Playing Big; Whether You Are or Not.

Please allow me to rant to you for a little bit. I have coached Goalkeeper's for five years now and there has always been one comment that I will never agree with nor understand.

"He/She could be good if they were taller" or  "He/She is tall, they'd make a good GK" 

Let me tell you something right off the bat. Height does not matter when it comes to goalkeeping. Some of you probably disagree, but I'll hopefully prove to you why I know this to be a myth. Obviously, It helps to be 6'7" but lets be honest, being that tall doesn't come with a free professional contract. In the same way, being 5'9 doesn't mean that you have no hope what so ever. 

Goalkeeping is all about mentality. No matter how tall you are, it is more about how "Big" you play rather than your actual height. When it comes down to it, if you raised your arms, you are taller than everyone on your team and that is without even jumping. 

When I speak about mentality I am also referring to the GK's confidence. Playing confident will get you to the next level. If you believe in yourself, you are already better than the GK who plays timid or scared and as GK's we can set the tempo in the game strictly by our mentality or playing confidently. Disclaimer - Playing confidently does not mean playing cocky and/or risky.

I always suggest you set the tone early on in the match. For example; Collecting the first 2-3 crosses or making 2-3 through ball saves. By doing this, you can change the strategy of the other team in your favor. If you catch every cross in the beginning, do you think their coach will want the to cross it anymore? NO. Or if you play brave and win each 50/50 ball, the opposing team will be forced to change their game plan. These are just two examples of how to play big. 

Did you know that some of the wold's best Goalkeepers aren't very tall? The Legendary Iker Casillas was only 6'1". Nick Rimando just broke the MLS all time record for most wins as a GK (187) at the height of 5'10". Or how about Hope Solo, arguably the best women's Gk in history, is only 5'9". Champions League winners Real Madrid have a 6'0" Goalkeeper in Keylor Navas. I say this because all of these GKs are unbelievable yet not considered to be massive.

To play Big you must be confident. take this position personally. Realize that there are 11 players on the other team that want to embarrass you. That alone should make you upset and motivate you. Getting scored on should make you angry, it should bother you. The best part is however is that you have some control over that. Play like your 6'7", play pissed off, play with the mentality of no one is scoring on you today. Be the boss in goal. Goalkeepers have the reputation of being psychotic, prove them right! The other team should fear you, your team should respect you and feel lucky to have the crazy one in net. The worst GK's in the world are the ones who play small. They are the ones that make friends with the net because they're picking the ball out of it so often. Don't settle for anything but playing Big. 

Sorry for ranting :)

The single most important thing about Goalkeeping.

Communication. 

The single most important thing about Goalkeeping.

When I was in Middle School, I remember coming home with my report cards. I was a good kid, made straight A's, stayed out of trouble, but for some reason I would always be grounded or punished come report card time. Why you ask? The same phrase each time; "Talks too much in class" It didn't matter what grades I got in class, all my parents saw was the check mark at the bottom. Being the cleaver kid that I was, my response each time was simply

"Sorry Mom, I'm a goalkeeper. I can't help it." 

 This obviously didn't change the fact that I was still in trouble. I  tell you this because we as goalkeepers are programmed to communicate. It's what we do! To start the article I mentioned that communicating is the most important thing about goalkeeping and here's why:

The more we communicate the easier our job will be. Plain and simple.

I got to watch seven goalkeepers over the weekend. Other than 1 or 2, one of the biggest issues I saw was the lack of organization coming from the goalkeepers. This blows my mind. Why would we not want to make our jobs easier and even more so, why would we want to increase our odds of getting scored on? It seemed as though we were scared to talk, scared to organize, or to be loud. This has to change, and if it does, you'll quickly see an improvement in game results simply by opening your mouth.

When we communicate to our teams, we are literally helping them see what we see. We have the best view of the field. We can use this to our advantage by simply being loud and organizing our defense. But it doesn't stop there. We also should be speaking when we have the ball. Most field players have limited vision on the field, they might not notice the teammate wide open on the other side of the field. This is where we can help in the attack, be the voice that gets your teammates out of trouble. 

