CONTEXTUALIZE TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF WOMEN GOALKEEPERS IN COMPETITION

For several years, at least in Argentina, goalkeeper coaches and trainers have sought, above all, for the Technical Optimization of women goalkeepers through the search of effectiveness, efficiency and stability of motor gestures. This paid off well in the context prior to professionalization, when many teams and players trained quite irregularly and few players, including goalkeepers, had had a specific training. In this context, a goalkeeper with some technical training and able to manage spaces close to the goal could have acceptable to very good performances in many games.

The advent of professionalization in August 2019, with the incorporation of more and better professionals in the Coach Staffs, including Goalkeeper Coaches, the regularity in training and more exigent selection of players, notably increased the level of competition and posed new challenges for the goalkeepers and their coaches. With the passing of the tournaments, in addition to the optimization of the technique, the importance of Optimization of Sports Performance became evident of goalkeepers. To solve the problem of the Goalkeeper lack of experience and get closer to that Optimization, we have suggested that Main Coaches and Goalkeeper Coaches coordinate situational exercises, involving the goalkeepers frequently in game actions. But we also reflected on the need for Goalkeeper Coaches to reformulate men’s training model to adapt it to the anthropometric characteristics and athletic performance of women goalkeepers, critically evaluating the best positioning and convenient movements according to each game situation.

Almost two years after the beginning of professional women football, in Argentina a transformation is happening at a faster rate than expected. There are better players on all lines, tactics have been refined, and the long preseason that followed the 2020 isolation resulted in returning to competition with players in better shape in all physical valences. As a consequence, the game has become more tactical, precise and fast. In this context, goalkeepers are being more involved in the collective plays, both in defensive and offensive moments, they must manage transitions, move through larger spaces in the field, and face more capable, faster and powerful attackers. As we mentioned in the note on Optimization of Sports Performance, football is a game of situations in which uncertainty reigns and each decision-making is conditioned by the environment.

These circumstances require to upturn the physical, tactical, situational, and mental components, and understanding of the environment, in the process of Optimizing the Sports Performance of women goalkeepers. Thus, in addition to increasing participation in collective tactical training, physical preparation should reinforce specific valences applicable in competition, such as reaction speed and useful strength, and isolated sessions should be contextualized as part of game situations.