Floorball Goalie Training Hands II. Openness

The hands of goalie must be relaxed and ready to catch the ball in every situation. Most of the mistakes are that hands are in dead position (touch a floor, leg or tightened). What is the optimal position of hands I have explained in the previous article (Floorball Goalie Training Hands I.Positions). I would like to shortly clarify the position of a palm in this text. Whole hand also palm must be perfectly synchronized o achieve the best performance.

1. Closed palm (picture 1): you cannot catch anything. This position is totally wrong and the maximum which you can do is bouncing the ball but never catch. If you see the goalkeeper to do this draw it to his attention and control him as much as you can.

Picture 1 Closed palm

2. Half closed palm (picture 2):  still the palm is not 100% ready to catch the ball. Same of the balls will be still bounced.

Picture 2 Half closed palm

3. Relaxed palm (picture 3): optimal position of the palm. The palm is ready to receive the ball without bouncing.

Picture 3 Relaxed palm

4. Tightened palm (picture 4): most of the balls will be bounced. To catch the ball is very difficult with this position. Say to the goalkeeper that he has to relax the palm and control him as much as you can.

Picture 4 Tightened palm

Floorball Goalie Training Hands I.Positions

Floorball Goalie Training Hands Position I.

Hands are the weapon of every goalie in floorball. If you want to be a star your hands must be as fast as possible. Of course it is not possible to move your hands 190km/h as a ball. Therefore is maybe little bit more important the position of the hands. How to locate hands in axis X, Y and Z is the alchemy of goalie and trainers. If the young goalkeepers have at the beginning of career educated and smart trainer which show them the suitable position it can very positive influence their future development. I could say that success rate of hand catching is done 65% by hand position and 35 by reflexes and hands speed.

Axis X (Picture 1):
1. Close to body - elimination of reflexes because of wrong tension of muscles .

2. 90 degrees (optimal) – you have the same access to all positions and also optimal tension of muscles (Picture 1a).

3. Extended – elimination of reflexes because of wrong tension of muscles (Picture 1c).

4. On the floor – the hand in this position are out of game. This position is the worst and it is big mistake of goalie.




Picture 1 Axis X

 

Axis Y (Picture 2):
1. Close to head – obvious gap in the place above the legs (Picture 2a).

2. Middle (optimal) - you have the same access to all positions and also optimal tension of muscles (Picture 2b).

3. Close to leg - obvious gap in the place around the shoulders and head (Picture 2b).

Picture 2 Axis Y

Axis Z (Picture 3):
1. Behind the back – the hands are out of game. The goalie has no idea what the hands are doing. He is not able locate and respond properly to the shoot (Picture 3a).

2. Parallel with body – tension and locomotion of hands is better than in behind the back but it is still not optimal. Goalie is not able see peripheral the hands (Picture 3b).

3. Slightly in the front (optimal) – best position for locomotion, reaction and tension in the hands. Goalie sees peripheral what the hands are doing he is able to locate the hands and properly respond to impulse (Picture 3c).

4. Far in the front – goalie with this position is able to react properly, locate the hands in space. Tension in muscles is little worse than in previous position. The biggest disadvantage of this position is that you are making artificially and wilfully shorter distance between hands and ball. Your react time is then shorter (Picture 3d).



Picture 3 Axis Z