Should goalkeepers consider toe poking goalkicks and set pieces in the penalty box.

[Michael Varn]

In my youth soccer days, I always had difficulty achieving height and distance with goalkicks using the conventional instep.

It never occurred to me that toe poking goalkicks with a long running start was an option that would have virtually gauranteed height and distance.

Like an old school gridiron rugby feild goal kicker, or a golf ball driven off the tee on a par 5.

Of course you have to spend time practicing this toe poke to achieve consistency by not just shanking it way out of bounds.

Imagine if adult or even professional level goalkeepers started doing this.

This could potentially make things difficult for the goalkeeper on the other side of the feild!

I always bought into the running narrative that using the toe poke strategically was a sign of a lack of skill, or a bad thing.

 

[Grace T.]

In my youth soccer days, I always had difficulty achieving height and distance with goalkicks using the conventional instep.

It never occurred to me that toe poking goalkicks with a long running start was an option that would have virtually gauranteed height and distance.

Like an old school gridiron rugby feild goal kicker, or a golf ball driven off the tee on a par 5.

Of course you have to spend time practicing this toe poke to achieve consistency by not just shanking it way out of bounds.

Imagine if adult or even professional level goalkeepers started doing this.

This could potentially make things difficult for the goalkeeper on the other side of the feild!

I always bought into the running narrative that using the toe poke strategically was a sign of a lack of skill, or a bad thing.

Chesterton fence. Reason it works (somewhat) on rugby is the shape of the ball. Awfully hard to get it under the ball coming straight on if it’s a sphere. And if you are going to spend time to get it under consistently then may as well learn the more reliable classic technique. The entire point of the goalkick is to maintain maximum control to put it in an ideal situation even if you hit long. A good u19 make gk should be able to long kick it to a strikers feet 3/4 of the way up. A good u16 male keeper should be able to long kick it to the feet 1/2 way up on a full field.

toe poking does have its place but mostly on offense. A shot at the 6 makes it less likely to go over. Also when you want to poke it under a sliding keeper or through a defenders legs.

 

[Slobodan]

In my youth soccer days, I always had difficulty achieving height and distance with goalkicks using the conventional instep.

It never occurred to me that toe poking goalkicks with a long running start was an option that would have virtually gauranteed height and distance.

Like an old school gridiron rugby feild goal kicker, or a golf ball driven off the tee on a par 5.

Of course you have to spend time practicing this toe poke to achieve consistency by not just shanking it way out of bounds.

Imagine if adult or even professional level goalkeepers started doing this.

This could potentially make things difficult for the goalkeeper on the other side of the feild!

I always bought into the running narrative that using the toe poke strategically was a sign of a lack of skill, or a bad thing.

I'd imagine it guarantees very little control over the ball. Much like the keeper trying to drop kick (punt) on a surface that's not level. Goal kicks need to be a weapon... not a liability. Like punts, they need be minimized when you're talking about distribution. It's a 50/50 ball at best, right? And generally speaking your teammate will receive the ball with a mark draped over his/her shoulder. There are times when your backs need a breather, so playing out of the back could be avoided a time or two, but a toe poke would get more laughs from the field than orange slices at halftime.

Field players don't use their toes for a reason... other than the examples Grace gave... and I think this is the same reason.

 

[Michael Varn]

When I was online recently, I saw a concept soccer shoe that was designed specifically for toe poking.

I don't know if they made it past the concept stage into production, but the toe section was flat and cupped, similar to those old flat toed shoes that old school feild goal kickers wore.

But this concept shoe was designed for feild players, not goalkeepers.

I think they could help goalkeepers, not only with goalkicks, and set pieces, but also with high pressure pass backs where the instep would be awkward.

Yes, you would have issues with keeping the ball in the feild of play on goalkicks and set pieces with regular shoes, but these concept soccer shoes, if available, would improve accuracy dramatically by hitting more fairways, or keeping the ball in feild of play, hopefully as far away as the attacking third.

 

[espola]

When I was online recently, I saw a concept soccer shoe that was designed specifically for toe poking.

I don't know if they made it past the concept stage into production, but the toe section was flat and cupped, similar to those old flat toed shoes that old school feild goal kickers wore.

But this concept shoe was designed for feild players, not goalkeepers.

I think they could help goalkeepers, not only with goalkicks, and set pieces, but also with high pressure pass backs where the instep would be awkward.

Yes, you would have issues with keeping the ball in the feild of play on goalkicks and set pieces with regular shoes, but these concept soccer shoes, if available, would improve accuracy dramatically by hitting more fairways, or keeping the ball in feild of play, hopefully as far away as the attacking third.

Like an old-fashioned square-toed gridiron kicking shoe?

 

[Slobodan]

Like an old-fashioned square-toed gridiron kicking shoe?

View attachment 18837

I imagine you wore something like that to the clubs in 1940.