PATRICK MORRISON: Dealing with the high ball

IN this week’s article we are going to take a look at dealing with high balls.

Dealing with a high ball in Gaelic football, although being a physical skill, it also has massive input from the mind as well. And in some situations, it is all about your mindset when attacking the high ball. It is because of this, the importance of having a good mindset towards high balls is directly linked to confidence.

To grow a positive mindset towards high balls, there are two main features you must both understand and more importantly accept.

Firstly, going up for a high ball either contested or uncontested, leaves you in an open vulnerable position. You are in the air with nothing stabalising you only your own conditioning. Your eyes are (or should be) completely focused on the ball you are about to deal with.

This leaves you in the vulnerable position of not knowing what is happening around you and as such blind for a few seconds. To have a positive mindset in this situation of vulnerability you must accept the fact that you may get hurt dealing with any high ball. By accepting this truth, it liberates the goalkeeper from fear, indecision and failure to act.

Secondly, when dealing with any high ball, much like any other skill, you have to accept that you may not deal with it effectively or not get the result that you were looking for. Again, by accepting this truth you liberate yourself from that ‘fear of failure,’ indecision and inaction. Mistakes happen. All over the field they happen. The major difference between those mistakes and a goalkeeper’s mistake is in the magnification of that mistake.

Some of the smallest mistakes made by goalkeepers can look like massive catastrophes simply because of their vicinity to the goal. By removing emotion from your performance, it will protect you from either making rushed, hurried or rash decisions as well as limiting feelings of fear, ineptitude and/or indecision resulting in poor execution of the skill.

Here are a few things for the goalkeeper to use whenever they are training or practicing dealing with high balls:

BALLOONS – when the coach is serving high balls to the goalkeeper sometimes it can be difficult to get the timing of the throw/kick and the goalkeeper’s run up in sync. By removing the ball and using an inflated balloon, it will allow the goalkeeper time to concentrate on their run-up technique as the balloon floats back down to the ground.

My father John used this technique very successfully with Armagh legend Paul McGrane to improve his fielding ability and his leap.

SMASH THE TURTLE – it is hard to replicate the match conditions of dealing with high balls under contact without also vastly increasing the risk of injury as well. Hard but not impossible. By introducing a tackling pad, it decreases the risk of injury level although for execution under contact. The coach places the tackle pad on their back like a backpack looking like a turtle shell. The feeder serves the ball up for the coach to high catch.

The goalkeeper comes and deals with the high ball over the top of the coach, knee up taking contact from the tackle pad. The coach stays on the ground and as contact comes, gently pushes back into the goalkeeper both for safety and to intensify the contact.

If the coach feels in danger of injury at any stage, they remove themselves from that situation immediately.

SPLIT SQUAT JUMPS – these can be used as a warm-up activity or ca be used as a training drill. They are a fantastic way to both strengthen your jumping muscles and improving your leap. As well as this, they will also improve your core conditioning which will ultimately leave you stronger in the air meaning you will be less vulnerable during high balls.

To perform a split squat jump, begin in a single leg kneeling position (one knee up, one knee on ground). The feeder/coach throws the ball up for a high catch, and from the kneeling position you drive up off the ground as high as you can to catch the ball. Make sure to drive the knee that is on the ground right up towards your chest and hold it.

SAFETY – as discussed earlier the goalkeeper is of course in a vulnerable position when catching a high ball. This is why considering some safety elements as a form of failsafe can help boost confidence while also reducing injury risk. Think about certain injury risks that could happen and put plans in place for if/when they happen because by doing so you will be less likely to have that moment of inaction and will have a more favourable outcome as a result.

BOX OUT – rolling on from the safety elements, having your teammates box out on high balls also gives you added protection when dealing with high balls. To box out on high balls, your teammates ensure that they get their bodies between the goalkeeper and their opponent and push them out of the goalmouth to allow the goalkeeper more room to come for the ball.

Dealing with high balls is always seen as a goalkeeping staple and a skill that all goalkeepers are expected to be able to perform with relative ease. The reality of this cannot be farther from the truth. Dealing with a ball which is ‘stooping’ at speed onto the crossbar or from different angles is probably the most difficult skill that any goalkeeper has to deal with in play.

If you would like to discuss anything within this article or would like to have more information in regard to other goalkeeping areas, please do not hesitate to contact me on any of the avenues below.

Email: pmgoalkeeping@hotmail.com