Simply Intense

I sprung up out of bed as the alarm rang out throughout the room. Another cracking summer morning, raring to get out to the pitch for an early morning session with one of my goalkeepers. The night prior I mapped out what I had thought in my mind to be a very strong training session. It had all the bells and whistles...footwork, mixed up with handling, with fancy movements in between, ad nauseam. In my mind it was going to be an awesome session! 

On the way to the pitch I had to check myself... I couldn't push myself to do the session as I planned it. I had enough...the words 'too complex' ringing around in my head. I started from scratch. Wiped the slate clean, and thought about the basics. I recalled the summer months in Sydney during my youth, when my Coach would have me working the pre-season double sessions every day at the local park.

There were no fancy goalkeeper drills that I could recall with my coach...no overly technical drills. The goalkeeper training sessions were simple. Simple handling, simple footwork and diving drills, basic distribution. Though, one thing that stood out with the training sessions was that they were always extremely intense! I remember the intensity vividly, and my body remembered it the next morning in spades. 

Repetition is the mother of skill. It's an age old adage. I've found over the years, training goalkeepers all around the world that the the basics always hold the most weight. The fancier you get going with your goalkeeping drills, the more elaborate, the more convoluted the training session becomes. Too many complex movements and we miss the point of whatever the goal of the session was in the first place. 

I conduct the same sets of drills for any age group, though I vary and incrementally adjust the intensity. I believe in progressive overload, I know how powerful periodization can be and I value keeping it simple. Keeping the sessions simple, dependent on the goal of the session, while incrementally upping the intensity on a session per session basis in a periodized fashion, has over the years allowed me to take youth goalkeepers who were playing grassroots soccer, and have them transition into higher competitive youth levels of play, in a little under a year of consolidated and repetitive work. 

For me, quality of work is aligned with intensity and repetition. Even with the drills being simple, it is the quality of the work, with intensity and focus that drives progression. Bungled over that agility ladder...do it again. Missed that last shot...let's tweak your footing and body positioning, and do it again. Repetition is aligned with overload. Just like a bodybuilder progressively overloads the muscle for growth with repetition and intensity, so too should a goalkeeper progressively increase the intensity of their actions during a drill. 

Another way I add layers of intensity to a session (especially with youth and senior goalkeepers) is incorporating resistance bands and medicine balls into the drills. I believe that as much as you train the technical ability of the goalkeeper, and build an anaerobic base, progressive strength development is just as key to maximize the power output of the goalkeeper. (Might have to cook up a few video's of how this looks in a future post). 

In summary:

1. Each session should have a quantifiable goal. Number of exercises, number of sets and repetitions with each drill. 
2. Each session should progressively increase in intensity from the previous session. Adding more sets and repetitions of drills. Leveraging tools such as resistance bands and medicine ball training and adding it into a drill (especially youth and senior goalkeepers). 
3. Stick to basic technical drills, though always with a focus on upping the intensity across each session. 

Miriam McLaren Signs With Martin Methodist (NAIA)

Congratulations to college soccer recruit Miriam McLaren on her signing with Martin Methodist RedHawks in the NAIA. The RedHawks are a perennial women's US college soccer powerhouse and have historically fielded national team players from all around the world.  

Hailing from Canberra, Australia, Miriam is both a great student, and had worked with goalkeeper trainer John Stevanja of Tiger GK and Upper 90 College APAC to prepare her for the pathway into women's college soccer in one of the toughest women's  soccer conferences in the USA. 

Wishing Miriam all the best as she starts her journey into college soccer in the USA! 

Owed or Earned?

It's interesting when I watch the highest competitive goalkeepers in the world create amazing moments in high pressure games. Rarely do I see pageantry, no showboating. What I do see is an outward venting of rage, a primal scream, or on the flip side a cold steely glance projected toward his or her team mates in the effort of what they have pulled off. Goalkeepers are different in that way. Therein lays a lesson in humility though. They have earned the moment, and they own it. 

The action it takes to win a plaudit, praise, a title, national championship etc is work. That is, action that leads to positive momentum. I call it the "in between" work you do, the things no one else sees, the hard work that is done behind closed doors. Don't expect praise, entitlement etc, Earn it... and then, Own it.

When I train a goalkeeper it's predominantly silence during the session, except for some loud excitable and guttural acknowledgement from myself as repetitive actions come together to form a great moment during training. It's vocal recognition for work, hard work at that. The guttural voice also kicks in when I have to get my client back into shape, to increase the intensity without any negative energy. It's about upping the intensity, always forward, always intense. Positive, primal energy.

As my clients and I work together in the park, and they have put all their energy into the session, having been taxed from the hard work I demand, I ask them to look up...I ask, "What do you see?"....the client glances up and around the park, hands on knees, chest heaving, sweat covered..the reply is generally, "Nothing", or "No One". I answer, "Correct. No one else is here at this moment doing what you are doing right now". Earn it, Own it...in silence. No high praise, no excitement, just work. 

The above scenario is how I help the client 'internalize' their hard work. Work rate and intensity is the catalyst for physical and mental success, and success is earned, you are not owed anything, from anyone. Doors may open, but once open, it's up to you to run the gauntlet that awaits. If you succeed navigating the gauntlet, once you have climbed to the next level of your ability, own your hard work with humility, grace and inner strength, these three things create presence. And presence (especially for a goalkeeper) commands respect. Humility and inner strength, when it is earned, forms the platform for continued and pragmatic success. 

Following are some points to leverage for continued improvement while earning and owning the effort of your hard work. 

• Do the 'in between' work. Leverage the effect of compounded improvement.  Your days off should never be days off, they should be days for active recovery, or continued technical or physical improvement. Do the work others aren't doing, while they rest and think about excellence, you are working toward excellence. Earn the excellence in the work that no one sees you do...the 'in between' work. Once you Earn it. Own it.
• Internalize 'hard work'. Finish each session in reflection, and internalize all the good work you have done. Create positive mental cues for positive hard work. Build a highlight reel of positive mental takeaways in your mind from each session, come back to those moments when you need them.  Write down notes in a journal and keep track of your daily training regime, tracking how you feel, what you need to work on and what you did that stood out. The more you write down and track your training, the more you own each action and session. Hard work then becomes a conscious action, and a daily habit.
• Train intensely and with 'intent'. Half ass work does not cut it. No drill should be enacted with a minimum of effort. Every drill has to be short, sharp and full of powerful energy. Focus on 'intensity', put an 'intent' behind every action you enact during your drills. Build an intense tempo in each drill, and look for the tempo that you create to be focused and delivered with intent...and intensity. 

So are you owed? No. Earn it. When you earn it...Own it! 

Todd Whittaker Named First Team CoSIDA Academic All American

Very proud of my client and recruit Todd Whittaker, who had trained with me and was helped place via our agency into one of the top academic universities in the USA. Todd plays for Trinity University (Texas) and was recently awarded as an First Team Academic All American, the highest honor for any collegiate athlete in the US college soccer system. 

Todd is a very tall (6'8"), and dynamic goalkeeper. Really proud of Todd and what he has achieved across his 4 years at Trinity, with not only being rewarded as a great athlete, though, also being awarded as an outstanding student as well. Excited to see what Todd's future holds when he graduates this year!