The Goalkeeper Playbook

This book is written from the requirements of the top goalkeepers' point of view but at the same time everything presented herein applies equally to all goalkeepers. The contents of the book might unfold in a different way to goalkeepers in different stages of their careers. As your career progresses, you can always return to this book and experience new insights as your playing and skills develop.

The first Chapters of the book discuss the theories of goalkeeping, and the Chapters following thereafter focus on the different aspects of goalkeeping on a more practical level. The purpose of the theory section of the book is to provide sufficient grounds and reasonings to help the reader understand the choices and solutions presented by the authors. The Goalkeeper Playbook is not a scientific publication or a study although there are some contents that might give that idea. In those parts of the book, which have a certain scientific approach, we have chosen to apply the operational analytical method, which means a scientific method where the focus is on the close connection between the subject and the authors as well as the interpretations made by the authors based on their knowledge and understanding on the subject.

As we all know, floorball is more popular and mainly played in non-English speaking countries. Therefore, the amount of relevant English language content available about floorball and floorball goalkeeping especially, is relatively low. So, when putting together the English language version of The Goalkeeper Playbook, we have done our best in trying to find the terms and expressions that are fit for purpose.

The butterfly effect is a metaphor used in chaos theory, explaining that a butterfly flapping its wings could cause a storm on the other side of the planet. The chaos theory was first presented by James Yorke and T. Y. Li in 1975. According to the theory, the world does not follow a predictable pattern. Chaos is a part of the human life as much as it is a part of floorball goalkeeping. Change happens in short moments, and it is impossible to predict the consequences of certain events.

The chaos theory can provide a means for understanding complex systems. To our way of thinking, the chaos theory can be regarded as an analogy to solution-oriented thinking in the context of the floorball goalkeeper's understanding of the game and systematic actions. In the non-linear worldview of the chaos theory, teams and the game can be regarded as dynamic, interactive and developing systems with rapidly changing phenomena, chaotic moments and disasters.

Black swan means an unlikely event that has three typical characteristics: it is unpredictable, it has a significant impact, and it is possible to come up with an explanation for it that makes it seem less random and more predictable than it is. According to Taleb, people are led to learn details although we should in fact be focusing on the big picture instead.

We are presenting this matter as the goalkeeper's paradox (see Image 1) where it takes 1 second for the goalkeeper to move towards a pass and make a save but it only takes 0.3 seconds for the field players to pass and shoot a goal. The difference of 0.7 seconds is a significant gap from the floorball goalkeeper's point of view. The most important factor in closing this gap is preparation. Good preparation enables the goalkeeper to apply a suitable technique, which, in turn, enables the goalkeeper to be in the line of the shot in time to make a save.

In this book, we use the term game plan, not to refer to a match-specific plan, but to describe the systematic nature of goalkeeping on a general level. At the core of the game plan, is making a save in an individual scoring attempt with the highest possible probability.

Goalkeeping could well be compared to chess. For the goalkeeper to be able to respond to the move of the field player with the ball, they must know what the player is about to do. Without the prior knowledge or hunch, it is not possible to do well in chess, nor in floorball.

In the goalkeeping puzzle (see Image 3), each piece must fall into place to form a comprehensive network of factors affecting one another. This network is also necessary in creating a game plan for the goalkeeper. Missing just one piece can cause significant difficulties to the goalkeeper. As image 3 shows, some components of goalkeeping have a direct effect on each other. For example, the position of the goalkeeper's ankles has a direct effect on balance. Whereas some of the factors have an indirect effect, meaning that the effect appears later.

In this Playbook we use the term game reading which is a well-known and frequently used expression in sports. To our way of thinking, the term should also cover strong interpretation of the game, as reading the game may happen on rather many levels. Reading the game can be done much in the same way as reading a book: mechanically without a deeper thought about its content. But in order to take in and digest everything you read, you need to read in a focused and thoughtful manner. The same goes for reading the game.

When the actual events of the game differ from the goalkeeper's own interpretation, it can easily cause delay in the goalkeeper's actions. The goalkeeper can minimise delay by systematic actions and planning, which are based on the understanding of the game. Without planning or doing things systematically, the delay is always present as the only thing the goalkeeper can do is react to events that are already happening.

Whether playing on the top national level or lower levels, every goalkeeper fights against delay. Every goalkeeper recognises that they are sometimes a little late to act. If the goalkeeper only plays by reacting to events that are already happening, in such a fast-paced sport as floorball, playing becomes increasingly difficult, beyond the goalkeeper's own skill level and even beyond human performance.

