Author: keeperofthefaith

It’s been a long road to where we are now.

The end of the season is looming for Pat and his u16’s team mates. And it’s a far cry from his training sessions and first start for Charnock Ridgeway u8’s. It’s also a very strange feeling, while I’m coaching him, thinking this is his last season of junior football.

As the City Schoolboys finishes at u15’s and with not bothering trialling for South Yorkshire this season (see 32 – All keepers are equal…) this season Pat looked to pastures new for Saturday football. Sadly, Covid was still lurking on the side lines, looking to play its own part in proceedings, although at least from a football perspective thankfully it wasn’t as disruptive as previous.

But his new Saturday team is a familiar face, having played against them just about every pre-season since he signed for Greenhill, Evo Soccer is like an old friend. An ideology of developing players – not only as footballers but also as people – is in contrast to the vast majority of junior grassroots clubs.

Even in their Junior Premier League fixtures there’s no particular emphasis on them winning games, they’re more of an opportunity for the players to make their own decisions, not get screamed at if they make a mistake but then learn how to deal with that situation next time it occurs. Everything is reviewed, after the event or at half time (in the case of games), or on the spot during training sessions. All the games are filmed using VEO cameras which is a great tool to have at your disposal, to be able to look back at full games, or pinpoint specific incidents or passages of play.

The main difference between Evo and other private academy environments though, is that Evo look to move players on. That is, to pro club academies. It’s basically a shop window. Evo develop the lad’s skills with the goal being for them to find their way into the academy system.

I’d never really considered Evo as something for Pat but that was as much due to our circumstances than anything else. Season tickets at United for the last few years and then him playing for both Sheffield and South Yorkshire Schoolboys on Saturdays has meant he’s been busy enough. Another reason for not looking into Evo for Pat was because of him being a keeper. Evo’s style is very much being comfortable on the ball and keeping possession but very much outfield based. Little did I know.

Anyway, the keeper the same age as Pat, was going to be away for a couple of weeks. So Pat’s initial introduction was being asked by Dean (the founder of Evo) if he wanted to train for a couple of weeks, play in any friendlies and basically see if he enjoyed it. He did, very much. And he did well enough.

So if Pat wanted to join Evo, the plan was to use three keepers across the u15’s and u16’s age groups for the coming season. Isaac – last years u14’s keeper – Pat, and the lad he was covering for would all share game time. There are always going to be times throughout the season where one of them isn’t available, so it sounded like the most sensible option.

The three lads weren’t in competition with each other but could learn from each others strengths and weaknesses and push each other throughout the season in training and games. Pat was happy enough with that, particularly as he still had playing for Sheffield FC on Sundays to take into consideration, so the odd free Saturday or half game here and there wouldn’t be the end of the world.

A fair amount of the training was varied but involved shooting practice for the outfield lads, which meant the chance to make saves for Pat. It wasn’t just pot shots though. It was attack v defend (sometimes top heavy with defenders, sometimes with attackers), crosses, free kicks, so it kept him busy and in game like scenarios.

All in all, Pat took to it straight away. He knew a few of the lads already but those that he didn’t (and the coaches) made him feel welcome from the off. Dean in particular showed a lot of interest in Pat, made him part of the setup straight away and generally made him feel about 10 feet tall.

Dean would also be the coach of the u16’s team in the coming season, so Pat was raring to go.

There was also a lot of playing out from the back (defenders and keeper) but not just goal kicks and throws, it was game realistic stuff with the attackers pressing and making life difficult for Pat and the defenders.

The first game Pat was involved in was a game towards the end of the u15’s season, away at Stoke in the quarter finals of the National Cup. With the keeper situation already explained to the lads, the plan was for Pat and the other keeper to play half each, as much as anything to keep them both playing but also to give Pat a feel for the team and the style of play.

Pat played the first half and did well. The work he’d been doing with his feet in training was already showing and he looked composed with back passes and playing out from the back. 0-0 at half time, so he’d kept a clean sheet and given a decent account of himself. Evo lost 1-0 but there were a couple of dubious offside calls from the Stoke parent acting as linesman when Evo were on the attack.

He was now looking forward to the possibility of the season ahead with a new team. Trials were to be held for the u16’s team over two weekends at the end of June. Before the trials came round though, the other keeper decided he wasn’t up for sharing game time and left. No other keepers at Pat’s age trialled, so when the squad was announced, he was in. Unless anything dramatic changed, he’d be number 1.

Fast forward 10 months to yesterday and the lads once again found themselves in the quarter finals of the National Cup. This time against South Liverpool. Unfortunately, it was another narrow defeat, this time on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Throughout the years though, with the different teams Pat’s played for; Charnock Ridgeway, Greenhill/Sheffield FC, Westfield School, Sheffield Schoolboys, South Yorkshire Schoolboys and Sheffield FC u18’s in the FA Youth Cup, there’s been one constant – which goes back even further to when I was playing in the junior league – my Dad.

To be honest, he’d give me a good run for my money for being Pat’s biggest fan. He was always there for me, getting me to my games, near or far and all throughout Pat’s goalkeeping progress, he’s been a keen spectator.

He’s had to be a bit more selective since Pat’s been playing Saturdays and Sundays, for fear of getting ear ache from my Mum and so he hasn’t been ever present over the last couple of years. Partly from a need to keep the peace but also having being badly affected by Pancreatitis over the last 12 months. It’s been quite a long road to recovery and the well wishes from other supporters showed how well thought of he is on the side lines.

Since the weather’s picked up a bit, we’ve been able to watch a couple of Evo’s games together which has been great because for Sheffield FC I’m on the opposite touchline so we don’t get the chance. More than one parent in the past has referred to him as ‘the voice of reason’ when watching games and being particularly unbiased when giving his views. Even when talking about his grandson.

It’ll be nice to spend some more time together as an older lad and Dad next season, watching Pat. I’ve no doubt it’ll help me to keep the faith.

After the game against Frickley, Pat was full of confidence. He’d performed well and been playing two years up.

Seeing his name mentioned on the Sheffield FC u18’s Facebook write up wasn’t bad either.

The day before Pat’s 16th birthday, I got a text from Jon asking if he was available for the next round of the cup. The tie was away at Ossett United, that Thursday.

There wasn’t a training session in the run up to the game, so because of that, I guessed he might be playing again but didn’t assume anything until we were told.

From getting up for work early on Thursday morning, the weather was miserable. It rained non-stop and the forecast was for that to continue, at least until kick off at 7.30pm. The drive up the M1 to Wakefield was awful.

Pat, Ailish, my dad and me got to the ground in plenty of time. A steward pointed out where to park and reminded us (a couple of times) to come back up to the turnstile to pay the entrance fee.

Paying to watch Pat play has happened a few times now. It’s only a few quid and it’s all in aid of the clubs involved. Still makes me laugh though.

Pat walked up to the changing rooms and then disappeared from view. I hadn’t had much chance to talk to him in the car. I wish I had because once we were there, the unfamiliar surroundings and grim weather made it feel quite daunting. Frickley at home had been a big test but this felt different.

We went to get coffees and sat in the covered stand behind the top goal in an attempt to keep warm and dry.

The players came out not long after to start their warm up. The teams hadn’t been announced at this point but from what was happening at the far end of the pitch, Pat looked to be starting again.

I watched some of the Ossett team knocking the ball about and they looked very good. My curiosity had got the better of me earlier in the day and I’d looked at some of their previous results.

As a goalkeeper’s dad it didn’t make happy reading.

7-0 and 5-0 in the last two rounds of the FA Youth Cup. 9-0, 9-1 and 3-1 in their last games in the u18’s JPL. Scored 33 and conceded 2 in five games. I hadn’t passed this information on to Pat.

I had told him they were a good side, with a good reputation. But I’d left it at that.

Not long before kick off, the teams were announced.

I was obviously delighted for him but also having seen those results, had the feeling it could be a difficult night for Pat. The three of us decided to walk round to the small stand at the side of the pitch. My thinking was that if it didn’t go well for Pat, at least he could see us. A bit of moral support.

As we got round to the stand, about 7 or 8 young teenagers walked past us. I didn’t give it much thought at the time as they trooped down towards the small stand behind Pat’s goal. I assumed that was where they went most home games. Their favoured piece of the ground.

The game kicked off and Ossett were all over us. It wasn’t long before they were getting in behind the defence. They went 1-0 up on 2 minutes. A hard, low shot that fizzed off the wet surface. Pat got his hand to it but couldn’t keep it out. On 6 minutes, they were 2-0 up. This time the forward dribbled past a few defenders and struck another low shot.

I was fearing the worst at 2-0 down with not much more than 5 minutes gone but the Sheffield lads rolled up their sleeves and started to play a bit. In the best piece of play from our point of view, the advancing Ossett keeper was beaten from outside the area but a defender got back and cleared the danger.

The ball was still very much down Pat’s end the majority of the time. Every time it went near him or when it was in his possession, the teenagers behind the goal were shouting at him. Everything you see or hear keepers putting up with in the professional game, was happening to Pat.

On goal kicks he was given the, “you’re sh**, ahhhh” treatment.

Fetching the ball when it had gone out of play. “You’re f***ing sh** keeper!” “You’re w***, f*** off!”

Maybe it was naivety on my part but I was stunned. I never expected anything like it. He’s played grassroots, development and academy football, where you can’t even stand behind the goal, never mind shout abuse. ‘Respect’ markers or ropes on the sidelines are compulsory on Sunday mornings. OK, they aren’t always effective but this was something else.

I felt a mixture of anger and helplessness.

It was around this point that he managed to silence the noise from behind the goal, even if it was only for a matter of seconds. One of the Sheffield lads attempted a clearance but smashed it against an Ossett player. It rebounded towards the bottom right hand corner of Pat’s goal and skidded off the surface. He reacted quickly, sprinted and dived early, using the wet surface to help his dive. He got his right hand to the ball and touched it out for a corner. It was a really good save. The group were eagerly waiting for it to make its way into the bottom corner. Their cheers stopped.