Listen, no one actually wants to dive 4-5 yards, take a shot to the face, or dive and collide with a striker's foot; but if we communicate to our team we can avoid this situations completely. Here's a simple question:

Would you rather have 15 shots on goal (not communicating) or  have zero shots on goal (with communication)? 

Obviously the first one would be awesome if we made 15 out of 15 saves but how realistic is that? I will take a shutout every chance I get, especially if that meant I can stop attackers from happening with my voice rather than my body.

If you for some reason have an issue with leading then I may argue Goalkeeping is not for you. Whether we like it or not, Leadership comes with the position. When we chose to be a goalkeeper we also took on the responsibility as unofficial captain of the team. If you take this responsibility seriously you and your team will see the benefits. If you refuse to lead/communicate then I feel bad for the future. You may be picking the ball out of your net more times than expected. Choose to lead. Choose to organize. Be Loud! Every player on every team on every field should hear what you are saying. It doesn't matter what you say, you can be the best organizer on the planet, but if you're not loud enough then it does the team no good. 

Here are some tips on communication:
1)Be Loud: Doesn't matter what you say if you're not being loud enough. Loud doesn't mean sounding panicked! Be calm and instructive.

2) Be constructive:

"Let's Go" "Come on" and "Get Back" does not work. No one knows who you're talking to. Instead try using a name, number, and instruction. ex: "Alex step right and mark #10" "Bryan coming behind you"

3) Take control

Organize quickly, demand respect, control your half. Your teammates will begin to rely on you as a leader but first you have to communicate!

4) Try talking the entire game. This will keep you focused and mentally engaged. Communicate when your team has possession. Tell them where options are. Let them know when pressure comes. Give some kind of direction every single time. 

I will be at many games this year. I should be able to see everyone atleast once or twice. Communication is the first thing I will notice. Don't let me down!

Academy Update

Hey Everyone!
First off I just want to say how thankful I am for all the feedback and support you have given us over the past three weeks. I have personally spoken to about twenty of you and I am humbled by the compliments and positive feedback we have received. It only motivates us to continue putting in the work and the make this GK Program something amazing!

I wanted to give you an update on the training we have been doing. With the exception of a few kids, everyone has done very well with the effort they are putting into training. As a Coach I am looking for three things: Can you follow rules by listening to instruction, Are you trying to implement those instructions in practice, and finally are you giving your best effort. Ironically, you may notice that it doesn't matter to us if you make the save but instead we need you to be coachable. The saves will come, what's most important in training is to learn the technique, listen to instructions, and put in a good hard hour of work.

The areas I see we can do the most improvement:

U8-U13
1) Listening - Surprising I know, but this is so valuable in practice. We disect and breakdown the material a lot more than in the older groups, so it is critical you listen and learn.
2) Work Ethic - It is easy to identify which kids are there because they want to be versus who is only there due to their parent's making them. i want to challenge you to get the most out of training. If GK isn't your thing, please stay at home, I promise I understand and won't get angry. But if you choose to come, Give Richie and I 60 minutes of hard work. We promise to make sessions as fun and enjoyable as possible.

U12-U18
1) Training yourself - We must be able to train ourselves. You only have GK training 1-2 times a week, That is not enough time to develop as a player. Learn to utilize practice time by making the most of it. Learn to hit volleys with pace, learn to train the other GK's on your team. I can only do so much! In sessions with higher numbers (over 5) Sometimes we split into two groups. When this happens I am trusting you with the simple tasks and if we physically can't hit a ball ten yards then we will have issues with performing.

I am looking forward to training this week! Bought a few new toys that we may experiment with this week! Also, be on the lookout for some big news coming later this week! I am very excited  about whats to come! As always, thank you for your hard work and feedback. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns, or praises!

H+R