For regular attendees at The FA’s annual Goalkeeper conference, Leanne Hall, is a familiar face. The FA women’s international teams goalkeeper coach, has delivered at all of the previous conferences at St.George’s Park and will deliver a practical session on “How to Move, When to Set, How to Save” at this weekend’s event.
One guarantee is that the former Sheffield United goalkeeper coach will be meticulously prepared. Often a ‘taken for granted’ element of the coaching process, Hall can’t emphasise the importance of planning strongly enough.
“Preparation plays a big part in delivering an effective session. It’s a simple piece of advice, but having a comprehensive session plan is essential,” stressed Hall.
“The session will lack structure and direction without one and thorough planning and preparation helps to meet the individual needs of the goalkeepers you are working with.
“In a group of four goalkeepers each individual will have different requirements. By working on multiple topics in an individual session you have a better chance of catering for each individual. To do this effectively you need to dedicate time to planning,” added Hall, in her interview with The Boot Room magazine in August 2014.
One of the key messages of the forthcoming conference is that goalkeepers are “a part of the team, not apart from the team”, a principle which Hall believes goalkeeper coaches must give careful consideration during both the planning and delivery elements of the coaching process.
“Goalkeepers must be aware of how they fit into the whole team unit. As a nation we have very good technical goalkeepers, both male and female, but I think what lets us down is our tactical understanding.
“Sometimes I think we may spend too much time with the goalkeeper on an individual one-to-one basis. We must broaden the spectrum of what we believe goalkeeping coaching to be and help the keepers understand how they fit in with the back four, midfield, the front players and what their role is as part of the whole team,” added Hall.
