If you’re anything like me, planning your sessions so that Goalkeepers are getting as much attention as outfield players is challenging. I took it upon myself to take a Level 1 GK Course a few years back, but still consider my knowledge to be limited. Add that to the fact that most coaches don’t have an assistant to take 'keepers to one side, making sure they get to improve their necessary skills becomes even more difficult.
Thankfully I've been fortunate enough to meet coaches who are far more qualified on the subject to help with this. Perry McLachlan is a Goalkeeper specialist with over 10-years’ experience in both the UK and US. He has worked with both male and female ‘keepers aged from 8 - adult and seen some of his former charges go on to receive both youth and full international caps. He currently runs RPM Soccer Coaching, an independent academy that works with players, teams and clubs.
Perry gives some great advice on how to structure your session so that all of your players get attention, appropriate 'keeper work for the U8-U12 age groups and at what age players should be considered to become full-time ‘keepers.
DF: Hi Perry. Can you give everyone a background in your history of coaching Goalkeepers, such as when you got started, why you chose ‘keepers and who you have worked for?
PM: I started coaching goalkeepers when I was 15. I was training as a GK about 3-4 times a week for an independent academy with a GK coach called Les Cleevely and then he started asking me to help out with coaching sessions. From then on I got my licenses. I coached with Les until I was 19. At the age of 20 I started working with Chelsea, first with their community program and then with Chelsea Ladies, both the first team and the academy set-up. I spent about the best part of 3 years at Chelsea, combining my time there with work in the non-league at numerous clubs. I moved out to the states at 23, working with Wolves and Chievo Verona during the summer and with Sampson County Soccer through Premier UK in the Spring & Fall.
Since I’ve come back to England, I’ve worked with Crystal Palace. Outside of that I’ve been involved with further education programs, doing some ‘keeper coaching on them. I’ve also set up my own company, RPM.
DF: I remember you telling me, that you worked with a keeper at Chelsea who went on to become an International…
PM: Carly Telford. I worked with her when she first came to Chelsea, she’s still there now. She was in and around the England set up when I was there and she’s in and around the England set up still. There was also a girl called Jess Myers who went on to play for Birmingham after Chelsea. She was in the academy set up and she got a call up for England while I was there as well. It was for her age group at the time which was U17/U18. Carly played in the Women’s World Cup in Canada, 2015, which was exciting for me to see having worked with Goalkeepers that were playing at that level.
DF: I’m sure it was. One of the big issues that coaches face when trying to run a practice is incorporating their Goalkeepers. When you and I worked in the US, we had ourselves and no assistant coach to take them to one side. Bearing in mind that a lot of people are in the same boat, what advice would you give to coaches in order to incorporate keepers into their outfield sessions? Say for instance, a crossing and finishing session?
PM: Though crossing and finishing is primarily for attacking players, you’ll be involving a Goalkeeper and looking at their positioning and their decision-making – when do they attack the ball and when do they hold their position and shout “Away!” That’s a very simple one, as ‘keepers are involved straight away. If it’s a more general session like breaking lines, for example, for a young age group, I would set up in a game scenario as soon as possible and make it so that it is flowing. If you have only 1 Goalkeeper, one end could be an end zone and the other end is the goal. What you are then doing is making it game realistic for the keeper and the players, so you can coach your objectives but the GK is still getting his work as opposed to running around with the outfield players.
DF: That's a great point. How much focus would you put on the keeper as opposed to with the outfield players?
PM: I would manage it throughout the session. If I was to stop it to make a coaching point to the outfield players I would keep an eye on the keeper throughout the whole session. I would coach him as and when he was brought into the game. If the players in front of him are in defensive positions I would be asking him how he can affect the play with his communication, is he available to receive the ball and relieve the pressure if necessary and when he gets the ball can he break the press with a pass rather than playing sideways, thus breaking the attacking line of the opponents. It’s more so managing the keeper instead of focusing on him as a whole. If you’ve got 16 players including the GK then you cannot neglect them but instead manage their expectations.
If he/she does get the ball, what are they looking to do with it, is their distribution good and why do they think yes or no. Most importantly, if someone shoots at them, are they setting their feet and making a save. After all, Goalkeeping is about stopping the ball going into the back of the net.
Are they doing the simple things right is the most important thing for a kid. Are they setting their feet, are they getting ready to save or are they standing there picking their nose. It’s easy for coaches to let that happen at that age, you put the kid in goal and people completely neglect them.
For me, coaching position is important as well. If I have a session going on and I am away from them then I cannot affect them. If I coach nearer the ‘keeper, then I can affect them, with comments like “step up 5 yards” or “I can’t hear you talk to your defence” and then I can affect their game as well as cover the objectives of your session.
