Frank Asked,

How do I effectively communicate with my teammates? I don't know a lot of terms keepers use and I feel like communicating is the last thing I need working on.

Frank,
Thank you for submitting your question to Ask the Goalkeeper. That is a very good question and often over looked. Communication is extremely important for a goalkeeper. As I am sure you know you are responsible for directing everyone in front of you. I feel that there are many times when goalkeepers don’t take responsibility for when a man goes unmarked and scores. It is your job to make sure that everyone is marked up properly.

With that said, sometimes you are communicating but your players aren’t responding to what you are saying. You have to make sure that you and your defenders are on the same page. Take the time during training to talk to your defenders and figure out what type of communication will work best for everyone.

When you are communicating it is better to be short and concise. You aren’t having a conversation, so keep it short. Tell them what you want, how you want it done, and who you want to do it. For example, if you are telling your center back, named Tim, to mark a striker (#22) that is coming from behind him on his right side, you would want to tell him something like this, “Tim, 22, right shoulder”. This let your defenders know who you want to do the action, “Tim”, what you want him to do and who you want it done to, “(mark)22” and where they need to do it, “right shoulder”.

Here are some common goalkeeper commands:
“Follow near post runner”-used when telling a defender to follow a striker that is making a run to your near post.
“Follow second runner”-used when telling a defender to follow the second runner.
“Keeper”- used when you are calling for the ball on a cross or when you are coming out to clear a ball.
“Away”-used when you can not get to the ball on a cross or through ball. This command can indicate the ball is going out of bounds or that you want your defenders to clear the ball.
“Step”- used when you are pushing your defenders up the field. Usually used when the ball is cleared up the field or   when you are trying to get someone off sides.
“Drop”- used to get your defenders to drop back closer to the goal.
“Man on”- used when the ball is played to one of your players and they have a man that is closing on them and they don’t have much time.
“Time”- used when the ball is played to one of your players and there isn’t anyone on them.
“Turn”- used to let a player that has their back to the field know they have time to turn and face the field.
“Switch”- used when the player has an open player across the field and they should play them the ball.
“Keepers on” or “Play me”- used when you want your defender to play the ball back to you on the ground.
“Right should” or “left shoulder”- used to let your players know what direction a man is coming from.
“Stand him up”- used to tell your defender to just keep the player in front of them and slow them down so other players can recover.
“Tackle”- used when your defender needs to commit and tackle the ball off of the striker.

As a final note sometimes it is just as important how you say something as to what you say. There are a lot of times when I am communicating where I am giving suggestions, such as “Nate, be aware of 15”. This type of communication is more of a suggestion. I am telling my player that there is a man that he should keep an eye on and to be aware that he might become dangerous. I am not telling him to necessarily mark #15 immediately, but just for him to know that he is there. In this situation I am not going to be demanding or have a sense of urgency in my voice. If a striker is running through and is in a dangerous position then I may say “Nate, follow near post runner, 15!!!” in this situation I will be much louder, more demanding, and have a more urgent tone in my voice.
Try not to become the over communicating, monotone goalkeeper. Be very precise with what you say and have inflection in your voice and players are going to be more likely to respond. I hope I was able to answer your question and if you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you,
Chase Harrison
Ask the Goalkeeper