30 May 10 - 02:38Sat 29th May'10: "Saved the Best till Last..."
A fabulous final Keeper Academy session by all accounts, as Theo and Clive delivered our last training plan of the season to a good number of keepers - both Broad Oak and from other clubs too. A real shame I was with my U13 squad in Uckfield to miss out...
Some superb performances by everyone today, particularly the younger mini-soccer keepers, and everyone got their chance to vote for their Keepers Keeper of the Year for this season! A very close run award this year - all will be revealed in July at our annual Club Presentation Evening in Eastbourne, along with the club's Keeper of the Year and Most Improved Keeper of the Year as well.
With our own Club Summer Tournament in 2 weeks time at Horam, that's the lot from Broad Oak & Horam Goalkeepers Academy for the 2009/10 season. My huge thanks go to Clive, Theo, Graham, Robert & Becky for their incredible support over the last 9 months - I can't run it without you. A big thank you to Sue & John Baldock of InterSport of Lewes & Seaford who have backed us from the very start some 3 years ago now, and who are our Academy sponsors that have paid for our amazing lemon & lime shirts & keeper bags. For those of you that have/will grow out of your shirts, or you are no longer a goalie, PLEASE HAND THEM BACK TO ME AT ANY TIME as they are expensive and can therefore be given to other young keepers who need them. I will be ordering some more, ready for September, and we will all be discussing ways to further improve the Academy for next season. This year we have successfully rolled out Midweek Keeper sessions to several age groups, introduced Keeper bags for our regular attendees, and opened the Academy up to outside clubs who have keepers needing some of our specialised 121 coaching. Where we take it next is open to any suggestions you may have, so do let us know! As soon as I have a date for our September return I will post it on this blog, so keep your eyes peeled!
In the meantime - "C'MON ENGLAND!!..."
Tim, Graham, Clive, Theo, Becky & Robert
Tim -
11 May 10 - 01:57Sat 8th May'10: "The Gloves are off..."
Another Academy session, and with it saw the chance for us to film the lads up close for the forthcoming presentation evening in July. This weeks theme was 'quick Decision Making.' An average size group of 11 keepers were put through a series of warm up drills to begin with, followed by some shot stopping, dealing with crosses, a fab new triangle goal drill that kept the whole group busy, plus we used the Ball-Wall to work on throwing and reaction work. Finally the group ended with a game of Lightning to round things off, before we handed out this week's certificates as follows:
Save of the Day went to Oliver Cornford for his excellent handling during the triangle goal drill - well done Ollie, superb to see you again mate after all of your matches this season!
Then our Keeper of the Week went to newcomer Ewan Hazeldine, who did fabulously well for his first week at the Academy! Ewan showed great catching ability, enthusiasm and some great saves all morning - so really well done Ewan, you were fantastic!
Our last GKA session of the season is NOT in 2 weeks but 3 weeks time (in view of a clash with the club's World Cup Day.) So see you all again on Sat 29th May at Horam for 8.50am to 10.30am as always. PLEASE WEAR YOUR LEMON/LIME ACADEMY SHIRTS if you have been given one, and please let's see alot more of our keepers out there coming along - alot of the older 11-a-side keepers are skipping our coaching and need the practice!
Tim -
24 April 10 - 23:28Sat 24th April '10: "A Big Hand..."
... has to go to Clive, Graham Theo and Becky for running this weeks GKA session in my absence. I'll be back in 2 weeks time, but today saw a good number of keepers from across all age groups - plus some from other clubs, who were put through their paces on a warm spring morning on a hard surface (yes it's true!)
In hearing how the morning went, particular praise has to go to this week's Keeper of the Week - Ryan Marston (U13's), for his fantastic effort throughout the session.
And in terms of Save of the Day, the award this week went to Sam Avery (Polegate U10's) for a brilliant full length dive to tip over a fierce shot from Clive that looked destined for the top corner - fabulous stuff Sam so really well done!
With the warmer weather, please make sure the keepers bring along a bottle of water to drink, plus their keeper bags which should contain a hat for the bright sunshine. Their Lemon & Lime shirts are also a must as well please, as we like the keepers to look the part and promote our Academy Sponsor too.
That's it for this week folks - more of the same in 2 weeks time when I can't wait to be back - Sat 8th May - 8.50am at Horam Stadium - see you all then!!
Tim, Graham, Clive, Theo and Robert
Tim -
11 April 10 - 17:32Sat 10th April '10:"Plenty of Spring in the air..."
A huge well done and thank you to Theo, Becky and Robert for running GKA this morning - both Clive, Graham and myself were unusually tied up with other committments for once. A full house of keepers again though, and whilst I don't have a detailed report on how the morning went I know that from the players I have spoken to that they really enjoyed themselves and learnt loads!...
Back to a full coaching team in 2 weeks time, so see you all on Sat 24th April - 8.50am at Horam Stadium for more 'Lemon & Lime' Keeper Academy training!!
Tim, Theo, Robert, Clive and Graham
Tim -
03 April 10 - 23:35A reminder about this Saturday 10th April...
Hi everyone,
Another reminder for you, taken from my previous blog - "In view of Easter weekend, we hope to see alot more of you all in not two but THREE weeks time on Sat 10th April - 8.50am SHARP at Horam Stadium once again. Catch us then..."
Tim, Clive, Graham, Theo, James and Robert
Tim -
21 March 10 - 23:49Sat 20th March'10: "Muddy Marvellous!!..."
The going could only be described as 'good,' and so our intrepid keepers met up to go through their paces at Horam Stadium...
