"Goal-Keeper" Fitness

A very talented young goal-keeper that I once coached chastised me one day for calling him a “goalie”.  “Goalies play hockey, I’m a goal-keeper!”  Lesson learned!  For many teams the “goal-keepers” get minimal coaching and their fitness training is more suited to field players.  I’ve worked with a number of keepers over the years and have found a few fitness exercises that help these very important players to be more fit in a manner that is conducive to their role.

One of my favorite “keeper-specific” drills that build speed, endurance and reaction time is what I call the “random sprint drill”.  A coach or other keeper stands at the arc outside the 18 with a ball.  The keeper stands in the ready position on his/her line and quickly sprints to the ball as it is thrown or kicked anywhere inside the 18.  The keeper than tosses the ball back to the coach and backpedals to the goal-line.  As soon as his/her foot touches the line the ball is again sent to another spot inside the area and so forth.  For variation you don’t always have to wait for the keeper to reach the line before sending a ball back into the area.  After about ten of these quick reaction sprints rotate in your next keeper.  Each keeper should go through this cycle at least 3 times, more as they get fit and increase the intensity after subsequent training sessions.  Another variation can be added in later as the keeper gets more fit.  Use multiple balls and have a specific target such as a couple of cones set up about 30-40 yards up-field and once the keeper retrieves the ball then have them quickly throw the ball to that target and score them on accuracy.  This is important in that fatigue tends to mess with fine motor skills.  After a hard quick sprint a keeper still needs to keep his accuracy.  Continue the drill in the same way as with the one ball drill.  Make sure to vary the way the keeper receives the ball by mixing it up.  Put some on the ground, bounce some and air some out to keep the player guessing.  Have them go to ground on the rollers so they can work on getting up quickly and back into the game.  Back-peddling to the line is important in that the keeper can still see the field and helps them build field and spatial awareness.

I love these kinds of drills that not only build fitness but help them develop specific skills as well.  Feel free to suggest any other “Goal-Keeper” fitness drills that you have used.