The ball hitting the goalkeeper, i.e., a save, is an event, which is quite significant, relatively easy to calculate and concretises the maximisation of the probability of a save. However, this very brief moment, lasting only a hundredth of a second, is the result of a numerous preceding actions that have been done correctly. In this Chapter (see Image 6), we have laid out the components of a save on a time axis, to illustrate what is required to perform a successful save.

In the core of goalkeeping are the goalkeeper's interpretation of the game and how the goalkeeper adjusts the actions to the information which is received and processed out of the current and coming events within the game.

The game is a complex environment that measures the goalkeeper's and the field players' problem-solving skills under very hectic circumstances. In goalkeeper coaching and training it is rather easy to teach smooth movement by technique training drills, which of course is important, but goalkeepers should also be able to apply what they have learned in training sessions to actual real-life game situations.

Regardless of how well the goalkeeper can read the game, the goalkeeper can never know the future with absolute certainty. This means that anticipation on future events should not be made too boldly nor too far in advance. It may very well be that the predicted situation might not happen at all. Acting too early gives the opponent an easy opportunity to score a goal if the goalkeeper has started to play an anticipated situation that never happens.

Life is flooded with chance as nature strives towards disorder. People, in turn, try to bring order to chaos to make the world easier to perceive and control. Also, in the game there are many things that are not in anyone's hands so to speak, but entirely random and happen by chance.

The total performance level of the goalkeeper is the sum of the element of chance and the goalkeeper's own actions. In practice, you cannot influence the element of chance, but random events are always present so this can be regarded as constant in the long-term and large-scale perspective. As you cannot control the element of chance, it is not worth worrying about. However, what you can influence is your own performance.

The floorball field is symmetrical, just like humans are for the most part. All goalkeeper's actions should be symmetrical in relation to the lengthwise centre line of the field, which we call the symmetry axis (see Image 12). This applies to the stance, movement and making saves.

In terms of the goalkeeper's stance, symmetry means minimising the inherent differences in the skills and abilities of the left and right side of the body. Hence, the goalkeeper should not prefer the dominant side over the non-dominant one just because it is easier.

In order to maximise the probability of a save, the goalkeeper should be positioned on the positioning line at the moment t = 0, i.e., at the moment the ball reaches the coverage plane. The positioning line, or the PL for short, means the line drawn between the centre of the goal and the location of the ball (see Image 13).

The coverage plane is a concept that helps to understand the probabilities of making a save in different game situations. The coverage plane can be used to illustrate operating models and methods as well as to analyse the game with good accuracy.

The coverage plane can be divided into three areas:

1. The black area, where the ball cannot enter the goal. The goalkeeper forms the black area by their own body, so in this area the probability of a save is 100%.
2. The white area, where the goalkeeper is simply not able to make a save. Such area is formed only under circumstances where the goalkeeper is weakly positioned.
3. The grey area, where the goalkeeper is not present at the moment of the shot, but where making a save still is physically possible. In practice, this means mainly hand saves.

Challenging the opponent, meaning moving forward and towards the opponent with the ball is a common concept in goalkeeping. It is easy to state that the closer towards the ball the goalkeeper moves, the larger the coverage area is. What makes moving forward tricky, however, is the fact that the ball is constantly moving, and it might change direction rapidly, and therefore coming too far away from the goal might actually turn out counterproductive and increase the probability of a conceded goal. We call this paradox the increasing error of depth positioning.

When the distance between the goalkeeper and the ball decreases at the goalkeeper's initiative, the distance between the goalkeeper and the goal increases. In other words, when moving towards the ball to increase coverage area, the goalkeeper is at the same time moving further away from the goal. And at the same time, the distance to the next positioning line increases, which means that the time it takes to reach the next positioning line is getting longer.

In terms of distance, the goalkeeper moves significantly less than a field player. This is primarily due to the role of the goalkeeper but from an individual game event point of view, also due to the fundamentals of the triangle geometry. The further away from the goal the ball moves sideways, the relatively less the goalkeeper needs to move to stay on the correct positioning line.

In floorball the game is a very dynamic and complex environment where the element of chance is always present. Different causalities keep constantly changing the game. Some of the events occur as reactions to others and some are just completely random. In playing and training, it is generally possible to identify the best available operating models for a certain situation with certain initial circumstances.

