HOW-TO: GOALKEEPER POSITIONING

The lacrosse goalkeeper strives to stay squared with the shooter. This means that the goalkeeper should attempt to face the shooter head-on so that there is maximum coverage of the net and optimum positioning to react to the shot from the ready stance. The first step to maintaining an ideal position in front of the net is knowing the location of the net. We’re using a five-position approach to ultimately establish automatic positioning that avoids turning around to find the net. This leaves the goalkeeper to focus fully on the action that faces them.

The five-position goalkeeper method teaches the keeper automatic net positioning. The diagram above shows the ball in zone 4 and the goalkeeper in the correct corresponding number 4 position.

The goalkeeper transitions from each numbered position with a single step starting with the lead foot and immediately follows with the trailing foot. The ready stance at each stop has the goalkeeper with feet spread just wider than shoulder width and directly facing the ball carrier. The keeper tracks the ball carrier and moves to the next position as the ball moves into the next zone. The first half of the video below demonstrates the five-position method for goalkeeper locating.