what is the best way to get a 10 year old girl to start diving?

Football CoachCoach

Break the skill down and remove the 'fear factor'. 10 is a little older than i would normally reccommend this drill but sounds like you need to go back to basics.

Start GK on knees and cross arms across chest resting hands on shoulders. Rock side to side in a rocking chair motion keeping arms in the crossed position and arching your body to get a smooth diving action. At this stage I call this a 'bankers save', kids tend to go down in installments... onto hips, then ribs and finally shoulders. This is fine for now it simply means she is getting to know how to land and fall safely.

From here, keep your keeper on her knees and place one ball a couple of yards to her right but slightly in front of the goal line to encourage a forward motion on the dive. Now get your goalkeeper to reach for the ball with two hands and land in a collapse dive position. Return to knees after each dive and ALWAYS work both sides.

Then have one ball either side of the GK, dive to the right, get two hands on the ball then dive to the left getting two hands on the ball. Encourage speed at this stage to develop momentum. Now is the time to encourage the top leg to be used as a lever to return to knees rather than using hands to get back to an upright position.

Once your keeper is happily rocking back and forth diving from her knees, progress to a 'toilet' or crouch position, then into a standing 'set' position. Once this has been achieved you can begin rolling the service and then increase the pace of the ball.

If the diving action is not flowing and rocking smoothly during the drill it is likely that she is trying to use her elbow to break her fall, encourage all young keepers to brush the grass with their bottom hand to extend their arm and get rid of the dreaded elbow problem.

If at all possible I would get her some specialsit GK coaching, it is at this beginner stage that it is most beneficial, practice makes permanent so now is the perfect time to nail the technique.

Sorry, I have waffled on quite a bit. Hope this helps.

Sportplan TeamAdministrator, United Kingdom

Hello Daniel,

Just to add to Amy's excellent answer we thought we would direct you towards our Goalkeeping Drills, where we have lots of great drills to help you improve your keeper's diving confidence.

Start slowly and build the skill!

Best of luck,
The Sporptlan Team