Every session has one small thing to get better at. This is why.
Three keepers start the season at the same level. One gets 1% better every day. One stays the same. One gets 1% worse.
After a week you could not tell them apart. After a year the first one is in a different league.
It is only arithmetic, and nobody improves in a perfectly smooth line. But it shows what small, regular practice does compared with a big effort now and then.
One small thing better, every time you train.
Nobody becomes a good keeper in one session. Pick one small thing and get it a little better today, then do the same next time. Small gains add up, and by the end of the season you will notice the difference.
Try it. Before each session, pick one small thing. After it, ask yourself: did I do that 1% better than last time?
You cannot control the score, so mark yourself on what you can control.
Every keeper wants a clean sheet, so wanting one does not help you. Your habits do. Was I set before the shot? Did my first touch go out of my feet? Did I talk to my defenders? Those are yours to get right in every game, whatever the score is.
Try it. After a match, score yourself out of ten on three habits, not on the result.
Each time you do it, you prove it to yourself a bit more.
Decide what kind of keeper you are. "I am a keeper who wants the ball at my feet." "I am a keeper who is first to training." Then back it up with small actions. You will not manage it every single time, and you do not have to. Most of the time is enough.
Try it. Finish this sentence and say it before training: "I am the kind of keeper who..."
Make the practice too small to skip.
Do not plan an hour of practice. Plan two minutes of passes against a wall. Starting is the hard part. Once you have started you will often carry on, and if you stop after two minutes, that still counts.
Try it. Hook it onto something you already do: "After I get home from school, I do two minutes of wall passes."
Missing one day is fine. Do not miss the next one.
You will miss a day, and you will have sessions where nothing goes right. That is normal and it does not undo your work. If you missed your wall passes yesterday, do them today.
Try it. After a miss, do the normal amount the next day. No need to do double.
After a mistake, be ready again within three seconds.
Every keeper lets goals in, at every level, every week. You cannot train that away. What you can train is how quickly you are ready for the next ball. Have a reset that you do every time, so your body knows it is time to move on.
Try it. Pick your reset: clap your gloves twice, take one deep breath, say "next ball". Use it at training so it is automatic in a match.
Do every rep at the speed you would in a game.
In a match nobody waits for you to be ready. So in a drill, jog back to your line, get set before every serve as if it is a real shot, and finish every save properly. Six reps at match speed do more for you than twenty slow ones.
Try it. Before a drill starts, picture the match situation it comes from. Then do it at that speed.
If the ball comes out of your hands, the next shot is coming.
At training, any ball you drop or parry is live, and whoever is nearest shoots it. So there is no stopping, no saying sorry and no looking at the coach. You get up, find the ball and get set. Do that every time here and you will do it without thinking in a match.
Try it. Count your second saves in a session, as well as your first ones.
Tell the other keepers when they do something good.
There are only a few of us and we all want the same shirt, but we get better together. When another keeper makes a good save, a good first touch or a clean catch, say it out loud, and say what was good about it: "great hands", "good decision to come". Keepers who feel backed try harder things.
Try it. Every session, tell each of the other keepers one specific thing they did well.
Get set before every ball: feet still, knees bent, hands ready.
This week's one thing, from session 1.