At Washington Rush we strive to create an environment that is safe for goalkeepers to work and make mistakes. The reality is all goalkeepers will let in goals...especially during training when they see shot after shot. We challenge goalkeepers to grow in these moments by focusing on learning from the goal, and then moving on. The group of goalkeepers must be supportive of each other. All goalkeepers need to celebrate saves, congratulate each other, and work toward everyone getting better within the session. Goalkeeping needs to be fun and enjoyable!
In our 7v7 age groups, the majority of teams do not have a full-time keeper. Keeper training for these young players starts in a team-oriented environment. By running these keeper sessions during normally-scheduled team training, all players learn how to be a keeper so they have the information to play confidently. Keeper sessions are run once a month throughout the year and focus on ball handling, shot stopping, 1v1s, distribution and positioning.
As teams age into the 9v9 and 11v11 age groups, some players will evolve into full-time keepers. Full-time keepers will attend weekly hour long keeper sessions where they continue to develop their technique and decision making. These sessions are run outside of player's team training.
For more information, please contact Matt Stueckle.
