Becoming a Champion Water Polo Goalie: Technique & Training Drills

Former Olympian and current U.S. Olympic Development Program National Goalkeeper Coach, Sean Nolan, presents a series of drills designed to help goalies stop more shots. Every aspect of goalkeeping is covered as Coach Nolan shows off the exercises he uses to build championship goalies.

Warm-Up and Positioning

Coach Nolan starts with a great hand-eye coordination warm-up for goalies that prepares them mentally for a game or practice. These two drills use various sizes and numbers of balls to help train a goalie's mind and reaction time.

Next, you'll be shown a slide show discussing the importance of a goalie's positioning within the triangle. By "Living in the Triangle," goalkeepers can reduce unnecessary movement and force shooters to take shots that goalies are already prepared to block.

Living in the Triangle

Train your goalies to become master of the angles between the posts. In this PowerPoint "cheat sheet," Coach Nolan gives you coaching tips and strategies to help train your goalies to find the correct position within the goal, taking away as many shooting angles as possible, while giving up a little to the left and right. You'll discover basic principles and red zone strategies.

Goalie Drills

Coach Nolan demonstrates over 15 drills that work on keeping the goalie in correct base position, keeping their hands light and ready to cover all corners of the goal, and being ready for unexpected situations. Primarily working on keeping proper balance, these drills will test your goalie's reaction and show if they are truly in good position.

You will also learn more hand-eye coordination drills based in the water. In these exercises, goalies work on being light in the water and using quick reflexes to pass and block multiple shots on goal. Coach Nolan also covers drills to help goalies react to various shots and challenge themselves by baiting shooters into certain shots.

Test Sets

Coach Nolan runs through a few quick drills to show how the goalie is improving without looking at stats of blocks, saves and goals allowed. He encourages the use of film to help the athlete visually understand where they can improve and how they are progressing.

This video contains some of the best techniques and drills for water polo goalies that are effective at any level.

80 minutes. 2016.