Edition 40

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today's topic will be indoor training.

Now as far as indoor training is concerned, if you have access to an indoor facility then you shouldn't have much of a problem but this is for the people who can only get to a gymnasium. Having access to a wall actually provides a tremendous training opportunity since it allows you to work on footwork, reactions and hands.  I am not a big proponent of diving on gym floors but I do believe a keeper can still go through their regular sitting, kneeling and catchers position progression and one of the advantages to a wall is that this can be done without the need for a second person. Just sit down facing the wall a couple of yards from the wall and throw the ball against the wall on a slight angle.  The ball should come back in a way that will force you to do a collapse dive from a sitting position.  Do this through all three progressions.

Next, to work on the hands and footwork, stand 5 yards from the wall and volley the ball into the wall.  As soon as you strike the ball, be prepared to receive the ball right back at you.  You must catch the ball properly with your body behind the ball at all times.  If this is too easy, strike the ball harder or move a little bit closer to the wall

The next drill requires a server.  Stand 5 yards from the wall with the server directly behind you.  The server can either throw or volley the ball against the wall and you would have to catch the ball.  The difference between this drill and the previous one is that it gives you even less time to prepare for the returned ball.   The next level would require two servers and two balls. As soon as you would have caught the first ball, the second ball would be served.  This should be done very quickly with a high degree of intensity.

Walls are great to work on punching as well.  Just throw a high ball up to the wall and then go up and meet the ball with a two fisted punch to return the ball back into the wall. You could actually turn this into a contest between two keepers to see who can keep a ball up longer without making a mistake (and using proper techniques at all time) .If you have access to a racquetball court, you can also try this with two fisted punching as well.  Throw the ball into the side wall and when it comes down, do a one fisted punch to play the ball into the other side wall.  This is not an easy drill to do so challenge yourself to see how long you can keep the ball while executing proper punching techniques.

As you can tell, adapting a drill to indoor training simply requires a little bit of creative thought.  I would love to hear some other peoples ideas for indoor training.   Send them to me at ideas@finesoccer.com and I will include them in a future newsletter.

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Have a great day.

Lawrence