Grassrootsfootycoach: Warm Ups

If you are fortunate enough to have time to dedicate to your goalkeeper it will provide a fantastic opportunity to both your goalkeeper and your overall team. The position of goalkeeper in the team is sometimes forced upon a player as no one else wants to play there or you have a player with a noticeable skill, either way a bit of specific goalkeeper training every couple of weeks at the most will bring on the skills very quickly.

I have been working with my under 9s looking to distribute the ball out to the defenders, rather than kicking the ball every time. This has definitely helped improve the teams dynamics and also adds a bit of doubt to the opposition whether they should push forward and mark up or get in position for the big kick.

This warm up session gets the goalkeeper moving around their area and improves vision and distribution.

The aim is to make a save from the coach either stopping on initial shot or winning the split ball, the goalkeeper then jumps up and distributes the ball looking to knock over a target. The targets will be specifically placed to represent were your defenders and centre midfield players will be placed. Keeps the repetition going for a few rounds. If the keeper is struggling make the target a grid, which the ball has to pass through or if it is too easy move the targets further away.