Additional Post 4: Getting Past a Slow Learning Curve

During training your only goal is to improve yourselves and the others around you.  For a goalkeeper, that usually means getting extra training because team training isn't enough.  That is the case with my Under 14 AYSO keeper.  She started training with my team's goalkeepers to help her improve faster.

Now.  For a goalkeeper there are a lot of things to focus on and work towards.  For example.  When you're diving you have to:

• Be aware of all non-moving surroundings (especially the goalposts)
• Know where both the defense and the offense are
• Keep your eye on the ball
• Protect yourself
• Land properly to prevent injury
• Catch the ball properly to prevent a loose ball
• And in game scenarios, dive forward so when you catch the ball you don't bring it into the net with you.

You can't master a dive until all of the components are understood and working.  This means working towards each one individually if you are having a problem.  During MY training the other day I was working on tipping the ball over the net from a ball that is directly overhead.  This is more difficult than it sounds for someone that is 5'0'' and still can't reach the crossbar. 

Picture this.  A keeper is in the net about 6 yards off of their line in the center of the goal.  A ball is chipped directly over the head of the keeper, but if she get back quickly enough she can do a backwards dive and tip it out.

I started out doing a drill doing exactly what I mentioned.  I missed every single one and wasn't getting the dives down properly.  Kim, my goalie coach told be to go on my knees and do it that way.  By starting from my knees she isolated the diving component of this drill.  All I had to do was follow the ball, tip it, then fall backwards.  I now have aced that, and the next practice I will be working from my feet again.

EQ

Content

1.  I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

2.  Review the following EQs:

Before I answer any of these I would like to start off by saying that all of them are approved essential questions that were used last year.  So, shouldn't my answer be yes to all of them?

 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?

• I feel this almost an EQ.  It isn't very specific, and I feel the wording could be changed.  It needs to define weight loss better.  Sure, there is a stance they could take.  Depending on how this is done, credible sources could be lacking.  (However, this too is a question from last year.  What I said is just personal opinion.)

 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

• Yes, this is an EQ.  Great wording not only structurally but also aesthetically.  It's specific, and opens up a ton of questions that allow for a stance to be taken.

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?

• Yes, it is an EQ.  It's specific because it include customer satisfaction on a topic that is terribly subjective.  It allows for research because 

 d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?

• Yes, this is definitely an essential question. (I'm pretty sure I watched this presentation last year...)  It's definitely specific because it includes definable terms.  There is such a wide breadth of treatments; there definitely is room for exploration and finding a side.

3.  Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.

Working EQ 2:  What are the most important skills a goalkeeper must possess to produce a clean sheet?

• My current problem with this new EQ is the word "skill."  Skills in my mind are the technical side of the game.  It's something you focus on in each training session.  Concentration (like from my 10 minute) for example, isn't a singular topic you focus on during a training session.  You work on it with other skills at the same time, like diving or catching.  Perhaps that's just something I see and I'm digging too far into it.  I'm not sure.

• I dislike my other EQ because it isn't specific enough.  I used the wording, "to become a higher level athlete."  In my mind it was any sort of jump in progression, whether from recreation to club, or college to professional.  However, throughout my mentorship I haven't really focused on getting players to become professionals.  I'm helping them improve for their next game.  I'm focusing on skills that they can use to help them become better athletes.  There are so many factors included in becoming a professional that don't require raw skill that using it in my EQ doesn't really work.  I'm not their manager; their confidante.  I focus on skill sets.