Foot placement in "ready position"

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[jimdonuts]

Oi oi oiiiiiiiii.... i prolly won't get many answers as midday seems to be sleepy time for fhf... anyways;

In the "ready position" we ideally have a feet shoulder width apart, with knees bent, hands up, head up, weight forward and on our toes. just getting that straight. correct me if i'm wrong.

Now that's out of the way, has anyone thought about having their feet parallel? both toes pointing directly forward? instead of the more comfortable position of toes pointing slightly outward.

i say this because(theoretically) having feet pointing directly forward encourages the power transfer to the opposite foot by giving more time for a successful instep. boxers "jink" right or left by turning the opposite foot inwards. thats what we keepers do. if we don't, we end up doing that disgusting lunge with weight on the wrong foot!(yuurkkk, we've all done it)

the only cons i can think of is; longer time for turning the foot outward.

if everyone already does this... do tell! this is about technique, a finer point. Georgeous you there?

[animal]

Point your feet at the ball. Yes it promotes the turn towards the ball when the ball is wide. this means that the spring is off the toes not off the outside of the foot. More power and better reach.

ANIMAL

[geevo]

Good question Jim.
I have my feet parallel, just a natural thing that I've always done.

Only thing i find is if you weight goes back for any reason, you are very prone to "one between the legs".......D'oh!!  :-[

[jimdonuts]

Point your feet at the ball. Yes it promotes the turn towards the ball when the ball is wide. this means that the spring is off the toes not off the outside of the foot. More power and better reach.

ANIMAL

 :D i can improve. my feet have always been 10>x>3 degree's pointed away from being parallel.

Good question Jim.
I have my feet parallel, just a natural thing that I've always done.

Only thing i find is if you weight goes back for any reason, you are very prone to "one between the legs".......D'oh!!  :-[

i'll always have the weight on the balls on my feet! :D. i just need a pitch and team to practice now. hopefully soon.
 

[shepdogg]

excellent question indeed! not quite as interesting as the debate of 'what is your favourite colour obo pads' but i will forgive you.

one of the 1st things i coach, especially when teaching a new keeper, is to have the feet parallel. you are right when you say it is much easier to push off to the side.  your calf muscles just aren't strung to give a powerful push when your plant foot is sideways.

if your toes are pointing out slightly to start...when you push your kicking leg out to the right, for example, you will find that your plant foot is pointing towards the opposite corner flag. this limits your stretch and reduces the power of the push from your plant leg.  now if you push out to the right with your feet parallel, you can get a stronger push..especially if you can turn your plant foot towards the ball. now both feet are pointing in the right direction and you can stretch further, also reducing the strain on your groin.

 
               /                                    /
\  /     \                  [   ]       /
                             
toes out                   parallel


kudos to mr animal, he is right. when your toes are pointing out, the push is extremely inefficient from the outside of the foot. when the toes are poining forwards, you can direct the energy to the area around your big toe, and then pivot the foot towards the ball.

geevo, if your weight is on your heels, you are always going to be prone to the nutmeg whatever your stance.  football gks have their feet parallel and look how often they get megged.

[b3nh34th]

i have my feet parallel, and am balancing on the balls of my feet a lot more
but i'm still prone to the occasional nutmeg.
why?
ben

[The Camel]

Firstly Jim, isn’t this a given? Doesn’t everyone pretty much already do this? By having your toes pointed outwards you’re effectively making yourself bow-legged.

Shepp hit the nail on the head with his response. I don’t need to add anything, but I will reiterate…

As we’ve already established, the position of our feet is this tiny-minuscule thing that can skew technique ever so slightly when out of alignment… it doesn’t affect our footwork so much, more everything north of that. So you could say it’s pretty important you get it right.

For a majority of saves we make the initial movement is lead by the hip/quad region, followed quickly by a hip and shoulder/upper body rotation (or at least it should be). The key to moving efficiently and effectively is this “rotation”… the thing with this movement is that we are limited by what is grounding us… a base point… or feet in this case. It’s this point that enables a powerful reaction. As Animal & Shepp have stated, there is only so much give the body will allow when toes are pointed outwards, so obviously it makes sense to have them pointed at the ball/parallel/perpendicular/whatever in our “ready position”. 

I will add… it all comes down to using your foot as a pivot point. If the foot cannot pivot in it’s normal ready position then something needs to be changed.

spring is off the toes not off the outside of the foot. More power and better reach.

Do you spring off your toes or is it something else? See I would have thought they act more as a lever when moving laterally...the weight/power is forced through the ball of your foot. The toes play a controlling role as opposed providing power.

i have my feet parallel, and am balancing on the balls of my feet a lot more
but i'm still prone to the occasional nutmeg.
why?
ben

Without looking at you... i'd say your stance is too wide.

[animal]

Yes, George I miss-spoke myself. I do move off the ball of the foot with my toes only adding minimal spring to the lunge. I wanted to emphisise the contrast between the front/ forward movement and the lateral movement gained with the feet not parallel.

Used to slay them in fencing when I used a hockey lunge instead of a fencing lunge (hockey style increased my speed and stiking distance)  :D

ANIMAL

[jimdonuts]

Firstly Jim, isn’t this a given? Doesn’t everyone pretty much already do this? By having your toes pointed outwards you’re effectively making yourself bow-legged.

Thats why i asked georgeous.

For a majority of saves we make the initial movement is lead by the hip/quad region, followed quickly by a hip and shoulder/upper body rotation (or at least it should be). The key to moving efficiently and effectively is this “rotation”… the thing with this movement is that we are limited by what is grounding us… a base point… or feet in this case. It’s this point that enables a powerful reaction. As Animal & Shepp have stated, there is only so much give the body will allow when toes are pointed outwards, so obviously it makes sense to have them pointed at the ball/parallel/perpendicular/whatever in our “ready position”. 

 

[Stuchers]

this is kind of not what other people have said but my coach has taught me to have my feet facing slightly inwards /  \ that was if you choose to go right your left foot (the one you push of) is already facing right and so it is easier to move, and if you want to go left your right foot is already facing that way

dont know if other people have been taught this but thats what i was told

[ExoticShep]

my feet are always parallel to each other, as i find it helps when moving laterally fast, and i always have them both facing the ball.

will try the facing inwards approach in training this week to see what happens though

[Zip!]

Toes pointing inwards is a big no no my enlightened friend. You are limiting your ability to attack the ball for a start, let alone limiting the amount of power you will be able to generate laterally as the push will have to come from the toes, not the ball and as mentioned it puts a cap on how much surface area you have to push off from. OH not to mention that in this position your body tends to want you to drop down to your knees which is just going to end up in tears - and nobody wants that.

[garli]

Unless you consider the other team.

[Zip!]

Be quiet, I dont like your tone.

[garli]

Heh, like that's ever worked.