Shot-stoppingRepresentativeTactics
Reading the non-kicking foot on a penalty
Sync the start of the dive with the shooter’s support foot landing next to the ball, not with the kicking leg’s swing — a kinematic study shows this is the cue more skilled goalkeepers use, consistently, regardless of the time available.
Choose a session and the exercise is added to today’s plan.
Load
- minutes
- 10
- dives/set
- 6
- Sets and reps
- 2 × 8
- Intensity
- Medium
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
- 1
- server
- 1
- outfield player
- 0
Space: 10 × 11 m
Equipment: Balls, Full goal
The coach serves and manages the breaks.
1 steps
A series of penalties taken by the same teammate, with explicit instruction for the goalkeeper to fix attention on the support foot during the run-up, not the ball or the kicking leg.
Exercise sequence
Coaching points
- The support foot lands next to the ball an instant before contact — that’s the reference moment, not the kicking leg’s swing.
- The support foot’s direction anticipates shot direction more reliably than shoulder or hip orientation.
- Don’t abandon this cue even when a shot goes "wrong" relative to it — the reliability is in the average, not any single rep.
- Practise verbalising what’s being seen ("support foot left") before diving, to consolidate the correct attention habit.
Progressions
- Increase the shooter’s run-up speed.
- Introduce a shooter who deliberately varies support-foot placement to deceive.
Regressions
- Reduce shot speed.
- Give extra time before the shot to observe the full run-up.