be rolling but also it should be played to the correct foot. It is no longer acceptable to play the ball to feet. Proper distribution requires the ball being played to a specific foot. Play the ball to the foot that will keep the field player opened up to the rest of the field. If the players do not open up correctly, do not play her the ball until she has opened up. The next step is to know when to serve the ball. Too often, I have heard keepers play a ball to her teammates and then yells “man on” immediately afterwards. If the player was being marked so closely that this is necessary then don’t serve it! Once the keeper receives a ball, her first look should be to the opposite of the field from which it came. The reason for this is quite simple. If the ball came from the right side, chances are that is where the opponents are. Please note, I am not saying always throw the ball to the opposite side but rather, at least take a look to see what the options are. If possible, look far first as this will allow for a quick counterattack. Then look mid distance and finally short. Keeping these few basics in mind, you will find your team will be much more successful in retaining possession and creating scoring opportunities while lessening the probability of having to deal with yet another attack. Or keep serving the ball to the other team and think like the little 7-year-old in the beginning of this newsletter. Have a great day Lawrence
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