UCC partners with Central Missouri GoalKeeping Academy for specific goalkeeping training sessions that will be run by former UCC goalie, Eli Chapman. The Junior Elite Training Program will consist of players that are age 13 and under. The Senior Elite Training Program will consist of players that are age 14 and over. 

SIGN UP HERE

---

Junior Elite Training Program

Overview from Coach Eli Chapman - 

This program is made for goalkeepers that are age 13 and under, or for keepers of any age that have no experience playing goalkeeper. It is important to understand that this program is for pure development and not directly correlated for enhancing performance during sessions. Of course the hope is that training these techniques will lead to quality performance in games; however, the goal is to further the keeper’s technique and understanding of the game. Goalkeeping is a specialty position on the soccer field, and requires a different kind of training and understanding of the game. In this program, keepers will begin the development of muscles that are important for their position, learn the footwork and movements associated with goalkeeping, learn the communication and positioning on the field that they should have in a given situation, and learn the proper techniques associated with the position. In terms of goalkeeping techniques such as diving and catching, there is one way to train those things; however, other techniques such as goal kicks and punts differ based on the goal keeper. I want to make it known that the purpose of this program is not to make robots. Keepers can play many different ways based on natural attributes such as height, weight and speed. I ask that parents do not make their child play in a way that they do not feel comfortable with. I speak from experience when I say that it will only lead to poor decisions in games. I encourage goal keepers and parents to ask questions about the position or what we are doing if they have any. Most issues that occur are due to a lack of communication and I do not want that to be the case. Feel free to ask if there is anything that the keepers can do on their own at home. Lastly, this program needs to be agreed upon by both player and parent. In my experience if a player doesn’t want to be at a session then it is a detriment to the whole group. All that I ask is that the player and parents are serious about the goal keeper’s development. If I think that a child is developed far enough to join the senior elite group then I will talk to the goalkeeper and parent before moving them. 

Main Focus Of The Day

Each session, given the day, will be focused on the following activities of a goalkeeper:

• Catching

• Forward Dives

• Regular Diving

• Shot Stopping

• 1v1’s

• Positioning

There will be around 40-50 minutes a session dedicated to those focuses. Below I have listed the focuses based on the day of the session. These will remain consistent, meaning these will be the same focuses for the days listed.

Muscle Development

With goalkeeper being such a specialized position, different muscle groups need to be strengthened to help develop the following:

• Injury Prevention

• Length Of Goal Kicks

• Length Of Punts

• Strength Of Push Off

• Speed Of Movement

There will be three sessions a week, with one session being dedicated to abdominal development and the other two being dedicated to lower body development. Below will be the workouts planned based on the day of training.

Monday: Catching & Forward Dives

Half Field Lunges

• Half Field Lunges will target muscle areas such as the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves. These muscles are all imperative to developing a goalkeeper's ability to move quicker, push off further, and develop the range of goal kicks and punts.

• Half Field Lunges will not have any steps in between them. In other words, every step must be a lunge. Goalkeepers will be expected to hold this lunge for 3 seconds before stepping into their next lunge.

Wall Sits

• Wall sits will target muscle areas such as quadriceps, the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, inner thigh muscles and core. These muscles are all imperative to developing a goalkeeper's ability to move quicker, push off further, and develop the range of goal kicks and punts. Additionally, the strengthening of the core will help lower the risk of injury to the back or spine of the goalkeeper.

• Wall sits will have a base goal time to hold of about 2 minutes. There will be two sets of wall sits with a minute long break in between the sets.

• The second set will still have the base requirement of 2 minutes; however, keepers will continue to hold their wall sits for as long as possible.

• I will keep track of the keepers personal records, and begin to make that their base for the second set of their future sessions.

Wednesday: Diving & Shot Stopping

The main goal of these exercises is to strengthen core muscles which will help with injury prevention in the back, and it will also help the keeper’s recovery speed after a shot on goal.

• Plank, Plank Alternating Arm Reach, Side Plank

• Back Circuit - These will enlist a number of core strengthening workouts from laying on the back. These include leg raises, dead bug toe touches, and keeping legs hovered above the ground for as long as possible.

Friday: 1v1's & Positioning

This workout will be improving players ability to drive and push off the ground. These workouts are plyometric workouts that I have done in the past that are made for the goalkeeping position. These are the ones that we will be doing as I have found them the most helpful to the position.

Single Leg Bounds

- The goalkeeper will continuously jump over hurdles every step they take, landing on the same foot each time. Keepers will do two sets per side.

Alternating Single Leg Bounds

- The goalkeeper will continuously jump over hurdles every step they take; however, they will be landing and pushing off of the opposite foot each time. Keepers will do four sets of these.

Single Leg Bench Jumps

• The goalkeeper will place one foot on the seated part of the bench and the other on the ground.

• The keeper will push off of the foot on the seat of the bench to jump straight up and land in the position they started in.

• Reps should be nearly continuous. These will last for a minute each side.

