The next game for my lad for the City Schools team was due to be a home fixture a week after he’d made his debut in the tournament.
To be honest, after the way he played, he’d have been more than happy to play the next day, as it is with keepers and their confidence. He was buzzing. It was great to see him with a big smile on his face after the tournament because it seemed, particularly in the semi-final against Manchester, it was very much sink or swim. As it was, he’d played very well and showed his new team mates what he was capable of. Making plenty of saves, including saving the two penalties and just conceding the one goal.
It could easily have gone the other way. An early goal against them and the keeper’s day might have been one to forget. But that’s the keeper’s lot. In general terms, it’s all or nothing. Thankfully, this time his day had gone very well.
The next fixture, a league game the following Saturday, was his turn to play. There are two keepers in the squad, so the decision was made for the two lads to alternate games, to make it as fair as possible. The other option was for them to alternate halves – so both playing every game but just half the game each. Thankfully nobody thought the latter was the best option.
The morning before his second outing for the City Schools, all the parents got a message on the WhatsApp group from one of the managers saying that trials would be running for the County Schools team and that all the lads were encouraged to attend the trials.
Wow!
He’d only played about an hour of football for the City schools team and already there was a trial for the County.
First things first though, he needed to concentrate on the matter in hand and give the game his full attention. This was his first game for the City and so he was a little bit apprehensive but the lads and managers had made him feel welcome at the tournament, so he was also looking forward to his first league game.
He got all his kit together the night before, as well as his clothes to arrive in: shirt, trousers, shoes and of course his City Schools FA tie.
The City Schools pitches are well kept and look like they’re a pleasure to play on, which is a bonus and something that I know my lad appreciates. Over the last few years, back passes have become more and more a part of his game. Dealing with back passes on some Sunday league pitches varies wildly, compared to composing yourself with the ball at your feet and being closed down by a striker on something you could easily compare to a bowling green. On the odd occasion if he needs to, he’ll still put his foot through it but given the chance, he looks to take a touch and find one of his full backs. The City Schools pitches give him the opportunity.
The team play their home games just a couple of miles from where we live, which is a bonus. It’s a bonus for me because it doesn’t take long to get there but it also doesn’t give laddo time to get nervous. Although not an overly nervous lad, the butterflies are still knocking about from time to time. The short drive means before he knows it, he into the changing rooms and getting his kit on, then soon after, he’s out on the pitch warming up. I honestly think this does him as an individual, the World of good.
As it’s all new to us, I didn’t really know anything about the opposition but I understood from one of the parents that they finished towards the bottom of the table last season.
About 15 minutes into the game and it didn’t look as though there was much between the two teams. Both teams had a few attacks without either keeper really being worked too hard. Then, the opposition got a free kick a few yards outside the area, in a fairly central position. My lad started shouting how many he wanted in his wall, went over to his post and started lining them up. I had been watching him do this and then I looked at the lads standing near the ball. There were a couple stood next to it and their captain a few yards away, looking like he’d prepared a run up, who looked most likely to fancy his chances.
The ref blew his whistle.
The captain ran up and smashed it, right footed. It flew. Absolutely flew. I don’t know if it went through the wall or past the last man but it was travelling. The keeper was moving to his right almost immediately after the ball left the taker’s foot. As his dad, I’ll back him the majority of the time but because of how fast it was going, in that split second, my only thought was that if he gets to it, because of the power, he won’t keep it out.
The next thing was the sound. Ball on glove. Ever since I’ve had the pleasure of watching him be a goalie, that sound has brought a smile to my face. It tends to come in a training session with a perfect catch, two hands coming into contact with the ball and it’s like a thud. A very satisfying thud.
This time the thud was just his right hand. But the noise meant it was a good, firm contact. The ball diverted from it’s path, up and over the bar. Then there was another great sound. A sort of a gasp or quick intake of air from parents stood nearby, followed by clapping. By this point, he’d picked himself up and him and team mates were getting ready to defend the corner. Just before half time, the home team scored to make it 1-0. Then in a very one-sided second half, they added another 5 goals without conceding. So a great save and a clean sheet on his City Schools league debut. Can’t grumble at that.
