The Steel City Goalkeeping Model
Let’s be honest. Whenever anyone talks about “models” in soccer, goalkeepers are rarely mentioned. Goalkeepers are undoubtedly part of the team process and approach and need to be included in all aspects of the team. But their role is unique and requires their own attention.
At Steel City, we have a plan and a pathway to the First Team for all players, including goalkeepers. We don’t just “do” goalkeeper training to tick it off a list and say it’s done—we invest in our keepers to maximize their potential.
GK Fun-damental
When players start soccer, they are taught to dribble, pass, and, everyone’s favorite, shoot! This gives players the basic skills to play the game, right? But then the coach says, “Player X, we need you to go in goal.”
We’d wager 9 out of 10 times this player has had zero keeper training before donning the gloves. For the untrained, this can be a frightening experience. ‘What do I do when the ball comes to me?’ ‘Where do I stand?’ ‘How do I actually STOP the ball?’
The foundation of our keeper program is the “fun-damentals.” This starts with every keeper in the U8-U10 age groups participating in a basic keeper session. As a team, the players goes over the basic technical bread and butter keeper skills — set position and basic handling. The hope is to give them the starting blocks and make them a bit more prepared when they get the nod to go in goal.
At the youngest age for player development, most, if not every player, should play a shift in goal to see the game from a different perspective. This vision can greatly impact their awareness of the game.
As the players become more set in the position, in the U12 year, the goalkeepers have the opportunity to train with the U13 players. This begins the transition and opportunity to prepare for the step into the 11v11 game.
GK Union YDP
This is where goalkeepers learn both the technical side of the position and game-like situations in an additional session outside of the team training.
Ingrained in our club approach, we believe in game-like training. Our keepers practice their decision-making and reactions at a game-speed in these training sessions. In a real game, keepers face moments where the ball deflects or when they have to decide to come out to challenge or not. These type of game-like situations are focused on during the Youth Development Phase years.
Additionally, we focus heavily on practicing distribution that aligns with our style of play. We teach our keepers to be good with their feet and have the ability to play out of the back. This is a regular part of our training sessions.
The Steel City goalkeeper system isn’t determined by age or gender, but by ability. For keepers to develop they need to be tested. It’s about getting the right players working together to get the most out of each session.
GK Union/Performance Phase
In the U15-U19 GK Union Academy, we focus on adding personal growth and individual elements of the position for each keeper. Focused on the long term player development, each keeper gets a customized individual plan that we actively create together – player and GK coach.
While we do train the keepers in focused keeper sessions, on top of those the Goalkeepers get individual attention during their team sessions. From a targeted warmup based on the team-session to real time keeper coaching throughout the session, again based on their role in the team environment.
In many programs, keepers are trained once a week by the specialized GK staff, but that goalkeeper trainer doesn’t see them in a gameWe fully believe that the keepers need to be more than ‘trained’, they have to be coached! It’s important as a goalkeeper coach to see the keeper in a game situation to see the physical and mental ability. The GK coaches attend games in-person and review video recordings sharing and discussing match analysis throughout the year.
Men’s and Women’s First Team
As players move up through the goalkeeper program, the top of the pyramid is competing with the First Teams!
We believe, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. And, we believe in always pushing keepers to get out of their comfort zone and develop. So the first stage for our keepers nearing that level is to train a couple of times a week with the First Teams.
The added experience of training with former professional players, high-level collegiate players, top talent from around the area, further shows the path of how to get to where these aspiring keepers want to be. They go from being the top keeper on their team/age group to now working with players older and more experienced.
And of course, after they’ve trained with the First Team keepers, the model takes them to ideally become a First Team keeper!
As with all things we strive for in Steel City, we want our Goalkeepers to have a true full pathway from youth to the First Teams to aspire and work towards playing and competing lifelong at the highest level they desire.