DF: Mentioning that with younger players you want to keep things as simple as possible, looking at the 3 main age brackets in the foundation ages, being U8, U10 and U12, what would you say are the key coaching points for ‘keepers at each of those age groups? For instance, the GK course that I did told us not to worry about diving until U12.
PM: For all 3 of those age groups, the core thing to look at is their technique. It’s how comfortable they are at setting their feet, are they doing the techniques correctly and are they going into the W shape (when catching high balls) and are they scooping through properly. The only difference is how the game develops at the age groups. The pitch is small at U8 and U10 so you don’t have to worry about their distribution. The fundamentals are their set position.
You do want to get them diving but you don’t want to be concerned with them flying through the air as that will come naturally, but to set their feet, step into the save, getting their head over the knee and hands when diving to the ball is something that needs coaching at a young age. Goalkeeping relies on muscle memory, as with outfield techniques. If players get used to making these shapes early, then they stay with the players for life. The older a player gets the harder it is to perfect the techniques.
At 12 is a little bit different in terms of distribution, where players muscles are far more developed, and they can work on their striking technique in terms of kicking the ball, so by the time they get to 14/15 they are getting as much height and length on the ball as they want. Ultimately it still comes down to technique. 4 years is a long time with a lot of changes taking place in a child and as coaches we want them performing the techniques as smoothly at 12 as they did at 8, if not more.
Regardless of the topic, I advise you have your ‘keepers performing 20 minutes of technical work at the start of every session, in terms of their handling and footwork. This is because they are the fundamentals of goalkeeping at every level. Every GK sets their feet before a shot comes in. They catch above the chest with the W and below the waist with the cup. This is the bread and butter for a goalkeeper. Once we have this in place, we can look at more advanced things such as the position of the head. On a scoop for instance, if a ‘keepers head is back then the body goes backwards. If their head is over the ball and their arms then the body drives forward. Making sure players are working on these things week in and week out is what you should aim for.
DF: That makes complete sense. I know from when I have worked on finishing with players from U8 all the way to U16, the message has been the same in terms of remembering the three words “Look, decide, aim” so that they make it a habit.
I’m keen to know as well, at what age do you think players should be pigeon-holed as a Goalkeeper only?
PM: U12/U13. It’s important that Goalkeepers, especially the modern day Goalkeeper, learn to be Football players. If you look at Petr Cech in the Arsenal-Man City game this past weekend, he touched the ball more with his feet than he had ever done previously. Goalkeeper’s need to be able to play with their feet. If a kid enjoys playing in goal don’t discourage that, but at 11, 12 or 13 you have more of a clear understanding about what position players are going to be best suited to, whether outfield or in goal. The ages prior to that gives the players a grace period to learn what they need to learn from a technical standpoint as well as develop ball control with their feet.
DF: Yeah, that falls in line with our thoughts on younger ages and not pigeon-holing players into positions until 11 v 11 at the earliest…
PM: Absolutely. From 8-11 you really want the players having as much fun as possible. If they want to play all 5, 7 or 9 positions, give them the opportunity to do that.
DF: RPM Coaching has a Weekly Goalkeeping Development Centre. Where and what time does that take place, what ages is it open to and what separates from similar programmes?
PM: It’s in Chessington, near Kingston-upon-Thames at Chessington and Hook United FC, right next to Chessington World of Adventures. We usually have between 8-12 Goalkeepers attend, but we have spaces for 20 from 6-7:15pm. This allows us to have a Coach to player ratio of around 1 to 6.
DF: 1 to 6 is quite good, that allows for a lot of individual attention…
PM: Yeah, that means that my staff and I can spot the individual nuances in each ‘keeper that they need to focus on – body shape, where their head is, where their arms are, where their feet are when they land, the foot position when they set their feet and their knee bend to make saving a shot as easy as possible for them. For example, kids have a tendency to bounce on their feet. If a shot comes in and they’re bouncing, then they have to get back on the ground to make a save. That split second makes enough difference for the ball to go past them.
In terms of what sets us apart, everyone who has played in goal should be able to coach the techniques and body shapes as they remain consistent other than how ‘keepers now spread themselves when coming off their line. The only difference is how coaches go about teaching them.
I believe that what we at RPM do really well is that creating a different pathway on a weekly basis to get the same techniques out.
DF: So in a similar fashion to how school teachers use different methods and activities to teach the same topic?
PM: Exactly. We don’t want players getting bored.
DF: What is the best way for people to contact you if they’re interested?
PM: They can e-mail me at [email protected] or they can sign up through the website. My contact number is also available on the website.
DF: Thanks a lot for your time.
PM: My pleasure.