BlogLearning to Dive
As a former goalie I wanted to teach my son at an early age how to dive correctly. It can be difficult to get a child to dive for a ball; they are scared of getting hurt. If they dive on their stomach they get the wind knocked out of them. I got an old mattress and placed it in the yard. To start my son turned sideways with the long end of the mattress to his side. At first I had him fall to the mattress on his side so he would stop landing on his stomach. From there he started to dive out and on his side. Then with his arms out and hands in a W. Then I began to throw the ball and put all of these steps together. At the end of each practice he does a few dives without the mattress. The mattress teaches them how to dive without the fear of getting hurt. Once they are no longer scared to dive and learn to do it right teaching them is a snap. My son is 6 and makes diving saves on or off the mattress.
Tags: dive for ball, soccer drill, soccer goalie, Soccer Tips
