SAVES OF HIGH SHOTS

This video is such a beautiful reminder from Norway, from December 2019, when we had our Keeper-Kari’s målvaktskole with my amazing friend Kari Aalvik Grimsbø.

Not only that she is such an incredible goalkeeper, but she is also an amazing human being!

SAVES OF HIGH SHOTS – REACTIONS WITH HANDS

The first exercise in this video is one of the first progression steps that I like to work on when working on saves of high shots. 

Usually with young goalkeepers, the biggest challenge will be to coordinate movement of arms and legs in any of the saves, so it’s important to work on separate elements of the movement before performing it fully.

The most common “mistake” young goalkeepers make is to react on high shots while positioning hand backwards – behind the line of shoulder. This is not good, because any stronger shoot and impact of the ball on the hand could cause a potential elbow or shoulder injury.

Besides that, another reason why positioning hand behind the line of shoulder is a bad idea is because in that way we are not “cutting” the angle of the incoming ball – we are not closing as much space as we should.

Option 1 of the first exercise: In the first option of this exercise – goalkeepers work in pair. The one who is behind is tapping the left or right shoulder of the other goalkeeper. The goalkeeper who is in front will respond to the tap by fully diagonally extending its arm to the same side as tapped (if the right shoulder is tapped – reaction is to the right side).

Option 2 of the first exercise: The same as previous, but now goalkeeper reacts to the same side if the shoulder is tapped, and to the opposite side if the hip is tapped (if the right hip is tapped – reaction is to the left side).

In the last exercise in the video you can see a middle step + high save reaction on the visual target (ball), with resistance band around the waist. This is how we can work on adding more resistance on the push off leg, for the purpose of strengthening that diagonal push off step in a high save reaction.

MY ONLINE COURSES ABOUT GOALKEEPER COACHING

If you want to learn more about coaching young goalkeepers, you can still join my self-paced Level 1 Online Course and work on it in your own time and pace. Applications for this launch will be opened until 15th of February 2022.

To read more about the course and to apply, please check out this link.

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