After about half an hour, a low cross from the left created a third goal for Ossett, finished first time. The taunting continued from behind the goal. And on the stroke of half time, an Ossett player controlled the ball, moved it onto his left foot and knocked it into the top corner from about 25 yards out.

Half time, 4-0.

At least, I thought, he’s halfway there. I couldn’t see them being bothered to keep up the abuse for another 45 minutes. At least not to the same extent, being 4-0 up. Even the biggest optimist would have struggled to put a case for Sheffield making a comeback. The keeper wouldn’t need distracting any more. Surely.

After listening to what he’d put up with, I suggested to Ailish and my dad that we take a walk up to the top goal where Pat would be in the second half. They agreed. We walked up and sat on the second row from the front, just to the left of the goal. I didn’t pay much attention to who was already in the stand but Pat’s first half fan club were also making their way round. They sat on the front row, but at the opposite side of the goal to us.

I wanted to walk over and say something. I don’t know what I wanted to say. Just something to stop them having a go at my lad. But I knew I couldn’t.

The teams started coming back onto the pitch. As he walked up towards the goal, I wanted Pat to see us and know we were there.

It was the same sort of feeling I had when he first started playing at under 8’s and he’d be stood in goal. The tiny goalie. A lot of the time, a lonely little figure in the most pressurised position of all. I just wanted him to do well and enjoy himself. It was no different now.

Without standing up and waving like the embarrassing parent, I tried to get his attention. It didn’t work. Although the stand was hardly the Stretford End, I think we just blended in to the rest of the faces behind the goal. Not that he particularly looked up. He just hung his towel on the netting, turned round and walked back towards the edge of the area. As he was walking away, I heard something shouted from somewhere behind the goal but couldn’t make out what or from where.

The game restarted and to our relief, Sheffield started quite brightly. Pat was hardly a bystander but had less to do than in the first half.

But his treatment was along the same lines as in the first half. Only there was another group adding to the shouting. The shout I’d heard as he was walking away from goal was from this other group but as I kept glancing over my shoulder, they looked older than Pat. More like the same age as the older players on the pitch.

Again, any time the ball came near him, he was singled out. Ailish looked at me – as I’ve said before, they definitely have their disagreements but she’s very protective and wants him to do well when it comes to football – her jaw had dropped.

“Why are they shouting all that stuff at Pat? What’s he done to them?”

I tried to reassure her, all the time, worrying about him myself. “He probably won’t be able to hear them.” The only problem was, from where we were, it was as clear as a bell. It seemed to be a few lads out of a group of about 10 or 12. Ailish looked over her shoulder at them and turned back to me. “They look like a right bunch of chavs.”

Without going into all the details, the abuse was constant from this point on and it was all directed at Pat. He carried on doing what he’d been doing from the start of the first half. Shouting, instructing his team mates, making saves.

A couple of times when he took goal kicks, I shouted “Well done Pat.” In the hope he heard it and it gave him a boost.

Similar to the first half when the cheers had been silenced, Pat made a save that quietened them down. An Ossett player cut inside from the right and hit a shot across him. He moved his feet quickly, extended his arms and grasped the ball. He did very well to hold it in the wet conditions.

Ossett made it 5-0 with a deep cross to the back post with less than 10 minutes to go. “That’s your fault keeper! You’re f***ing useless!”

It looked like those running the Sheffield FC and Ossett United Twitter accounts disagreed with them.

The final whistle was only moments away and felt like it would be a huge relief but then with only a minute left to play Ossett made it 6-0. A really clever flick at the near post.

The ref blew for full time. Pat took his towel off the net and made his way towards the Ossett players to shake hands. As Pat was walking away from us, an Ossett midfielder came towards the stand. The big group that had been shouting at Pat in the second half went towards the player. It looked like most of them had Ossett tracksuits or jackets on, so likely that they were part of the squad. It also looked like they were his personal fan club.

In contrast, Pat trudged off towards the changing rooms.

We walked round and waited outside for him. The general feeling amongst the parents I spoke to was they’d had a good cup run but had come up against a very talented Ossett team. Pat came out not long after. Looking a bit fed up but not as much as I expected.

We drove back to Sheffield. As always, we picked the bones out of it for a while, dwelling on the positives. The saves he’d made, the whole experience of playing for the u18’s and how good his kicks were during the match particularly with the stick he was getting.

On that subject he said he knew what they were shouting but just tried to block it out and concentrate on his game. “Maybe they thought they needed to put me off.”

I said he might be right and he should take it as a compliment – however difficult it felt at the time – I also added that he was the one on the pitch and they were the ones sat in the stand, which says a lot to me.

We got home and when it was just us, I told him how proud I was of not only what he’d done over the two games but in general too. He seemed quite upbeat. He went for a shower. I went to bed.

In the morning I woke up just after 4.30, to get ready for work and looked at my phone. I’d got a message from Jon after I’d gone to sleep.

It was a lovely message to get. Since then, he’s been asked to go training with the u18’s development team but that’s another story.

So even with all the abuse that he had to put up with, things like that message really help you to keep the faith.

As the new Junior Premier League (Saturdays) and Sheffield & District Junior Sunday League made a welcome return, so did last season’s not so friendly visitor.

I don’t know if it’s the way the SDJSL usually arranges the u16’s league but to say they’re optimistic is an understatement. The A division has been increased from 10 to 12 teams and also there’s the League Cup. A successful run to the final in the League Cup would mean 4 games, plus the 22 in the league.

Add to that the County Cup (only played at u13’s and u16’s) which is a straight knockout competition, played over seven rounds.

This means the potential, if successful in both cups, of playing 33 games. Last season, our team managed to play a grand total of 10. Pat also had to miss two of those because we had to isolate, so only played 8.

Fast forward to this season and the first SDJSL game was postponed as the opposition had a combination of Covid and injuries. Pat had played for his new Saturday team, Evo Soccer the day before in a 4-0 defeat but now found himself at a loose end the following day.

Not long after Saturday’s game had finished, I got a text from Pat’s Sunday team assistant manager, saying that Sheffield FC Development Team were looking for a keeper for their u18’s game the following Friday and he’d suggested to them that Pat “could easily play u18’s”. So could Pat go training with them on Wednesday?

A very big compliment to be paid but once the initial surprise wore off, as usual, my brain started working overtime. Also as usual, it wasn’t all positive.

Plenty of stuff went through my head straight away. Things like…

• what standard were the u18’s?
• what standard (and who) would the opposition be?
• would he be out of his depth if he was picked?
• would he be big enough

I texted Pat.

I needed to find out more information to put my mind at rest – even if Pat was keen to go, without asking a single question. I replied to the text and found out that one of the u18’s player’s dad, John, who I know, had actually started the ball rolling. So I texted him to try and find out the full story.

It turned out that the team in question was made up of lads from the local u18’s scholarship programme as well as the u18’s Sunday league team. The team don’t play in a league but were entered into the FA Youth Cup. They had got through the Preliminary Qualifying Round on penalties and the next game was the 1st Qualifying Round at home to Frickley Athletic, on the following Friday night at the Coach and Horses ground in Dronfield.

It also came into the conversation that there were already the two u18 keepers that had been involved in the previous round. He expected them both to be at training, along with any others who had been asked to go along.

The coach of Sheffield FC u18’s/reserves, Jon, messaged me the following day to find out if Pat was interested and if so, could he come to meet some of the lads and take part in a training game on Wednesday at the Coach and Horses. So it was all set.

Wednesday evening came round and we made our way to the ground.

Pat’s sister, Ailish, came along to see what all the fuss was about. Over the last few years she’s taken quite a lot of interest in his football and watches most of his games. The majority of the time it’s the usual brother/sister relationship where they want to strangle each other but when it comes to his football, she supports him and deep down, I think he really appreciates it.

On the way there, he was very quiet. I asked if he was alright. He just said he was nervous because of the age difference and not knowing anybody. He hadn’t met any of the lads or Jon before. The only familiar face as it turned out, was Bully, one of the other coaches who manages the u18’s Sheffield FC Sunday league team.

I just said something along the lines of: go and enjoy it, you might not get chance to play on the pitch of the World’s oldest club again. You’re two years younger than them, so you’ve nothing to lose.

I also put an emphasis on him shouting and instructing during the training game. Difficult if you don’t know lad’s names but when he first played for Evo, it was the same. So instead of names, it becomes positions or areas of the pitch. That way, he’s still instructing and being vocal.

When we got there, he got out of the car and walked to the changing rooms. Not really knowing where he was going but he saw Bully, so I’m sure that made him feel a little bit at ease. Ailish and me walked round to the corner of the ground. I wanted to watch Pat but only from a distance. I wanted him to feel part of the group, without feeling like I was on his shoulder. But I was also interested to see how many other keepers were there. Pat and three others by the looks of things.

The training session started with a warm up, then the four keepers moved away from the outfield lads. There didn’t look much of a height difference (if any) between Pat and two of them but the other lad was much taller. Pat’s handling and serving was all up to his usual standard, so I was happy. As long as he gave a good account of his ability, I’d be happy. Even if that turned out to be below the standard the coaches wanted.

What else can you ask for?

It became clear that the taller lad was there in a coaching capacity. He was leading the keeping session and giving the lads pointers along the way. That was one of my questions answered anyway – Pat was tall enough – compared with the other two lads.

After the handling and footwork was complete, the lads all jogged over to the coaches and then a few minutes later, came back onto the pitch, split into two teams. Pat came over to the goal closest to us. I guessed they’d want to see plenty of him in the training game because they’d have already seen the other two keepers play previously.

