Saturday, January 21, 2012

Goalkeeper Coaching for Children

If you are a parent or grandparent looking for goalkeeper training for children there are a few very important pointers to look out for.

1: Make sure the keeper coach is who he states he is because some goalkeeping coaches exaggerate their claims regarding their goalkeeping career.

These GK coaches say they played for a professional soccer club but reading between the lines, they only had a  trial with a particular pro club, so they have NOT been a former professional keeper like they state..
  
So as a parent looking for goalkeeper training for children, IS DO YOUR RESEARCH ON YOUR GOALKEEPER COACH!

The only problem is when a soccer club employs a goalkeeper coach all the goalkeepers HAVE TO attend his sessions. I have seen many of these goalkeeper coaches in action and its very worrying as these coaches are un intentionally doing more harm than good.

Most parents ask me what I would do in that situation, and I say I would not allow my child to attend the coaches sessions! However, some parents sadly are frightened by the club and let their child attend these classes, then wonder why their child does not develop as a keeper.

I understand why soccer clubs hire a keeper coach as they want to do the right thing for their keepers. But if the club do not get the correct goalkeeper coach, in my opion it is a waste of time, especially for the goalkeeper.

2: Make sure he is qualified.
I have seen a few times over the year’s GK coaches who actually  lie about their qualifications. So make sure they have the qualifications they state! 

3: The next thing to do, is check out the GK coaches classes BEFORE you hand over your cash. What you want to see, is the coach training his students in a relaxed and friendly environment. If the gk coach is screaming and shouting at his students, stay away!

You also want to see all the keepers doing something. If you see keepers standing about doing nothing or waiting for the next directions from the gk coach, the chances are the coach does not know what he is doing, and or is very inexperienced.

4: Check your coach out online If this coach is making claims about his experiences etc, google him. If you cannot find anything about this coach online, I would be asking him some very serious questions!

5: What has he done for his current students? 
If he has helped his students succeed, the chances are he can do this with your child. You want to see  some decent success stories though, like his students getting a career opportunites because most gk coaches cannot do this for their students.

6: How much does he charge: I have seen some goalkeeper coaches and they charge a small fortune. Some of these coaches, I would not have them working for me for free because they are not very good, yet they are asking for ALOT of money for medicore coaching.


A good soccer keeper coach, coaches chidren to give something back to the next generation of goalkeepers so his coaching fees will always be fair

So if you are looking for Goalkeeper coaching for children I hope this article helps you pick the correct goalie coach because even though there are a lot of poor goalkeeper coaches coaching, there is thankfully a lot of very good keeper coaches out there… so it is up to you as a parent or grandparent to make sure you find the correct one for your child or grandchild.

Best of goalkeeping

Ray Newland

No comments: