Thursday, 1 November 2012

Goalie ping pong

With the self pass rule, some goalkeepers have experimented with booting an aerial pass by flicking the ball up with their stick and punting the ball up the pitch. Mace (Simon Mason) seemed to start this off in national league games for Guildford a few seasons back, with Andy Isaacs at Havant following suit a season ago but being much more active in using it in games. With such an unexpected move, the team can kickstart a push up the pitch against their opposition. Using the flat face of a kicker, like those of Grays or Mercian, the goalkeeper can toe punt like a soccer (football) goalkeeper would. Changing the face of the game to being more involved in distributing the ball, much like when a football goalie restarts the game with a goal kick, it will be interesting to see if there is any further evolution of the technique. Obviously it takes skill and accuracy and whilst I have seen a few national league goalkeepers practise it in warm ups, I'm not sure everyone will be doing! Have also seen Bristow boot a ball out of the D when playing for Surbiton.

The following clip shows Isaac's efforts, with an interesting back and forth at the end as Tom Millington (when at Exeter) punts the ball away to clear:



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