In December 2017 we started our platform for field hockey coaches with a coach conference named HockeyToday.cc. Legendary Dutch goalie Pirmin Blaak hosted a masterclass that day: the basics of training your goalkeepers
Field Hockey Goalkeeping: The One Thing Every Coach Must Emphasize (and Why It Matters More Than You Think)
Every so often, a masterclass comes along that quietly challenges some of the underlying assumptions we carry onto the field. Pirmin Blaak’s recent session—an immersion into the reality of elite-level field hockey goalkeeping—does exactly this.
The Core Lesson: The Goalkeeper’s Base Position Is Your Starting Point, Every Time
If you take away one thing from Blaak’s presentation, let it be this: the quality of any goalkeeper’s performance hinges on a consistent, technically correct base position. It sounds basic, perhaps even old-fashioned. But as Blaak demonstrates, this is the non-negotiable platform from which every decision, movement, and save must start.
Why? Because it’s not just about how a goalkeeper reacts to a shot on goal—the outcome is determined long before the save attempt, in the stance and readiness that the base position provides. The practicality of honing this stance offers an enormous return on investment for team coaches at any level.
Let’s briefly unpack how you should apply this principle in your daily training:
1. Insist on Technical Precision in the Base
For many coaches, especially those who don’t come from a goalkeeping background, it’s easy to let the keeper become the last consideration in your session plan. Blaak’s approach challenges this. Every drill that has a goalkeeper involved must start and end with coaches checking the keeper’s base: are their hands positioned midway (neither too high nor too low), are they balanced, ready to move forward, left or right, are they neutral enough to give themselves every option for the next play?
As Pirmin Blaak puts it:
“Standing still in the base position. It sounds really easy, of course, but standing still is hard and I will explain it by a few exercises...”
2. Make Base Review a Constant, Not a One-Off
Building this into muscle memory doesn’t happen in preseason alone. Set the expectation in your training environment that you or your assistants will stop play if the keeper’s base collapses, even for just a moment. The more pressure, the noisier or busier the D, the more important this basic foundation becomes. It’s not about over-coaching in the moment but creating a culture where correct positioning is respected and expected.
3. Connect Base Positioning with Team Defensive Drills
It’s not enough that the goalkeeper knows what their base is—integrate this with the full defensive line’s work so that defenders can anticipate what the keeper is offering them, communicate based on this starting point, and make coordinated decisions. Blaak emphasizes that goalkeepers shouldn’t be isolated in training. Every save starts from the same consistent base, and defenders need to understand and work with this reality.
Why You Must Remember This
Forget the flashy “free techniques” and last-second heroics for a moment. Teams consistently leaking goals or relying on hope rather than system will usually reveal, upon review, inconsistent or poor base positioning in their keepers. Blaak’s argument isn’t just theoretical—he illustrates, with drills and video breakdowns, why every warmup, every pressure drill, and every rebound scenario is an opportunity for reinforcing this one truth.
Field hockey teams (and coaches) expecting elite performance can’t afford to treat goalkeeper fundamentals as a side project. Harness the power of deliberate attention to the keeper’s base and watch the difference in execution, confidence, and, ultimately, results on match day.
Why You’ll Want to Watch the Full Workshop
The depth of practical guidance in this masterclass is rare. Blaak moves beyond clichés, dissecting not only the what, but the why and how, of technical and tactical goalkeeper development. If you’re aiming to elevate both your keepers and your defensive unit, you’ll want to see the full video and dive into a deeper analysis—where he demonstrates techniques, shares exercises, and explains frameworks for integrating goalkeeper and team development, all of it rooted in his elite playing and coaching experience.
Continue reading for a detailed breakdown of three main takeaways, practical steps for daily coaching, and several direct insights from the workshop…
