Auto-generated captions — may contain the odd mishearing. Click a time to jump there.
0:01 Well, hello coaches. Welcome back. Coach KW here to talk about a subject that's near and dear to my heart, and that is dealing with keepers. This is actually
0:08 going to be the first of a two-part video series on how we can manage keepers, what our expectations should be in the youth ranks, and then the second
0:15 part will be how we train them and even some video examples of some really high level uh youth keepers and some regular quote unquote town level keepers. So,
0:24 again, we can manage those expectations as to what that should look like. Um, keeper is near and dear to me, uh, for a number of reasons. I played a fair bit
0:33 when I was younger, uh, although I was mostly a defensive midfielder. And my oldest son did. And at the end of this video, I'm going to relay a personal
0:41 story about his experiences that I think really should shape and guide all of us as coaches as ways that we handle our coach uh, our keepers. So, I hope you'll
0:50 stick around for that at the end. So, uh, in this one, as I said, it'll be a part one. talk about how we find keepers, how I, you know, how we get
0:58 them to be ready to play in that, be comfortable uh in this experience. We're going to literally talk about goalies in the three stages of U10, U12, U14 and
1:06 beyond. Uh we'll look at them slightly differently uh as they get older. Uh and how we manage them and manage their expectations, uh manage, you know, how
1:15 we manage them within the team environment and how we can find those players and then also the expectations.
1:21 What is it you should expect a keeper in these age brackets to really be able to do? Because I sometimes think that both coaches, teammates, parents, and the
1:29 players themselves sometimes have some misconceptions of what it is that they really can do versus what's possible for them. So, we'll look a little bit at that to make sure that everybody is on
1:39 the same uh plane when we're talking about things. In part two, we'll look about how we train them both within the team environment because again, I really
1:45 think it's important for every player to get a little bit of a flavor of playing in net, which we'll talk about in a second, and also we'll take a look at
1:52 some video examples of both highle club player at the U10, U12 level, what that looks like, and then we'll take a look at what that looks like with just
2:00 regular quote unquote regular town type travel players. So again, we can really manage our expectations as to what it is we're looking for and what it is that we
2:10 can expect them to do and also what we can, you know, expect them to strive for if they want to reach those higher levels. So we'll take a look at some
2:17 video examples in that video, too. As I've heard from a few people, even if you're subscribed, sometimes you're missing some of the videos. And usually I'm not one to ask this, but it seems
2:26 like the YouTube algorithm might be doing some funky things lately. So maybe try the notification bell. I never really asked for that uh thing. I know a
2:33 lot of YouTubers that's part of their spiel. Um I just never really I never turn them on for my people I follow, but uh it might be worth giving it a try. Uh
2:42 so that make sure you don't miss part two. So let's talk about finding keepers. Uh some coaches it's not a problem at all because they all come out
2:51 of the woodwork and other times it can be a little bit difficult. But at the youngest ages especially uh U10 and up when keepers are really supposed to be
2:59 introduced U9 U10 and beyond I kind of have a pretty basic rule. If the player asks to play in net during a practice then I'm going to expect them to play at
3:10 least a quarter to a half of a game in a real game. That means if you've come to me you've you're bugging harassing whatever it is you might do to me as
3:18 coach and say coach coach coach coach can I play a net? Can I play a net? Can I play a net? My rule to them is, hey,
3:24 if you're asking to play in a practice, then I'm expecting you to play in a game that position is interesting, different, lots of players are drawn to it. They
3:34 want to try it. Maybe it's just as simple as much as, hey, I I don't want to run today. Maybe if I ask to play keeper, I won't have to run too much.