He did really well, helped by the fact that he was far busier than the lad in the other goal. There’s nothing worse than wanting to show what you’re capable of but not getting the chance to. Apart from one goal, he made save after save. A couple of the saves were low shots that he just got fingertips to. As he made the saves, I looked past him towards the coaches. They looked – and sounded – happy with what they were seeing. Pat played the whole of the first half and part of the second, before he was replaced.

As the training session ended, Ailish and me began to walk towards the exit. Pat was walking over, talking to Jon. Pat half waved to me, to get my attention. Jon introduced himself and said that Pat had done well.

He added that he would need to speak to the other coaches but he was pleased with how Pat had done.

Later on, I got a message from Jon.

To me, ‘involved’ simply meant to be part of the squad. No problem at all. Being in the squad, the build up and it being the FA Youth Cup would all be brilliant experience for him. The following morning I got another message just to advise that him being involved would be reliant on getting him registered in time.

I also got a message from John, who had initially put Pat’s name into the mix. His lad Mackenzie hadn’t been able to go to the training session.

I was blown away.

By 11.00 on Thursday morning, Pat was registered. I was asked to get him to the ground for 6.15pm on Friday, for a 7.30pm kick off. The team would be announced about an hour before kick off.

Pat’s manager at Sheffield FC u16’s had put a message on the team’s Facebook page, saying Pat would be involved if any of them wanted to go and watch the game. His manager at Evo Soccer had also mentioned it to the Evo players, so whether he was playing or not, it looked like some of his mates would be there to support him.

On Friday, I took him to the ground but left plenty of time to get there. We arrived at the ground about 6.00pm. More than happy to be there early, for Pat’s sake but it meant I’d have half an hour to wait to see if he was playing. That ended up being an hour, as the team was announced on the club’s Twitter feed a few minutes before 7.00pm.

He was in the starting 11. I felt nervous but could only imagine how he felt when he was told.

I watched his warm up with the other keeper and Bully. He looked ok but also a bit tense, as if he was maybe trying too hard. I hoped he’d get an early touch in the game that would calm him down.

As kick off approached, some familiar faces came through the turnstile. Mainly his Sheffield FC team mates but also both his managers. I had no idea if Pat had seen any of them but I think he’ll have had a look into the stands when the teams came out onto the pitch. He knew that me, Ailish and my dad were all there rooting for him.

As the teams lined up, you could tell there was an age gap, looking at Pat and some of the other players. Not just the physicality but also in their faces – some of them looked like men – and there was Pat, still a couple of weeks short of his 16th birthday.

When the game got underway, Frickley were quickest to settle, whereas Sheffield struggled to compose themselves. With it still at 0-0, the ball fell to a Frickley player and he took his shot early. Pat was about 10 yards off his line but dived high and to his left and stretched out his right arm. He got his (wrong) hand to the ball and turned it round his left post. If that didn’t make him feel more confident, I don’t know what would.

Not long after, a ball crossed from the left was met with a half volley by the same player. Pat dived and made a save but he couldn’t hold it and the ball squirmed away from him. He scrambled and dived towards the ball. It looked as though he had it in two hands as the Frickley played followed up his shot. The ball ended up in the goal. Pat and the Sheffield defenders were shouting at the referee that he’d had it in two hands. But the ref wasn’t going to have his mind changed.

1-0 to Frickley.

A few minutes later, Sheffield equalised. It stayed that way until half time.

More or less straight after half time, Sheffield scored again to make it 2-1. For the first time since I saw the team sheet, I actually felt a bit of relief from my nerves. It lasted just over 10 minutes. Another low cross. Pat dived out towards the ball but the striker got there at the same time. The ball bobbled free and at the second attempt, the striker scored to make it 2-2.

3 minutes later, the nerves were a bit more subdued again. Mackenzie scored a goal that looked like something off FIFA. He picked the ball up and ran at the Frickley defence. He went one way, then the other, drifting past defender after defender before smashing a shot, hard and low beyond the keeper.

3-2 with about 20 minutes to play.

From that point on, it was very one sided. Frickley were pushing extra bodies forward, trying to grab an equaliser. Their attacks were much more direct and a lot more frequent. Sheffield were limited to counter attacks.

With about 5 minutes left to play, the ball broke free to one of the Frickley midfielders, who hit it first time. I was stood level with the edge of Pat’s 18 yard box. He’d hit it well. As soon as it left his boot, I looked at Pat. He was moving across to his right. Quickly. As the ball got closer to goal, he pushed off. He extended his left arm, arching it over his head and got a strong hand to the ball.

The ball whistled past his right hand post and out for a corner. It was a real heart in mouth moment but a smashing save. The home team defended the corner and saw the game out without too many more attacks to worry about.

After the final whistle had gone, the smile on Pat’s face as he made his way off the pitch was huge. Literally from ear to ear.

For me, the whistle brought a mixture of relief and exhaustion. I was absolutely worn out just watching him play.

I’ve no idea how long he’ll play for, or at what level but I don’t think I’ll ever ‘enjoy’ watching him. All this game did, was show me that the bigger the game, the more anxious I’ll feel. The life of a keeper – and his dad.

No matter what, you just have to keep the faith.

When my lad said he wanted to be a goalie, to say I was happy is an understatement.

Having being a keeper when I was younger though, I knew how on edge I’d be when I was watching him. The responsibility of being a keeper can’t be explained to a seven year old though. It’s unlikely that it can even be fully understood by a young teenager.

My lad’s never been one for watching sport. Football’s no different. He’s always preferred playing, taking part and having an effect on the outcome of the result. It was something that worried me when he was younger because I always thought he needed to see the pro’s performing and see how it should be done. I wanted him to watch keepers all the time. I was desperate for him to absorb the best attributes from each keeper so he could put it all into his own game.

Don’t get me wrong, he watches matches with me at Bramall Lane. We’re season ticket holders and have been for the last few years as the Blades have gone from spending time in League 1, to slugging it out with the best teams in the land in the Premier League. At times, the games, performances and the atmosphere have been on another level to what had been in front of us in previous seasons.

But, especially as he’s got older, I don’t think he’d have kicked up that much fuss if I’d said we weren’t getting season tickets the following year. He’d probably rather be trying to stop his mates scoring past him on the rec, than sitting with his old man. That’s just a part of us both getting older. A natural progression I suppose.

As he’s grown, I’ve been there. I’ve watched him, I’ve coached him, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, I’ve been ecstatic and I’ve felt physically sick.

While ever he wants me coaching him, I will, as long as I think I can do him justice by pushing him and improving his game. But, as with us watching United, I know if he carries on playing, his old man will gradually move into the background. I’ll be sad but we’ve had some great times training together and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of his football.

As and when that happens I’ll go back to just watching him, as his biggest fan, with the biggest knot in my stomach, hoping that he doesn’t make a mistake and cost his team a game. But I know it’ll happen at some point.

That’s the keeper’s lot.

We all make mistakes. That’s part of being human. The mistake of a keeper though, generally leads to conceding a goal and potentially losing a game.

Rewinding back a few years, one of our visits to Bramall Lane was very different to the rest. We won a raffle. Thanks to Matt, one of the other dads (a Supporter Liaison Officer at Bramall Lane) one of the prizes in the raffle at his first grassroots club was to be a matchday mascot for the Sheffield United v Scunthorpe United game on the last day of the 2015/16 season.

As far as United were concerned, it proved to be a pivotal match in their recent history. It was the final game before the appointment of Chris Wilder who took the club on an upward trajectory almost immediately.

As far as Pat and me were concerned, it was a real one off. A chance to go beyond the usual matchday experience, see the build up and meet the manager and players.

He had his favourites of course.

Billy Sharp is a living legend for Blades fans and the opportunity to meet him was amazing. Next in line was another Sheffield lad, George Long. United’s keeper. As a young keeper in a less than consistent team, he’d had highs but also lows. And although they were in League 1 – and had been for a few seasons – United’s average home attendance was just less than 20,000. At 22 years of age, Long had his fair share of critics in the crowd and they didn’t hold back in letting him know.

Pat, by this point already part of the ‘goalkeeper’s union’, wouldn’t have cared who was United’s number 1 but the fact that it was a young, local lad wasn’t lost on him. He was in awe.

As Pat was ushered round the changing room to have his photo taken with the rest of the squad, his eyes lit up when he was plonked in between two of the younger lads. On his right was David Brooks, who would prove to be one of the most skilful and entertaining players to play for United in quite a few years.

On his left was the substitute keeper, just a few days short of his 18th birthday. Aaron Ramsdale.

From that point on, we followed the progress of both the lads. Brooks played his part in the rise of the Blades to the Premier League before being sold to Bournemouth, with Ramsdale going out on loan to Chesterfield and then AFC Wimbledon, before reuniting with Brooks in the Premier League with the Cherries.

Obviously being a keeper meant we kept a keen eye on Ramsdale, particularly on the first day of the 2019/20 season, after United had returned to the Premier League, with Billy Sharp snatching a late equaliser against Bournemouth. Bournemouth were eventually relegated but week in, week out, on Match of the Day, Ramsdale looked to be performing well, albeit overworked. He was eventually voted Player of the Year by their supporters.

Back at United, with Dean Henderson’s second loan season over and a permanent deal not being an option, the Blades had to look elsewhere. Step forward Aaron Ramsdale. United offered him an immediate return to the Premier League, but it cost them. He signed a four year deal for £18.5 million. £17.5 more than he was sold for. A big price tag.

The new season was in complete contrast to the overachievement of the previous year.

The return to football behind closed doors in the previous season saw United struggle without fans pushing them on. The new season also gave United the added headaches of injuries, having previously had an almost unchanged team.

As before with George, it didn’t take long for Aaron to be the object of some fans discontent. He was immediately compared to Henderson. An unfair comparison. Playing behind an ever changing back line with the long term injury to Jack O’Connell is hardly ideal for a new keeper.

