Dear Soccer coaches and managers around the world,

‘Is your goalkeeping coach doing MORE harm than good?’

The chances are, the goalkeeping coach you have right now, whether he is employed, self employed, voluntary or even brought in by a professional soccer club and or coaching organisation… will be doing a VERY POOR job for your club and goalkeeper (s) !!!

The reason why I know this, is that I have been around professional soccer clubs since I was fifteen years old and at the age of twenty-eight, founded Just4Keepers, which is now, the biggest goalkeeper school in the world.

I have advised several top premiership academy goalkeeper coaches on how to run their goalkeeper sessions, helped county football associations and have helped literally hundreds of soccer clubs make sure their goalkeepers develop properly via the correct coach and methods.

If your goalkeeper coach has not played at a high professional level, and has not at least got his level 3 coaching certification (UEFA B) (Or at least working towards their UEFA B) or the equivalent qualification to your Country, I have one piece of advice for you as a fellow coach/manager and more importantly parent…

‘KEEP THIS COACH AWAY FROM YOUR CHILD/GOALKEEPER (S)!!!’

Or, what I find totally dangerous to the health of a young goalkeeper is when a soccer club brings in a goalkeeper coach who has NOT played in goal at a high level but because he has taken his coaching qualifications, which is generally just a few weeks practical training… they think this is okay?

THIS IS MADNESS!

No occupation!

The answer is obvious, and you would run a mile and go to the nearest hospital to find a doctor with experience!
Reason being, you would not want anyone who is not experienced going ANYWHERE near your child because they are so precious to you!

However, your child’s development is just as important as their health!

So why would you ever allow a coach with no prior experience of what he is teaching get anywhere near your child?
Best advice I was given once was: If you want to give your child the best chance of success in winning in the game of life, make sure they get taught by a DOER not a theorist!

In their defence most soccer clubs are naive and do not realise… but here are some reasons why.

1: They invite a goalkeeper coach from a professional soccer club.
It is becoming big business now for professional soccer clubs across Europe to send their ‘so called’ expert goalkeeper coach to soccer clubs in the US and Canada. However in many cases, the goalkeeper coach they send HAS NOT played the game professionally or semi professionally themselves.

This is quite common in Canada and the USA and unfortunately for these soccer clubs with good intentions to help their goalkeepers, they think because XYZ FC professional soccer club send their coach with ‘Goalkeeper Coach’ printed on his training top that this coach much be an expert.

But in most cases this coach will be no expert!

Okay this coach might have a goalkeeper coaching qualification… but this means nothing.

I know one professional premiership soccer club who sends a so-called goalkeeper coach to foreign countries to coach goalkeepers. And if these soccer clubs knew what I knew about the experiences of this particular coach, they would not pay $1 per hour for this coach!

Seriously, this guy is a joke… but he is booked out throughout the USA???

Unfortunately, these professional soccer clubs are preying on the naivety of USA and Canada grass root soccer clubs and basically taking the **** out of them!

Please note: Not all professional clubs will send a mediocre coach but it’s worth doing some research on the coach they are intending to send to you.

2. Putting in a voluntary goalkeeper coach
This is normally the case, when a parent or the managers friend will say ‘heh, I watch goalkeeper coaching DVD’s , I can coach the keepers!’

I actually admire these guys as they are doing it for the love of the game. However, if they realised the damage they are doing to the goalkeeper’s development, they would immediately stop their coaching.

As these guys are doing more harm than good!

If you are a soccer club or a parent of a goalkeeper and you are in this scenario, you need to do something about this… and fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And find an experienced goalkeeper coach.

3. Invite a goalkeeper coach from a specialized coaching organisation.

Too be honest, this maybe the best option for a soccer club. However you need to find a goalkeeper coach with the right experience.

Having researched the USA and Canada market, and many goalkeeper coaching websites, it is very very worrying some of the techniques that these goalkeeper coaching schools are teaching. Too be honest it is complete BS!

How these so called goalkeeper coaches have the audacity to start their own goalkeeper coaching business, I will never know!

Do not get me wrong, there are a handful of good goalkeeper coaching schools out there but to be safe, only ever pick a coach who has played either professionally or semi professionally in goal.

Reason being: As a coach, if you have achieved what you are teaching, you will have empathy with your students. But the problem is, these coaches who did not achieve what they are teaching, will never know and or understand what their students are feeling.

So how can they possibly get the best out of their students?

I watched one USA goalkeeper coaching website, and the coach was doing top corners dives with his students. However looking at the playing surface, it was solid as a rock and hardly any grass!!!

This is sooooooo dangerous!

But here is the problem. It was obvious that this coach has never done this exercise before himself. If he had, there is NO WAY he would have done this exercise with his young students because he would have known… it hurts!

You see, he had no empathy for his students. And this is so dangerous.

For the people who think that I am totally wrong, let me explain it another way.

I have no experience in Canadian ice-skating or American baseball. So just imagine if I only watched a few dvd’s on these sports and maybe took a short six month course, then started my own coaching schools on ice-skating or baseball?

Sounds absurd doesn’t it… but that’s what these guys are doing only with goalkeeping!

So to be safe, make sure any goalkeeper coach you pick has played at a high standard of soccer and is qualified, as this will put you on the road to picking the correct coach.

Employed Goalkeeper Coach.

Normally when a coach is employed by a soccer club directly, 99% of the time this coach generally is a friend of the manager.

Whether this coach has goalkeeper playing experience does not really matter to this type of soccer club because they just want to have the persona that they ‘Have a specialized goalkeeping coach’ coaching for their club.

I can see why a soccer club may want to do this, as it will attract goalkeepers to play for their club, but these soccer clubs are jeopardising young goalkeepers futures by putting in a mediocre coach.

Are these soccer clubs doing the correct thing for their goalkeepers?

The answer is a resounding… NO!

This is where the parent of a goalkeeper needs to step in. They need to ask their club, or the goalkeeper coach directly.

What is your experience?

If you do not like what you hear, you need to speak to your club. However, the chances are your club will not get rid of their friend…. Oops sorry goalkeeper coach!

So what should you do?

My advice is, find a soccer club who has the vision to put in the correct goalkeeper coach for the development of their goalkeepers.

I have a PASSION to help goalkeepers and I can go on and on and give many examples how soccer clubs either intentionally or even unintentionally put in the wrong goalkeeper coach for their chosen club and keeper (s).

And it really does sadden and annoy me that a lot of soccer clubs are also getting conned by some so called goalkeeper coaches who are doing more harm than good with the young goalkeepers they coach.

However I am hoping that this website will help you make a sensible choice in finding the correct goalkeeper coach for your soccer club. Please remember, just because a goalkeeper coach states they played professional or semi professional as a goalkeeper, does not mean they actually did!

So always do your due diligence when picking a goalkeeper coach for your soccer club…

‘Your goalkeepers development depends on your judgement!!!’