Guardians of the Goalmouth: Top Tips for Goalkeepers

By Ollie Scrimshaw

In between the posts, in front of the net and always behind the ball. Arguably one of the most difficult positions in the game of football, goalkeeping demands three main key qualities which I will explain in this article. 

Resilience

For me, the most crucial factor of being a goalkeeper is resilience on the pitch. For example, the U12B team’s game against Ravens Wood School: 

We started off the game strongly with two goals by Jasper Townley in the first fifteen minutes, but Ravens Wood managed to claw one back from an excellent free kick into the bottom corner before the half-time whistle blew, creating that extra sense of tension between our team going into the half. The second-half whistle blew and although we were one goal up, we played nervously, as if we were losing. Too many mistakes followed and within the first five minutes, Ravens Wood scored two goals that came from the left-winger twice. I remember that we were all disheartened by the mistakes we had made as a team, but we pushed on, fighting for that one goal that could turn our game around. And it came. Jasper Townley, after scoring our two goals in the first half, fought on to score not only the equaliser, but the winner too. Just by persevering, the game that seemed like it was going downhill changed to be a well-fought win, with the team’s resilience playing a key role in securing the victory.

Awareness

Secondly, awareness. Although persevering and motivating your team creates a high morale in games, skills with the ball at our feet and our hands are just as important. Losing concentration in a game is often a death wish. Especially playing for higher teams such as the A team, B team or C team; it creates tension between the goalkeeper and the players.

In my time being a goalkeeper, I have been blamed for many goals that, from my point of view, were not my fault at all. However, leaving that in the past is the best thing to do if you want to come to the next game with a clear mindset and as much awareness as previous games. Resetting your mindset to have great awareness between the posts after letting a goal in can help in finishing the game on a high.

Mindset

Finally: a clear mindset. Goalkeeping is always very demanding and always requires concentration. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, having a bad mindset will only create mistakes, whereas switching to a clear mindset can improve your game. Concentration comes with having a good mindset that can change the game from losing to winning.

I will take the game against Ravens Wood School as an example again. After our opposition came back to score two deserved goals, everyone in our team was feeling disheartened and annoyed. Yet we knew that we could win if we concentrated and being a goalkeeper, this was a wake-up call for me to focus and start putting my body behind the ball.