Academy One Goalkeeping Reference Material
These are documents or reference material for all the Academy One members to help them to be their best. They range from personal to physical to administrative to psychological. All are meant to assist a part of the whole goalkeeper, but can be used individually.
College Questionnaire
To help AOG members with their research in finding the best possible college academic situation, the best possible college social situation and best college soccer situation to meet their needs. An Academy One staff person would be able to go over an individual's answers and help to start the process of college recruitment. This would be done in accordance with the AOG member and family college meeting done during the freshmen, sophomore or junior year of high school.
College Questionnaire
General Information
Do you have a specific school(s) that you would like to attend?
Do you have a specific subject in which you would like to major?
Is it important that you attend a prestigious “name” school (i.e. Harvard, Yale, or Stanford)?
Where did your parents attend college?
Where do/did any of your brothers or sisters attend college?
Do you have any family members that work for a college or university?
Is it important to study close to home (Within a half days drive)?
Do you have a specific geographic area where you would like to study?
Do you have an idea of where in the U.S. or overseas where you might want to settle after college?
Would you prefer to attend school in a certain type of climate (i.e. warm, cold, four full seasons, beach, mountains)?
Do you want to attend a certain size school (Large – 10,000 and above, medium – 4,000 to 10,000 and small – 4,000 and below)?
Do you want to attend a school with a specific type of population (All female, mostly female, half female / half male, mostly male)?
Do you want to attend a school with a certain architectural design (i.e. Traditional/old fashioned or modern)?
Do you want to attend a school with certain layout (i.e. Campus all enclosed, campus spread out within a community or city, campus isolated from any other community)?
Would you want to attend a school with a specific spiritual or political disposition?
Would you be bothered by attending a school with a specific spiritual or political disposition OR a geographic region that was either very liberal or very conservative?
Name hobbies and interests aside from soccer (i.e. Snow boarding, specific college sports teams, specific pro sports teams, country/alternative/metal/rap/dance music, liberal/conservative politics, religion, yoga, film etc.)
Financial
(For Mom and Dad)
How much per year is the maximum you are willing to pay for college?
Is the affordability of a school important in your attending that school?
Is your getting a scholarship critical to your attending a specific college?
Is your getting some sort of financial aid critical to your attending a school (i.e. financial aid, grants, loans etc.)?
Is the household income over or under $100,000 (We don’t need specifics)?
(These questions are strictly for financial aid/college scholarships and will be kept private)
Are you a minority? If so, what percentage?
Are both your parents American citizens? If not, what nationality?
Do you have any Native American/Puerto Rican/Native Alaskan/Native Hawaiian lineage? If so, what percentage are you and are you registered with a specific tribe?
Do you have a disability?
What do your parents do for a living?
Do they work for national or local government?
Competition
Is it important that you play competitive soccer in college?
Is your choosing a school based upon your ability to play soccer there?
Is playing Division I college soccer important to you?
Would playing Division II or III or NAIA or community college be ok for you?
Is it important that you play right away?
Is playing for a winning college program important to you?
Which would interest you more: starting for a mediocre program as a freshman or sitting the bench for two years for a national power?
Which would interest you more: playing for an average Division I program or playing at a Division III school that consistently competes for a national championship?
Is playing time important in your choice of a school?
Is starting important in your choice of a school?
Do you want to play for a specific type of coach (i.e. male, female, older, younger, new to the program, been at that school for a long time, American, foreign)?
What do you envision your college coach to be like?
What do you NOT envision your coach to be like?
Would it bother you if your college coach knows very little or nothing about goalkeeping?
General Information
Do you have a specific school(s) that you would like to attend?
Do you have a specific subject in which you would like to major?
Is it important that you attend a prestigious “name” school (i.e. Harvard, Yale, or Stanford)?
Where did your parents attend college?
Where do/did any of your brothers or sisters attend college?
Do you have any family members that work for a college or university?
Is it important to study close to home (Within a half days drive)?
Do you have a specific geographic area where you would like to study?
Do you have an idea of where in the U.S. or overseas where you might want to settle after college?
Would you prefer to attend school in a certain type of climate (i.e. warm, cold, four full seasons, beach, mountains)?
Do you want to attend a certain size school (Large – 10,000 and above, medium – 4,000 to 10,000 and small – 4,000 and below)?
Do you want to attend a school with a specific type of population (All female, mostly female, half female / half male, mostly male)?
Do you want to attend a school with a certain architectural design (i.e. Traditional/old fashioned or modern)?
Do you want to attend a school with certain layout (i.e. Campus all enclosed, campus spread out within a community or city, campus isolated from any other community)?
Would you want to attend a school with a specific spiritual or political disposition?
Would you be bothered by attending a school with a specific spiritual or political disposition OR a geographic region that was either very liberal or very conservative?
Name hobbies and interests aside from soccer (i.e. Snow boarding, specific college sports teams, specific pro sports teams, country/alternative/metal/rap/dance music, liberal/conservative politics, religion, yoga, film etc.)
Financial
(For Mom and Dad)
How much per year is the maximum you are willing to pay for college?
Is the affordability of a school important in your attending that school?
Is your getting a scholarship critical to your attending a specific college?
Is your getting some sort of financial aid critical to your attending a school (i.e. financial aid, grants, loans etc.)?
Is the household income over or under $100,000 (We don’t need specifics)?
(These questions are strictly for financial aid/college scholarships and will be kept private)
Are you a minority? If so, what percentage?
Are both your parents American citizens? If not, what nationality?
Do you have any Native American/Puerto Rican/Native Alaskan/Native Hawaiian lineage? If so, what percentage are you and are you registered with a specific tribe?
Do you have a disability?
What do your parents do for a living?
Do they work for national or local government?
Competition
Is it important that you play competitive soccer in college?
Is your choosing a school based upon your ability to play soccer there?
Is playing Division I college soccer important to you?
Would playing Division II or III or NAIA or community college be ok for you?
Is it important that you play right away?
Is playing for a winning college program important to you?
Which would interest you more: starting for a mediocre program as a freshman or sitting the bench for two years for a national power?
Which would interest you more: playing for an average Division I program or playing at a Division III school that consistently competes for a national championship?
Is playing time important in your choice of a school?
Is starting important in your choice of a school?
Do you want to play for a specific type of coach (i.e. male, female, older, younger, new to the program, been at that school for a long time, American, foreign)?
What do you envision your college coach to be like?
What do you NOT envision your coach to be like?
Would it bother you if your college coach knows very little or nothing about goalkeeping?
College Coach Introduction Letter
This letter is the first letter one should send to a college coach or coaches of a school of interest. Make sure to be accurate and honest with all the information.
Goalkeeper Pre-game Warm-Up
Too often the warm-up is overlooked for a goalkeeper. This is a great mistake, especially when many college coaches don’t have the time to watch goalkeepers in matches, but will closely observe their warm-ups with regards to a goalkeeper’s recruitment.
A warm-up can vary depending on the time and space allowed. The biggest factor is whether the keeper is allowed on the field a half hour before their match. Here is a whole warm-up and then you can adjust depending on time and place:
A warm-up can vary depending on the time and space allowed. The biggest factor is whether the keeper is allowed on the field a half hour before their match. Here is a whole warm-up and then you can adjust depending on time and place:
Goalkeeper Home Workout Exercises
These exercises are part of a program to develop, improve and maintain the important muscle groups for a goalkeeper that are rarely worked by most soccer specific fitness programs. Flexibility, explosive movements and reflexes are the focus. In the following document, one will find a list of the exercises and a description for each.
Goalkeeper Home Workout Schedule
Here is the schedule for the exercises listed above. The schedule is broken down into three groupings. The first group is for exercises or activities to be done every day. The second group is for the exercises that are to be done three times a week. The last group is for fitness testing to mark progress. The exercises are to be done at a serious level of intensity, but not too hard to cause injury. These should be somewhat strenuous, but at any time that an athlete is doing these exercises, they feel strain to the body, the athlete should stop immediately and rest for a day or two.
Goalkeeper Goal Diary
The goal diary is an important tool for a goalkeeper's growth. By keeping track of every goal a keeper allows, and most importantly, the strategy to prevent the goal from happening again, the goalkeeper mentally sees patterns to correct and begins to instinctively react in the best way. It is important for a goalkeeper to not dwell on any goal as a way of beating oneself up, but to see it as a learning experience in the long process of development. How to use the diary. Date, Opponent and Field Conditions are self explanatory. Goal Type refers to whether the ball was scored on a shot (Long shot, point blank, low shot, high shot, chip etc.) or header (Point blank, low, high etc.) or free kick (Direct, indirect, bending, deflection etc.). Goal origins relates to how the play that led to the goal came about. Did the shot or header come from a long cross off of a through ball or a short chip off of a several pass build-up from the back. The most important section to the Diary is the Improvement section. This is where the keeper must formulate a better way to deal with the situation. The best way to do this is to go through the checklist of goalkeeping laws (See Articles). Was the keeper in a proper stance when the ball was shot? Was the keeper set BEFORE the shot? How was the keeper's positioning when the ball was shot? These three questions will almost always yield the answer. Then the keeper goes through other aspects about whether the keeper should have organized their defense better? or how was their communication? or how did the surroundings or opposition effect the path to the ball? When used with the attitude of learning, the goalkeeper will see improvement in their thought processes.
Personal Goals and Assessment
It is critical for a young person to understand the importance of planning their future and understanding their strengths and weaknesses. The best way to do that is to have them write out their goals and strengths and weaknesses and post them where one can read them on a daily basis.
Winning Attitudes Self Exam
An excellent test to get an idea about the individual's attitude toward themselves and competition.