3:40 But again, that's my expectation. I tell that to them right up front. So many times players will go, okay. And then those few who were perhaps their
3:48 motivations were less than altruistic, they say no. Now I believe that every player should have a chance to play in goal for reasons that I'll describe in a
3:57 second. So I will ask players to step in goal for certain drills and everything else, but I will tell them, hey, if I'm asking you, I am not expecting you to
4:06 then play in net for me unless you come and ask me to do it. Because now this is coach initiated. I'm asking a player who's never done it, hey, do you mind
4:15 standing in net for this exercise when we do this next thing? They may bark at it, etc., etc. My point being is, hey, it's practice. It's okay. I need you to
4:22 do X. And you know, most of the time, especially younger keepers, what they're doing is restarts with the ball, whether it's a goal kick or they've collected
4:31 the ball and they're restarting the play. And most of that is footwork. And that's what we're looking to do in a lot of our drills and exercises during
4:39 I say, and I've said it all the time, and I mean this for every position, but keeper especially, that you need to have empathy for the other positions on the
4:46 field. And the best way to do that is to be put in those positions and play every single one of those positions as you're growing into the game. As a keeper, you
4:56 really want your center backs to do something specific when you have the ball. You want your midfielders and your striker to do things as well. So, what
5:04 better way for those players when they're in those outfield positions to have some thought to say, "Hey, when my keeper has the ball, I should do X is to
5:13 have a chance to have played as a keeper to have that ball." And when you look up going, "Hey, I really wish my center backs or my winger or my midfielder,
5:22 whatever, was doing X, Y, and Z." It's a great way for that transference and it's a great way to start your players to really start to understand their roles
5:30 on the field and to really ask the question constantly how can I help? How can I help my teammates no matter what position I'm in? So that's why I find it
5:37 super important that every player play every position including goal whether that's in a game or not is different but at least in practice. So let's talk about these in the three age brackets
5:48 U10, U12 and U14. So at U10, U9 and U10, I like to call these players keeper curious. They're curious about the position position. Maybe, as I said,
5:57 their motivations are built upon, oh, maybe I don't have to run as much, etc., etc. A lot of it is just, you know, we play a lot of sports with our hands in
6:04 the United States, so it's a position we seem to have some great uh candidates in. Whatever that reason is, it's a different sort of thing. And players are
6:14 drawn to the uniqueness of it. You may have a lot of players are curious about it. So, we're just getting them exposed.
6:20 Again, as I said in the previous slide, we want everybody to try it, but we're going to have we're going to end up with a handful that will do it in a game. We
6:28 want them to play a half a game at most, a quarter game at the minimum. And I say a quarter game at the minimum, you know, in a U10 game, that should be 12 and a
6:35 half minutes because of 25minute halves.
6:38 Um, that's enough to get into a flow to make sure your center backs and the rest of the team are comfortable with that player in the back. Anything shorter
6:45 shorter of because of injury can be a little choppy. So I say a quarter to a half a game um if you've got players uh that are willing to able to do it. But
6:53 the most important part is we're training soccer players, not keepers at this point because again most of their action is going to be with their feet or
7:01 distributing the ball in one way or another. We'll talk about in expectations what you're going to expect that save percentage to be for a U10 keeper. Um give you a hint, it's not
7:11 that high. Uh, but you're going to have lots of goal kicks. You're going to have lots of ball clearances. And again, you're working on training on playing
7:18 out of the back right away at U9 and U10 if you're doing it right. So, that player is just another field player.
7:23 They're being a passing option. They're playing back and forth. They're being a supportive agent. That's what you're looking them to do. So, you're looking to find as much time in the field as
7:31 possible in the club environment. Sometimes they even double roster those kids so that they get the same amount of gain time in the field that you do as a
7:39 keeper so that they don't fall down on their pos on their development. And I can talk to you a little bit about what that might look like um from that
7:47 personal experience at the end of the video. Okay. So at U12 um players maybe start to play keeper as they get comfortable perhaps with that U10 time
7:58 and maybe they played for a couple years. So I stopped to like to call these players keeper comfortable.
8:02 They're either old enough to kind of be like, I kind of know what I'm getting into. Let me give this a shot. Or they've been doing it for a little bit
8:08 and they're like, okay, bigger net, etc., etc. Again, half a game at most, but there's another asterct on this one.
