Your team may have a player
who specialises in goalkeeping or alternatively a few players may play in this
position during a game. Any player in a team should be capable of playing in
goal if need be, (e.g. a specialist goalkeeper may get sent off or be injured).
It makes sense to have your best goalkeeper acting as goalkeeper most of the
time.
There is more to goalkeeping
than just blocking shots!
The
goalkeeper should also be able to retrieve the ball quickly and be able to pass
accurately over long distances. The goalkeeper needs to decide quickly when
possession of the ball is gained, whether a ‘quick break’ is possible or whether
to ‘Build up from the back’. The goalkeeper also needs to be comfortable in
possession of the ball if the opposition are playing ‘5 Out’ and marking
tightly.
The
goalkeeper should not just sit under the goal for the entire game, but should
participate in attacks by bringing the ball up from the back and being available
for a pass back from team-mates. In general the goalkeeper should not go much
further up the pitch than between halfway and the opposition 6-metre line during
an attack against the opposition goal.
The
goalkeeper and other defending player who are covering the back during an attack
should never allow opposition players to get ‘goalside’ of them.
Possession of the ball may be lost and opposition could score from a ‘Quick
Break’.