In Or Out? Goalkeeping Is Great Fun Either Way

Like a Romulan Mind Meld, one of our fantastic readers and myself, were on the same astral plane the other night. I was watching the World Cup of Beach Soccer on ESPN late at night, and thought back to the amazing training sessions we used to have growing up as a junior goalkeeper. When I logged onto the net later on in the night, I had this awesome questions awaiting me form another fellow Aussie goalkeeper:

Q: 
G’day,

Congratulations on a great site. I find sports science fascinating and am pleased that an Aussie has a great site for Goalkeeper science.

I was wondering if you would ever consider doing a feature on Indoor soccer and Futsal goalkeeping, and the differences between this and the field game.Considering how popular these forms of the game are it may be of interest to many readers.

I personally suspect playing Indoor is good practice for keepers, because you get a lot more shots to deal with and also many one-on-one situations during a game.

Thanks for your time and keep up the good work!

A: Beach soccer and indoor soccer are possibly the greatest way to stay match fit in the off-season. Both can do phenomenal things for goalkeeping performance, and should be a staple of any pre-season training regime also. I remember back at Sydney United as a 15 year old being asked to train with some awesome talent like Ante Milicic, Zeljko Kalac, Tony Popovic and co at an indoor session. I got nicely beat up but it gave me such a good vibe about being a goalkeeper. Also, I trained religiously for pre-season on the beach with my team-mates. Beach training can be gruelling but extremely liberating because it is so open and uncanny (mostly because of the uneven surface) and can give your goalkeeping skills a huge boost. 

Hugo, first let’s look at indoor goalkeeping. Indoor goalkeeping technique should really emphasize the use of angle-work. In fact, angles and short, sharp footwork are hallmarks of great indoor goalkeeping. In fact, Peter Schmeichel was a fantastic handball goalkeeper before he was a football goalkeeper. Schmeichel was possibly the best "angler" (as I like to call it) of his generation, not only for his presence in goals, but because he knew how to utilize the power of "cutting" the angle, and making himself super large in goals. You also make a very good point about the constant need to be alert, as there are more shots on goals in an indoor soccer situation. Therefore, to be a great indoor goalkeeper you must have very quick wits about you, and this can transcend onto the outdoor soccer field in its own special way.

Beach soccer has the power to take a goalkeepers game to the next level. Because you are training in sand, resistance plays a factor, and you benefit from the taxing cardiovascular workout that goalkeeping in the sand can bring. Goalkeeping on the beach also allows you to throw a little bit more gusto into your dives, and allows for experimentation with your diving technique, because you know you are going to land in that soft golden sand. Apart from this, beach goalkeeping allows you to heighten your senses, as the uneven playing field means that you must focus more intensely on proper technique. 

Therefore, there are certainly differences in technique and fitness levels required to play indoor and outdoor, but  the indoor and beach soccer games can really make a marked difference in your ability to play competitively as a soccer goalkeeper. I recommend playing both in the off season, and during pre-season training.

Hope this helps Hugo. Thanks so much for coming to Keeper Skool!