"Logging" tips via Australia hockey

With the "long barrier" or "log" offering the goalkeeper the chance to play the percentages against a straight strike at the short corner, the process can be a little difficult to explain properly to those that have not seen it in action or been given correct instruction from a goalie coach. Australia hockey have recently been adding to their encyclopedia of goalie information on their Youtube channel (which is pretty useful!) and have done a breakdown of how to get into the log. This is particularly handy if being new to the position or technique itself, allowing you more knowledge about how to speed up the process to allow you to get down against a shot more quickly that is disguised or difficult to read.

Mark Hickman, Hockeyroos goalie coach, and former Kookaburras Olympian (gold medalist at Athens 2004) explains the process of the log with a talk through about how to get into the blocking shape and make saves with an active glove hand. You can watch and learn more through the clip below!

An active right hand

In the modern game and with the opportunities for drag flicking, as they are, the goalkeeper needs to have an active right hand that is just as mobile and movable and reactive and active and aggresive when responding to shots, as the left should also already be. The tube style gloves sometimes inhibits this style of play, with a smaller blocking area which isn't always flat either, so the goalkeeper needs to adapt and evolve their technique to include a blocking hand for saving in the upright as well as altering their hand/stick positioning when sliding and diving, or look for a glove like that of the TK rhp that offers the best of both worlds for ground work (when tackling or clearing with the stick in last ditch situations) and shot blocking.

Gone are the days when the goalkeeper has to rely on the stick to make the majority of saves (wherein the stick was the main tool of the trade in the 80's and the game as it was on grass), and the legs are obviously more useful for shots below the hips when standing, and with the luxury that those goalkeepers didn't have, it should be a blessing for us goalies to be able to use a glove like this. So rather than make life hard for ourselves for no reason, it can be used for its full purpose to block and save with a "big right hand" a la football (i.e. using the maximied blocking area). A lot of goalkeepers at international level evolved their game in this way; take James Fair or Nathan Burgers for example. When blocking from a static position, on angle and positioned currently with attacking depth to challenge the shot, the right hand becomes a tool for getting more coverage and a better rebound than with a stick (stick offers less coverage given the width and almost no rebound control), allowing the goalkeeper to redirect the shot efficiently.

At the short corner, the rhp becomes very useful against raised flicks above the waist away to the right, with the goalkeeper able to stay patient and standing to make the save properly. The goalkeeper is better off attacking the flick and stepping out to challenge and then reacting out of instinct with this big hand motion, for example, you can see Cortes with a strong right hand making a great save that demonstrates this. In this case and point he has to draw his hand in to block against the save, but the fundamentals are the same. Here the stick length can be a nuisance and prohibitive, which is why the gloves need to be in front of the body for us to succeed, just as with any goalkeeping position; in ice hockey where the gloves are useful for killing rebounds, or in football where it speeds up and aids the catching motion (as Lloris would do for instance). It's simple and effective logic; the nearer your hands are to the ball, the quicker they can react, the higher they are, the faster they'll reach high shots and the further out they are from the body, the more you can rotate them without hitting your upper body/chest area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG30QCNksNw

With an active hand, the goalkeeper is empowered in their ability to make saves in front of, and around, the body. It is a tool in the arsenal of technique that goalkeepers should be comfortable using to its full advantage so that they can reduce rebounds and not have to rely on fluke saves. Rather than trying to make every save look flash or fancy or hard work, eliminating the fluky approach, the big right hand with the increased surface area and blocking surface area means the goalkeeper is at an advantage. So when you face shots high to the right, try and make sure you attack them with a punching right hand.

The technique is the same as with your left, just mirrored; push out with a 'punching' motion and turn the face of the right hand glove to engage with the shot, as you do so with your lhp. Try and control the rebound as you would with a glove, which is often easier to do so with mods that give more movement at the wrist for this. You can also tip high shots over the bar but this takes practise and awareness of your goal and game, so that you don't tip it behind yourself and score in humiliating fashion!

Tip of the day: stay in the play!

As promised, I'll try and write some tips into the blog. Quick and easy ones to start with mainly given I write more in-depth articles on other sites and don't want to simply repeat myself all the time! The title sounds pretty poetic really with the rhyming scheme, weirdly! Guess that what happens after you've studied creative writing and poetry at university, becomes robotic!!

Anyway, one important thing when dealing with consecutive shots after a save, is the need to 'stay in the play'. Whilst you will need to rush across sprinting like anything if you are now out of position after the initial save when challenging to stop, you want to be 'square' to the shot as they say. Try and get across to cover and stay in the play! Don't quit on it and keep going! Any coach wants to see their players never quit and making the effort is better than none at all!

But, there is also an extra side to this. The clip below is a great example of this! As you can see at 0:13 USA's goalkeeper Tom Sheridan doesn't give up in the play, scrambling and clawing his way across with all his will. He is also pushing across horizontally so that he is covering the open space of the goal (so reducing shooting space of the 'open goal'!). This also cuts the movement time as he rushes across versus trying to attack the shot wherein he would be moving out off the line to cut the angle. Then he manages to dive rightly to block. An amazing save! And he then gets back up to cover the next possible shot on goal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpaRygDM2mo

So, whenever dealing with secondary or more chances, make sure you are in front of the ball, behind the shot, as you move. This way you are getting behind the shot and covering more of goal for the save. Better than getting out of place or turning away, in the first place!!

Another 'punt' sighting

So to continue in the attempt to quantify the skill of 'punting' as a clearance, option, managed to find a photo, admittedly an oldie of another national league goalkeeper doing so in a match. Here's Cardiff's goalkeeper (Ben Dudley *I think*) potentially punting away the ball:

http://www.chelthockey.org/assets/1110-matches-men/PR_2085.jpg

'Logging' still useful at international level

In the game with Malaysia in the Azlan Shah tournament, New Zealand's Manchester proved the usefulness of 'logging' or barrier saving against low strikes on corners. Making good use of the method of blocking percentage wise, it just goes to show that it is not going to be eliminated from the game any time soon even though the propensity is for drag flicks in the men's game at international level. And important to keep it as an option in your own game and learn how to speed up getting down as quickly to block as he manages to!

As you can see at 4:13:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cXAyylehwM

Another sighting of 'punting' the ball

Interesting to see a goalkeeper at international level using the 'punt' to get rid of a high ball in the D, with Sumar of Malaysia doing so against Australia in the Azlan Shah. Unorthodox and inventive, yes but still has its uses when umpires seem to want to complain about palming away with your glove to a certain area, plus you're going to get more distance on a kick than pushing away with your glove if you do it with power! Obviously something I've tried to blog about so interesting to see photographic proof of it happen and in existence.

http://www.azlanshahcup.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/38-optimistic-yet-cautious