Maybe the fact that fans are still not in the ground has amplified things but social media has become an apparent free for all, with Ramsdale feeling required to post apologies for some of his performances.

This, from a lad, although not hailing from Sheffield, was seen to be ‘coming home’ due to being a product of United’s academy.

At the time of writing, he’s made the joint 2nd most saves in the Premier League which proves two things: 1) he knows what he’s doing and 2) he’s facing a lot of shots.

Football is a game of opinions.

A few times on Twitter I’ve felt the need to defend Ramsdale either because I don’t agree with what’s being said, or because the other person has little or no grasp of goalkeeping. And sometimes you learn to avoid it. As the saying goes, “don’t argue with an idiot, they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience”.

Once or twice, after the event, I’ve been told about comments towards my lad during games. Not just from the opposition. By one of our own player’s dads on one occasion – when he was 14. It hurts, there’s no denying it.

What strikes me is that my lad is playing at a vastly different level to Aaron Ramsdale, but he isn’t that much younger than him. Ramsdale is 22 and has his best years in front of him.

Whether it’s a professional footballer, or a lad playing grassroots, they don’t go out there to make mistakes on purpose. I guess some people looking on, thrive on pulling other people down though.

Keepers always have been and always will be easy targets. A forward can score 1 chance in 10 and he’s a hero. A keeper can make 1 error and he’s automatically a liability.

I’ll always back my lad, even if he’s having a below par spell because mentally he’s strong and knows he has to deal with it. Instantly.

Obviously I don’t know Aaron Ramsdale anything like as well as my lad but I know he wouldn’t be where he is now if he wasn’t made of the right stuff. Off the back of the game against Man Utd, where ironically Henderson helped the Blades into an early lead, United play Brighton today and we’ll be hoping for 3 points and a clean sheet for one of our heroes.

That’s after Pat’s played, where I’m hoping for the same, obviously.

If you’re a Blade, please get behind our keeper and keep the faith.

As we knew, laddo was going to miss two games. That’s if nothing else developed in the way of symptoms for any of us in the time we were all in isolation.

The gov.uk website’s guidance on how to cope with somebody in the household having had a positive test shows just how out of touch the government are with ordinary family’s living arrangements.

These are the instructions for if you have a positive test result.

“Spend as little time as possible in shared spaces such as kitchens, bathrooms and sitting areas. Avoid using shared spaces such as kitchens and other living areas while others are present and take your meals back to your room to eat.“

It wasn’t going to happen that our 13 year old daughter would spend 10 days cooped up in her bedroom, eating all her meals by herself. No chance.

Then, instruction for the person who has had the positive test.

“Use a separate bathroom from the rest of the household where possible. If a separate bathroom is not available, try and use the facilities last, before cleaning the bathroom using your usual cleaning products.“

Without having done a survey on the living arrangements of the country, I understand en-suite bathrooms are much more common these days than they used to be but doubt that everybody has that luxury. In which case, they’re suggesting a child tries to wait until everybody else has done, then they can use the bathroom but they need to give it a full clean it before returning to their cell.

I suppose these rules are quite different if you’re an MP, living in a huge house with multiple bathrooms. Having said that, as previously shown, the rules don’t necessarily apply to MPs – do as I say, not do as I do.

Anyway, back to the present.

10 days after my daughter’s COVID test and she went back to school. No further symptoms, other than the temperature that she had for the first 5-6 days. The other three of us though, need to stay home until Friday as it’s 14 days of isolation if you live with someone who’s tested positive.

I don’t want to tempt fate but none of us have so far shown any signs of symptoms in the last 10 days. Both my wife and myself – similar to plenty of others by the sounds of it – think it’s possible we might have had it or something like it, fairly recently but again without any of the main 3 symptoms. I know plenty of people who recall feeling unwell around the turn of the year and couldn’t seem to shake off whatever it was they were suffering from.

One thing I’ve learnt from it all, since a week last Friday is that it’s easy to lose track of what day of the week it is. Being confined to the house for the last week and a half – apart from putting the bins out – I can see how easy it could be to get stuck in a rut if you were unfortunate enough to be made redundant without something else on the horizon. One day merges into the next – even when you’re lucky enough to be able to be working from home for a couple of weeks.

I saw something on tv at the weekend where officials reckon that only a very small minority are actually sticking to the self-isolation rules. Maybe that’s just a line the government are using so they can keep pushing cities into tier 3 restrictions. But I also heard about somebody watching his daughter play football when he was waiting for the result of his own COVID test. The people he was stood with knew nothing about him waiting for a test result, until he rang one of them two days later to let him know he’d tested positive.

Maybe it goes back to MPs doing as they please, that average folk don’t see why they should have to change their lifestyle.

Or maybe it’s just that people don’t bother to read up on the rules until it affects them directly.

Either way it’s plain selfish.

So far my lad’s team have not been affected too badly, numbers wise, by COVID – apart from losing their keeper for 2 matches. Once we’d found out that his sister had tested positive, somebody had suggested we take laddo for a test and that way, if it came back negative, he’d be able to play. Unfortunately not.

Apart from not knowing what you can and can’t do, maybe that just shows in his mind, the significance of having a recognised keeper.

If you’ve read of any of my blogs before, you’ll know my thoughts on it. And if the rules said I could have taken him for a test, which would have meant he could play, I would have. But they don’t.

So going back to the two thought processes:

a) I don’t care what the rules say, or b) I haven’t read the rules

Junior football is the ‘be all and end all’ for some people. And I’m not talking about the kids. You only have to go and watch a game and you’ll see at least one dad, or mum for that matter, screaming from the sidelines. I’d be willing to bet there are plenty that would fall into both the a) and b) categories to prevent their kid from missing games.

As much as neither of us liked it, there was no way my lad was going to play in either game.

But you could risk it…

Nobody from your own team would say anything, would they? Your lad could play and help his team mates get a win. He might even be man of the match. But then what happens if a few days later, one of the other lads in the team comes down with the virus? Or maybe half the team does? It could be a complete coincidence and nothing to do with your lad but who would know. The finger would be pointed at you.

As we found out, you end up trapped in the house for a fortnight, apart from the excitement of taking the bins out, or the dog chasing you round the garden.

Some people wouldn’t take too kindly to that, especially if they were to end up out of pocket, if for example they weren’t able to work from home. And all for a game of football.

The first game had been a 5-4 loss but even without the keeper playing, from 3-0 up, maybe they should have still got the three points. We’ll never know if it would have made a difference if my lad had played.

So bottom of the league after one game, the other game he was going to miss was the quarter final of the cup. The same lad was deputising in goal with my lad missing, as well as two more out injured. It would have been a tough game even with a full squad.

The manager was back out of self-isolation, so he and one of the other dads kept us in touch with what was happening. 1-0 down, then level, then 2-1 up. After that it went quiet and we were trying to work out when full time would be. The minutes ticked by, very slowly. I sent a text. 2-2 was the reply. So extra time to be played. No further goals, so penalties.

The opposition went first and scored. We scored ours. For the first four penalties each, nobody missed. Then our keeper saved one, a great save by all accounts. So if we scored our next, we’d won. Sadly it wasn’t the case and he put it wide. The next miss was another of our lads and we went out 7-6 on penalties.

So, all in all, in the two games we weren’t far off getting a result in both. My lad might have made a difference in goal, who knows. Him playing though, would definitely have freed up the stand in keeper to play in his more familiar midfield position. Even though in the cup match, he got man of the match with the gloves on.

When I see him at training on Friday, I’ll ask him if he enjoyed his couple of games in goal. My guess is that he will have, in a funny sort of way but I’d also be willing to bet that he’ll be happy and relieved to be back in midfield on Sunday.

From our point of view, we’re both excited to be getting back to football. He’s got training on Friday, a friendly for Sheffield Schoolboys on Saturday morning and a league game for Sheffield FC on Sunday. But also in the back of my mind, I’m really hoping that it’s our only involvement with self-isolation.

So, Sunday morning I got up at just turned 6am, when the dog let me know it was time to go downstairs so he could shout at the cat.

From that point on, I refreshed the emails on my phone roughly every 5 minutes.

Me and my lad both put our kit on. Just in case.

His home matches are played only about 5 minutes (by car) from our house, so even a late thumbs up from the NHS wouldn’t be the worst outcome for him. We’d still be able to make a quick dash up there. I’d got it in my head where to drive to, so that the car would be close enough to the pitch for him to sprint to the sideline and I could worry about finding somewhere to park after.

Nothing. Not a peep from my phone.

Deep down we knew it was a big ask to hear anything before kick off. That would have been less than 48 hours after the test. The NHS website quotes that “most people get their test results within 2 days, but it could take up to 5 days.” So for the time being, our self-isolation continued.

One of the midfielders was also self-isolating, another midfielder out with a back injury. The lad who had taken on the burden of going in goal was – you’ve guessed it – another midfielder.

His manager is self-isolating but was kept in touch with what was happening at the game by a few of the dads. More or less straight after kick off, my phone burst in to life as he began relaying the messages to me. 1-0 up inside a few minutes. 2-0. 3-0. We were buzzing and I was wondering if I’d have to pay out a clean sheet bonus to the deputising keeper.

Unfortunately I didn’t have to think about it for too much longer. By half time the deficit had been reduced to 3-2. Into the second half and in what seemed like no time at all, we were 5-3 down. My dad, a ‘season ticket holder’, said the lad in goal had done well but it seemed the lack of rotation available for the midfield had taken it’s toll. They just ran out of steam.

At 5-3 down they had a good go at them and even managed to pull a goal back but it ended 5-4. My lad and me trudged upstairs and got changed back out of our kit. The usual empty feeling of defeat was there but in a different kind of way. I’d still had the hope that his run of consecutive games would somehow miraculously continue and even if he didn’t perform heroics, he’d do enough to help his team get a win.