Rules:
This program is meant to be serious, and in my experience it is not fair to the individuals that are there to get better, but can’t due to interruptions from other keepers. I have decided that I will implement a three strike rule per session. If a player gets a third strike in a given session then they will be kicked out of the remainder of the session. Additionally if a player is kicked out of a session two of the three sessions for that week, then they will be removed from the program. These are the criteria for getting strikes:

•  Putting down a fellow keeper during a session
•  Talking repeatedly during the session when it is inappropriate (when I am talking)
• Kicking balls around the field
• Using profanity toward another player
• Refusing to listen to critiques or directions during the session

---

Senior Elite Training Program

Overview from Coach Eli Chapman -

This program is made for goalkeepers that are age 14 and over. This program was modeled after a program that I went through in St. Louis through a professional goalkeeping coach. At this point in the development of your goalkeeping career, you should already have decent techniques that have been taught to you. In this program we will go over basics briefly; however, it will be very fast paced. If you are going to be in this program then you need to be ready to work hard. You should support those you train with, but also compete with them to make yourself better. In this program almost all distribution and services will be conducted by the trainees. At this age if you can’t distribute yourselves then you may have to be moved down to the junior elite session for a brief time. In this program, performance in sessions does matter because I will judge both technique and results of the drills. Specifically we will be looking to do the following:

• Catch distributions clean only (no drops)

• Enhance goal range on dives (how much of the goal covered when you dive)

• Distance of goal kicks

• Distance of punts

• Communication

• Set Pieces

• Decision Making

It is important to me that both the goal keeper and parent agree to participate in this program, because if the keeper doesn’t care about getting better then it affects the quality of the session. New arrivals into the senior elite program will be given a grace period of maximum two weeks to get adjusted to the way sessions are run and what I am expecting out of them. Goal keepers are encouraged to ask any question that is related to soccer.

Main Focus Of The Day

Each session, given the day, will be focused on the following activities of a goalkeeper:

• Catching

• Diving

• Positioning

• Communication

• Set Pieces

• Distribution

There will be around 40-50 minutes a session dedicated to those focuses. Below I have listed the focuses based on the day of the session. These will remain mostly consistent, meaning these will be mostly the same focuses for the days listed.

Muscle Development

With goalkeeper being such a specialized position, different muscle groups need to be strengthened to help develop the following:

• Injury Prevention

• Length Of Goal Kicks

• Length Of Punts

• Strength Of Push Off

• Speed Of Movement

There will be three sessions a week, with one session being dedicated to abdominal development and the other two being dedicated to lower body development. Below will be the workouts planned based on the day of training.

Monday: Catching & Distribution

Full Field Lunges

• Full Field Lunges will target muscle areas such as the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves. These muscles are all imperative to developing a goalkeeper's ability to move quicker, push off further, and develop the range of goal kicks and punts.

• Full Field Lunges will not have any steps in between them. In other words, every step must be a lunge. Goalkeepers will be expected to hold this lunge for 3 seconds before stepping into their next lunge.

Wall Sits

• Wall sits will target muscle areas such as quadriceps, the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, inner thigh muscles and core. These muscles are all imperative to developing a goalkeeper's ability to move quicker, push off further, and develop the range of goal kicks and punts. Additionally, the strengthening of the core will help lower the risk of injury to the back or spine of the goalkeeper.

• Wall sits will have a base goal time to hold of about 3 minutes. There will be two sets of wall sits with a minute long break in between the sets.

• The second set will still have the base requirement of 3 minutes; however, keepers will continue to hold their wall sits for as long as possible.

• I will keep track of the keepers personal records, and begin to make that their base for the second set of their future sessions.

Wednesday: Diving & Positioning

The main goal of these exercises is to strengthen core muscles which will help with injury prevention in the back, and it will also help the keeper’s recovery speed after a shot on goal.

• Plank, Plank Alternating Arm Reach, Side Plank

• Back Circuit - These will enlist a number of core strengthening workouts from laying on the back. These include leg raises, dead bug toe touches, and keeping legs hovered above the ground for as long as possible.

Friday: Communication, Set Pieces, & Decision Making

This workout will be improving players ability to drive and push off the ground. These workouts are plyometric workouts that I have done in the past that are made for the goalkeeping position. These are the ones that we will be doing as I have found them the most helpful to the position.

Single Leg Bounds

• The goalkeeper will continuously jump over hurdles every step they take, landing on the same foot each time. Keepers will do three sets per side.

Alternating Single Leg Bounds

• The goalkeeper will continuously jump over hurdles every step they take; however, they will be landing and pushing off of the opposite foot each time. Keepers will do five sets of these.

Single Leg Bench Jumps

• The goalkeeper will place one foot on the seated part of the bench and the other on the ground.
• The keeper will push off of the foot on the seat of the bench to jump straight up and land in the position they started in.
• Reps should be nearly continuous. These will last for a minute each side.

Rules:
This program is meant to be serious, and in my experience it is not fair to the individuals that are there to get better, but can’t due to interruptions from other keepers. I have decided that I will implement a three strike rule per session. If a player gets a third strike in a given session then they will be kicked out of the remainder of the session. Additionally if a player is kicked out of a session then they will be removed from the program. These are the criteria for getting strikes:

• Putting down a fellow keeper during a session

• Talking repeatedly during the session when it is inappropriate (when I am talking)

• Kicking balls around the field

• Using profanity toward another player

• Refusing to listen to critiques or directions during the session