Two things this month involve this kind of communication:

Staying in the shot to the end

Basic stance (getting in it and getting in it again).

These are really related. As a coach you have to fight the keeper's belief system to have him/her progress to the higher levels. The more that the keepers think that they can't make the save the more the keeper will go into a BLOCKING stance (hands in, chest out, locked knees, etc.) instead of continuing to drive the hands and body at the BALL.

In working with good (not great) keepers, I have also found that many tend to try to read the shooter and some get pretty good at it. What I mean is that they try to determine where the ball is going by the motion that the shooter uses to shoot the ball. Then along comes a shooter that a) has a different motion or b) the shot is too close in to have time to read it. These keepers will also try to block shots (with body or stick with lots of rebounds) instead of saving the ball with their stick mesh)

The great keepers play the ball not the shooter. Thus, they can stay in the shot longer and get to more balls, after all it is the ball that is saved by the keeper. In order to do this the keeper must put all his/her focus on the ball (not the shooter, the moon or other distractions). And, the keeper must be in a stance that allows him/her to drive out to the ball to make the save.

There are two points here;

1) Getting in a good stance prior to the shot

2) Driving to the ball for the save.

A coach needs to understand that once a keeper looses track of the ball it takes a long time (approximately 4/10ths second) to find it again. So one objective is to NOT LOSE TRACK of the BALL.

Being ready to make the save is crucial to making a high percentage of saves (more important than position in my view)

These points are also related and the basis for the technique of WATCHING THE BALL WITH YOUR HAND (pointing your top hand toward the ball in flight and as player drives/dodges AND setting up behind you hand on those passes and dodges). THE KEEPER WILL BE READY PRIOR TO THE SHOT on feeds and drives using this approach.

Once ready in a good stance then all the body parts need to flow to the ball (not just the hands). This is the real basis for stepping. Stepping is a result of attacking the ball with everything and NOT sideways stepping, but forward stepping. If the keeper is driving the top hand to the ball (always the 1st part of the save move) and stepping forward, the natural tendency to follow his/her hand will gain the needed width to cover the goal.

This point and one more is the real reason for this column. Keepers that WAIT on the SHOT (instead of drive to it) can make some saves based on their reactions/quickness. But, their range is limited by the rigidity of some of their body parts as they wait (legs, chest, etc.). These waiters have trouble with shooters that shoot the corners and off hip shots. But, if the keeper will drive his hands forward and his whole body forward on every shot, he/she will get to more corner shots (have more range). This needs to be practiced and that is the coach's job.

At the risk of rambling on in this area, by combining belief building, ball tracking, early setup and attacking the shot, IMPOSSIBLE SHOTS become POSSIBLE SAVES. These need to be practiced too. In my clinics we work on impossible shots by telling our keepers that everything, that is everything, that I shoot that day is possible to save and it is their job to work on their technique and ball concentration in order to be able to make those saves. I have devised some special drills to help them a) understand the situation and b) overcome their lack saves on close in feeds, cross crease passes, drives from behind and other tough but makable saves. More on those another time.