8:14 And this time, instead of a quarter game, I will give coaches passes on this one. If you end up with players perhaps playing a full game every once in a
8:22 while, or more likely, a keeper who is in that in the second half, gets injured, and has to come out of the game. and now you need to put somebody
8:30 in that that player that played net in the first half that's in the field. I feel like it's okay at that point to turn to them and say, "Hey, I need you
8:37 to go back and net and finish the game out uh just because part of the flow of the game, the expectation, all the pressure that happens with that, it's
8:45 not fair to just pluck somebody who's never done it for a while and throw them in there." So, that's why I said that we're still training players, uh, but
8:52 we're also starting to train keepers as well. A lot of 9v9 now that the buildout line is in there is still a lot of dealing with the pressure of the build
9:01 out and being more confident with playing those passes, especially passes into the middle of the field. So, we are starting to do a little bit of both. And
9:08 this is where you can start to find some outside resources to give these kids some fundamentals beyond what you can do perhaps in a team environment. Uh
9:17 because it can go a long way. And so whether it's uh you know running a session or two outside of practice for all the keepers in your townclub in a
9:27 certain age range or something, but again finding a way to start to give them a little bit of keeper specific training that can just elevate them a
9:34 little bit more, give them a little bit more confidence. Now is the time you can start to think about adding that on uh on the outside for a little bit. So now
9:42 at U14 or really U13 plus, now I start to talk about these keepers as keeper candidates. These are players that perhaps as they go off past youth soccer
9:53 at that U14 level and they go off to high school and such, perhaps now these players have some of the attributes that they're going to need to be successful
10:02 as they're older. And like it or not, their growth rate and really their terminal height is the most it's one of the most important pieces of this
10:11 because you could have a fantastically athletic player who positions themselves well and moves around well and they have great hands, but if they their terminal height, their top height is going to be
10:23 Odds are in a full-size adult 8 by 24 foot net, they are going to struggle compared to somebody that may be not quite as athletic as them, but is
10:34 standing at six foot. And whether you like it or not, it's a huge factor in their success in future years, is how tall they're going to be. There are some
10:43 exceptions in the pro ranks, but they're few and far between. Most keepers, as you probably can guess, are big units.
10:49 They're tall you people six foot plus large wingspans the whole nine yards and like it or not as they get into high school and further coaches are going to
11:00 tend to go with those players beyond the sooner than those younger players and why it's so important that we have been training players the whole time is we
11:08 want to make sure that those players don't are not at a dead end that they've focused so much on keeper that they've let their field skills atrophy so badly
11:17 that when a keeper spot isn't available ailable for them and there's only one or two on a team, they're not good enough to play in the field. Here too is now
11:26 where you can really start to spend a little bit more time outside of practice and keeper specific stuff for those players who are really in that mold and
11:33 perhaps have that trajectory that they need some more skills to handle the full-size field, the full-size net uh and and those things. So finding some outside resources to run practices
11:44 outside of your team practice environment to really help your keepers hone on some of those skills is a huge benefit. Let's talk a little bit about setting expectations for our keepers
11:54 here because that's I think between them the players themselves their teammates coaches and even the adults uh surrounding the field. I think sometimes the expectation of what a keeper can do
12:04 from based on what you see on TV versus what the reality is do not match. So UN9, U10, I'll just be blunt. Most of the time, 99% of the time, if the ball
12:15 isn't hitting the keeper, it's probably going in the net. There is a few that can handle a little bit more than that, but the vast majority, if the ball
12:23 doesn't hit the keeper, it's going in or it's going wide. So, I like to say that really the sphere of influence is pretty much the frame of their body and maybe
12:32 their hands kind of tucked in and not much more. Anything beyond that is a bonus. And that's what I tell them all the time. You know, keepers are there to
12:41 make the saves they should make, which most of the time are the balls that are going to hit them anyways. Anything beyond that is an absolute bonus and
12:49 you've taken away a goal that should have happened and that should be celebrated. But everything else, that's kind of the way it is. At U12, that sphere of influence probably expands to
12:59 half to full of their wingspan. Uh how far they can put their arms out. The net has gotten bigger at this point. So, uh, much bigger, uh, in many cases because
13:09 most play on a 10x6 net for U10. And now at U12, that net can be anywhere from 18 1/2 to 21 feet wide and 6 and 1/2 to 7
13:20 feet tall. In my town, we have the full big size 99x 21s. Most of the towns we play in, it's the slightly smaller nets. But either way, those 10 and 11 year olds look tiny
13:32 in that net most of the time, except for, you know, perhaps those older sixth graders that have finally grown up.
13:37 Positioning and some other things really come into play here. But again, about the wingspan of that player is where you expect them to probably stop most of the
13:46 balls. Anything beyond that, it's going in the net. And at U14, you can start to expand that sphere a little bit more to the wingspan plus maybe a half if you've
13:55 got a really exceptional keeper. Maybe it's twice uh as far as their arms reach out based on positioning and and their reflexes and such. But now they're an
14:04 adult full-size net. So you're talking about 12 year olds, U13s in an 8 by 24 foot net. That is an enormous space when you think about most adult keepers are
14:14 six foot plus. So again, expectations.
14:18 Most of the time these players are dealing with restarts or the ball hitting them. Anything beyond that is a bonus for young players and all keepers.
