Skip to content
← Back to library

PositioningRepresentativeTactics

Starting position on the penalty

Fix the position and cue-reading on the penalty, with and without prior information on the taker — reinforces set-piece positioning in the most isolated, psychologically demanding moment.

Add to a session

Which session should use this exercise?

You do not have any sessions yet. Create the first one to add this exercise.

New session
Choose a session and the exercise is added to today’s plan.

Load

minutes
12
dives/set
5
Sets and reps
3 × 5
Intensity
High

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: 12 × 14 m

Equipment: Balls, Full goal

The coach serves and manages the breaks.

1 steps

Repeated penalties. The goalkeeper works the starting position on the line, reading the taker’s plant leg and the timing of the dive to a side, without anticipating too early.

Exercise sequence

Coaching points

  • The taker’s plant leg is the most reliable cue of direction — the body points where the plant foot lands.
  • Start balanced in the centre of the line, weight on the toes, without leaning to a side and giving away the decision.
  • With no information, delay the decision as long as possible and read the cue; with a known tendency, weigh it without following it blindly.
  • Commit to the decision: a goalkeeper who dives with conviction covers more goal than an undecided one.

Progressions

  1. With a known taker tendency.
  2. Reduce the reading time.

Regressions

  1. No information, predictable taker.
  2. Taker announces the side.

Sources · 2

  1. StudyGoalkeeping in the soccer penalty kick: The dive is coordinated to the kicker’s non-kicking leg placement, irrespective of time constraints (2021), Human Movement Science
  2. StudyAffordance-based control in deceptive and non-deceptive penalties in soccer goalkeeping: Gender matters! (2022), Psychology of Sport & Exercise