FINALLY! There is visible light at the end of this very long tunnel. With the decisions by Stormont to loosen the restrictions for group training for clubs in the North of Ireland, being supported by the GAA Covid Advisory Committee’s decision to allow the six counties to proceed with returning to the field, teams are now turning their attention to their preparations for the various competitions coming over the summer months.

In my Gaelic Life article published on February 18, I discussed the various seasons that the goalkeeper goes through and provided a draft training plan framework for goalkeepers to follow or use to create their own plan.

In that article goalkeepers were moving through pre-season phase of the season (phase 2 of 4) and in this season they were using game-related drills/exercises in a high reps and high sets capacity in a bid to improve their goalkeeping conditioning (see last week’s article).

The training guide at the end provided a framework for six weeks’ worth of training. The last of those six weeks is due to begin this coming Monday and ends on Easter Sunday (April 4). With the restrictions set to be lifted on April 12, a recovery week should be allowed to allow the goalkeeper and/or coach to rejuvenate and replenish their body in preparation for the coming season. From April 12 the goalkeeper can then transition into the third of four seasons, also known as the ‘league season.’

Moving into the league season, the goalkeeper must turn their focus away from their goalkeeping conditioning and begin to work hard on their performance skills that they will be using regularly during competitive games.

Creating training sessions that will focus on the specific situations that you will encounter during games will become your priority and less time will be expected to be placed into improving your physical ability.

It will also be essential that the various goalkeeping theory that accompanies these goalkeeping situations during games be discussed, rehearsed, and decided upon so that a series of principles can be drawn up for each situation that you may encounter.

By creating this series of principles, it allows you to have a cache of pre-set actions for each situation, ultimately allowing you as a goalkeeper to have a more efficient decision-making process.

The intensity of training that the goalkeeper will also experience will also begin to transition from high number of reps and sets to medium number of reps and sets, eventually moving towards a medium number of reps and a low number of sets. This allows the goalkeeper to exert more force per rep during training and performing the game-related drills/exercises at a higher intensity permits the goalkeeper to train at game pace or higher, which prepares them fully for upcoming competitions. The coach/manager must also incorporate the goalkeeper into the team training whereby the goalkeeper becomes involved in the various training elements of the collective team. Areas such as restarts/kickout routines, defensive shapes/strategies, facing attackers shooting for goal/points will all need to be practices during team training sessions. The goalkeeper will also need to continue to work at their gym sessions with it as well being tempered towards the requirements of the league season.

Continuing on from the previous goalkeeping framework in my previous article, here is a new framework for four weeks beginning from Monday April 12th that will hopefully provide a suitable guide for your own goalkeeping development for the coming League Season:

WEEK 1 – W/C 12.04.21

Mon – Gym or Recovery Night (walk/jog/stretching/bike)

Tues – Team Training (high balls/dead balls)

Wed – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Thurs – GK Specific Session (Footwork/react recover)

Fri – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Sat – Goalkeeper Session (Kicking)(Measured/Recorded)

Sun – Team Training (defensive structure)

WEEK 2 – W/C 19.04.21

Mon – Gym or Recovery Night (walk/jog/stretching/bike)

Tues – Team Training (facing attackers/reactions/recovery)

Wed – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Thurs – GK Specific Session (situations/penalties/communication)

Fri – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Sat – Goalkeeper Session (Kicking)(Measured/Recorded)

Sun – Team Training (team restarts session)

WEEK 3 – W/C 26.04.21

Mon – Gym or Recovery Night (walk/jog/stretching/bike)

Tues – Team Training (attacking play/dealing with goal attempts)

Wed – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Thurs – GK Specific Session (positioning/GK Arc/GK Angles)

Fri – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Sat – Goalkeeper Session (Kicking)(Measured/Recorded)

Sun – Team Training (team restarts session)

WEEK 4 – W/C 03.05.21

Mon – Gym or Recovery Night (walk/jog/stretching/bike)

Tues – Team Training (transitioning to attack)

Wed – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Thurs – GK Specific Session (1v1s/2v1s/2v2s etc)

Fri – Gym/Home workouts (explosive power)

Sat – Goalkeeper Session (Kicking)(Measured/Recorded)

Sun – Team Training (defence/attack/restarts/high ball)

If you followed the previous plan or created something similar yourself it will lead you into this next stage of the season.

A rest/recovery/planning week has been incorporated into the next phase before beginning your League Season phase.

Once begun, this four week plan will bring you up to and including May 9 and hopefully by that date we will all have a far better understanding of when exactly club and county competitions are going to be allowed to begin.