Do Handball Goalkeepers Deserve Equal Attention In Training As Players Do?
In summary
Handball goalkeepers are players with a special significance and specific tasks in handball game.
They are the most important players for the outcome of the result of their team.
Handball rules placed the goalkeeper as a separate, individual player inside of a team game. Goalkeepers have specific technical and tactical actions that are significantly different from the actions of other players on the field.
Some of the essential features of a handball goalkeeper game are the following:
- Compared to all the other players on the field, the goalkeeper is the only one who most directly affects the outcome of each opponent’s attempt to finish the attack.
- Because of the fact that a goalkeeper has a chance to prevent / stop opponents from scoring more times than any opponent player has a chance to score, a goalkeeper is one of the most important players in the team.
- Opposite from other field players, goalkeeper acts independently in the limited space – in the goalkeeper area.
- Goalkeeper has the opportunity to start the attack of its own team the most often.
- Handball rules allow the goalkeeper to actively participate in the organization and implementation of attack for its team, in the same way as other players on the field.
- Because of the special responsibility that a goalkeeper position has in the game, a goalkeeper more significantly than other players, makes a positive or a negative impact on the emotional state of the entire team.
- A reliable goalkeeper provides an additional level of confidence and security to the whole team, which contributes to an increased level of confidence overall in the team during the match.
- The goalkeeper is the last player in defense of its team, and very often (after making a save, or after the opponents miss the goal) the first player in the attack of its team.
- Handball goalkeepers are most often literally forced to improve and develop their game on their own, without proper coaching help, due to the lack of goalkeeper coaching staff in majority of teams.
- Goalkeepers are the last line of defense in their teams, and they have to deal with extreme levels of emotional and mental pressure during the game, very often without being properly educated or prepared to do so.
“It’s very important to include the individualization and diversity of work in educational and training process with goalkeepers.
Goalkeepers deserve equal attention in training
Playing position that a goalkeeper has in the team allows maximum exposure of individual quality and skills, but it also imposes a need for functional cooperation with teammates in defense.
Since the goalkeeper game is so specific and different comparing to the rest of the players in a team, it’s very important to include the individualization and diversity of work in educational and training process with goalkeepers.
High quality training approach is particularly important in working with beginners and young goalkeepers, where we should respect the biological and psychological differences among age categories and specific anthropological features of each goalkeeper.
All of the above mentioned is more than enough to make a conclusion how crucially important is to include goalkeeper coaching in work of basically every team.
After everything that I mentioned above, it’s more than clear and evident that goalkeepers indeed deserve equal attention in training as players do!
But reality is – that doesn’t happen so often! Not at the youth level, not at the junior level, and quite often not even at the senior level!
Why Do Young Goalkeepers Often Quit Playing Handball?
Another common problem that is caused by the lack of goalkeeper coaching is that young goalkeepers very often quit playing handball because they were never given proper attention and focus in training!
We should all be well aware of the fact that for young handball goalkeepers who don’t get any goalkeeper coaching, is just a matter of time when they will realize that it’s simply not enough if the only attention/focus that they get in training is when the head coach says: “Ok, now we will warm up goalkeepers!”.
Which usually takes anything between 4 – 10 minutes (depending on the shooting warm up sequence), and even during that shooting warm up, a goalkeeper doesn’t get any feedback about the technique or positioning from the head coach.
Now imagine, how would you feel if the only attention towards the improvement of your individual skills in the training would be during those few short minutes of a shooting warm up?
And how about, if even during those few short minutes, you would still not get proper feedback about what and how you should do in the goal?
Now multiply that with anything between 2 or 6 practices per week (as majority of teams have), then multiply that with number of weeks and months in a handball season, and you will get the summary of frustration / lack of motivation / unfairness with which many young goalkeepers are struggling on their developmental handball path!
How are they even supposed to improve if they don’t know how or what they should do?!
How can we even expect from them to improve or to learn if we don’t provide them the tools for that?
With all that in mind, it’s completely normal that young goalkeepers will lose motivation, inspiration and that they will want to quit playing handball.
Ask yourself honestly: as a coach, how much can you really expect from an athlete to whom you didn’t give enough of training time, inspiration, ideas, strategies, and advises to improve?
Unfortunately, most of the time, in most of the teams, the answer is “a lot” when it comes to the majority of handball coaches. Team head coaches expect a lot from their goalkeepers, without first making sure that those goalkeepers get equal time and attention in training.
To be completely honest, I am aware of the fact that doesn’t come from any bad intention of any of the coaches, but still – it should be clear that the expectations are directly correlated and they depend on how much prior effort and proper work with goalkeepers is put in.
“Ask yourself honestly: as a coach, how much can you really expect from an athlete to whom you didn’t give enough of training time, inspiration, ideas, strategies, and advises to improve?
Conclusion
I am sorry if this article was just “stating the obvious”, but it’s simply unfair to witness so much unfairness when it comes to the handball goalkeeper coaching reality vs the existing expectations that team head coaches, teams and clubs have from their goalkeepers.
I hope that speaking out about this truth will bring more positive changes about the goalkeeper coaching in the future.
Vanja Radic, U16-U18-U20-senior national teams Handball Goalkeeper Coach and EHF Expert
