Psychology of Goalkeeping by Shay Given

MINDSi SPORTS PERFORMANCE
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It's All About The Little Things or CNes To You And Me

Recently I was asked by a few coaches to give them my top 10 coaching management books. Number one on my list was a book called “Winning” by Clive Woodward.

I had the privilege to be a part of an amazing lecture about team management around five years ago. In this lecture, the speaker told us about the book “Winning!” The book is about the process coach Clive Woodward went through in turning a struggling England’s National Rugby team into an international Rugby powerhouse.

In an effort to take his team from good to great, Woodward set out to create a unique and incredibly special experience for the players coming into his program. His ultimate aim was to make the environment so good that once the players had experienced it they never wanted to be left out of it.

Woodward created this experience and environment by focusing on the little things he called Critical Non-Essentials (CNE’s). CNE’s are all of the little things or details that make your program what it is. Not just any kind of detail, but the development of things that would and could set your program apart from everybody else.

These CNE’s that he focused on include: the locker room (seating, equipment, lockers, extras, decorations, laundry); dress code (home games, away games); sports information (web, game, media guides, TV, radio, other); practice (before, warm-up, training, cool-down); equipment (practice gear, game gear, logo’s, colours); match day environment;(medical/rehab/recovery; nutrition; fitness/strength and conditioning.

Clive Woodward's team subsequently won the World Cup!

See? It's all about the little things!

Jessica De La Souza
MINDSi SPORTS PERFORMANCE
www.MindsiOnline.com

Goalkeeping Essentials - What Coaches Look For

I thought it would help goalies to have an understanding of what coaches are looking for when selecting their Number1. The information I am sharing is based on being part of football for many years, as a player, a coach and a scout- as well as speaking to many coaches across the world throughout the years.

Although there is no exact science with goalie selection, the list below should give the goalies insight to how they are selected.

Movement

• Footwork – Goalies need to be one of the most mobile on a team. If he is not, it will cost the team.
•  Goalie-Specific Movement  – Goalies can’t stop the ball without strong position-specific movement.
• Is the Goalie Quick? – Goalie does not need to be fast, just quick (i.e. does goalie make too many movements in getting from Point A to Point B? Is the goalie able to move into position before the shot is released?)

Positioning

• Angles and Depth – For all shots, is goalie on angle and have correct depth? If a striker with the ball passes to teammate, does goalie understand the depth/angle relationship to get self in proper position again?
• Body Squareness – Being square for first shot is easy, what about the rebound?

Anticipation

• Read Developing Plays – Is goalie slightly “in-front” of the play or is he having to catch-up? Does goalie seem surprised with different offensive tactics?
• Ball Watching Goalie is not going to have any idea where the rebound is going if not concentrating on the ball.

Saving the Ball

• “Blocking” or “Reactive” Style? – Does goalie simply allow the ball to hit him or does he adjust body to best react to shot.
• Unnecessary Shots Against? – Does goalie control rebounds or consistency have to make another save?
• Predictability – Is the goalie consistently making the same save on the same shot every time or is he erratic?

Competitiveness

• Work – Does goalie work to save all shots or just every few?
• Fighting Spirit -Many goalies today do not have the “fighting spirit”, or heart, to be a successful goalie. They simply don’t control their surroundings. Examples, are rebounds allowed to sit in, or around, the six yard box. If striker appears to have goalie beat, does the goalie battle to make the save? It can be argued a goalie’s competitiveness is the most important component he can bring to a team. Technique and tactics can always be taught but the goalie’s fighting spirit is internal and rarely can be developed through coaching. Either the goalie has heart or they don’t and coaches rarely pass on the kid who does. Battle, battle, battle!!!!

Presence in Net

• Comfort – Does goalie seem to be confident, enjoy his job and the opportunity?
• Small or Big? – When it's cruch time and the pressure is on, does the goalie elevate his play or bottle it?

Emotional and Mental

• Coachability – Does goalie seem to want to learn or does he already know everything? If he acts as if he knows everything he may as well get off the pitch and give up!
• Focus – Does he allow bad goals during games appear like he “got caught napping?”
• Enjoyment – Is goalie just going through the motions or is he motivated? If the goalie is going through the motions in games and training?
• High Maintenance – Is the goalie going to be more work (off the pitch) than is really worth it? Are his parents?

Many coaches say they only want a goalie that “can stop the ball.”  This is a bit misleading if you take it at surface value.  All of the above go into stopping the ball for a coach. As a goalie, if you can commit this list to memory and work hard to improve in all the above categories, your goalie future will be very bright.

Gavin Wilson
Senior Sports Performance Coach
MINDSi SPORTS PERFORMANCE
www.MindsiOnline.com

Nothing Gets Past This Goalie!

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Penalties - Goalkeepers Dive To The Right

New psychological research suggests that goalkeepers and teams aren't only affected by the high-stakes pressure of a penalty shootout. Without their awareness, goalkeepers also appear to be biased to dive to the right in some situations.

The bias primarily seems to affect goalkeepers when their teams are down, according to psychologists at the University of Amsterdam, who published their study in the journal Psychological Science. The psychologists believe the bias likely extends to other sports as well that involve rapid decision-making under pressure.

Marieke Roskes, Daniel Sligte, Shaul Shalvi and Carsten De Dreu said their hypothesis arose from a discussion they had with each other at a bar one Friday evening. The researchers were talking about two recent papers. One showed dogs tend to wag their tails to the right when approaching their masters. The other showed that goalies have a tendency to dive one way or another while facing penalty kicks — they seem to dislike staying still.

Combining the ideas in the papers, and referring to goalkeepers, Shalvi said the psychologists asked themselves, "Could it be that they would also, like the dogs, dive more to the right?"

On the following Monday, they started examining the evidence. They looked at penalty kicks in the men's World Cup soccer championship from 1982 onward and found 204 penalty shootouts. When teams were tied, they found that goalkeepers dived left and right equally. But when their teams were down, the psychologists found goalkeepers were more than twice as likely to dive right as dive left.

Now, there's a scientific explanation for this — and it doesn't have anything to do with being left-handed or right-handed. Among humans, dogs and some other animals, individuals unconsciously move to the right when they approach something they really want. Lovers tend to lean their heads to the right when they kiss; dogs wag their tails to the right when their masters approach.

The predisposition to go one way rather than another doesn't mean that individuals always have to go that way. But it does mean they have an unconscious tendency to favor one side rather than another in certain situations.

Shalvi and the other psychologists said the tendency likely arose in different species because there was an evolutionary advantage for many members of a given species to favor one direction rather than another — when they were hunting or avoiding predators, for example.

Shalvi thinks goalkeepers tend to dive right when all hopes are pinned on them. That's why they dive right, he said, "especially when their team is behind and their likelihood to be heroes is the greatest."

Interesting!

Gavin Wilson
MINDSi SPORTS PERFORMANCE
www.MindsiOnline.com