We were still waiting on the test result coming through and even though we didn’t know when we’d hear, my mind started to wander towards the possibility of getting my stuff together for work on Monday morning.

It was about 4.30pm when my phone pinged.

As it was me that had booked the test for my daughter and also taken her to the testing centre, it was me that received both a text and an email with the result. As I read the text, my heart sank and I got a burning sensation in my eyes. My wife was in the room at the time.

I felt my bottom lip wobble. I couldn’t talk without my voice cracking. I just turned my phone round so she could read it. We stood there and looked at each other. Maybe it was our constant reassurances, telling our daughter that it wouldn’t be coronavirus, that meant we’d also convinced ourselves but I can honestly say I was certain that it was going to come back negative.

We went in the room together to tell her the news. Her expression changed and she looked flushed in the cheeks. I thought she was going to cry but she didn’t. Deep down she took it much better than I did. I felt helpless that her test was positive and this virus that had not impacted on us directly until now, had hit home with full force.

We had a look on the NHS website to double check what happened next, although we already had a good idea. Self-isolation for her for 10 days from her symptoms starting. 14 days for the three of us.

My wife’s been working from home since the original lockdown started in March. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to keep working full time, without too much difference in how we’ve gone about things. Obviously social distancing, regular hand sanitising and mask wearing have all been introduced but in the main we’ve been able to continue working with most of our usual customers.

So first of all, I let my mum and dad know, then my boss.

Next, I let my lad’s manager know that he’d be missing his second competitive game in just over seven years, next Sunday in the quarter final of the cup.

And so in the space of five days, we’ve gone from being positive about giving the league and cup a really good go this season, to possibly getting knocked out of the cup and we’re also propping up the division. Early days yet though.

On social media over the weekend I saw several conversations about what should be done to even things up in the eventuality of weakened teams. At younger age groups there’s a lot of feeling that sides should be matched up, so if a team can only field say, 7 players in a 9-a-side game, the opposition should only put 7 players on the pitch as well. That works in principle but if it’s not written into the laws of the game, who’s to say all teams will follow that approach? Guaranteed some won’t.

At older ages, specifically in higher divisions my feeling is that less teams would want to go down that route. In a lot of cases the teams are in high divisions at the older ages because they’ve been competitive since around u12’s when scores and league tables are published.

I didn’t see anything confirmed by a league official – which would be a novelty in itself – but it appears quite a few people are under the impression that there are special measures because of the COVID situation. This looked to mean the opportunity to call a postponement if proof were given that x amount of players weren’t available to play, specifically because of the virus. Standard laws mean an 11v11 game must still go ahead even if one of the teams is only able to field 8 players. 8 v 11 (+ subs) generally means a cricket score.

One thing I didn’t notice when I was looking through the different takes on how to address these situations is what happens if the goalkeeper is missing?

With all due respect to outfielders, in these kind of situations, it shows how important goalkeepers are.

Pick any outfield player out of a team to miss a game and there’s still a good chance you can get a result. In grassroots, with only one recognised keeper in the squad, take him out and the odds are instantly stacked against you. The other thing about grassroots is you tend to recognise players from season to season. I’ve no doubt the opposition on Sunday will have known even before kick off that the lad in our goal wasn’t a keeper.

As I said before, older age teams in higher divisions are more likely to go for 3 points than the sporting gesture.

So this week laddo’s 100% guaranteed to miss out, as dictated by the law of the land. It is what it is, there’s definitely no hope of a last minute reprieve this time around.

But it gets you thinking, I’m sure some of the other teams – older ages, in higher divisions – might just plead ignorance or keep quiet, to make sure they’re not weakening their chance of 3 points. Who knows? Maybe I’m being cynical?

I’ll want to keep up to date with Sunday’s cup game, that’s a given, but for all my talk about football and specifically goalkeeping, by far the most important matter, is the sister of who I usually write about.

Keep the faith.

The coronavirus has had a crippling effect on all levels of football.

From top paid stars turning out for the European super clubs, down to 6 year old kids playing for their local grassroots teams, it’s changed how we can play the beautiful game.

It will have affected the grassroots pre-season that all teams will have had planned. Players in groups of 6 maximum, with a coach per group meant coaching challenges, especially if teams were holding trials for the new season. The enforced, different setup of training sessions meant it would be difficult to gauge the ability of some trialists if they weren’t already known to the coaches.

Gradually the new changes were eased and training returned to some kind of normality. Throw ins were reintroduced, as opposed to kick ins. Headers were allowed after being outlawed. The groups of 6, thankfully, disappeared and all the lads were able to train together. As well as training together, tackling was now allowed, as part of being able to play a contact game in the sessions.

Watching games has also changed. Watching professionals play for our favourite teams has now become an armchair activity for fans in Great Britain. With limited enjoyment it has to be said. In some countries, small numbers have recently been allowed to return to stadiums. Why this varies from country to country, who knows. By looking on social media over the last few weeks though, it’s become apparent that fans are getting fed up with how things are moving forward.

The latest development is the news that the games not already being shown on Sky and BT Sport are available for fans to watch. This includes Saturday 3pm kick offs. But in keeping with pricing the average fan out the game, to watch a game will cost £14.95 a pop.

What was an amazing opportunity for TV companies and the Premier League to win fans back over, has had a very different outcome. The fans make the game but they’re being taken for mugs.

Out of all the Premier League teams, only Leicester voted against the pay-per-view model. Some fans will pay the fee to watch their team, many others won’t. But either way the interest in our national game at the highest levels is falling away.

As a spectator of both Premier League and grassroots football, if I had to choose only one to watch, even before all this, there’s no contest. Grassroots every time. Don’t get me wrong, we go to watch the Blades when they’re at home and on tv if it’s an away game, on Sky for example. But watching my lad play, wins every time.

As I’ve said before, I have a knot in my stomach from kick off to the final whistle but even so, his biggest fan has to be there when he’s playing.

This is his eighth season of football and in that time, he hasn’t missed a competitive game for any of the teams he’s played for – school, grassroots, City schoolboys, County schoolboys. He’s been unwell, carried injuries and knocks but he’s played regardless.

It comes with being a keeper.

Other positions, you can shuffle the pack and ask lads to fill in, in a different position for a game or two. But as a keeper there’s an understanding that your position is unique. As well as your skills. Because of that, even from an early age, he’s put his body on the line for the good of the team.

An outfielder can get through a game in any other outfield position without too much drama. A right back for example can play left wing if needed. They’ll probably just come inside and onto their right foot whenever they get chance, rather than using their weaker foot too often.

But, tomorrow is different. For the first time in nearly eight years the decision has been taken out of his hands.

His sister was feeling unwell on Thursday night and into Friday morning. She had a temperature and seemed to be coming down with something like flu. Unfortunately, as is the case these days, after discussing it we felt we had to take her for a COVID test, just to be on the safe side.

The earliest I could book a test was 2pm on Friday, so I booked it there and then. When I took her for the test, they explained the results would be texted or emailed to me between 1-5 days. In the meantime, all four of us are required to self isolate. None of the rest of us have any symptoms but that makes no difference.

Until her result is back we’re trapped at home. Can’t even walk the dog. We’re convinced that it will be negative. Since Friday afternoon her temperature seems to have dropped and she hasn’t got a new cough, or had a change to her sense of smell or taste. As her parents and as people wanting to do the right thing, in shielding others from any possible infection, we felt there was no alternative other than getting the test.

On a personal level I think the government have created the situation we’re living in. The fear factor plays a huge part. After all, if you had symptoms and carried on regardless but then a loved one fell ill, how would you feel? I’m less than convinced about their knowledge of the virus but still daren’t risk it. My lad’s manager is also currently self isolating after being in the company of someone who has received a positive test, so he’s also missing training and games.

Grassroots training on Friday night, City schoolboys training on Saturday morning were both missed by my lad. The only question now as far as his football is concerned is whether the result is received in time for Sunday morning’s game.

Just to add insult to injury, I ordered him some new boots during the week and they arrived this morning.

So at the time of writing this, we haven’t got the result back. The plan for tomorrow is to get up and get ready as we normally would do on a Sunday and then sit and wait and hope that sometime before kick off, his sister gets the negative result we’re after.

Obviously the importance of him playing football is way behind his sister’s situation.

It seems bizarre though, that it’s odds on he won’t play tomorrow but not through any injury or illness to him and that his over seven year run of consecutive games will be halted by scare tactics brought in by the government.

It’s difficult and we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed but I’ll also keep the faith.

The major knock on effect of the coronavirus pandemic as far as football is concerned is something that nobody would have seen coming. Empty stadiums.

No matter what standard of football you’re used to watching, whether it’s the Premier League or down through the professional game into non-league, it’s a given that if you’ve got a few quid in your pocket, you can get a ticket and go and watch a game.

Near to us there’s a club in the Premier League, three in the Championship, one in League 1 and countless senior teams in non-league that you could easily visit on a Saturday afternoon. The Premier League team aside, you could turn up to pretty much all the others and pay on the gate and watch a game.

Not any more.

When this weekend (or weekday evening) pleasure will return to our lives, who knows? What has become apparent since the stadiums were vacated is that football fans don’t like not being able to go to games. Going to watch your team is a release, a break from the norm. You meet up with people, and talk to people, that sometimes you only see at football matches. It’s been taken away and it’s affected some more than others.

On social media, the view of the majority is that ‘it’s not football’. And it isn’t. Football is the people’s game. The fans are what make it what it is, either for good or bad. Empty, soulless grounds, with shouts from the dug outs echoing round isn’t what it’s about. People who are used to following their team aren’t enjoying only being able to watch the game on tv. The longer the situation continues, you feel the disconnect between some fans and the game may become permanent.