14:26 I always tell them 7v7 is a perfect example. I tell these keepers who are a little bit nervous about trying like, hey, six other players have to screw up
14:35 before you have anything to do with the play. So if you're the last line of resort, you can look at them and say, hey, how did six of you screw up before
14:42 it got to me? And that goes you can you know extrapolate that all the way 999 11 v11 but I think having that mindset is really helpful and healthy for both
14:52 parents coaches players and the players who choose net to understand hm you know what I can only do what I can do okay so I'll end with a personal story as I
15:03 mentioned my oldest son uh he went off and played club at U8 U9 U10 level 77 and he ended up also playing goal It's something he really loved to do. He
15:15 spent a lot of time practicing it. But credit to his club coach, he made sure that he got as much field time as he did in the net. And that's what I talked
15:22 about early on. He actually was double rostered. He played for the two team in addition to his team so that he could play half the game in the net, half the
15:30 game in the field, and then combined with the two games, he had a whole game experience with both. But during practices, it was 99% field play of play
15:39 with their feet. And I honestly I can say that my son was probably top five keeper in the state. Um he was well known by just about everybody in terms
15:48 of him playing net. But again 77 you know 8 n years old no big deal. Moved to 99 now he's still playing keeper for the club. Uh the team he's on ends up being
15:58 ranked number one in the state. You can say what you will about rankings. That's just the fact was that that's where this team was ranked. He's now probably top
16:06 three in the state, maybe even one and two. well known, well on the pathmy's looking at him the whole nine yards. Uh you know, but again still playing half a
16:15 game in the field and half a game now playing midfield uh most of the time as as a as an eight. Second year of 99 uh this is way back before when teams would
16:24 be preMLS, but we'll say PMLS is what the equivalent was. Gets recruited by a bunch of different teams. Picks the team he wants because of the coach that's
16:32 going to be coaching it. um they recruit them as his number one keeper and he gets a spot and he tells me and he tells the coach before the season starts, hey,
16:41 I don't want to play net anymore. I'll be your I'll be your second or third keeper, but I don't want to be in that.
16:47 You know, a little upsetting to the coaching staff who picked him to play net, you know, said, "Well, you have a roster spot. You'll have to earn your
16:53 spot." first right off the bat starting winger ends up being the team leader in assists uh for the entire year. And that includes the fact that he didn't play
17:01 the last year, the last month and a half because he had a he broke his leg. So, you know, really successful season, but I will tell you like what he told me
17:10 about why he stopped wanting to play keeper. And that was when he was playing 99, it started to go from, hey, you're going to play every, you know, only half
17:17 a game to, hey, it's a big game. I need you to stay in the net the whole game.
17:23 And he would be once in a while be like, "Okay, this is okay." But it kept starting to happen more often, more often. And he really was like, "Hey, the
17:29 deal was half and half. I don't need to pick until at least next year. So what's going on?" And in the end, he was like, "If you're forcing me to choose, I'm
17:39 going to choose the field because I feel like there's more expression for me. I really like it and there'll be more opportunities for me versus, you know,
17:47 one or two keepers on a team." And that's why he changed. But again, credit to his earlier coaches, he was able to step right out of that role into a
17:55 starting role pre-MLS. Fast forward a number of years, he's U16, U17. He's MLS next center back. We're in that college recruiting range. He's been captain like really top player for all his teams. And
18:07 he was able to do that because his early coaches made sure not to sherk their responsibilities about him continuing to develop his field play so that later on
18:17 whether or not he wanted to play net he'd be ready. He's 6' one like he's fits the mold. He could play net whenever time he wants and he's had to
18:25 go in an emergency basis. It's a great option for a coach to have when you have a a keeper or two and somebody gets injured and somebody can't make the game
18:31 and then the one keeper gets hurt that you know that you could take a kid on your team and be a decent player in the field in the net. Um but you know that's
18:39 his story and that's why I I and I've heard multiple stories about this over time. Uh you know Matt Turner didn't stop playing keeper till he was 14 and
18:47 he played in the English Premier League and he's you know one of the starting keepers for the US men's national team.
18:52 It's not too late to step into that role, but it is too late to not learn the field skills so that you have options as you get older because
19:01 sometimes those options either you choose or those options get taken away from you. As I said before, if you end up being 5'6. So again, I'll leave you
19:09 with that. I hope that you know can resonate with you and make some sense about why I'm so passionate about making sure that players really are players
19:17 first and keepers second in the youth ranks. It's all I have for this one.
19:21 Keep an eye out for the second part of this video. We'll talk about training and some technique and all that sort of thing. But until next time, hope to see
19:28 you out in the fields real soon.
