Video of the Day: Petr Cech Trains With Tennis Balls
Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Today’s video comes to you from Sky Sports as they give us an inside look at some of the things going on behind the scenes at Chelsea’s FC Monday training session. The team is trying to rebound from their loss to Aston Villa on the weekend and even though keeper Petr Cech was not at fault, he seems to be trying to work on sharpening his reflexes for the match against Galatasaray.
Check out Petr Cech’s new training routine involving a racket and some tennis balls:
Teams are trying more and more innovative techniques to try and spice up their training sessions and keep the players focused and motivated. This particular method of using tennis balls is not entirely new and has been around for some time. The idea is that it forces the keepers to react and catch a much smaller target so when the time comes for them to save a football from going in the net, it should theoretically become easier. This technique is usually meant to help improve a keeper’s reaction times because of how small the tennis ball is.
The introduction of the racket to the training makes for a more difficult task because the flight of the ball off the racket is more unpredictable than one that is simply thrown at the keeper. The dip and swerve of the ball that comes from a tennis swing is also similar to that of a football. Keepers can also be tested with lobs using the tennis balls as the smaller ball is harder to judge in the air.
If you’re an aspiring keeper you should try some of the drills with a coach or friend!
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