When the positioning line changes, e.g., if the ball is passed to a location where a shot on goal can be taken, the goalkeeper should move to such new positioning line. The goalkeeper should practise and master various operating models, which work well in the common variations of the typical game situation. To sum up, this is what we mean by the term best available technique (BAT).

When comparing goalkeeping in floorball and ice hockey, two important factors can be found that pose more challenges to floorball goalkeepers:

1. Game speed: Although ice hockey players skate faster on ice than floorball players run on the field, the ball moves and changes direction much faster and in a more unpredictable way than the puck.
2. Force production: In floorball, the goalkeeper stance does not automatically create energy potential, i.e., charged energy, which is needed to move sideways towards a pass, whereas in ice hockey the goalkeeper has the skates on the ice at all times ready to push themselves into a movement sideways.

These two factors together lead to a conclusion that there is no such thing as a basic stance in floorball goalkeeping. In floorball the goalkeeper stances can instead be divided into the readiness stance and the save stance.

The readiness stance is completely situation specific, meaning that the appropriate readiness stance varies from situation to situation. In the readiness stance the goalkeeper's posture is usually lower than in the save stance as a lower posture enables a more efficient force production for movement. Like in the starting position in sprinting, where the sprinter assumes a low crouching position, similarly in floorball the goalkeeper assumes a readiness stance, which is low to ensure optimal force production in take-offs.

Like the readiness stance, an appropriate save stance also depends entirely on the situation. In the save stance (see Image 26) the goalkeeper's posture is naturally more upright than in the readiness stance as such posture increases the coverage area. Yet the goalkeeper hardly ever straightens the posture completely upright with the hip in full extension, as in such posture the balance and body control are not optimal. The hip should instead remain flexed also in the save stance.

Back in the days, the basic stance of a floorball goalkeeper was considered to be a stance where the goalkeeper is on their knees, legs behind the back and feet together and hands up ready to make a save. This so-called old school basic stance might appear as symmetrical and stable at first glance, but in practice, it is everything but.

Five problems with the old school basic stance:

1. Balance: A stance where the legs are behind the back and feet together is clearly less stable than a stance where one leg is under the goalkeeper and the other one is extended to the side.
2. Force production and delay: The old school basic stance does not allow fast movement in any direction.
3. Missing hand support: The hand support by the front post side hand is usually providing the means for force production without delay.
4. Smaller coverage area: As the goalkeeper is having both legs turned behind the back with the feet together, there is a larger empty space on the floor level.
5. Inefficient use of hands: Hands held up ready to save a shot for only ~1% of game time.

Due to the arguments listed above, the old school basic stance is not relevant and has no role in modern floorball goalkeeping, and hence it should no longer be trained or applied.

There is no specific basic stance in floorball goalkeeping, but the proper stance of the goalkeeper depends entirely on the current situation in the game. The stance mirrors the constantly changing game and the events the goalkeeper is expecting to occur. We divide the goalkeeper stances into the readiness stance and save stance, both of which are situation specific. Each stance is set up by the angles of the goalkeeper's joints, which affect the balance, the coverage area and the readiness to move. In this context, the angles of these joints (i.e., the position of the ankles, knees, hip and hands) are called the game angles.

The goalkeeper's shoulders should be relaxed so that the hands, arms and upper body can be used as efficiently as possible. The direction and the position of the hands depend entirely on the situation. In the readiness stance, the primary purpose of the hands is to help with the balance and to enable the efficient movement without delay.

The support point method can be regarded as one of the most significant development steps in the evolution of floorball goalkeeping. Compared to ice hockey, it is an equally remarkable step as when the ice hockey goalkeepers transitioned from the upright stance to the butterfly style. Unlike in ice hockey, in floorball there is no such thing as a basic stance. In floorball, the goalkeeper stances can be divided into the readiness stance and the save stance, and the goalkeeper keeps switching between these two during the game.

In floorball goalkeeping, the support point method refers to a way of playing where the position of the front post hand is actively adjusted and most importantly, the hand is kept on the floor. When the supporting hand on the floor is utilised at the right time, this gives the goalkeeper a major advantage. As the name suggests, the support point method gives the goalkeeper one extra point of support outside the body line.

Core advantage of hand support: The front post side hand on the floor helps to push the goalkeeper into a movement sideways without delay with the legs strongly contributing to the movement. By leaning on the front post side hand to an appropriate degree, the goalkeeper can create an energy potential in the body. This means that the goalkeeper “charges energy” which can relatively quickly be converted into kinetic energy for movement sideways.

The ways the goalkeeper can move and how easy the movement is are largely dependent on the angles of the goalkeeper's knees and hip. In general, the smaller the angles, the easier the movement. Thus, it is easier to move in a lower posture. Covering the goal, however, is easier when the angles are wider, meaning a more upright posture.

The knee step enables the goalkeeper to play in a stance which is optimal in all situations and at all times. By shifting weight from one side of the body to another and strong leg and mid body movements the goalkeeper can move by sliding, whereby the goalkeeper maintains the readiness to act at all times. The front post side hand can be used as a strong support point that helps to guide the movement in the right direction. The knee step can be seen as walking or striding with knees on the floor, while the shins on the floor support the movement by distributing the weight and providing additional support points.

The knee step is a very fast technique to move both sideways and away from the goal towards the ball. The posture which the goalkeeper has during the knee step enables maintaining a high level of performance in saving a shot in all stages of the movement. Therefore, it should undoubtedly be the most frequently applied movement technique. The versatility of the knee step and the constant readiness to save shots and to move lead to the conclusion that the knee step should undeniably be the floorball goalkeeper's primary way of playing.

Movement techniques that require lifting the knee have been at the heart of floorball goalkeeping and goalkeeper coaching for decades. These techniques derive from the era when floorball was played on a low-friction hardwood floors and the speed of the game was remarkably lower. Under such conditions, the goalkeeper needed to obtain grip by the soles of the shoes and there was much more time to move.

The push is a movement technique where the leg of the incoming direction pushes the body into movement sideways or diagonally. In a pass crossing the field sideways, using the push technique takes a lot of time as the “incorrect” positioning of legs needs to be switched. In general, the push is an appropriate and useful movement technique in situations when hands are held up from the floor ready to save a shot.

Due to the fast speed of the game, it is impossible for the floorball goalkeeper to read the game perfectly. The movement techniques that require lifting the knee entail a major weakness, which is the poor coverage and balance in the stance for a moment when the knee is lifted from the floor to produce force for movement. Another major challenge in the knee lift techniques is the delay in take-offs, which is caused by lifting of the leg.

Both the pull technique and the dive by pushing with the leg of the heading direction are such movement techniques which the goalkeeper in practise does not have time to perform successfully in a game. In addition to the fact that it is a slow way to move, the pull technique is also a physically heavy way to move. Once the goalkeeper makes a pull, after a certain point it is no longer possible to stop the movement.

The pull technique does not offer any advantages compared to other available movement techniques. The pull is a part of history and has no place in modern floorball. You hardly ever see the top goalkeepers of today use the pull technique.

The 3D analytics tool presented in Chapter 5.2 can be utilised for illustrating cause-and-effect relationships both in individual game situations and in goalkeeping on a general level. However, there is one important factor which the analytics tool cannot provide insight into: namely the quality of hand saves. Ultimately, and especially on the top level, the goalkeeper's ability to hit the ball with their hands is an essential factor in successful goalkeeping of high-quality.

Practising and improving the hand-eye coordination is a project that lasts for the entire playing career of a floorball goalkeeper. Due to the speed of the game, hand saves are at the limit of the goalkeeper's physical abilities. The human reaction time is not short enough and the movement speed not high enough to purposefully save a shot in the so-called high percentage scoring zone.

In training sessions, goalkeepers have typically been practicing two hand catches, one hand catches and even directing the ball to the corner when making a hand save. All of these are nice skills to have, but there is hardly any analogy between these skills and top-level floorball. On the top level, skilled coverage play by the goalkeeper – i.e., being positioned between the ball and the goal at all times – is far more important than succeeding in hand saves.

On the next pages, you will find a series of images illustrating how the goalkeeper's stance changes in different stages of an individual game situation. Next to each image, there is a description on how the goalkeeper keeps reading the game, i.e., what is expected to happen next and what needs to be taken into account, based on the game variables in the situation.

From the floorball goalkeeper's perspective, the difficulty of the sport lies in the fact that the ball moves very fast compared to the goalkeeper's ability to move with knees on the floor. This results in the goalkeeper being easily late for the game situations if the goalkeeper has not managed to read the situation correctly in advance. The speed of the game requires the goalkeeper to make automated decisions, and recognising the situation beforehand plays an important role in successful goalkeeping.

Goalkeeping can be analysed by using mathematics. In each game situation, the goalkeeper has an available capacity of 100 per cent which can be shared between different scenarios. The most essential aspect in sharing the 100% total capacity between different scenarios is that the decisions made should work in the long term.

The purpose of the 3D analytics tool is to give goalkeepers and goalkeeper coaches a concrete tool for analysing training, playing and actions of a goalkeeper. The analytics tool consists of a three-dimensional model, providing a comprehensive method for analysing both individual situations and understanding the big picture. The first dimension is the techniques. The second dimension is the quality factors of goalkeeping. The third dimension is called the application.

The depth positioning of the floorball goalkeeper has changed significantly over the years. As the game has become faster, the goalkeeper has needed to adapt by a more moderate depth positioning. The development of goalkeeping coaching has also contributed to the moderate depth positioning. Due to the fast-paced nature of the game the goalkeeper is often late to move to the positioning line of a shot following a cross field pass if the goalkeeper is initially positioned too far outside the goal.

Moderate depth positioning in the beginning does not, however, mean that the goalkeeper would be playing passively. The goalkeeper should keep adjusting the depth according to the prevailing situation. The primary purpose of the depth positioning and moving towards the ball is to increase the coverage area.

In floorball goalkeeping there is no basic stance which would enable any good ways of creating energy potential that could be turned into kinetic energy for motion. The rather small gear of the floorball goalkeeper compared to the ice hockey goalkeeper's big pads and equipment and the high friction of the field surface force the floorball goalkeeper to move on their knees. Due to the high speed of the game and the previously discussed challenges of goalkeeping, the goalkeeper should focus on creating an energy potential for motion.

The goalkeeper's readiness stance varies from situation to situation, but its primary purpose is to enable force production without delay, movement to the next positioning line and finally transition to the save stance. Often the readiness stance refers to a relatively low stance, in which one of the legs is extended to the side and the goalkeeper leans on the front post side hand, also known as the hand support.

Like the other quality factors, the goalkeeper also needs to find the balance in optimising the chest direction, meaning the direction which the goalkeeper's chest is pointing at. As in floorball the goalkeeper often cannot play against the player with the ball only, the goalkeeper should also not turn the chest direction fully towards the player with the ball. The aim of the goalkeeper is to try to interpret whether and when the player with the ball poses a threat of a shot or not.

A good example of a situation when the goalkeeper should not turn the chest towards the ball is when the ball is behind the goal or in the corner. The goalkeeper should, instead, keep the chest facing the centre of the field which is where the most dangerous opponents usually are.

In floorball goalkeeping, the knee line refers to the imaginary line passing through the goalkeeper's knees and optimising the knee line means adjusting the position of the far post side knee in relation to the line parallel to the goal line. When the ball is in the centre spot of the field, the goalkeeper's knee line is naturally parallel to the goal line.

Like optimising the chest direction, the purpose of adjusting the knee line is to minimise the rotation of the body when moving sideways. In a small angle situation, the goalkeeper should, whenever the situation allows, avoid rotating the far post side knee towards the opponent with the ball if there is no threat of a shot.

The goal prevention play should not be regarded as the goalkeeper's responsibility alone, but it is the task of all the six players on the field. In a match between two equally strong teams, the key to winning is in the individual choices made during the game. Each team is playing according to their own tactics, which may be adjusted a bit depending on the opponent at the time.

For most of the game time, the six players on the field manage to synchronise the goal prevention play successfully. The goalkeeper should aim for the overall improvement of the game, which means giving tips and advice to both the defenders and forwards.

Floorball is one of the fastest ball games in the world if measured by the speed at which the ball moves and changes direction. In modern floorball, players are highly skilled in protecting the ball and hiding their next moves. When this is combined with the relatively slow movement of the goalkeeper, the game becomes incredibly difficult for the goalkeeper.

By simply following the game and reacting to it, the goalkeeper cannot make it to the next positioning line on time often enough. The goalkeeper should keep actively reading the game to recognise alternative scenarios on how the game might progress. Without anticipation on potential future events, goalkeeping would only be about reacting to events that have already occurred.

Courage means daring to do things regardless of fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or other people's opinions. Courage is a subjective experience. What one considers to be brave might be business as usual for others. Goalkeeping itself requires courage. A person who has chosen to be a goalkeeper will inevitably at one point of the playing career understand that the role of a goalkeeper is very important for the team's success.

Lacking courage is like driving in Formula 1 with the speed limiter on. The car has all the power and skills, but it is not utilised up to its full capacity. In floorball, goalkeeping can be done mechanically with the limiter on and without courage, the goalkeeper can only ever reach 90% of their full potential.

The goalkeeper's performance is affected by the technical and tactical skills, physical fitness as well as psyche. To reach the top in floorball goalkeeping, it is not enough to have an excellent physique and technical skills, but the goalkeeper must also stay mentally strong when faced with challenges.

The match creates a stress factor for the goalkeeper. Ideally, stress can help the goalkeeper reach the top performance level but sometimes quite the opposite happens, and the goalkeeper fails instead. Stress plays an important role in playing, training and motivating oneself to make changes.

According to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the father of the Flow theory, courage, resilience and tenacity are the exact structures that can help turn negative events into a source of flow. At best, stress can work as a resource to help the goalkeeper to get into the flow state. In the flow, the goalkeeper focuses their entire capacity towards a goal-oriented action, shutting everything else out of their consciousness.

The purpose of this Chapter is to introduce the most common game situations from the goalkeeper's perspective. The goalkeeper should have a well-planned and practised operating model available for different game situations. In a game, making a decision and acting accordingly should happen automatically to minimise delay. Through practice and experience, the goalkeeper learns how to recognise different situations and to determine a suitable operating model for each situation.

The ultimate goal is to find and choose such operating model, whereby the goalkeeper can make a save for example 90 times out of 100, instead of choosing a model that works only 80 out of 100 times.

When the game is in the corner the goalkeeper should assume the so-called corner stance, in which the goalkeeper is at the front post and practically entirely inside the goal frame. The front post side knee should be touching the front post. The chest should remain pointing towards the centre. The far post side knee should be roughly parallel to the front post side knee, meaning that the line drawn between the knees should be parallel to the goal line.

The wrap-around saves can be divided into two categories, depending on the time available: 1) If there is enough time, the goalkeeper should move from post to post with knees on the floor. 2) If the time is not enough or the goalkeeper is uncertain about what will happen next, the vertical horizontal (VH) technique is a good option. In the VH technique, the goalkeeper can be said to guard one post with the body and the other with the eyes.

In small angle situations the goalkeeper should try to maintain the regular corner stance, meaning keeping the chest pointing towards the centre. By doing so the goalkeeper keeps up the optimal readiness for the scenario in which the ball is passed from a small angle towards the centre to the so-called high percentage scoring zone.

In floorball, an odd-man rush, meaning an attacking move when the defence is outnumbered by the opponent, e.g., a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2 attack, is often very fast in nature and require swift decision-making and solutions from each player on the field. The cooperation between the goalkeeper and the defenders is emphasised in defending an odd-man rush.

As regards the communication, talking is always good. In floorball, however, odd-man rushes happen and the direction of the game changes so fast that there is often not enough time to guide the defender to the preferred direction or position. The defender should, instead, know how to react correctly and communicate the chosen action to the goalkeeper.

In respect of a breakaway, the most important game variables from the goalkeeper's point of view are the handedness of the opponent, the angle of the approach and the possibility to move sideways across the symmetry axis. On the basis on these variables, the goalkeeper should adjust the depth positioning and the position of the legs to be optimal for the situation. In defending a breakaway, the goalkeeper should extend to the side the leg (the outside leg) which is on the same side as the opponent's blade.

In defending penalty shots, the same principles regarding the opponent's handedness in relation to the goalkeeper's stance apply as in defending the breakaways approaching along central lane and diagonally. The depth positioning should, however, be kept slightly more moderate, as in a penalty shot the player is usually approaching the goal at walking speed and can therefore more easily perform a feint sideways compared to breakaways.

According to the statistics held by Next Level Goaltending, a penalty shot is approximately 30% more likely to result in a goal if the goalkeeper has failed to follow the outside leg on the side of the blade - rule.

The vertical horizontal (VH) technique can be divided into two categories according to how it can be applied in different game situations:

1. The VH technique in take-offs: The goalkeeper practically moves using the same technique as in the push technique. The name of the technique derives from the initial position of the legs: the knee of the pushing leg has already been raised up and thus the leg is ready to push the goalkeeper into motion to follow a pass.
2. The VH as a save stance: The initial stance is the hand-supported readiness stance, and the movement is initiated by pushing either with one or both hands depending on the current game variables.

When playing short-handed, the goalkeeper should know the team's penalty kill strategies, i.e., which are the pass and shot lines that the field players are trying to block. As when playing short-handed the opponent outnumbers the penalty killing team by one player at least, it sometimes means that the goalkeeper has to mark one player. Usually, the goalkeeper's responsibility is the opponent in a least threatening position, i.e., in a small angle or behind the goal.

In defending a free-hit, the goalkeeper has an important role as the leader of defence in guiding how to set up a wall and talking the players through the situation. The simple rule in free-hits and setting up a wall is that there should be one opponent for each field player to be responsible for. In short distance free-hits, the wall is usually set up by all the five field players. The goalkeeper should be able trust that the wall will block the direct shot and be prepared to move to the positioning line of a shot taken off a pass.

Goalkeeping differs from the play of the field players especially in the sense that the goalkeeper's actions do not affect or determine the direction of the game much. The goalkeeper merely keeps observing and following the game and the ball. When possible, the goalkeeper should try to direct the game with their own activity, usually away from the front of the goal. Body language is a form of non-verbal communication in which the person shows their own attitudes, emotions or views on others through their body without words.

Whenever the situation allows, the goalkeeper should try to cut the pass made from a small angle towards the far post, instead of trying to save the following shot by moving quickly sideways. By turning crosswise in relation to the goal line at the front post before the pass is given, the goalkeeper can, in addition to cutting the pass once given, try to prevent the pass from being given at all.

The scissor technique means a technique in which the goalkeeper dives foot or feet first towards the ball. When performed at the right time, it can help the goalkeeper cut the ball from moving to the front of the goal. The smaller the angle of the approach towards the front of the goal, the better the chances to perform the scissors successfully. According to the statistics of Next Level Goaltending, in the long term the goalkeeper achieves a better save percentage in breakaways approaching from the centre lane if the goalkeeper lets the opponent make the decision first and refrains from diving towards the ball with the scissor technique.

The goalkeeper's opening play consist of different throw-out techniques. The ball can be thrown out to an upwards running player either overhand or underhand. In most cases, the goalkeeper's throw-outs are short and low throws or rolls. In throw-outs, the goalkeeper should consider the flow of the game, i.e., does it make more sense to throw the ball up immediately or is it better to calm the situation down.

A short and controlled throw-out or rolling the ball to the own field player nearby is the most common throw-out technique in floorball. A short throw-out of a couple of metres does not require much force and is easy to aim at the field player's blade.

This book discusses all the different aspects of floorball goalkeeping. The purpose of this book is to help the reader to understand how the goalkeeper could gain advantage in playing and how to increase the probability of a save. According to our way of thinking, the overall idea of goalkeeping is about “winning percentages” in different areas of the game. As stated before, the goalkeeper cannot reach the best possible outcome without close cooperation with the other players on field.

So, who should be talking and in which order? In a perfect world, the talking has been done already beforehand when the goalkeeper and the field players have agreed on the tactics and operating models for individual game situations. The best solution during a game is that the defender would speak up their decision-making in accordance with the pre-agreed tactics.

The different Finnish sports associations value different qualities when selecting 15-16-year-old goalkeepers to the junior national teams. In football the focus is on versatile training, and it is not considered necessary to specialise in the goalkeeper player position before the teenage years. In ice hockey, on the other hand, the technical skills are emphasised in junior national team selections even at the expense that the selected goalkeepers' physical abilities may not necessarily be the best in the age group.

In floorball, there are no clear guidelines or policies like in football or ice hockey to the selection of the players to the Finnish junior national teams. Floorball can be regarded to apply a hybrid model that values both athleticism and the technical skills. Without excellent athletic abilities, it is difficult to succeed in goalkeeping in a fast sport in which the goalkeeper is easily late.

Understanding the game is the foundation that goalkeeper's techniques are built on. The goalkeeper's techniques are shaped by the requirements of the sport. In addition to leaning to understand the game, the goalkeeper is taught the tactics and the game plan, and all these together create a framework for the techniques the goalkeeper can use.

When training and coaching children and teens it is important to take into account the sensitive periods of each age group (see Image 73). A sensitive period refers to a period during which a child or a teen is sensitive and willing to learn certain types of things. This means that a sensitive period is the best time to learn a certain skill. The target in coaching children and teens is to develop skills and physical performance in a versatile manner.

