Increasing Communication Part 1: How to Start Talking
Talking and communicating with your team is a big requirement for your position as a goalie. If you don’t want to talk or you’re afraid to talk then you might want to rethink your position.
I’ve seen a lot of talented goalies who have every physical aspect you’d want in a goalie but they don’t communicate and they flounder as they try to move up to higher levels of play. If you’re serious about your position. If you’re serious about being a game changer then you need to work on your communication skills just like your legs. Effective communicators are a huge defensive strength.
I’m going to break this down into two parts to not bore you with one long post. The first section is about how to get started with talking to your team. Being comfortable with talking and asserting yourself into the team defense. Because trust me, your teammates want to hear you. They know you can see everything going on versus the limited view they have. They want your help and you want to help yourself with effective communication.
The second part is for those who are comfortable with talking but are unsure about what exactly they should be saying and when. I’ll run through a generic game flow and what I usually say during a game.
Just Start Talking
The first step is to just start talking.
The easiest thing is to count the shot clock down for your team when they’re on offense.
The standard is when you get close to 11-12 seconds left you say.
“You’re going yellow. You’re yellow.”
Then by the time you say that you’re at ten seconds. And you would countdown.
“10...9...8...7...6”
“You’re red!”
“5...4...3...2...1...”
Around 3 seconds you would start telling them to dump the ball, take a shot if they have a chance to score, or shoot a possession shot. More on that later.
But you’re just starting to talk to your team. Once you're comfortable handling the clock then you can add the dump or shoot part to your countdown.
And for those of you who aren’t familiar with my terminology. Dumping the ball is putting it to a corner or sideline to make your opponent pull a field player out of the counterattack to get the ball. This is to help you get your defense set up. You’re conceding the last few seconds of your offensive possession to prevent a counterattack and to get your defense set-up.
My next suggestion is to narrate everything that is happening in front of you. Follow the ball in transition and tell your team what is happening.
“Goalie ball”
“Ball at 4”
“Ball at Point”
“Ball at 2”
“Entry.”
On a defensive counterattack and you’re wearing white caps.
“Blue ball”
“Defense. Defense. Get back!”
“Ball coming up left” (and it’s always your left and right).
“She’s live” or “He’s live”. This means they can shoot the ball. And with the new rules, this pretty much means anyone outside of 6 meters after a whistle.
“We’re down middle!”
or
“We’re down right side”
On an offensive counterattack. Again, you’re wearing white caps.
White ball. White ball.
“Go. Go. Go.”
“Ball coming up the right side.”
“Open weak!”
Or
“You. You. You. Your shot.”
You’re not saying anything of real substance, but letting your teammates know where the ball is helps them get in their defense positions.
Letting them know where they are down on the counterattack and if the person is live with the ball helps them make decisions about who to go to and what to do.
Telling them what you see during an offensive counterattack helps them make a more confident decision about making a pass or keeping the ball for themselves to score.
To get comfortable with talking just narrate what is happening in front of you. Keep everything short and sweet. Don’t be afraid to say anything. Don’t be afraid that you’ll look or sound foolish. It will happen but you can’t get better if you don’t try. I only learned to say the right thing because I’ve said the wrong things a bunch of times.
I only learned to say the right thing because I’ve said the wrong things a bunch of times.
Coaches
Coaches you have to encourage young goalies to start talking right away. I know it’s hard because you have the experience and you know what you want your team to do and how to effectively say it. But you end up talking the entire game and taking over the role of the goalie. The short-term effectiveness will hurt your team’s development and the individual goalie in the long run.
When I coached high school. I would choose specific games to sit down and shut up. I would tell my team, especially the goalie, that they needed to handle all the communication.
Now we all know as coaches we’re not going to make it the whole game without ever saying a word. But that early commitment does force you to give the players more control over communication. I chose games where we were the heavy favorite or it’s a summer league game that doesn't mean anything. If the team did a good job, I would try it again.
Once you’ve built up the goalie’s ability to talk and you trust them then you can let the goalie handle the defense in front of them. You can help with their blind spots. If we’re in a 4-5 or 3-4 zone I’ll step in and talk to defenders at X1 and X2 so that the goalie can handle 2 meters and the zone drops. Now as a coach and goalie combo, you’re covering the whole defense.
Part 2 will cover more on what to say once you’re past the basics. How to talk to players in a drop. What to say during different press situations. General game flow.