I know that a significant number of club coaches lurk this forum, and some even actively participate, so I'm hoping this post connects with at least one coach who is willing to consider that he/she could improve their handling of GK's. I'm mainly talking about high-level, olders club play here, but most of this translates to youngers and even AYSO levels. Hell, most of the college coaches I've met could use this.
Here's a (non-comprehensive) list of the things you're probably doing wrong that you had no idea about. All GK parents or coaches are welcome to add to this. If you never played the position yourself, you are hereby kindly asked to shut your pie hole and listen.
Let's start with the assumption that you have a player that wants to be a keeper and has access to a GK trainer who can work on their technique. Starting at the top, here's what you're doing wrong:
1. You think that it's about athleticism and physical ability. Wrong. It's ALL about mentality. Keepers need two mental legs to stand on: Supreme confidence and unbreakable toughness. They don't start with this built in, so you have to develop it, build it over time and through challenges and losses.
2. Because it's about mentality, what you say (or don't say) to your keeper is 1,000 times more significant than what you're saying to your striker or your defender or any field player. You can't coach your keeper the same way you coach the rest of the team. You need to understand this player on a level that goes deeper than your striker. Strikers are free to make mistakes. If they make 10 mistakes a game, but get one or two plays just right, they're a freaking hero. A striker is an attack dog. Throw it a steak when it's good, scold it when it's bad. Simple. Your keeper is a cat. If you mishandle him/her, he/she will be a fussy, mercurial, mysterious and resentful house cat. Understand his/her motivations, their buttons, their mental weaknesses and strengths, and you can have a freaking tiger. But it's going to be tricky, and you better know them inside and out. To have those cat-like reflexes, you also can't load them up with a lot of micro-instructions, joy-sticking them from the sidelines. They need clear minds to make those instinctive reaction saves, not a whole computer code formula pre-loaded by you into their brains for every single potential move. Second guessing and hesitation is the keeper's worst enemy.
3. You think mistakes/errors are things that can be eliminated. They can't. But because you don't know this, you implore and beg and plead or command that your keeper eliminate them instead of coaching them on how to rebound from them or react to the INEVITABLE mistakes and errors. Every. F**king. Keeper. Alive. Makes. Mistakes. And they always will. The great ones consistently don't let the mistakes get in their heads, and that's the difference. But that also requires a coach who allows this process to happen. Make a mistake, rebound. Make a mistake, rebound.
4. Splitting time: You think you can manage the playing time between multiple keepers the same way you do field players. You can't. See #1 above. Your two keepers need to know their roles going into the next match well in advance of kick-off. At minimum the day before, but preferably a week in advance. Playing roulette with playing time, rotating time randomly, or using snap decisions on the fly using your coaching instincts in the heat of the moment are going to wreck one or both of your keepers. Starting a game is different than finishing a game. Both are critical, but it's a different mental approach. The starting keeper sets the tone defensively and emotionally for the team. It's more about strategy, commanding the back, and seeing the field. In the second half, as the games open up and defenders get tired, the closer will see more shots, and needs to be clear headed and instinctive, and not frantic. If you like to split them 50/50, make sure they know which role they're playing week to week. At half, the starter can coach the closer on what's happening, what they're seeing and give them important keys to finishing the game.
5. Splitting time, part 2: If you prefer to have a #1 who gets most of the minutes and a back-up keeper on hand for injuries or "development", you'd better stop coaching them the same way. Again, see #1 above. Labeling someone as the "back-up" is already cutting out one of their mental legs out from under them: confidence. So you have to give the back-up a little extra boost whenever you can. Constantly reassure them that their opportunities will be there and you trust them. More than likely, you are going to need them in an important moment, and they have to be mentally ready.
6. Splitting time, part 3: The quick hook. If you've ever pulled a keeper in-game for making a mistake in a youth game, you suck at coaching. Period. End of story. No discussion.
7. Splitting time, part 4: You think competition is good between your keepers. You think it "pushes" them. Wrong. It usually ends up wrecking one or both, or dividing the team because certain players are closer friends with one or the other. Instead, develop a culture of accountability where the two keepers cheer each other and train together, warm each other up, and have each other's back. You're the coach, so you control the culture. Not the players. You're either coaching it or you're allowing it. For better or worse. So if you've got a rivalry going between your keepers just know it's probably going to get ugly, and it will be your fault.
8. You think because you didn't play keeper, you can't really tell your keeper anything about their technique (that's why we have a GK trainer at the club, right?), so you don't provide them much instruction during practices or games. You think your coaching time is more efficiently spent on the things you know better (field players). Wrong. All that same information is valuable for your keeper too. Plus, you have loads of important coaching to provide your keeper on game management, situational awareness, communication, distribution, tactics and game strategy. Coach your keeper to be your on-field assistant coach, and you'll see tremendous results on the field.
9. Your idea of engaging your keeper in practice is to run rapid shooting drills where you send waves of players, two or three at a time at your keeper in fast succession, where they get pristine looks at the goal from 10 yards out. Worst. Drills. Ever. Keepers rarely get to practice situations that simulate actual in game action: with a full defense in front of them and 6-7 attacking players flooding the box. Ditch the rapid-fire shooting drills, which only accomplish the goal of demoralizing your keeper and de-sensitizing them to seeing the ball go into the back of the net, and run more full scrimmages. Better for your field players, too, btw.
10. You think a good keeper means you'll win more games. Nope. Keepers don't win games. A good keeper can turn a potential blow-out into a competitive loss. A good keeper will make a competitive loss into a draw. But that's about it. You win by scoring goals. The best thing you can do for your keeper's confidence is get your offense in-gear. Then they don't have to be perfect every single match. If your keeper lets one roll through their hands, your offense should score two more. You need to instill that attitude in your field players. Then they take it as a challenge when your keeper is (inevitably) human, rather than take it out on the one person on the field who isn't allowed mistakes.
I know there are a lot of others, (play them in the field more, develop their feet, etc.) but these are the ones that I see so frequently, at every age level, that cause me to just shake my head. My daughter is lucky in that she currently has had a couple of really fantastic coaches who illustrated these differences from the terrible and mediocre ones that she had early on, but one of her keeper friends went through the wringer on a few of these recently, and I just have to vent.
Stop ruining young keepers!!!
