Rules question

[John]

my kid is a keeper, and he had a mental lapse this weekend that cost them a goal and I'm trying to figure out the rules so that we can talk about his options if it ever happens again. I'm having trouble finding answers on normal rules websites, so here goes: kid makes a save, runs to the 18 and is about to punt, ball rolls out of his hand and past 18. In sheer terror, he pounces on the ball. Whistle and DFK and goal. Originally I was thinking he could have corralled the rolling ball and kicked it back inside the box, and picked it up and re-punted, but now I think that's wrong. Once that ball left his hands and rolled out of the box, he can no longer touch it with his hands unless another player touches it first and he somehow regains possession? What he should have done is just took the touch, possibly dribbled a bit, and sent the ball?

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

I played keeper my whole life and in college as well.

Once you pick up the ball and place the ball down, you cannot pick the ball back up again, unless it is touched by an opposing player. You are correct, he should have taken a touch and sent the ball up field, or out of bounds, whatever was the safest play.

However, if a ball is played by the opposing team, and it is outside of the box, he can dribble the ball from outside of the box to the inside of the box and pick it up!

Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[meyers7]

What Dave said is true. And the ref made the right call. But to add a little, if he had corralled and dribbled it back into the Penalty Area and picked it up, that would have been an IFK. Two-touch foul.

 

[John]

I played keeper my whole life and in college as well.

Once you pick up the ball and place the ball down, you cannot pick the ball back up again, unless it is touched by an opposing player. You are correct, he should have taken a touch and sent the ball up field, or out of bounds, whatever was the safest play.

However, if a ball is played by the opposing team, and it is outside of the box, he can dribble the ball from outside of the box to the inside of the box and pick it up!

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Thank you for the offer, actually you might be hearing from me. The boy is only 10, but all he wants to do is play keeper, he plays with town and also a local smaller premier club. Not being a soccer guy, I'm very reluctant to give him any advice other than to be on his toes during PKs, look big, never turn his back to the field, etc.

 

[Kgun7]

Thank you for the offer, actually you might be hearing from me. The boy is only 10, but all he wants to do is play keeper, he plays with town and also a local smaller premier club. Not being a soccer guy, I'm very reluctant to give him any advice other than to be on his toes during PKs, look big, never turn his back to the field, etc.

Similar to you ... my son played youth hockey, but I had never played organized hockey. Whenever we had an opportunity to watch a game on TV or in person I told him to focus on his position, and not on the puck. He became pretty adept at studying defensemen and reading the off puck activity. He was never a fast skater and had a below average shot ... but he was always in position and played a pretty consistent D for his high school team.

I would watch a lot of EPL and focus on the goalies movements away from the action. Pause and rewind when you see a subtle play. It is usually anticipation and preparation that leads to good goalie play ... not just a reactionary save.

Good luck! And kudos to you for nurturing your son in a sport you never played!!

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

Thank you for the offer, actually you might be hearing from me. The boy is only 10, but all he wants to do is play keeper, he plays with town and also a local smaller premier club. Not being a soccer guy, I'm very reluctant to give him any advice other than to be on his toes during PKs, look big, never turn his back to the field, etc.

Good advice. Goalkeeping is really all about positioning, angles, and footwork. If you are in great position and have good footwork, you'll almost never need to dive for a save. While he is only 10, you're never too young to start working on angles, positioning, and footwork.

This is a perfect guide on positioning: http://www.jbgoalkeeping.com/position.html

Another thing is learning to talk on the field. As a goalkeeper, you can see the entire field, as he starts to understand the game better, he'll need to communicate with his defenders and midfielders, and adjust their defensive positioning, letting them know where to play the ball, letting them know when there's a man on, etc.

If you have great positioning and can communicate with your defenders, you make your job as a keeper 90% easier.

 

[John]

Good advice. Goalkeeping is really all about positioning, angles, and footwork. If you are in great position and have good footwork, you'll almost never need to dive for a save. While he is only 10, you're never too young to start working on angles, positioning, and footwork.

This is a perfect guide on positioning: http://www.jbgoalkeeping.com/position.html

Another thing is learning to talk on the field. As a goalkeeper, you can see the entire field, as he starts to understand the game better, he'll need to communicate with his defenders and midfielders, and adjust their defensive positioning, letting them know where to play the ball, letting them know when there's a man on, etc.

If you have great positioning and can communicate with your defenders, you make your job as a keeper 90% easier.

he goes to high school games and older aged premier club games (older brother), and we talk about what he's seeing - really trying to emphasize that the entire box is his "magic area" (ie. use hands) and to roam it. We also talk about him giving an option for them to play it back if he sees they're in a jam and he's safe back there (this is a work in progress, not happening much at all yet). I am definitely trying to get him talking out there - some games he does, some he doesn't. At this point I'm just trying to get him used to talking during the game, so I tell him don't worry about giving instructions, just yell compliments to his own players whenever they do something nice (good job Mike, nice move Dan, way to go guys, etc).

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

he goes to high school games and older aged premier club games (older brother), and we talk about what he's seeing - really trying to emphasize that the entire box is his "magic area" (ie. use hands) and to roam it. We also talk about him giving an option for them to play it back if he sees they're in a jam and he's safe back there (this is a work in progress, not happening much at all yet). I am definitely trying to get him talking out there - some games he does, some he doesn't. At this point I'm just trying to get him used to talking during the game, so I tell him don't worry about giving instructions, just yell compliments to his own players whenever they do something nice (good job Mike, nice move Dan, way to go guys, etc).

Yeah that's really all you can do at that age. Seeing the game, and reading the game, and then being comfortable talking and controlling your defense is something that really doesn't or didn't happen for me until I was 13 or 14. I didn't really become proficient at it until late high school, but the earlier you get him comfortable with talking the better; sounds like you're doing a great job there.

Playing the ball back is something that helps out the defense tremendously. It's going to be a work in progress, but working on situations where he should have the ball played back to him and situations where he shouldn't will help get him comfortable with how to manage it when he gets older and is not only capable of playing the ball with his feet but having players around him who are capable and comfortable playing back to the keeper.

 

[Jaker]

Playing sweeper/keeper with mini goals is a great drill for goalies and developing that comfort level.