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PsychologicalRepresentativeTactics

Anxiety management before a penalty series

Practise the anxiety-regulation routine in a simulation with added emotional load — announced as a "match tiebreaker" — so the first time that routine is tested under real pressure isn’t in an actual match.

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Load

minutes
10
dives/set
4
Sets and reps
1 × 5
Intensity
Medium

dives per set, per goalkeeper

Microcycle days it fits

MD-2

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

Setup

Goalkeepers
1
server
1
outfield player
0

Space: 10 × 11 m

Equipment: Balls, Full goal

The coach serves and manages the breaks.

1 steps

A short penalty series presented as a tiebreaker, with the context stated before starting. The goalkeeper applies the regulation routine trained in other exercises, now with the simulated emotional load.

Exercise sequence

Coaching points

  • The regulation routine doesn’t change with context — it’s precisely its consistency that makes it useful when emotional load rises.
  • Acknowledge the anxiety without fighting it; suppressing the feeling costs more energy than managing it with the trained routine.
  • Keep focus on process (the next action) rather than outcome (the simulated tiebreaker score).
  • After the series, reflect on what the simulation brought that differed from a neutral series — that difference is what’s being trained.

Progressions

  1. Add a simulated audience (teammates watching and commenting).
  2. Repeat the simulation on different days to test response consistency.

Regressions

  1. Reduce the simulated context’s load to a less extreme situation.
  2. Practise the routine in isolation before testing it under the simulation.

Sources · 2

  1. Book«Scientific Approaches to Goalkeeping in Football», Bennion Kearny
  2. StudyStroboscopic Visual Training: a Pilot Study with Three Elite Youth Football Goalkeepers