The goalie training is like a regular soccer match, preparing well for it properly will lead to better performance every time.

In this article I have presented some tips that are critical for your training performance. You may print this out and use it as a checklist before every practice.

1. Eat Properly

It doesn’t matter how fit you are if you don’t supply your body with proper nutrition. Your body is like a car, without gas you will not go very far.

The importance of proper food cannot be emphasized enough. If you are serious with your goalkeeping (which you must be, otherwise you wouldn’t read this article) then you need to start to eat real soccer food.

Now you may wonder what and when you should eat. Well, quality carbohydrates can be found in whole wheat pasta, sweet potatoes and yams, whole wheat noodles, whole wheat bread, fruits, and vegetables.

You will need to eat protein and fat too but for a soccer goalie the most important source of energy comes from carbohydrates.

You should try to eat a fair portion of food 3-4 hours before the start of your training session.

2. Sleep Well

Have you ever tried to practice after a sleepless night? Well if you don’t have I can tell you that you will just walk around like a zombie without any interest in practicing.

You should try to sleep at least 8 hours per night because it is the ultimate recovering period for a soccer player. This is critical if you practice 3 or more times per week.

When you train, you’re actually breaking down muscle fibers. However, when you rest at night, you’re rebuilding them. Rest is very important!

3. Warm up Properly

The biggest mistake you can do before a practice is to start diving after balls without warming up.

Soon or later you will cause yourself one or more serious injuries that will hold you off the field for several months.

This is what many goalkeepers struggle with and you really need to realize the value of warming up.

A proper warm up should be more than 15 minutes and you should also have more than drop of sweat on your forehead 🙂

While warming up you should involve both fitness and ball exercises because you need to prepare for catching the ball too!

However, the ball exercises should not involve diving and other spectacular movements. Having a teammate throwing the ball at you is more than enough.

4. Be Focused

Never go to a training session without being completely focused. You have to take every practice as an opportunity to develop your soccer skills.

I can admit that some days you feel like diving for a ball is the last thing you want to do.

However, these days are critical because it is during them you need to push yourself to stay focused and perform at your maximum during your training sessions.

5. Listen to Music

This is a great way for increasing your focus and concentration on your training. I don’t know about you but listening to Rocky soundtracks gives me tons of energy.

It’s like being pumped up with power and you just want to run out on the field and start playing. Keep in mind to pick up music that makes you feel good.

You don’t have to listen on something just because all others listen to it. Preparing for training is just as important as playing in an official game.

Summary

Don’t skip your training just because you’re going to be the goalkeeper and you assume you will not move around as much as the other players.

Training for goalkeepers really is important too!