Vince Nicoll Goalkeeping Schools

 More information click here, or visit http://www.responseball.com/

 RESPONSEBALL is a brand new training ball, specifically designed for keepers. The unique design has been invented and developed by academyGK owner Glenn Robertson.

Feedback from Vince Nicoll about Responseball.

' All my keepers enjoyed your ‘response ball’ very much and I even had a few of them asking if they could buy one!  What I found out straight away when doing a simple drill with the keepers was that after they had worked out the concept that the ball didn’t always run true, they tended not to commit themselves too early and not to go to ground too easily and kept their eye firmly fixed on the ball.  I believe the response ball is a great teaching tool for the keepers on both of those aspects.  In addition it was also useful to sharpen their reactions because of its unpredictable bounce, plus you had the option of using the various response balls with 3, 4 or 5 bumps, which gives the keeper more situations to deal with as they have to be alert as to whether the ball will give them a true bounce or an unpredictable one!  As for airborne stuff, I didn’t really get a chance to do much with, but I will say that as a server, even I had to be more aware and watch carefully the flight of the ball when the keepers threw the ball back to me (which I took on board and enjoyed!) plus I had the sun in my eyes! (yes I know always bring a cap, even to training!). Another plus and the most important aspect of coaching (for me) is ‘Enjoyment’ and by using the response ball in drills it certainly provided that.  Al though I did ask the keepers if they wanted to use one for the Goalie Wars session and the overall answer was ‘no’, which at first I thought was a little strange, so we used a normal football; there answer niggled at me and after thinking it through I believe the reason for there ‘no’ was because its difficult enough with a normal ball, so with the response ball it would make their job harder, plus the embarrassment that you get from the ball, but it also showed me how competitive they were, because they would have a better chance to save the normal ball therefore they would remain in goal longer, plus if they kicked or threw the response ball it would most probably miss the target more, therefore not remaining in goal'.