Charter's technical save making

A point worth making regards to goalkeeping performances at the World Cup, is Australia's Charter technical grounding which has been on show during the games. Andrew Charter has seen few shots behind a stalwart defence in front of him meaning he has little to do, but as a result has to be much more alert and concentrate on the whole game if he is ever called upon, rather than building up a 'rhythm'. And a solid technical base, with the coaching system being put in place for goalkeepers in Oz, has helped him play strongly and make important stops at key times.

As shown against India, he made a great RHP save from a strong technical grounding, as seen at 2:05 playing time.

Pushing out the rebound to safety, whilst 'punching' in with his right hand, turning the wrist to rotate the rhp to make the save, he does more than simply make the save; strongly balanced throughout and pushing in to attack the shot whilst also controlling the redirect to ensure no second chances. As can be seen below:

So to break it down, here are the pointers:

• Attacks the shot with head over the knee
• Attacking angle maintained
• Pushes out with the hand to attack shot
• Turns the glove seamlessly and pushes out in rotation to angle away the ball
• Save eliminates rebound and is ready to push back into a ready stance in position should there be a recovery save needed (as being taught key in the Australian development system)

Tilburg's goalkeeper struggling with rhp saves

With Tilburg back in the Hoofdklasse this season thanks to a promotion winning season the one before, it has been possible to notice the common problem of saving to the right, that seems to be a problem for a lot of goalkeepers, at all levels of hockey. With their goalkeeper an unknown in this territory, this was going to be the case for the side, and without upgrading their depth, conceding goals as a result of goalkeeping technique might cost them. And Tilburg's troubles with the rhp is an example of this.

As mentioned previously, questions will be raised about the ability of a goalkeeper to 'step it up a notch' playing at a higher level than they are used to. And facing star talents like Tom Boon (playing for Bloemendaal) will always be a problem, no matter who is in goal.  And with a weakness exposed, shooters at this level will be smart enough to look to exploit it to score goals, knowing that the goalkeeper should be making saves against other types of shot that take against the goalkeeper. So technique needs reworking to be able to counter these threats.

And in Tilburg's case, their goalkeeper has been struggling with shots to his rhp. In this scenario, confusion takes over as to which glove to save with (leading to possible over rotation etc.), or the inability to save with the glove.

These can be countered by: KISS (keep it simple stupid) and focus on making the save first and worrying about any other saves required later, simplifying the process and removing the element of fear and over thinking. And two: attacking the shot, firstly by the technique of 'punching' with the rhp to aggressively block and attack the angle, and also by using the 30 degrees position to aggressively push in to cover the angle in the first place. This then deals with removing shooting space and also helps make the most of rebound control to prioritise pushing away the shot, to reset quickly, recover the angle and look to make a second save immediately after, if required.

As the clip below shows, not only does Tilburg's goalkeeper struggling firstly with standing saves to his right (in the last PC), but also when diving (diving back against the play, rather than the fundamental of attacking the shot) and trying to extend out without much success as a result: