Back-to-back Team of the Month rounds off a wonderful March for the Men’s Development Team as we continue our good form; unbeaten in 11 with 7 wins in a row. There have been good performances in all positions and more of our group have gained some first team experience. There was a fantastic moment of realisation when Chris and I worked out that an entire starting 11 plus 3 subs had featured in both squads, covering all positions in our same, preferred, formation.
For this blog, I want to recognise the specialist position of goalkeeper. Being 5ft 5, I have very little playing experience in goal so have had to work hard as a coach to better understand the requirements, techniques and attributes needed. I’ve been very fortunate to work with several specialist goalkeeper coaches who have helped me to learn and appreciate what its like from the sticks and this season I have been delighted to be able to bring Nick Grove into the Development Management Team. What I have always found beneficial is the different perspective being added into our decision-making process. Afterall, there is no denying that a goalkeeper must have something different in their DNA to be brave enough to throw themselves at a striker’s feet or daft enough to block a point-blank bullet header.
Many years ago, I was signposted to an article titled “Compost Corner”. It highlighted how many ‘keepers turn up for training only to be sent off to a corner of the field, out of the way of the main group, in order to practice some “diving about”. The enforced isolation that this presents can often make goalkeeping a lonely job. The sessions can feel far more intense than that of a match day with rapid fire faced in a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio. It’s certainly rare that the goalkeeping group get above 4 in number. Nick’s way of doing things promotes repetition of good habits and a strong basis of core techniques. He aims to instil muscle memory so instinctive reactions happen within match day. For me, I see that intensity and repetition and wonder how we can truly recreate that for every position. I hate drills. I try to make sure that our practices are all game related which includes learning to deal with long periods of passive activity such as a left back taking up positions when the ball is on our right side. This doesn’t help accelerate the learning for the goalkeeper though. If the session is focusing on attacking play, they can often become target practice and if the defending outcomes exceed the attackers, they can be almost redundant at a time when they expect to be practicing and building that muscle memory. This can often mean that they become one of the hardest to engage when so much time is naturally focused elsewhere. I often joke with Nick that he only has one player to look after, unlike the ten outfielders that we support and as the manager, I need my goal keepers in position for most of our practices. So, we have tried to find a compromise in our session structure that allows Nick time to take the ‘keepers for 25 minutes in the middle (our ‘part’ practice), but we retain them with the main group for the rest of the sessions (the two ‘whole’ practices either side of the ‘part’). During these times, I like to see the goalkeepers engaging with their defenders and making it absolutely clear where they want them during crosses, for recovery runs, facing shots etc. In the part practice, we aim to build outfield repetition in areas of the pitch where the goalkeeper is less involved, for example, in the middle third. This can often frustrate the forwards as they love nothing more than lashing a shot at a goalkeeper however it does encourage them to consider other elements of their game such as hold up play, etc.
As we build the dialogue between goalkeeper and defending units, players are forced to take ownership of their actions and to support each other in times of doubt. This helps them to develop leadership skills as well as fostering teamwork and an appreciation of the roles of others. When it comes to matchday, I am delighted that we have found a way to get these specialists understood and integrated into the group. Hopefully, they are bored because we defend so well that we don’t need them but for those occasions that they are called upon, I am relieved to think they are a part of the team, not apart from it.
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