Ocular Motility
Eye tracking ability is important in soccer. Quick, accurate, teamed eye movements are needed to survey the rapidly changing locations and movements of the other opponents and the ball. Studies have shown that head and neck movement is inefficient, increases stress, uses extra energy and causes you to lose balance because of stimulation of the inner ear.
Try to free your eyes to be independent of head movement and use visual information when concentrating on the ball while controlling balance. It is certainly easier to move two eyes that weigh several ounces instead of a head that weighs close to fifteen pounds.
Techniques for improving ocular motilities:
1. Place an ink dot on the center of each thumbnail and stand comfortably with one arm loosely extended in front of you.
Now move your thumb in a constant circle, always seeing the dot on your thumbnail clearly. Do this for ten rotations clockwise and ten rotations counter-clockwise. Repeat using the other arm. Be conscious of your head and neck muscles remaining still while you are seeing the dot on the thumbnail. As you improve, change the size of the circular pattern that you are making.
After one week of daily practice, start taking small steps forward, sideways, backward, and diagonally while seeing the dot on your thumbnail. Increase your speed to simulate movements in goal. You can use this as a visual warm-up exercise.
2. You will need four newspaper headlines for this technique. Sit in a chair placed four feet from a wall. Tape the newspaper headlines to the wall so that two are two feet to the right of you and two are two feet to the left.
They should also be positioned so that one on each side is one foot above eye-level and the other is one foot below eye-level. You will read the first letter of each headline, going from top-left to top-right to bottom-left to bottom-right, while being sure that your body is relaxed and your head remains facing the imaginary point on the wall which
would mark the spot between the all of the headlines.
Repeat this with the second letter of each headline, then the third and so on until you have reached the end of one
of the headlines. As you get better at this technique change the order in which you read the headlines. As you get better at this it should become easier to locate a ball which has been crossed in front of you for a quick shot.
Eye-Hand/Body/Foot Coordination
All are helpful to a soccer goal keeper. If your eyes do not give you accurate information and then accurately direct your body parts, your hand/body/foot movements will be inappropriate for the type of play that you will be trying to make.
Techniques for improving eye-hand/body/foot coordination:
You will need three people for this exercise. One will play goalie and the other two will be shooters. The goalie will stand ten feet from a wall which he/she will be facing. Each shooter, equipped with a few balls will stand six feet behind the goalie and slightly to either side. The shooters will randomly and in rapid succession take shots off the wall which the goalie will have to prevent from passing by him/her on the rebound.
Courtesy Dan Gaspar - Star Goalkeeping Academy.
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