ADVANCED LACROSSE GOALIE INSTRUCTION
THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE
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Goalie is the one position that coaches struggle to teach because they have never played before. Some coaches try to make the goalie position more complicated than it really is. They turn it into a complex set of rules, like a golf pro teaching the perfect swing. The bottom line for goalies at any level is to see the ball and save it. There are some fundamentals that they should learn first though, so they are in the position to make saves. Also, as discussed in the beginner section, goalies should not get in the net until they are able to catch and throw adequately. Many goalies at the top levels have the best sticks on the field allowing them to make great saves and clear the ball effectively.
STANCE
The first thing that a youth goalie should work at is his stance. The goalie stance is an athletic one that allows the goalie to be in a comfortable position that he can react out of in a split second. A goalie stance looks somewhat like the linebacker stance that was discussed in the defensive section. First, a goalie’s legs are a little wider than shoulder width apart. This gives them a solid athletic base with good balance and also takes up some room down low in the goal. When a youth goalie keeps his legs together close, it gives up a lot of room for low shots and also means that he has to take huge steps to get across the goal.
Next, goalies’ knees should be bent depending on what the goalie feels comfortable with athletically. Some goalies like Greg Cattrano play with their knees only slightly bent, while goalies like Trevor Tierney play with their knees extremely bent and their rear-end low to the ground. It is usually easier for most athletes to pop out of a squatted position for a high shot, than it is to squat down low from a standing up position for a low shot. Bending the knees is also important for keeping weight on the balls of the feet. Some goalie coaches have their goalies stand up on their toes. This is a bad habit to develop because it makes goalies fall forward as the shooter is releasing the ball and does not allow them to react. The goalie in a solid stance is balanced well. Simply bending his knees allocates his weight on his feet to where it needs to be. However, goalie is a position that the athlete must find what works best for him. Simply giving him options and making him think of some of these things is all you should do as a coach.
Third, the goalie’s back should be as straight up and down as possible so that the goalie takes up the greatest amount of surface area. His arms should be extended away from his body and his hands should be chest width apart on his shaft, with his top hand being right below the plastic of the head. If his hands are too close together, then he will not have enough control of his stick. If his hands are too wide apart, his hand movements will be too slow and his stick will not get across his body fast enough to make saves effectively.
The goalie wants to have his hands on the same plane so he keeps his stick square to the shot. All his stick movements should stay on the same plane as though his stick was being rotated on a window. By keeping his hands and stick away from his body, he never gets his stick caught or hung up on his helmet or body and it rotates freely.
Goalies can work on their stance by looking at themselves in the mirror and making changes to their stance. Goalies should feel comfortable in their stance for minutes at a time and should not move at all when they are in their stance as the shooter is winding up. This is important as it is easier to react to the ball when you are completely still. Goalies should always know where the ball is, be ready to react to a shot, make a save and distribute the ball.
POSITIONING
There are many conflicting theories on where a goalie should stand in the goal to be most effective. It is the position of Icon Lacrosse that goalies should play an extremely shallow arc or very close to the goal line. The lacrosse goal is six feet by six feet and lacrosse goalies do not wear many pads. Therefore, it is unlike hockey where a goalie can take away angle by coming far out of the goal. Many goalies who play a high arc, or who play way far out of the goal, usually get lost when moving from pipe to pipe. This puts them in bad position and allows them to get beat on shots that should not go in. This also gives them less time to react to quick passes.
The other reason for playing far back in the goal is that lacrosse players are shooting extremely hard these days with the new technology that is available on sticks. A lacrosse goalie needs as much time to be able to react as possible. By sitting back in the goal, it gives him enough time to react to any shot, no matter how hard or how close.
To move from pipe to pipe, playing back on the goal line makes it easy to move around. The goalie only needs to take small steps and keep his hips square to the shooter. When the ball is directly at the top center of the field, then the goalie wants to have both his heels barely touching the goal line. As the ball moves to top left, the goalie takes tiny steps, keeping his left foot on the goal line and bringing his right foot up a few inches. The goalie should picture two lines coming out of his shoulders and pointing out towards the shooter, like a target. Both of these techniques allow the goalie to keep his body square to the shooter. The further down the left side of the field that the ball carrier gets, the further over the goalie should get his left foot to the pipe while keeping it on the goal line, and the higher his right foot should come off the goal line.
Many young goalies go to the pipe too soon. Right when the ball carrier starts sweeping to the left side of the field, the goalie gets his left foot on the pipe. This leaves the whole right side of the goal open. Goalies have to realize that when shooters sweep from the center to the left side of the field, with the stick in their right hand, that they want to shoot across their body and to the right side of the goal. Goalies can help themselves by staying more towards the middle of the goal until the shooter gets far to one side or the other. If he makes small movements and keeps the shooter between the two imaginary lines pointing out of his shoulders, then the goalie will probably be in good position. If he feels like he has to take a huge step to save the ball, then he is probably out of position. If he feels like he could not get to a shot that went in, the same thing is probably true.
