Goalkeeping Tips, Tidbits and Random Thoughts

Goalkeeping overlooked

David James laments the lack of top-flight English goalkeepers plying their trade in England in his Guardian column. He points out a couple of reasons why, reasons that prompted me to create JB Goalkeeping in the first place:

For a start there has always been a tendency for goalkeeping to be overlooked. It is often the last thing on anyone's list. I started my coaching badges two weeks ago, and I have to say it was a fair flick through to the back of the manual before there was anything on goalkeeping. I know there is a separate qualification for goalkeeping coaches but it seems indicative, to me, of a prevailing attitude toward the role.

The frustrating paradox is that coaching goalkeeping actually requires more resources than outfield positions. Unlike David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, who can practise at targets for hours on their own, for a keeper to practise anything other than kicking or throwing he needs other players. And not just any old player, either. To practise saving free-kicks you want a great free-kick taker. It is no coincidence that my best practise session comes at the end of the week when the rest of the team have a shooting competition. That one session always gets me in tune for a match

Over the course of a season of weekly goalkeeper sessions—12 or 13 of them—I would just be able to get through all the topics I felt needed to be covered, without much repetition. James is right that the resources needed for effective keeper training and development are significant. So rather than find the time and effort to put into it, it often simply gets ignored. It's a shame.

Labels: Goalkeeping News and Analysis