When fans are allowed to return to stadiums to watch games, it will be at far less than full capacity. More likely 25-30%. This brings the question of how the decision will be made by clubs on who is actually allowed in. Loyalty points and match ticket ‘lotteries’ are potential ideas to allow, say a third of maximum capacity into the grounds. But as the saying goes, you can’t please all the people all the time. Whoever can’t get in, won’t be happy. There’s no guarantee that those inside will be happy either. The experience will be vastly different to how it was.

Probably the biggest farce at the moment, is the situation that is happening at some of the non-league grounds.

Games are being screened to a socially distanced, limited number, in hospitality suites at the actual ground where the game is being played. Literally on the other side of a wall. Such is the complete mess of the Government’s restrictions, that they’ll allow the small group of punters to watch the game on a screen, indoors, but not let any supporters watch the game live, outside, in the stands in the open air. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

And all the time while these hair-brained rules are enforced, clubs face going to the wall due to lack of income. Macclesfield Town being the latest club to be wound up with debts of £500,000. Half a million quid sounds like quite a lot, and is to many clubs, particularly without match day income but at a Premier League club just 20 miles away from Moss Rose, there are two goalkeepers being paid that amount between them every week.

So, to sum up, football fans across the nation aren’t particularly enjoying the game in the current climate.

Grassroots football teams meanwhile, have just started their season. It feels like it’s been a long time coming and there’s anxiety that even though it’s here now, it might not run the full duration, depending how things develop.

It was my lad’s first game of the season on Sunday. The 1st round of the cup, at home against a team newly promoted to the same division. The teams had met a couple of weeks before in the Summer league, with us snatching a 2-2 draw in the last minute. With our less than convincing performance, the opposition will no doubt have fancied their chances, as well as being out for a bit of revenge.

To be able to get the game on, there were a few hoops to jump through, devised by the FA in conjunction with government guidance. I had a run through what we needed to put in place.

The main points being:

Downloading a ‘NHS COVID-19’ QR poster for the team and displaying it for spectators to scan with their smart phone. The alternative being writing details down with an old fashioned pen and paper.

Reminding parents to continue with government social distancing guidance whilst on the side lines and also when queuing for the tuck shop.

The pavilion will remain closed apart from access for the toilets. When visiting the toilets, face masks were to be worn.

Hand sanitiser made available at the tuck shop and everyone to be encouraged to use it.

Fairly standard stuff at the moment I suppose and if it meant being able to get games on, we were all in agreement that they were worthwhile measures.

The new season was a fresh start for us as a team. The club, Greenhill JFC, has a link to the oldest football club in the World, Sheffield FC, or simply ‘Club’ as they’re known locally. So, as we move up to u15’s, we now play under their name, in their colours and our manager has secured us a new home ground, with a pitch like a carpet.

There was an emphasis from us for the lads to start the game quickly – don’t let the other team settle, don’t be half asleep and try to get an early goal. I think with our new surroundings, new kit and new name, we’re there to be shot at this season. I also think we have a very strong squad this season and would like to think that we could have a decent run in the cup and challenge in the league.

My lad and me did his usual preparation and warm up – he does his stretches and some short sprints with the rest of the lads, then comes over to me for some handling and kicking practice. In eight years, this hasn’t changed much. Ever since I became his coach I’ve made sure his warm up is something a little bit more than a few of the lads firing half a dozen balls at him from a close range.

The game got under way and the lads did indeed start quickly, going 1-0 up in the first few minutes. In a nice change from the norm, after the goal the lads kept the pressure on. Not too long after they added a 2nd and 3rd.

In all honesty, if a neutral was watching the game, they’d probably think there was only one team in it. And on this occasion they’d have been right.

But it’s a different sort of feeling as the mum or dad of a keeper. At no point in this game, or any other game for that matter do I or his mum actually enjoy watching him play. Maybe there’s a bit of pessimism on our part. And it’s nothing to do with his ability, he’s a decent keeper who works hard in training to improve his game.

It’s just that he’s a keeper.

No matter how well his team are playing or how bad the other team are, it only takes for the opposition to have half a chance, or for the keeper to blink, or take his eye off the ball, or misjudge the flight of a shot or a cross and that could cost his team the game.

They ended up winning the game 5-1, comfortable winners – apart from my lad giving a penalty away for their consolation goal – the first he’s ever given away. The penalty aside, he played well. Made a handful of saves, took a few crosses cleanly and did well with his distribution.

But even with a result like that and with his decent performance, I didn’t enjoy a single moment of it. The knot in my stomach only disappeared at full time and it was replaced with a feeling of relief that another game was over.

If and when fans return full time to stadiums, we’ll be there and we’ll enjoy watching Utd but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to relax and enjoy watching my lad play. Who’d be a keeper? Or a keeper’s dad?

But I’ll always be there and I’ll always keep the faith.

As the situation with the Coronavirus and it’s following lockdown descended, to call a halt on the football season, without realising what it’s wider implications were, we were frustrated with the football situation.

Although the teams in my lad’s division had played varying amounts of games due to the bad weather over the previous winter months, his team had managed to play 14 out of their 18 league games. Although not realistically in with a chance of winning the league, they were in their best form of the season and hoping to chase down the three teams above them. The final four fixtures were: at home against the team second bottom, away against the team fourth bottom and both home and away versus the team in second place, who they would go level on points with if they beat them in both games.

Their last four games had seen them pick up 10 points from a possible 12.

A pair of 4-1 wins, followed by back to back games against last season’s treble winners, which resulted in a 3-2 win and a 0-0 draw. Reasons to be optimistic going into the final few weeks of the season.

But as the virus made it’s way to Europe, it became apparent that the season wouldn’t be concluded as usual and that other matters were far more important than football.

Initially, the season was suspended with the authorities unsure as to how things would unfold. As the days without football turned into weeks, it looked increasingly likely that football bodies all the way from the professional leagues right down to grassroots would have to make difficult decisions on how the season could be concluded. With various possibilities being touted of how the season would be completed, it also became clear that you can’t please all the people, all the time.

At the time of writing, the Premier League and EFL are in the process of making decisions and it’s rumoured the outcomes will soon be made public.

All leagues between steps 3-7 of the National Pyramid have had their results expunged and their clubs seasons are null and void. Any leagues below step 7 of the National Pyramid – which includes grassroots – have been given 2 options.

Option 1 – competition is brought to an immediate end with all results expunged and without any promotion and relegation.

Option 2 – league positions and promotions and relegations are resolved by points per game (PPG) calculation.

My preference would be option 2. To go through what has been a difficult season for many teams, what with the struggles through Winter just trying to get games played and come out with nothing to show for it, I think would be a great shame. Teams started preparing for this season just over 11 months ago, so to say it just didn’t happen would be a real kick in the teeth for teams, especially those in promotion places.

As previously stated, my lad’s team currently sit fourth in the league. If you use option 2’s PPG calculation, they will still be in fourth position. The three teams in the relegation places would also all remain in their current positions. Either scenario is not ideal and certainly far from normal but a decision will be made one way or the other.

Each club gets 1 vote. I may well be wrong but I think the majority will go with option 2 because within each club, it is likely that one or more of their different age groups will have the chance of getting promoted or becoming champions.

Time will tell.

The Coronavirus outbreak not only meant the suspension of the season but also an abrupt end to training. My lad hasn’t trained or played since. Not even a kickabout in the garden. I haven’t done any keeper coaching since that point. And sadly I didn’t get the chance to say thanks and well done to all the young keepers that I’ve had the pleasure of coaching this season.

Don’t get me wrong, my lad has been doing plenty of exercise, whether it be walks (long walks), running or weight training but nothing football related. This is partly because all the kids are still having to do school work, so he’s (sometimes) busy with that but also because I’m fortunate enough to have so far worked through the lockdown, so can’t put him through his paces in the space we have at home.

Over the last few weeks I’ve seen loads of challenges on Twitter and Facebook, either football, or specifically goalkeeping but he hasn’t been interested. I haven’t pushed it either. During this season he had a wobble and seemed to be falling out with his football, so I’ve been careful with how I’ve approached things and not wanted to come across as pushy or telling him he needs to do this, that, or the other.

Throughout the season, I try to film him in action on my phone. With sometimes fairly limited success. I thought it would be good to look through what footage I had, so sat down and trawled through what clips I have. I ended up putting them together and with a couple of training clips added in, it was about 7 minutes long. There are some really good bits of keeping, although two of his best saves, I didn’t get on film, they’re just stored in my head.

I wandered past him while I was watching it and his ears pricked up. “What’s that?” So I showed him. I’d already seen the saves, so I watched his expression instead of the screen. He smiled from start to finish and it was obvious he’d forgotten about some of the saves he’d made. At the end he sighed and said “God I miss football.”

So it’s great that he’s missing it but he’s also missing his team mates as hasn’t seen any of them since the 0-0 draw in their last game. Although looking on the bright side, he’s now not conceded a goal in a long, long time!

So with everything that’s going on, keep safe and keep the faith.

In his seven years of playing football, this season has been by far my lad’s busiest in terms of teams played for and games played.

He’s been playing for four teams since September. School, grassroots, city schoolboys and county schoolboys. As far as the city and county teams go, this is the first year he’s played for either of them. A huge honour on both counts. Also, each time he was selected, we were both nervous as they were both a step up from the level he’d played at before.

For the city team there were to be very few chances for the lads to get together for training sessions – the managers were up front about the lack of training opportunities from day one and all the parents agreed that due to other commitments, be it grassroots or academy football, there are only so many days in a week.

A compromise was reached. Meeting time would be 45 minutes before kick off, rather than 30 and where possible, training sessions would be squeezed in, if and when there were free Saturday mornings available.

