The Serious Goalkeeping Technical Training program is designed to improve all aspects
of the goalkeepers technical game. Catching, diving, collecting crosses, distribution
(throwing, kicking), punching, tipping, breakaways, rebound control, recovery movements,
etc.
Our technical program has been designed by watching and studying the top goalkeepers
in the world. We have analyzed, and scrutinized every aspect of the goalkeepers
technique. What works, what doesn't work. We have tried to eliminate all unnecessary
movement and effort so that our goalkeepers have the fastest most effective technique
possible. An economy of motion and performance.
We are concerned with the finest of details and accept nothing but perfection in
terms of technical performance. Technique must constantly be trained and refined.
High repetition of the techniques is of the utmost importance. We believe your technique
can never be too good, and you can never work on it enough.
Serious goalkeeping is a huge advocate of the idea of "deep practice" and train
our goalkeepers in such a way that they can begin to coach themselves. We try to
give our goalkeepers the ability to identify when they have made a mistake and knowing
how to fix it. We train them to understand the techniques, and why they work. We
want are goalkeepers to constantly be improving themselves through self-coaching,
whether it be playing in the yard with friends, or in the most competitive of games.
Many trainers coach technique at high speed and believe this is the way to improve
performance. While we feel that this is important in some aspects, and at some point
in a goalkeepers development, we believe it is more important for the goalkeeper
to practice technique at a slower speed. Often a goalkeeper can hide deficiencies
in their technique when performing at high speed. These deficiencies can often not
be detected by the naked or untrained eye. Often a slow motion video replay is required
to identify the deficiency. We believe that if a goalkeeper cannot perform a technique
at the slowest speed humanly possible, then they do not understand the technique
fully and cannot perform it at high speed in its most efficient, effective manner.
We also believe that the goalkeeper must be able to practice their technique in
an environment free of fear and physical punishment. The goalkeeper must be able
to make mistakes without the risk of injury or psychological trauma. An example
of this would be our use of softer balls (nerf, volley balls, etc.) when trainining
the goalkeeper how to make point blank saves and tackling. The balls can be kicked
hard, but an error in technique will not result in an injury (bloody/broken nose,
concussion, wind knocked out of you, etc.). The soft ball will send a message that
something was done wrong, but not such a severe message that a young goalkeeper
will not attempt the exercise with full committment again. Once the goalkeeper can
demonstrate proper technique (full speed and slow speed) then the use of regular
balls can be introduced with minimal risk of injury. Other examples would be the
use of mats or sand pits to practice diving, etc.