SCIENCE & GOALKEEPING 1 - INTRODUCTION

The goalkeeper occupies arguably the most important, most technically demanding and often the most rewarding position on the pitch. With little margin for error, the quality goalkeepers are those that can maintain high standards of performance for the full ninety minutes of every match in the season. Such high levels of performance and consistency can only be achieved by a technically sound, tactically aware, mentally tough, physically fit and athletic goalkeeper.

To reach these high levels of performance you will need to invest a great deal of time, effort, dedication and determination into your training. Training not only to improve performance, but also to condition the body to reduce the risk of injury. With so many aspects of performance that the goalkeeper needs to work on, this creates a long 'to do' list for the coach. Covering all elements on this list can prove difficult and very problematic at all levels of the game, particularly when time available to train is at a premium. For example, for professional goalkeepers, time may be limited due to a congested fixture list requiring the goalkeeper to play up to three matches a week, whereas in youth, amateur or even semi-professional football you may only get the opportunity to train for one or two nights a week. Therefore, the focus must be on improving the quality of training to make best use of the limited time available for training.

The lack of scientific research focussing on the specialist role of the goalkeeper has left goalkeeper coaches relying on tradition and intuition as opposed to sound scientific principles when planning training programs for their goalkeepers. Whilst goalkeeping is not an exact science, here are just a few examples of how science can help the goalkeeper and coach improve the quality and effectiveness of their training:

• Science can help not only to develop drills and exercises, but more importantly, to develop the knowledge and understanding of how and why to do the drill based on how the body functions and responds to exercise.
• Science can help by identifying exactly what the demands of goalkeeping are and what aspects of performance the goalkeeper needs to work on
• Science can help by applying scientific principles and theories to help plan, deliver and evaluate training programs
• Science can help by utilising the latest developments in sports science research to ensure that the goalkeeper and coach remain at the cutting edge of this fast growing industry.

So, we've seen a few examples of how science can help the goalkeeper, now we need to look more in-depth at exactly how this scientific knowledge can be applied. Within the field of sports science, there are various sub-disciplines, each of which can be utilised to study a specialised aspect of goalkeeping and how they relate to the achievement of specific goalkeeping objectives. Performance analysis, physiology, biomechanics and psychology of goalkeeping are each summarised below, together with a few examples of how they relate to each other to gain a more complete understanding of the demands of goalkeeping and the appliance of science.