As far as the county team was concerned, there would potentially be less games throughout the season but a training session would be held, a few days to a week before each game. This made sense with the bigger catchment area of players and the fact that they played for a variety of teams.

From the outset, my lad was very proud to have been selected to play, first for his city and then later, his county. He knew straight away how big a deal they both were. He was nervous more or less as soon as the initial realisation kicked in. As I’d done countless times before, I reassured him that he was there on merit, no other reason. None of the managers or coaches involved in picking either of the squads knew my lad beforehand, so their selection of him was based on what they’d seen in the trials, or whose opinions they’d asked.

The first games for the city schoolboys were in a pre-season tournament. The highlight for him was the semi-final, where Manchester threatened to overrun them. They ended up losing 1-0, with him saving two penalties in normal time and making loads of other saves. Throughout the season, he’s continued to perform very well. Any of his worries about the standard being too high for him were way off the mark and he’s enjoyed every minute of playing for his city.

His county schoolboys debut came not long after. At the trials, there had been five keepers trialling for three places in the squad. He was chosen for the squad and again the nerves kicked in. Once again, it was going to be another step up for him but once again I told him that he was there because he deserved to be. I was pleased but also a little uncomfortable, as one of the other parents whose lad had also been selected for the squad said there was (allegedly) a bit of bias in team selection towards one particular area of the county. And it wasn’t ours.

The first game was an ESFA cup game against, on paper the strongest team in the competition. After the initial training session, he was picked for the squad. My lad and one of the other keepers would play half each. We had to be at their ground, 80 miles away at 7pm on a Monday night. We travelled to the game with one of his team mates which helped his nerves a bit. On the way we’d stopped for something to eat. He didn’t eat anything. Then, when we carried on, the rush hour traffic was a nightmare and there’d been an accident, so the nerves were in full swing, as we tried to get there for 7.00.

We got to the ground a few minutes after 7pm, so him and his team mate rushed off to join up with the rest of the squad.

I watched the warm up and thankfully he looked to be well focussed. He was there with the other keeper and the goalkeeper coach. I liked the fact there was a keeper coach, as there are never any guarantees there will be one, so at least I knew my lad wouldn’t be forgotten about. It was the same keeper coach who’d taken him and the other keepers for the training session the week before.

He played the first half and did very well. They were under pressure for most of the half but apart from conceding a goal after defenders not clearing their lines, he kept everything else out. Against the run of play, they equalised before half time. With the game looking like it was going to extra time they managed to score again. It finished 2-1 and he’d more than done his bit in the victory. It was a great start to his county schools football.

From that point on, I started to wonder what the situation would be with the three keepers. In all honesty, for the next game, I thought it would be difficult for the manager to drop either of the two that had played in the match. The other option open to the manager would be to rotate all three, so that each keeper played two halves out of every three games.

As the manager had said before, the next training session was a few days before the next game. I took my lad and watched him and the other keepers from start to finish. I was really interested in how this would pan out. At the end of the session I was more than a little confident that he would keep his place. The other keeper that had played in the first game looked by far the weakest of the three.

When the squad was announced, my lad was the one that was not selected.

I was a bit confused about the decision but I kept my mouth shut, knowing that I might easily say something in the heat of the moment and make matters worse. It had also crossed my mind that I may be on the right track about the keepers being rotated.

The next training session came around, once again, a few days before the following game. I was stood watching the coach put them through their paces when a fourth keeper appeared and joined in the session. Alarm bells were now ringing. As the session went on, once again I thought how well my lad had done, all the time comparing him to the other (three) keepers and how they’d trained. As soon as my lad came off the pitch, I asked him about the new face. It turned out he was one of the keepers from the year above who’d been injured, so was getting an extra session in.

Relief.

As we walked back to the car, we went past the keeper who had played both games so far but had not trained particularly well. He was carrying some of the training gear. He stopped at one of the cars where the keeper coach was stood.

The coach said ” Well done tonight.”

He replied “Thanks Dad.”

Jesus. My heart sank. I knew in the long term, there was only going to be one outcome here. My lad had played really well in that first game and trained really well in all the training sessions but the odds now looked stacked against him and I could see why he might not be favoured. I waited for the squad to be announced. It was announced on the Friday before Christmas. The game was the following day, nearly 2 hours drive away. He wasn’t selected again.

After a few minutes digesting the situation, I texted the manager.

“Afternoon *****, I’ve seen the squad for tomorrow and let him know the news. Obviously he’s disappointed that he’s not in. As his Dad, but also his coach, I think he’s done well in the training sessions and the Merseyside game – is there any feedback we can take away, for us to work on? Thanks”

His reply…

“It’s a hard one with the keepers, they’re all roughly of the same standard in my opinion. I’ll speak to (goalkeeper coach) and get his feedback. Although when I asked him for his opinion he couldn’t split them and told me to make the call. Disappointing but certainly nothing for you or him to beat yourself up or worry about, they’ll be other opportunities.”

Within seconds, he sent another text to say that the other keeper had dropped out – not the gk coach’s son – and if my lad wanted to play, he was in the squad. I asked my lad the question and he didn’t hesitate. So the next day we travelled down and he played the second half of the game. It turned out that several others had dropped out of the squad as well. Probably due to it being four days before Christmas. There were a few ringers playing and from being 2-0 up and cruising, they ended up losing 6-2. My lad let 4 in. One of which he could possibly have done better with, but again he was well overworked in his half and kept the score down considerably. The other keeper wasn’t at his best in the first half and the two goals to get them back on equal terms were both mistakes on his part.

Before kick off, I had been talking to a grandparent of one of the opposition players. Initially just a “Hello, nice set up here”, then he asked about my lad. I told him he was one of the keepers, it was just his second game, the nerves etc. As the two keepers were warming up he came back over and asked which one was my lad. We wished each other good luck and went our separate ways back to our seats.

As I was waiting for my lad to come out of the changing room after the game, he walked past with his grandson. He put his hand on my shoulder, smiled and said:

“They should have played your lad for the full match. He did really well without much protection from his team. See you next time.”

For the next fixture, there was no training session, just the announcement of the squad. Again, he hadn’t been picked. I said nothing, just wished the lads good luck on the group WhatsApp.

The next message on the WhatsApp was at the start of the week to announce a training session or potential friendly on that Friday, for the next fixture the following week. My lad had already got prior arrangements to be somewhere else, so I apologised to say that unfortunately he couldn’t be there. It was the first session he’d missed. Apparently, the keeper coach’s lad also missed out due to injury.

The following morning a message appeared on the group WhatsApp just after 8am. There was a bit of chat about the previous night’s friendly and then in the middle of it…

…I’m chopping some from the squad who continually let us down at the last minute and are always injured. I’ll put a revised squad list of who’s left and then it’ll be two games against Merseyside…

As I was reading it, I was thinking, it’s a bit harsh to announce it on a group social media page. Then below that in a blue box it said that I’d been removed from the group. I was just stood there gawping at it. Speechless. After contacting the manager, he said the long and short of it was that my lad didn’t actually fall into that category but he had decided at the ‘business end of the season’, that he didn’t need three keepers. He knew who his first choice keeper and his back up were.

In his own words, he wasn’t going to ring me at ten past eight on a Saturday morning to explain that to me. But on the flip side, he was quite happy for it to look like my lad had been bombed out due to his attendance/injury/etc, to the rest of the squad, without me having the chance to put the record straight.

A text to me read…

“Apologies for any mix up, and he’s certainly not let us down it’s just a numbers game. Best of luck with everything moving forward.”

To clarify, his back up keeper is the lad that seemed to underperform in every training session, conceded two soft goals to let the opposition back into a game our lads were controlling, but is also the son of the keeper coach.

It might sound like sour grapes. And it probably is. But I also think my lad’s had a really raw deal.

When I coach my lad, if there’s something to work on, or a mistake in a game, I tell him my thoughts and we work on it. I am 100% honest with him. It doesn’t benefit either of us for me to gloss over things. Having watched him in the training sessions and games (and this is me being 100% honest with myself and him) there’s no way he was the third best out of the keepers.

The coach’s lad was selected for all 5 of the games, my lad was selected for 1. Nothing between them…

I hope my lad continues to play well for the city schoolboys until the end of the season and I hope he gets the opportunity to turn out for them again next year. Not sure if he’d give the county trials a second thought after the way it panned out and the lack of class in the way he found out it had come to an end.

Either way, in my lad I will definitely keep the faith.

From a football point of view, the Christmas break seemed to take an age to pass.

The reason being, of the four teams my lad plays for, three were beaten in their final games before Christmas. It’s always good to keep playing matches if you’re in good form but likewise, after a defeat it’s nice to have the opportunity to play games and get back to winning ways.

The school team were beaten convincingly by possibly the best school team in the city. My lad’s team were slightly under strength but in one of the few school games I managed to watch, they were definitely second best.

The grassroots team played the top of the league and lost 2-1, after leading 1-0 with my lad being at fault for the first goal. In truth, after having the chance to be two or three nil up at half time, they never looked like getting anything from the game once they went behind.

The city schools team won their final game – a friendly – comfortably in the end, 8-1. My lad played the first half and had plenty of work to do to keep the team in the game. At half time they were 3-1 up, with the second half basically one way traffic.

The final game before Christmas was a last 16 cup match for the county schools team. They’d had training a few days beforehand, with the squad announced the day before the game. My lad wasn’t in the squad. I was gutted for him. I sent him a text to let him know but without knowing any specific reasons for the decision. His response was very grown up.

“It’s fine, not mine or your fault. Next time I have training I’ll just have to prove them wrong.”

In the squad there are 3 keepers, 2 of which travel to every game and play a half each. Although the manager said initially that the squads would be selected based on what he saw during the training sessions, I had the feeling that the keepers might be chosen on rotation, ie – half a game each, 2 games out of every 3. If that was the case, my lad would be in the squad, as he played the first game but missed the second.