We at Next Level Goaltending have had a plethora of ideas and thoughts regarding goalkeeping and goal prevention play and putting them all together in a book has been our career-long dream. The Goalkeeper Playbook intends to serve as a way to bring order to the chaos that has been prevailing in goalkeeper coaching and to put it into a more understandable format.

Did all the pieces fall into place after reading The Goalkeeper Playbook once? Probably not. And that is not necessarily the purpose of this book either. The amount of information in this book is huge, and in most contexts, we are not providing the absolute truths, but rather just sowing the seeds of understanding the modern goalkeeping. It was also not our goal to make the Playbook an exhaustive guide to goalkeeping.

In floorball, the principles of the sport set a rather strict framework within which the goalkeeper has to operate. You often hear the phrase that once a goalkeeper masters all the techniques and stances, the goalkeeper is free to choose which movement technique to apply. Yet only half of this is true. It is true that if the goalkeeper does not master all techniques, their skills are lacking in this respect. But even if the goalkeeper masters all techniques, the goalkeeper should not be left alone to freely choose the appropriate techniques.

“For each situation, there is the best available technique, and we at Next Level Goaltending want to be a part of creating this game plan.”

— The Authors

Positioning Line (PL)

The line drawn between the centre of the goal and the location of the ball. The goalkeeper should be on this line at moment t=0.

Coverage Plane

A rectangular plane formed at the goalkeeper's location, perpendicular to the floor and the positioning line. The ball must pass through this plane to enter the goal.

Black/Grey/White Area

Three areas on the coverage plane: black = ball cannot enter (100% save probability), grey = save possible with varying probability, white = save impossible.

Readiness Stance

A situation-specific stance assumed when there is no immediate threat of a shot. Lower posture, hands available for support, optimised for force production.

Save Stance

The stance when the goalkeeper is on the final positioning line aiming to maximise save probability. More upright posture, hands up ready.

Game Angles

The angles of the goalkeeper's joints (ankles, knees, hip, hands) affecting balance, coverage area and readiness to move.

Support Point Method

A way of playing where the front post side hand is kept on the floor as an extra support point. Aids observation, force production, and delay-free movement.

Knee Step

Moving by sliding with knees on the floor. Maintains constant readiness. The primary movement method in modern floorball goalkeeping.

Push Technique

Movement technique where the leg of the incoming direction pushes the body sideways/diagonally. Appropriate when hands are up ready to save.

Pull Technique

Sideways movement requiring knee lift. Considered obsolete in modern floorball by the authors.

Best Available Technique (BAT)

The optimal movement or save technique the goalkeeper can apply in a given situation.

Vertical Horizontal (VH)

A stance/technique where the pushing leg's knee is pre-raised. Used in take-offs to minimise delay, or as an end save stance.

Goalkeeper's Paradox

Goalkeeper needs ~1 second to move and save; field players need ~0.3 seconds to pass and shoot. The 0.7-second gap must be closed through preparation.

Increasing Error of Depth Positioning

When moving towards the ball to increase coverage, the goalkeeper simultaneously increases distance from goal and to the next positioning line.

Symmetry Axis

The lengthwise centre line of the field. All goalkeeper actions should be symmetrical in relation to it.

3D Analytics Tool (4×4×4)

Three-dimensional analysis framework: 4 techniques, 4 quality factors, 4 application components.

Quality Factors

Four core quality factors: depth positioning, readiness stance, chest direction, knee line.

Application

The third dimension of the analytics tool: cooperation, anticipation, courage, psyche.

Game Plan

The systematic nature of goalkeeping on a general level. Core is making a save with the highest possible probability.

Anticipation Time Window

The time period within which anticipation must occur. Too early and interaction changes outcomes; too late and action is impossible.

High Percentage Scoring Zone

The ideal scoring area in front of the goal where scoring probability is highest.

Scissor Technique

Diving feet-first towards the ball. Used to cut the ball from moving to the front of the goal.

Old School Basic Stance

Outdated stance: on knees, legs behind back, feet together, hands up. Should no longer be trained or applied.

Outside Leg / Inside Leg

Outside leg is the leg extended to the side (typically towards far post). Inside leg is turned under the goalkeeper.

Delay

Time lag in the goalkeeper's actions from various causes. The goalkeeper's worst enemy.

Force Production / Energy Potential

The potential energy “charged” in the goalkeeper's body, convertible into kinetic energy for movement.

Flow State

An optimal performance mental state where the goalkeeper focuses all capacity on goal-oriented action, making decisions automatically and effortlessly.