Saturday, January 29, 2011

Goalkeeper Mental Course a hit!

Most people reading his page and visiting J4K for the first time today, do not realise how much J4K gives away for free, from donating OVER £2000 A MONTH every month back into Grassroots soccer to offering a ton of free goalkeeper courses, help and advice. Please read below the kind comments from a parent whose son has benefited from the free J4K Video course:


Hi Ray Hope all is well.

Thanks for the videos on how to be mentally strong , as a goalkeeper. Josh is really interested in what you have to say and the way in witch you put things across and in his own way has already coped with parts one, two, three and four at the tender age of 8yrs and 8months old !!
When he first represented the MK Dons he was churning on the way to the stadium to catch the team bus , long story short we had several conversations about butterflies on our way to the next few games and how that needed to be there to show he cared about his goal keeping and his team and how to turn that into adrenaline to help him perform , he used to come off the pitch totally un fazed and even started keeping clean sheets for his club Leighton Park Rangers FC witch i am the founder and Chairman of. That was when he was six , i 'me not sure when i stopped having those conversations with him , but he hasn't mentioned being nervous before a game for ages !!

The second video about triggers you will love , Josh obviously got dis appointed when letting goals in and was very down hearted and got the face on , and i was obviously worried that it would go on too long and he let another one or two in as a result of not getting focused as soon as he possibly could after the dis appointment and was even more worried of going on and on at him to get on with it and compound the problem , so , whilst watching the Simpsons on telly one night Ned Flanders ( STOP LAUGHING RAY ) , Ned Flanders kids where up-set about something and he did this signal ( a trigger ) with his hands an up - side down U shape to represent a sad face with thumb and finger and turned it up the other way to make a proper U shape whilst saying "turn that frown up-side down" to make them smile and laugh again , obviously that's a bit long winded during a game ( and all the other parents would think i was a right pratt ) , so i just gave josh three sharp whistles and signalled by repeatedly turning my U shaped thumbed and finger up and down until he couldn't help but grin back at me !!

We still do it to this day and he has let no more than five goals in all season and is keeping clean sheets two back to back at the indoor festival ( pictured below ) last weekend. It may well work for other youngsters you coach !!?

Part three has always been pretty good as josh will always talk and organize his team when defending set plays and join in congratulating them when they score and has been developing calling ( KEEPERS ) when coming for balls with his old MK Dons coach Michael Parkin who i told you about the other week.

And the fourth video has always been a part of Joshua's preparation , he always has his shirt tucked in to look smart and tall ( and will always say when the keepers on the telly come out of the tunnel , look dad smart confident keeper or scruffy keeper dad if the shirts hanging out ) , his hair spiked up to look even taller and more confident and always stays big or in his set position depending on the type of save he is about to try and make with the big white Nike gloves with the thumbs pointing up right in front of the attackers eye line and they often bottle it or get hurried into making a decision that Josh can cope with !!

Well roll on part five , but thanks' again Ray , you are definitely getting inside Joshua's head !!

Best wishes,
Steve.

My answer:
Thanks for your lovely comments Steve, it really means a lot to me that my course is giving your child and others a positive experience and helping them build their confidence. This was the reason I started J4K and will continue to put in as much effort as i can to aid young keepers worldwide.
Thanks again for sharing your wonderful story
Ray Newland

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