From the World Cup to the Olympics, Phil Wheddon has enjoyed success at soccer’s most prestigious events. He helped guide the United States to consecutive gold medals, including the 2008 crown in Beijing. Wheddon brings a wealth of experience at the youth, collegiate, professional and international levels to everything he does in goalkeeping and soccer. Phil is currently the Head Women’s Soccer Coach at Syracuse University and still works with various U.S. Youth National Teams. He is an instructor for the USSF and holds his USSF A License and National Goalkeeper License.  Phil also owns and operates GK One, the ultimate in Goalkeeper education.

Dealing with Through Balls, Reading Pressure On and Off of the Ball should build from a structured/controlled environment to a free playing environment to 2 goals.  Depending on the skill level of your team, manipulate the number of channels accordingly.

Setup:

3 zones from the 18 yard box to the half way line. In each zone there is a defender (in white), an attacker (in red) and a server (in yellow). There is also a goal as a target.

Instructions:

Servers play the ball from zone to zone. At any point the server can play a ball forward in their zone. The goalkeeper and defender must communicate to deal with the service. If the defender can win the ball they must pass back to the keeper or turn away from goal and look to find the server or the goal in their channel. If the keeper can win the ball they must play to the server or clear to the goal in their channel if possible. The keeper can also link with the defender if possible. If the forward wins the ball the keeper and defender must play accordingly.

With 2 keepers, rotate every 2 or 3 reps. Also rotate defenders and attackers in each zone. Make the game competitive and then add numbers and remove zones.

Coaching Points:

• Goalkeeper’s positioning based on the service, read the pressure on the ball
• Early, precise and decisive communication with the defender
• If the keeper cannot win the ball they should protect the goal and be available to the defender if they win the ball
• If the keeper can win the ball they must make sure that the defender shields the attacker
• They should also make the decision whether to clear or maintain possession and then focus on technical execution