WOMEN GOALKEEPING TRAINING. FROM ACADEMY TO PROFESSIONALISM. PART II

In 2015 I joined the Coaching Staff of an AFA First Division team, when the tournament was still amateur. In the team played a goalkeeper trained at CEFARQ and the Coaching Staff was headed by an experienced former player of Women Football, that is, someone who knew the guts of the discipline. It was the first time that the team had a Goalkeeper Coach and the Team was one of the very few that had a specific coach for the position.

During the first year we carried out two training sessions every week, separated from the rest of the team, which helped to enhance the qualities of the CEFARQ goalkeeper in managing the dimensions of the field and its area of action and making the others familiar to the specific training. Some problems of efficiency and adaptation of the goalkeepers without specific training became evident. The goalkeeper trained at CEFARQ took hold of the position and gradually improved her performance in competition.

In the following years the team went through a transition, with the departure of several experienced players and the incorporation of other less experienced, what resulted in a natural weakening of the defensive system. In this context, the Coach involved me to collaborate in the coordination   between the goalkeeper and the defenders, which improved the defense of the goal in general and the performance of the goalkeeper.

In 2018 the Club’s Women’s Football was reorganized, including the arrival of a new coach, with his Field Assistant and Physical Trainer, while the club decided to keep me as the Goalkeeper Coach. The fact that most of the Coaching Staff came from men’s soccer is significant, since in principle the proposed ways of training and playing that were not completely favorable due to the idiosyncrasy and training of the squad. Among other decision to adapt to the situation, Head Coach asked me to share my experience in Women’s Football helping with the organization of the defensive system. The understanding the characteristics of Women’s Football had an impact on a notable decrease in goals against, a strengthening of mutual trust between defenders and the goalkeeper and the reiteration of neat and efficient performances by the goalkeeper.

In August 2019, AFA Women’s Football became partially professional and, as we noted in another article, the three clubs in the region that play the tournament have goalkeepers who have trained at CEFARQ.

Professionalization markedly increased motivation, level of competition and exposure of the goalkeepers’ performance. It also resulted in greater appeal to coaches with experience in men’s football to face the challenge of understanding that female players, including goalkeepers, have not had the same training as men professionals, that their physical abilities are naturally different (especially considering that the dimensions of the field and the goals are the same) and that their technical skills are usually highly conditioned by the two previous issues.

There are now more women matches on TV, with shots from different angles, which allows to review in great detail the specific actions of the goalkeepers, identify their strengths and detect aspects to correct during the week. But a deeper analysis also reveals that in many teams and circumstances the action of the goalkeepers is directly affected by individual or collective weaknesses in the defensive systems. Failure to identify these deficiencies results in more vulnerable Goalkeepers and the loss of self-confidence.

A characteristic of competitive Football is the low tolerance for errors made by the Goalkeepers. In women’s Football this is evidenced in the lack of young goalkeepers on the rosters, which makes it a feedback system that prevents the promotion of young goalkeepers. Early specific training, biotype recruitment and selection, and the participation of competencies according to age will be crucial for new generations of Goalkeepers in professionalism.

Considering all the above, I understand that in high competition football the goalkeeper’s performance is conditioned by the following issues:

• Hers own skills and dedication.

• Presence of the Goalkeeper Coach in the Coaching Staffs.

• Presence of three Goalkeepers with specific training in the team (so that complex exercises can be carried out).

• Promotion of Goalkeepers from Youth Divisions.

• Psychological support

• Understanding of the Coaching Staffs of the goalkeeper’s capabilities in relation to the dimensions of the field and the speed of the game.

• The defensive performance of the team, including coordination with the goalkeeper.