The Goalie is So Stupid
Because I know you all love getting the updates, the u13 girls are on a run of success, recently winning a statewide tournament. In the course of doing so, our keeper (the regular, experienced one) saved (or forced misses) on five of the seven penalty kicks she faced (one in the course of play in the semifinal and four of the six she faced in the shootout that decided the championship). That’s a remarkably good percentage, and it’s my hope that I somehow contributed to that success.
See, one of the things that our keeper has started doing after she and I talked about how to be successful in penalty kick situations is not standing in the middle of the goal as all keepers do, but a step or two to one side. The objective in doing so is to turn the shooter into a forced actor. Because by making one side of the goal bigger than the other, it ostensibly makes the decision about which side to shoot at for them. This, I think, has two effects:
If the side of the goal that’s open is not the one the shooter typically likes to shoot at, it makes them uncomfortable; and
It takes away about 40% of the goal that our keeper has to think about covering, so she only has to focus on diving one direction. And even though she can’t get to the far post since she’s not standing in the middle, because she only has one direction to dive, it takes a shot perfectly to the corner to beat her.
And it’s really hard to, under pressure, place a shot perfectly in the corner. Funnily enough, as the shootout that decided the championship was getting started, the opposing team was standing near our bench watching our keeper prepare to save the first shot. Seeing our keeper line up, one of the girls on the other team remarked too loudly, “The goalie is so stupid. She’s not even standing in the middle of the net.”
Ha.
So remember two things. First, it’s really hard to be successful if you get turned into a forced actor under pressure. Second, if it seems obvious that someone else is doing something stupid, maybe reexamine your assumptions before recommending further action. You may not be wrong, but at least consider the other possibilities.
See you at regionals.
– Tim
