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PsychologicalGameCompetition

Concentration in a low-frequency game

Train concentration through the long periods without action that characterise the position — research shows goalkeepers spend ~98% of a match at low intensity, and that is where attention is lost.

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Load

minutes
20
dives/set
3
Sets and reps
2 × 1
Intensity
Low

dives per set, per goalkeeper

Microcycle days it fits

MD-3, MD-2

Each bar’s height is that day’s dive ceiling.

Setup

Goalkeepers
2
server
0
outfield player
8

Space: 40 × 50 m

Equipment: Balls, Bibs, Full goal

One goalkeeper works while the other serves or observes. Swap after each set.

A game on a large pitch with deliberately few finishing situations. The goalkeeper may go minutes without touching the ball. An observer notes the concentration routine between actions and the quality of the first intervention after each long pause.

Coaching points

  • Have a routine for the dead periods: track the ball, adjust position, talk to the defence. Attention is held with action, not willpower.
  • The intervention worth judging here is the first one after a long pause — it costs the most goals in matches.
  • Keep repositioning even with the ball far away: standing still means starting from zero when the play arrives.
  • This is the opposite of a volume exercise: few actions, all of them assessed.

Progressions

  1. Reduce finishing frequency further, widening the pitch.
  2. Remove the observer and switch to self-reporting, demanding self-awareness.

Regressions

  1. Increase action frequency, shortening the pitch.
  2. Reduce the duration of the game.

Sources · 2

  1. StudyThe physical demands of professional soccer goalkeepers throughout a week-long competitive microcycle and transiently throughout match-play (2020)
  2. Book«Scientific Approaches to Goalkeeping in Football», Bennion Kearny