Goalkeeper Drills for Kids: 10 Drills for a Wall, a Parent or a Team

The best goalkeeper drills for kids are the ones that start with the hands and feet, not the dive. A young keeper who can set their feet, hold a shape with their hands and catch a ball cleanly at three heights will save far more shots than one who has learned to throw themselves sideways. The ten drills below are ordered the way the federations order them — handling and footwork first, collapse diving later, extension dives later still — split into what a child can do alone against a wall, what needs one parent serving, and what needs a team.

That order is not a stylistic choice. US Youth Soccer's own development material maps techniques to age bands, and diving does not appear until U10–U12.

What should a young goalkeeper learn first?

US Youth Soccer's Lifetime Development of a Goalkeeper lays out a ladder by age group. Simplified, it runs:

Two things in that table matter more than the drill list: collapse diving — catching, then going down — comes a full age band before extension diving, where the keeper leaves the ground; and nothing before U8 is goalkeeping at all.

That lines up with the position statement from all 55 state association technical directors, quoted in the same document: goalkeepers "should not be a feature of play at the U-6 and U-8 age groups," and while keepers become a regular feature from U-10, "young players in the U-10, U-12 and U-14 age groups should not begin to specialize in any position." The same material's answer to how many kids should play in goal is "everyone on the team," rotating each half. If you are still deciding whether the position suits your child, we covered that in should my child play goalkeeper.

The three shapes every goalkeeper drill starts from

The FA's youth goalkeeping material reduces the technical base to three positions. Teach these and every drill below becomes a repetition of them, not a game of catch.

The set position. Eyes on the ball. Chest in line with the knees, facing the ball. Hands in front of the feet, fingers open. Elbows in front of the line of the body. Knees slightly bent. Feet just wider than the shoulders.

The "W" — for anything at chest height or above. The hands form a W behind the ball with the thumbs not overlapping, the head in line with the ball, and the elbows in front of the body line, working in the FA's phrase "as shock absorbers."

The "scoop" — for anything along the ground. Fingers spread to make a basket, little fingers forming a V and not overlapping, the legs making a K shape depending on the child's height, body and head in line with the ball.

Thumbs overlapping on a high ball and little fingers overlapping on a low one are the two faults that put the ball through a young keeper's hands — and both are visible from the sideline.

Goalkeeper drills for kids they can do alone

A wall and one ball covers more than most parents expect. Use a size 3 ball for younger players, as the FA's session notes suggest.

1. Three-height wall catches. Throw the ball at the wall and catch the rebound, cycling deliberately: one above the head in the W, one at chest height, one along the ground in the scoop. Call the shape out loud before each throw. 5 minutes.

2. Scoop and reset. Roll the ball hard and low at the wall, attack the rebound with the scoop, stand up, return to the set position. The reset is the drill: a keeper who stays on the floor admiring the save concedes the second ball. 4 minutes.

3. Cone shuffle to set. Three cones a yard apart. Shuffle sideways through them staying low, then plant and hold the set position for two seconds. Both directions. The point is that the feet stop before the hands are needed. 4 minutes.

4. Distribution targets. Mark two targets — a tree, a gate, a cone — and alternate a roll, a volley from the hands and a goal kick to each. Most home sessions skip this rung; it is on the U8–U10 list, not a senior extra. 5 minutes. Our soccer wall drills guide has more rebound patterns.

Goalkeeper drills for kids with one parent serving

A served ball is the whole difference between practising a shape and practising a save. None needs a net.

5. Basket catches from six yards. Serve gently underarm from six to eight yards, straight at the chest. The keeper catches in the W and pulls the ball in. Twenty clean repetitions before anything gets harder.

6. Side contour, low. Serve along the ground a yard to either side. The keeper steps across and takes it in the scoop, body behind the ball. Still no dive — it is close enough to reach on the feet.

7. Collapse dive from the knees. Start the keeper on their knees and serve a ball a little wider than they can reach sitting up, so they catch it and then collapse onto their side. The FA's coaching point is "hands first": the hands travel to the ball before the body goes down. Once that is comfortable, the same serve from the feet.

8. The two-ball game. Hold two balls and throw both at once from a few yards out, one high and one low. The keeper picks a shape for each. Count how many pairs they handle before one drops, then try to beat it — the FA's own format, and it turns handling into a game the child wants to win.

Two goalkeeper drills that need a team

The FA's material is pointed about why a keeper cannot be trained alone in a corner. Quoting The Future Game, it notes that "isolated practice alone will not help goalkeepers develop the decision-making and game understanding necessary," and that regular practice should happen with the outfield players.

9. Gates 1v1. The keeper defends a goal plus a gate on each side. Attackers come from a central square one at a time and score by dribbling through a wide gate; after three points they may shoot, so the keeper never knows which is coming. Force the attack wide, stay on the feet rather than committing early, and win the ball "with two solid hands and not with feet."

10. Keeper versus keeper. Two keepers, a goal each, about ten yards apart. They score on each other by throwing or rolling, and a save becomes their own attack. Play live off rebounds. It trains handling, distribution and near-post angles at once, and children will run it for twenty minutes without being asked.

How do you keep a young goalkeeper safe?

The US Youth Soccer material names three areas: shoulders, hips and concussions. The hip problem shows up in 12-to-16-year-old keepers "from using their hip to land falls on dives." Concussions, it notes, come partly from bad luck but "mostly improper breakaway form." Its conclusion is the useful part: "a lot of it can be resolved with technique."

Practically: do diving work on grass, never on a hard court or a driveway. Teach the collapse dive properly — hands first, landing along the side rather than onto the point of the hip or shoulder — before any extension work. And always work both sides: a keeper who only dives to their strong side is building the fear that makes the other side dangerous. Decent goalkeeper gloves for kids matter here too; the palm padding is there for a reason.

How often should a young goalkeeper train at home?

Short and often beats long and rare. The US Youth Soccer session checklist is worth copying at home: one topic for the day, footwork, distribution, maximum repetitions with real rest between them, reset quickly, build toward something game-like. Two or three twenty-minute sessions a week is plenty at these ages — the cadence we recommend for how often youth soccer players should train at home.

One caveat worth more than it looks. The FA's take-home message is that keepers "play with a 7:1 ratio of feet to hands," and that coaches should therefore "allow them to play outfield to practice using their feet." A child who only ever trains in goal is training the smaller half of the job. Mix the handling sessions above with ordinary outfield work — FlickTec builds home sessions around the player's age and position if you would rather not invent them each week.

Frequently Asked Questions

What age should a child start goalkeeper training?

Around U8 to U10 for real technique. US Youth Soccer's development material has nothing but balance, spatial awareness and fun at U7, with the set position, basic handling and simple distribution arriving at U8–U10. Before that, children should be chasing the ball rather than standing in a goal.

Can a goalkeeper practise alone?

Yes, for handling, footwork and distribution. A wall gives catching at three heights, cones give footwork, any two targets give distribution. What a keeper cannot train alone is decision-making — angles, breakaways, when to come for a cross — which is why the federations insist keepers also train with the outfield group.

How do you teach a kid to dive in goal?

From the knees, catching first. Start the child kneeling and serve a ball just beyond their reach, so they take it and then collapse onto their side, hands travelling to the ball before the body drops. That is a collapse dive, a U10–U12 technique. Extension diving — leaving the ground to reach the ball — is U13–U15 and should wait.

Do goalkeepers need gloves for home training?

For wall and handling work, bare hands are fine and arguably better for feeling the catch. Gloves matter once the child is diving, because the palm padding protects the hand on landing — and for cold-weather sessions.

How long should a youth goalkeeper session be?

Twenty minutes of focused work beats an hour of hanging around. Pick one topic, get maximum repetitions with real rest between them, and stop while the child still wants another go.