As always a big thank you to Clive, Theo, Graham and James for helping me go through a series of testing drills designed to improve every keepers technical skills for their games. Graham and Theo took the 11-a-side players this week while Clive and I took the mini's, and having warmed the players up with some spear throws, handling work and stretches for the older ones, we moved on to the Ball-Wall which both groups enjoyed, a game of hand-ball for the older ones, and a shot-stopping drill called Machine-Gun for the mini soccer keepers which went very well. Then we worked on a detailed session of dealing with one v one scenarios for the younger group which they learnt alot from, while the older guys worked on their reactions and shot-stopping techniques. Then we ended the morning with a superb session of Keeper Wars which we hadn't played in a while, which utilised every single aspect of what we had been working on all morning - good keeper habits, speed, distribution and positional awareness as well.
Save of the Day went to Ryan Marston (U13's) for an absolutely amazing full length dive up high to tip a ball around the post during the shot-stopping, so well done mate - great stuff Ryan!
As for Keeper of the Week, this certificate went to Brandon Wade (U10's) for his excellent focus, concentration and excellent determination to display textbook quality keeper habits all morning - there were no bad habits at all, so really well done Brandon!
Another really enjoyable morning with a great group of players. In view of Easter weekend, we hope to see alot more of you all in not two but THREE weeks time on Sat 10th April - 8.50am SHARP at Horam Stadium once again. Catch us then...
Tim, Clive, Graham, Theo, James and Robert
Tim -
20 February 10 - 09:11Sat 6th March '10: "WE'RE BACK AT HORAM!!..."
AT LAST! Dry weather, perfect playing surface which was soft and dry - ideal for keepers, and 4 coaches ready to help our budding goalies. Just a shame we had our lowest ever numbers - only 10 keepers in total! Lots of keepers turned up mid-morning for their own age group training - but how many of them got any in depth goalkeeper coaching? THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR! With several teams playing away matches and the number of postponed sessions we've had for the Academy, it wasn't a complete surprise to be honest, so hopefully we will see our keepers in big numbers once again in 2 weeks time on SAT 20TH MARCH - 8.50AM AT HORAM...
After an intensive warm-up and footwork drills, we ran through loads of shotstopping drills today - narrowing the angle, quick reactions off of the floor, plus we made great use of the Ball-Wall equipment - javelin throws into the wall to improve our throwing accuracy and arm muscles plus reaction dives and catches for the next keeper in line. The boys did really well with this - particularly the younger ones who found it difficult to begin with but quickly mastered it as the session went on. The throws and dives you guys were creating for each other was fab to watch - really good fun and a highlight of the morning! We ended with a game of Lightning which James Smith won this week, and well done to William Poulton (U10's) who received his Academy Shirt having completed his 4th session with us - congratulations William!
The 'Save of the Day' Certificate went to Joshua Irwin, for an incredible dive to tip over a top corner thunderbolt that had goal all over it. A brilliant stop and a great morning's keeping Josh - really loved watching it mate!
Finally, the 'Keeper of the Week' Certificate was won by Ivan Rychlynski (Old Town U10's) - who put in an incredible focus and work rate all morning, and was solid and impressive in his attitude and good technical ability in every drill. Really well done Ivan - you're a superb keeper mate!
See you again in 2 weeks then - Sat 20th March, and hopefully the weather stays fine to bring out more of our famous Lemon & Lime Army!!.....
Tim, Robert, Clive, Theo and Graham
Tim -
06 February 10 - 09:05Sat 6th Feb '10: "Cracking Keepers all round..."
With GKA switched to Sheepsetting Lane once again, both Clive, Graham, Theo and I put 13 keepers through their paces on a bright sunny morning in Heathfield. The players were a real privilege to work with, and every one of them did their very best to pick up tips, good habits and ideas off of each other as we went through a series of drills and games for 90 minutes.
Having got the older keepers stretched up and the mini soccer keepers warmed up too, Clive and I - with the help of Junior Coach James Woodroofe, worked on footwork and then quick reactions whilst Theo and Graham concentrated on taking high crosses with the 11-a-side keepers. We all then focussed on our kicking from both hand and dead ball, followed by dealing with 1v1 situations for the youngsters - shot-stopping for the olders. With tip-over saves worked on too, we rounded off the morning with two games of lightning for both groups, followed by some certificates being awarded to the following keepers for their excellent work:
Saves of the Day went to Emily Baldock for an absolutely incredible one handed dive to tip round a fierce shot during our footwork drill - getting down low to the ground to push the ball round the post before it flew into the corner. Both Clive and I were gobsmacked - the best save we've seen in ages! For the older keepers, Stephen (U14's) won praise from Theo for his acrobatic saves this morning, so well done mate -top stuff!
As for Keepers of the Day, Sam Avery won it for the youngsters with his incredible enthusiasm and effort put into improving his game all morning. A real joy to coach, and a top rate keeper with great bravery in the 1v1 session. For the older keepers, Dan Hansell was our main man this week - showing brilliant strength and determination to pull off save after save all morning - a real inspiration to the whole Academy, so cheers Dan - nice one mate!
See you all again in two weeks as always - Sat 20th February at Horam (we hope) - 8.50am until 10.30am. A great session guys - just keep focussing on good communication with your defence and keeping to the good habits until next time...
Tim, Graham, Theo, Clive and Robert
Tim -