Being a soccer goalkeeper is the dream of many young kids who dream of making a place for themselves in the first division; however, it is not an easy dream to say.
To begin with, we have to explain what it means to be a soccer goalkeeper. A soccer goalkeeper is a player who is in charge of trying to keep the ball from slipping into the goal and thus prevent the rival from scoring goals.
As such, he is the most defensive player on the entire team and one of the most important, since he is the only player with whom it is compulsory to play (in the event of a goalkeeper’s expulsion, another player must be substituted and the substitute goalkeeper or put a goalkeeper field player).
A goalkeeper is a player who has to have good reflexes as well as positioning, jumping and agility, skills that luckily can be acquired. Many times the reason for being a goalkeeper is that he is not very skilled as a field player, but there are times when he is really vocational.
If you want to learn how to be a good soccer goalkeeper, you are in the right place, where I am going to teach you step by step how to be a good soccer goalkeeper.
What do you need to be a soccer goalkeeper?
- Goalkeeper gloves.
- football boots
- Shin pads.
- You win to work.
- A field player to practice.
- The younger you are the better.
Instructions to be a soccer goalkeeper
- Reflexes:
As the goalkeeper is the only player who has the option to use his hands, he is also the player who needs reflexes the most in order to play correctly. Having good reflexes will allow you to tackle balls that come to you by surprise and have a greater ability to react to unforeseen events. Reflexes improve with practice but are lost with age (hence one of the reasons for Casella’s’ recent slump), to practice them the best way is obviously to play a lot of football and have many shots thrown at you, but there are also other ways such as For example, playing other sports where reflexes are more important, such as tennis, or practicing contact sports such as karate to improve them. - Positioning:
Another crucial aspect of being a soccer goalkeeper is positioning, since knowing how to position yourself sportingly speaking will allow you to anticipate the opponent’s movements and at the same time cover as much space as possible with your body. The only way to get high is to practice a lot, play a lot and watch elite goalkeepers in games. If you look closely, they usually try to get in a straight line with the ball, but without neglecting the angles. When they are one on one they come out, but they come out when he touches, to surprise the rival and they don’t come out at the wrong time. For this reason, the most successful goalkeepers are usually very large and corpulent goalkeepers. - Agility:
A goalkeeper, in addition to having reflexes, has to be fast, since he has to learn to jump quickly for the ball. They also have to learn to get up quickly and get back on their feet when they are thrown to a standing position. Here the best way is to train the change of position, that is, try to throw you to the ground and get up as quickly as possible. You can make a circuit at home, in which you have to move from one side to another in different positions in a short period of time. - Mindset:
Many players who make it to the pros say the difference between a Balloon d’Or player and an average player is attitude and confidence. To be a goalkeeper, it is even more crucial since a goalkeeper with low confidence can save fewer balls and therefore create a vicious circle of criticism from the fans and performance dips (another cause of Casella’s’ downturn). To do this, you must have perseverance, dedication, train for many hours and try to improve, trying to get up when you play a bad game and improving your mistakes.
Tips for being a soccer goalkeeper
- Play in a team: If you are over 19 years old, your time in the lower categories is over, however, you could still get to play in a team. Find the team in your city that is in a regional division and talk to the coach about making the team. He tries to get you taken seriously and tries to get you to do some kind of tests. If the team tells you no, keep training and try another team until they catch you. At first you will start as a substitute goalkeeper, but you will already have the opportunity to train in a team and be able to polish your skills. Who knows, you might end up playing in the first division.