How modern goalkeepers train

Goalkeepers have always been football’s outsiders. Their role requires a unique set of skills, and it is therefore unsurprising that they usually follow very different training regimes to their team-mates. In this presentation, Dr Fabian Otte outlines some of the more common approaches to training the men and women between the sticks, and asks how coaches can find a balance between teaching technique and honing their players’ the ability to read the game.

• There are two broad approaches to training goalkeepers: the traditional method, which emphasises drills and technical skills, and a more contemporary approach that aims to make sessions unpredictable and help goalkeepers adapt to the situation in front of them.
  
  
• The study found that goalkeepers are widely expected to master a range of situations and tasks when defending their goals, preventing goals by defending the area and space in front of the goal, and when contributing in attacks. All of these duties require excellent decision-making skills.
  
  
• Despite this, some coaches spend up to 70% of their training time on technical drills, so finding the right balance between technique and the ability to read the game is a challenge.

Part 1: Introduction and literature review
After introducing himself and outlining his career to date, Dr Otte delves into the pre-existing literature on how training sessions are designed. Broadly speaking,  there are two overarching schools of thought on how to train goalkeepers. On the one hand, the “traditional” approach focuses on technical skills and relies heavily on drills, repetition and hands-on instruction. On the other, the more “contemporary” method varies exercises to make them less predictable and more representative of match play. This more scenario-based structure is intended to develop problem-solving and teach goalkeepers to think on their feet. 

Part 2: Study methodology and results
The study was based on interviews with 15 expert goalkeeping coaches working in a range of elite football environments. In their answers, they gave their views on the core skills they felt all goalkeepers needed and on how to develop those skills on the training ground. There was a consensus goalkeepers needed to be all-rounders, equipped to defend their goal, close down space and play a role in attack. Decision-making is key in all of these areas, and most coaches devoted a significant amount of time to practising complex, game-like scenarios.

Part 3: Transfer to training (video examples)
In this part of the presentation, Dr Otte underlines the importance of adaptability as he talks viewers through four real-life training exercises. All of them are designed to be relatively complex and to reflect the kinds of challenges goalkeepers face during matches. To succeed, goalkeepers need to be able to think on their feet and react to the situation in front of them. In the end, there job is to find a way of keeping the ball out of the net. 

Part 4: Discussion and final thoughts
The interviewees’ responses give rise to some fundamental questions about the different approaches to goalkeeper training, and Dr Otte raises some of them in the final section of the video. For instance, although the coaches agreed that decision-making was a critical skill for goalkeepers, most of them spent over half their training time working on technical drills. This apparent contradiction highlights the need to find a balance between technical and situational training. Might integrating goalkeepers more closely with their outfield counterparts help to produce the kinds of all-rounders coaches agree they need?

Paper citation and link

Otte, F., Millar S-K., Klatt, S., (2020) 'How does the modern football goalkeeper train? - An exploration of expert goalkeeper coaches' skill training approaches', Journal of Sports Sciences, vol 38, nos 11-12, pp. 1465 - 1473

Read the full paper here.