A goalie’s philosophy should be to make it as easy on himself and as hard on the shooter as possible. Being in good position does both. It makes it easy for the goalie to get to all shots and it makes it hard on the shooter because there is not much net to shoot at. You will know that your goalie is in good position when the other team starts missing a lot of shots.
SAVING THE BALL
Obviously, the most important job for the goalie is to save the ball. The first thing that a coach has to do is get his goalie to see the ball. Many young goalies move too soon. As a coach, you can distinguish many of your goalies’ bad habits by faking shots at them during warm-ups. The ideal goalie does not flinch or move when a shot is faked at him because he is waiting for the ball to be released and then react. Many young goalies show their tendencies when a shot is faked at them. Some have a “false step” to either the left or right. This means that no matter where the ball is going, on every shot they take a step in either direction before they react to the ball. Another bad tendency that young goalies have is that they drop their stick as the shooter winds up. Finally, many goalies fall forward as the shooter winds up and get themselves off balance. All of these bad habits obviously take away from their reaction times and keep them from saving the ball.
Stepping to the ball has long been thought of as the most important skill to teach goalies. Icon Lacrosse is takes a different approach which is much more minimalist in movement and much more efficient. Does a baseball player ever move towards the ball when he is trying to make contact? No. Does a tennis player ever run forward as he is hitting the ball? Not unless he has to.
Moving at a ball as it is coming at you makes it harder to react. Therefore, a goalie should not step towards a ball. If the ball is coming right at him, then he can simply make a stick save. If the ball is going to one side or the other of the goalie, then he can take a horizontal step to get his body across. The old traditional way of thinking is teach goalies to get their body behind the ball in case they miss it with their stick. This new way of thinking makes goalies learn to get their stick on the ball as much as possible.
Basically, the goalie draws an imaginary square around himself in his stance. If the ball is shot directly inside that square that he is in, then he just reacts with his stick. If it is outside of that square, then he steps horizontally. To step to one side, he wants to push off his back foot as if he was ice skating. So if he is stepping to his left, he wants to push off and explode off his right foot. To go to the right, he explodes off his left foot. This is much more efficient and powerful than stepping with one foot and dragging the other one across. To know which way he has to step, the goalie wants to draw a line down the middle of his body. If the ball goes to the left of that line, he wants to step to his left. If the ball is to the right of the imaginary line, he wants to step to his right.
The movement of the stick is based on where the ball is shot. If the ball is shot stick-side high, then the goalie simply keeps his stick up and catches the ball. Surprisingly, this is a tough shot for goalies because they tend to drop their sticks as the shooter winds up. If the ball is shot off-stick-side high, then the goalie brings his top hand over his bottom hand to get his stick head across. Young goalies should first learn to catch passes to off-stick-side high. Young goalies tend to “stab” their sticks at the ball on this shot. Remind them to keep their stick head flat on the pane of glass in front of them and catch the ball like an egg. On stick-side hip, they just lower the head of their stick to their hip to catch the ball. On off-stick-side hip, they bring their stick across their body by dropping the stick head to their hip and then getting it across. Due to the distance of this movement, this is the hardest shot for goalies at all levels to save. On stick side low shots, they simply drop the head of their stick and try to get it perpendicular to the ground. On off-stick-side low shots, goalies do the same thing, only they have to get their stick to the other side of their feet. On all low shots, it is ideal to have your stick perpendicular and stabbed into the ground, so the ball does not get underneath the head of the stick.
COMMUNICATION
One of the most important jobs of a goalie is to communicate with his defense. There are some basic calls that a goalie should know and his defense should understand at the intermediate level. When making these calls, the goalie needs to be loud and commanding as he is the quarterback or captain of the defense. A goalie should call out where the ball is at all times. The different positions on the field are top-center, top-left, top-right, left-wing, right-wing, right-pipe, left-pipe, back-left, back-right, and X. A goalie needs to make these calls so all the defensemen know exactly where the ball is without looking at it.
Another call that the goalie has to make is “hold”. The hold call is made as an attackman drives up to goal line extended so that the defenseman can turn his hips and make the attackman inside roll. If you drew a line from where the two bottom pipes meet in the back of the net, which form the v of the goal, and you drew a line from the tip of that v to the sidelines. This is the line at which goalies should make the hold call so defensemen have time to react and adjust by the time attackmen drive to goal line extended.
The last call that is important for goalies to make at this level is the check call. Anytime a pass is thrown towards the middle or any time a feed is made to someone who can take a shot, the goalie should call out “check” so that his defense knows to check the hands of the player receiving the pass. For an intermediate level goalie, these are the important calls that need to be made. A young goalie needs to understand that it is up to him to lead the defense. He needs to be a loud, vocal leader on the field so that the defense plays as a cohesive unit.
