And Now, Vince's Uncle Roberto With Soccer Goalkeeping Basics

Unlike all other positions on a soccer team, where anticipation and proaction are necessary, soccer goalkeepers must react. Goalkeepers must wait to know where the shot is going, then react appropriately as fast as possible. That is why improving reaction speed and reflex speed is so critical. After knowing where the ball is going, the soccer goalkeeper must anticipate where the ball will end up in order to time the dive and body positions accordingly. First, make sure you get your body behind the ball as fast as possible. Not any part of the body, but soft muscle tissue. This will prevent rebounds. For instance, getting your quads (upper thigh) behind the ball while picking up or saving a low shot is safer than getting your shin or knee behind it. That's why a quick drop is important. Second, while you need to attack the ball, at the time of contact you need to relax your hands and body just a bit, to the point of slightly retracting. A good practice exercise is to have a couple of soccer goalies play catch with raw eggs. Throw the egg a little short of the body forcing the goalie to step into the throw, i.e. attacking the egg. At the last second, the goalie will relax the body to avoid breaking the egg. Same is true for shots. The coach may choose to bring hard boiled eggs and tell the goalies they are raw eggs, just to avoid a mess the first time around.

Which reminds me: never let a fare eat scrambled eggs in your car. This one time in Connecticut I was driving a lawyer to a morning deposition, and he let a whole plateful of breakfast leak into my renovated buckskin interior. Some people are real bums.