ABSTRACT

The game of soccer comprises of ten outfield players and only one goalkeeper. Subsequently, the goalkeeper can be regarded as the most specialised position on the soccer field. Recent advances in player training and equipment have led to new breed of athletic goalkeepers, who utilise different techniques to those seen previously. Such techniques will enable goalkeepers to deal with the modern game and ball, and thus leaving current coaching manuals out of date. Referring to the manuals supplied by the English FA (Wade, 1981), the most significant omission from the goalkeeping literature is the coaching of ‘diving saves’ to the modern keeper.