Over the next couple of weekends, the other keeper took his turn and my lad played a few grassroots and school games. Next up was the County Schools trial, the following Friday night. Other than the postcode and start time, details were fairly sketchy. Rumour had it that there had already been a couple of trials. As far as I could tell, the County team was likely to made up of lads from our city and the surrounding towns. I assumed that it was just going to be lads from Schoolboys teams in the County. I was wrong.
When we got to the trial, there were also lads there from academies who weren’t in Schoolboys teams, so the County FA’s net had been cast wider than I thought. I told my lad to just do his best and play how he normally does. One of the coaches had a list of names that he started to do a roll call from. As their names were called, they went onto the pitch. There were about 40 lads there in total. And including laddo, there were 5 keepers.
The format was fairly straightforward. The lads were split into four teams and played two games across a full sized pitch. There was a keeper in each goal, which left an extra keeper. The extra keeper was assigned to one game or the other and whenever a goal was conceded on that pitch, the spare keeper swapped with the lad who had just picked the ball out of the net.
In these situations, it’s one thing to concede as few as possible but you also want to be busy enough to be able to show what you can do. It’s no good to come off having kept a clean sheet if you haven’t got your gloves mucky. Thankfully he was busy straight away and made a few clean catches. The thing that pleased me most was his distribution though. He was playing out from the back with his defenders. When the opposition were doing their job by pressing, he started playing mid and long-range passes. The good thing was that they were measured and they were finding their targets, not just hit and hope.
Over the hour and a half, each team rotated and played each other and he just conceded a couple. The same as the other keepers, he took his turn on the sidelines but on the whole, in my opinion, he did well. I don’t remember him making any mistakes or misplacing passes, he made plenty of saves and he was vocal. The only thing that concerned me a little bit was that when he conceded the second goal, it was towards the end of the trial and nobody else scored after that. He seemed to be stood in the middle, not able to make saves, for ages.
I watched as the coaches shook all the lad’s hands at the end. One coach was shaking the hand of his mate and talking to him for a bit. It turned out he was asking his name. Definitely a good sign for him. My lad was stood nearby and the coach shook his hand straight after. When I spoke to my lad, I asked if the coach had asked his name as well. He said not. I felt a bit deflated.
It turned out he hadn’t asked his name because he knew who he was already. Also, a very good sign.
When we got home, we got his stuff together for the following morning. Another game for the City Schools team. He went to bed feeling happy with how he’d played but not confident that he’d done enough to make the squad. I told him it didn’t matter. I said I thought he’d done well and that if it turned out his best wasn’t good enough, what more could he do?
The game the following morning was a bit of a hangover for the lads. Nearly all of them had trialled the night before and not got home until about 10.30. The opposition, from a different county didn’t have the same trouble. The first half was fairly even but in the second half, the tiredness was showing in our lads. It gave the keeper the opportunity to make some more saves though. Although they lost 1-0, he made a handful of good stops and in the last minute they nearly even pinched a draw. A 1v1 block, a tip onto the bar from a free kick and a ‘wrong hand’ save from a header were the pick of his saves.
After the game, a WhatsApp message to the parents said that the County Schools coach would be making his decision on the squad over the next couple of days and that he would let the City Schools coach know as soon as he had.
I got a phone call on the following Tuesday. It was one of the City Schools dads. The County Schools coach hadn’t got my number, so he’d asked if one of the successful triallists dad’s would let me know that my lad was also in.
The County Schools FA team. A squad of 21, including 3 keepers. And he’s a part of it. Exactly 12 weeks after he got into the City Schools squad, he was into the County Schools squad.
The way things are going, I can’t do anything except keep the faith.
Keeper of the faith 