Pre-Game Goalie Routines

Hi everyone!

I've recently had questions about the pre-game routine I use to get ready to play. The fun thing about pre-game rituals is that they are unique to each person, and one goalie's routine may not work for another. To find your own routine, you just have to try different things out and see what works for you! In this post, I'm going to lay out what I do to get ready for games! This post will be related to my experience as a student athlete in the NCAA, but my routine changes when I play in other settings.

- 1h45 minutes before the game: I like to begin my pregame routine 1h45 minutes before we start to play, but this varies if we're at home or away, if we get to the game on time, or if I have to get treatment before I play. This is when I change into my game clothes, collect my stretch band, foam roller, racket balls, etc.

-1h35 minutes before the game: At this point, I've found myself a quiet place somewhere either in our building or within the facilities that we are visiting. I take about 10 minutes to stretch, foam roll, jog, and get a dynamic warm up in.

-1h25 minutes before the game: Before every game, no matter how much time I get total for my pre-game ritual, I always do hand-eye coordination drills. I first start out slowly, throwing a ball against the wall and making sure that I am tracking the ball fully with my eyes. This is meant to train my eyes to stay on the ball, which should help with my reactions overall. After a few minutes I speed things up and vary the way I bounce the ball(off the wall, off the floor onto the wall, off the wall onto the floor, etc.). Then, I juggle against the wall with three balls - I've linked a video right below this paragraph so you can see exactly what I mean. This is meant to help me with my peripheral vision, because by having three balls there is not way I can track all of them at once.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjfmJg0Dkca/

-1h10 minutes before the game: After spending about 15 minutes just working on hand-eye, I make sure that I add in full body movements and footwork. To do this, I stand a little further away from the wall and throw the ball, but this time around I make sure that I am moving my body as if I am in the net(making sure that my hands are up, that my feet are moving the way they should saves, and that I'm leaning forward into my saves. I do this for about 10 minutes.

-1 hour before the game: when there is about 5 minutes before my coaches come into the locker room to give a pregame speech, I start to visualize. Depending on what I feel I need, I will either sit still and visualize myself making all sorts of saves I might come across(foot clears, hand saves, 1v1's, slide tackles, block tackles, interceptions, etc.). If I want to, I can also act out the saves as I visualize - making sure that I'm moving technically. As my sports therapist says, visualizing actually has the same effects on our minds as getting actual reps does.

-55 minutes before the game: coach comes in for a pre-game speech.

-45 minutes before the game: my warm up starts outside on the pitch.

While this warm up works for me, you should try out your own routine. Hope this was helpful! Feel free to reach out and ask any questions you might have!