The nature of goalkeeping brings out some great interactions between soccer people around the country.  The questions below are ones that I kept in a notebook over a four-month period.  They came on the field, in a parking lot, via email and over the phone.  Questioners ranged from goalkeepers young and old, coaches of varying experiences and parents of goalkeepers of all ages.

Goalkeepers should be concerned with two main factors in a shoe: fit (feel) and grip.  Shoes should be purchased for the here and now and not for the future.  They need to fit.  The kicking and punting demands of the position really call for a shoe to fit snugly and comfortably on the feet.  A goalkeeper's shoes should also have the capability to provide excellent traction.  In the rainy climate of the northwest, a pair of replaceable studded shoes should be a goalkeeper's first choice with a good pair of molded shoes always packed away for those times of the year when the ground doesn't allow a studded shoe to dig into the ground.

Goalkeepers who are 13-14 years old should consider two pairs of shoes (at a minimum).  Younger goalkeepers can do well with one pair of molded shoes.  In all cases, the shoe should be built with material that keeps the shoe from stretching across its width.  This is a critical point for the goalkeeper who demands a great deal of him / herself when moving laterally.

When a goalkeeper begins to play competitively and train for the position, a good choice in a glove becomes an important issue.  Essentially, most glove makers have done a good job in assembling their gloves for fit and effectiveness.  Some gloves are made of different foam compositions to deal with different environments (wet vs. dry or match vs. training environments).  Basically, the glove should fit comfortably on the hand.  If the goalkeeper was to spread his or her hand to its widest point from the end of the thumb to the end and outside of the little finger, the glove should cover the hand loosely.  There should be plenty of material running across the palm and at the end of the fingers (especially the index and little fingers).  While the glove should not fit sloppily on the hand, it should leave just a little room for movement when worn.

The real question could be, "my goalkeeper may not be keeping his / her feet long enough, this is a problem?" A good principle is to hone in dealing with shooting situations that require the goalkeeper to move their feet to get to the ball but not to diving.  Generally, goalkeepers who dive for the "simple stuff" could stand some attention with the movement of their feet.  Coaches deal with this principle in different ways.  A suggestion might be to work on shuffling to service to the right and to the left without diving.  After some work, service that has more velocity can be added to the practice and then the decision must be made: can the goalkeeper keep their feet or dive?

Getting forward in diving really works well when the goalkeeper is in an angled position and the ball is going by the goalkeeper about an arms distance away.  If the ball is farther away (more than 3-4 feet) it might be better dive sideways and get extension away from the body (not backwards, but sideways and slightly forward).  A common problem for goalkeepers is that a forward step sometimes requires "backward" diving to get to the ball because it is hit outside of the reach of the goalkeeper.

Dropkicking is good for long driven clearance.  This technique allows the goalkeeper to kick the ball after dropping it to the ground and should be struck as the ball is on its way down.  The tactical application is to drive the ball long and over opponent's defensive positions to players who are sprinting into space.  Dropkicking can also be effective in playing into target players who wish to control the ball or play it into space (by "flicking the ball") to a teammate or two themselves.

Punting is a technique that allows for the goalkeeper's team to push away from their own defensive third of the field as the high arcing ball is in flight.  When teams use a punt forward, the goalkeeper is intentionally playing the ball so that a "knock-down" will result and the ball will be one by reading the direction of the knockdown.  It is important for teams to practice making a good condensed shape to challenge for and then win the ball off of a good long high punt.

There are several factors that come into play on a corner kick.  The delivery of the ball (inswinger versus outswinger, driven versus lofted serve) and the number of opponents and teammates a goalkeeper must fight through to get to the ball.  Essentially, The goalkeeper should take up mid-goal positions on a corner so that getting to space at either the near post or back post areas should not be a major problem.  Often times, young goalkeepers start out at the back post thinking they can come for-ward to a serve that is played into the central or near post areas.  However, a good sharp corner into those areas with strong attacking runs can see the goalkeeper arriving late or being "picked off" before the young 'keeper can deal with the situation.

There are probably three approaches that can be used in setting up a wall.  The goalkeeper can shout out a set number of players needed (based on prior practice and scouring of an opponent) and go to the near post side of the kick and make sure that the wall is properly set from the near post in towards the middle.  A second method is the use of a wall captain (usually a forward who will act as a target for the team to counter-attack to) who lines the wall up from 10 yards behind the ball.  The third method is to use a combination of the first two strategies; with the wall captain checking with the goalkeeper to make sure the wall is correctly set.

With younger goalkeepers or 'keepers that are not very experienced or limited technically and tactically, a wall captain is a good idea.  The key is to get the wall set up with enough players to cover from a step or two to the outside of the near post, across the goal to the middle.  The goalkeeper is responsible for covering the space between the wall and the back post and should attempt to cover a kick hit over the wall to the near post side.  Older goalkeepers should be in charge of setting up the wall.

The old saying, "there is no such thing as a bad question" is certainly true.  People ask questions in order to enhance their understanding of where they need to go.  Questions also asked to help people feel comfortable about what they are doing currently and where they might go in the future.  I say, "keep 'em coming."