GK MOVEMENT

It's extremely important that keepers understand the importance of playing off their line and also be willing to do this. However, it's equally important that keepers know how to get back while
maintaining full vision of the field and also maintaining good balance.

If the ball is in the offensive third of the field a keeper will be want to be off his/her line providing support. This could mean being 25-30 yards out or even further. When the opponent gets possession and starts progressing down the field, the keeper
will want to start working his/her way backwards. There will be times when the keeper has to work very hard to get back and many keepers haven't given any thought to exactly how this should be done.

The techniques used by a keeper to get back will depend upon the speed at which he/she must be moving. If the keeper is going to be moving slowly backwards (this might be done when the opponent is slowly building up out of the back and there isn't a great deal of pressure yet) the keeper will simply be on the balls of his/her feet and walking backwards. This allows his/her to keep his/her head facing forward to see the ball and everything else on the field as well as to maintain balance very easily.

If the pressure is coming quicker down the field, the keeper will have to be able to get back quicker. Most keepers are not comfortable with running backwards (it's much too easy to lose
balance while running backwards) so when having to move backwards quicker, the keeper would want to keep his/her upper body facing forward (so he/she can see what is happening in front of him/her) but he/she would do a drop step with one leg (lets assume the left leg) and then he/she would slide side to side so that his/her lower body is facing the sideline. Keepers have to be able to do this facing either direction. This allows the keeper to move backwards quickly, while seeing the field and not crossing his/her legs. This is an extremely easy thing to do provided the keeper works on it on a regular basis (it could very easily be built into the keepers warm up since this/here should be a lot of lateral and backward movement). The last backward movement to be discussed is when the keeper has to get back extremely quickly. An example of this would be when he/she is caught off of his/her line and has been chipped. The keeper still wants to keep his/her eyes facing forward to follow the flight of
the ball but with his/her lower body, takes a drop step then a crossover step so that his/her lower body is facing the goal.

The only way for a keeper to get better at this very important part of the game is for them to work on it on a regular basis. The good thing about this is that it's relatively easy to do.
The bad news is unless keepers (and keeper coaches) are aware of the importance of moving backwards, they wont practice this important aspect of goalkeeping.

Next time you get to watch a high level game with top keepers watch how much time they spend moving backwards and you will have a much better understanding of the importance.