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10 Tips for saving a penalty kick!

1. The kicker will often point their standing foot in the direction they will take the kick when they put the ball on the spot.

2. Make eye contact with the taker, particularly at the lower ages you can often get inside the kickers head if you engage them.

3. Watch the direction the hips are facing as they run up to the ball this is a good indicator of which side they are going.

4. If they do a stutter run up do not move wait for them to strike the ball they are waiting for you to go down before the shoot if you hold your ground it will confuse them.

5. Look at the plant foot as they step to strike the ball it will often point the direction they are going.

6. Take a step forward with one foot (one foot must remain on the line) to cut down the angle.

7. If you can study the penalty taker before hand, where do they like to shoot

8. Make yourself as big as you can bounce around on the line before the referee blows he whistle move as much as you can to distract the taker

9. Watch as many penalties as you can at your age level, watch players on your team take penalties and observe their body position and where the ball goes off that shape, experience is a great teacher

10. Be decisive, remember no one expects you to save it so decide what you are going to do and stick to it. Statistically if you have a right footed taker they will usually go to the goalkeepers left and vice versa with a left footer but this is not always the case so decide in the moment what you think this player is going to do and then go for it.