After a short while I sent a text to the manager basically asking for feedback on my lad’s performance in the game he’d played, along with all the training sessions. I chose my words carefully but just asked if there was anything we could take away to work on – as keeper and coach – to improve his chances of being selected for future matches. In the one game he played, he did well, conceding one goal and limiting the opposition. In the training sessions, he performed well. (That’s me watching on as his coach and giving my evaluation, also as his coach.)

Within a couple of minutes of me sending the text, I got a reply. The manager said the decision with the keepers was very difficult because in both his and the goalkeeper coach’s opinion, there is very little between all three of them. But that neither my lad or me should beat ourselves up over it or worry about it because there’ll be other opportunities before the end of the season. Fair enough.

Within half an hour, I had another text saying that one of the other keepers was unable to play in the game, so if he was still available, my lad was in the squad. I was on my way home from work, so as soon as I got in, I asked him what he wanted to do – no hesitation, he wanted to play.

He played the second half of the game and conceded 4 in a very one-sided 35 minutes of football. Although he’d made plenty of saves, he came out of the changing rooms looking totally deflated. As he’s got older, this is where I have to be very careful what I say and how I say it. He often takes quite a negative view on his personal performance when a few goals have been put past him. Thankfully it doesn’t happen that often which is possibly the reason why he felt so down in the dumps about it.

Thankfully I had filmed some of game on my phone, so at least I had evidence to back up my case.

So three defeats out of four games meant – for both of us – a return to training and games couldn’t come quick enough. Since Christmas, he’s played two grassroots games and a city schools game.

In the first grassroots game, his team were 2-0 up and cruising, then just before half time, defended poorly and conceded 2. Early in the second half he made two very good saves to keep the score level. Then a few minutes later, he dived at the feet of their striker and got to the ball fractionally before the other lads knee. He was flat out on his back, with one hand holding the ball against his chest. The ref stopped play and the manager and me ran on to see if he was ok. He was a little dazed, with a cut on the side of his head. I used all the usual “at least you don’t have to worry about it damaging your looks” type of comments and he assured us he was fine to carry on. Shortly after, his team got two more goals and went on to win 4-2.

Next up was an away game for the city schools team. It was played on a field that looked like it might be a home for cattle when games aren’t being played on it, with a young referee who looked disinterested at best. As a rule, I don’t criticise referees as I know how difficult it can be and wouldn’t want to be in their position but to say he had a stinker is being kind. He hardly moved out of the centre circle for most of the match and didn’t make much of an attempt to keep up with the play.

We went 1-0 up inside the first two minutes but by half time we were 3-1 down. All three goals were aided by poor decisions from the ref. Their first goal was offside. No exaggeration to say the forward was 7 or 8 yards offside. The second had a glaring handball in the build up. The third came seconds after a penalty appeal was turned down for our team, when one of our lads was hacked down in the area. Another very easy decision but apparently missed. A goal back in the final minute was too little too late and the game finished 3-2.

The following day was another grassroots game, at home against one of the usual suspects in the title race. They’re a big, strong team who in the past have bullied us during games. Some of our lads have a tendency to ‘go hiding’ in these type of games, when they should be getting stuck into tackles and fighting for loose balls.

The referee didn’t look convinced about the condition of the pitch. It had been raining from about 4pm the day before and there were puddles in both goalmouths. One of our parents did some work with a garden fork and managed to get rid of the standing water. Me and laddo did his warm up away from the goal in the faint hope that our 10 minutes warming up somewhere else would make all the difference.

To be honest, although neither the ref nor the opposition manager were 100% convinced about the pitch, when I was playing, most weeks I seemed to be standing in a small lake in my goalmouth.

The game went ahead. Within a few minutes, he was diving to his left to keep a shot out. Next it was a save to his right when the ball bounced awkwardly that he did really well to divert round the post. He looked to be dealing well with the conditions, as well as the opposition’s attacks. Their main tactic – having so many big lads – is to force as many corners as they can. They’d already racked up 5 or 6 before they scored from one. The corner came across. Defenders and attackers went for the ball, then it dropped and one their lads hit a half volley. Point blank, my lad made a very good save to keep the ball out but it bounced about in the area and an attacker reacted quickest and smashed the ball into the net. 1-0.

We have a tendency to struggle when we go behind but it was soon half time and there was the chance to regroup and repeat instructions to our lads about not giving the opposition too much respect.

The second half started much more brightly and our centre forward put us on level terms. 1-1. Laddo was still having plenty to do to keep the ball out at the other end. A couple of good saves and then a great 1v1 block. One of their strikers got behind the defence and was through on goal. My lad started to close him down, then just as he struck the ball, he spread himself and blocked it.

It was much more end to end than the first half, with both teams making chances. Then came a lesson in game management for our lads. With less than 2 minutes left, a diagonal ball was going out of play but with no opposition players near him (and with no shout from his team mates) one of our lads got the slightest of touches on the ball, to give them a throw in. Once again, it was worked down the pitch and they forced another corner.

Out of all the corners they’d had, all but one had been aimed just outside the six yard box for their lads to attack. This one was dropping closer in. I tried to judge where it was going, then I heard my lad shout his name. Under pressure from one of their lads, he jumped and chose to punch. He got a good contact on the ball and it went to the edge of the area. I was looking at the ref, desperate for him to blow for full time. He didn’t. One of our lads took a touch instead of clearing it first time. It wasn’t his best touch and the ball found it’s way to one of their lads who hit it first time and it looped into the top corner.

There was just enough time to take the centre before the ref blew for full time. The lads were gutted with the result. The keeper as much as anybody but he knew he’d done his bit to keep them in the game.

Although it’s only a few weeks ago, it seems like a very long time since those defeats before Christmas. And even though it’s only been one win, with two defeats in the New Year, laddo’s played well and kept the scores down, so it feels like it’s business as usual again.

So if results don’t go your way and you have a few weeks off before you can put things right, try to keep the faith.

With Christmas approaching, the games become a bit more thin on the ground.

The last grassroots game before the Christmas break was away against the top of the league. But, for the morning before that, a friendly had been squeezed in for the City Schools team. As it was a friendly (instead of a handful of players missing out due to squad rotation) the whole squad were involved. The other keeper was unable to get there for the kick off time, so laddo was asked to play the first half.

The fixture was arranged to be played at our home ground, so him playing half the game, as opposed to the usual setup of the two keepers playing a full game each, didn’t seem too bad. We got there in plenty of time, with him looking smart in his trousers, shoes, shirt and tie. As I parked the car, it started spitting with rain. A cold, December morning with rain falling – perfect weather for keepers…

I was talking to a few of the other dads as the lads warmed up. Just the usual stuff – asking if they’d got a game tomorrow? who against? I looked across to where the lads were warming up. The keeper looked frozen to the bone (as the lads ‘warming him up’ smashed balls past him into the top corners). We made our way round the edge of the pitch to the side line as they got ready to kick off.

As tends to be the way, our lads were kicking towards the top goal in the first half. There’s a very slight slope up towards the top goal but today, kicking uphill wouldn’t be my lad’s main worry. The wind and rain were blowing straight down the pitch and into his face. The conditions were the sort where the opposition will have been told to shoot whenever they had chance. The wind assisted shots combined with the cold and wet, had the potential to make the keeper’s morning a busy one.

Straight from kick off, the opposition were on the front foot. They looked more up for it and were winning most of the loose balls. They were also keeping possession better than the hosts. Our lads gradually grew into the game but their keeper was a bystander. Our’s though, was being kept busy.

To start with, most of his involvement was communicating with his defenders, defending corners and taking goal kicks. Surprisingly, the opposition were trying to work shooting opportunities inside the box but thankfully the defence were holding firm, putting tackles in and blocking shots. As the minutes went by and without having troubled the keeper too much, they began to try their luck more and more from outside the area.

The opposition were given a free kick just inside our half. Apart from the taker, one defender and their keeper, all their lads were just outside our area. The taker hit it long and high towards the box. The wind caught hold of it. A couple of our lads dropped a few yards deeper. One of them swung a boot to half volley it clear but it zipped off the wet surface and he only managed to slice it towards goal. The keeper took a quick step to his left and then he flung himself. He got a hand on the ball and it changed direction. It flew up and hit the cross bar. It showed really quick reactions. To get to the ball was good but to keep it out was amazing.

They kept pressing. Another effort bounced just in front of him. He’d got his body behind the ball but couldn’t hold it. An attacker had done his job and followed it in. My lad managed to get himself half to his feet and narrow the gap between himself and the ball and spread himself, as the attacked connected. The spread was textbook and the ball bounced away to safety.

After holding them off until now, our lads had two decent attacks and all of a sudden we were winning 2-0. They got a goal back that he thought he should have done better with but was beaten by the pace of the ball after a snowstorm had given the pitch even more of a soaking. Another goal to the home team shortly afterwards made it 3-1 at half time. He’d done his bit.

Apart from his saves, his kicking both out of his hands and dead balls (into the wind) had been very good. In general, a very good half of football for him.

Bizarrely, in the second half the wind dropped and the sun came out. Our lads added another 5 goals without reply in the second half. Another time, I’m sure their keeper would have done better with a few of our goals but on this particular day, he suffered. I don’t know the lad but I felt for him. It was one of those days where everything went for our forwards – and went against him. To be part of the goalkeeper’s union is to know how he felt. We’ve all been there at one time or another.

As we made our way home in the car, my lad said at one point the other keeper had been in tears. He told me without any kind of mocking or smirk on his face. Like I said, we’ve all been there.

The following day’s grassroots game came round, away at the league leaders. Having already played them once and drawn 2-2, we fancied our chances of getting a win and closing the gap on them. Unfortunately, that morning three of our lads had a sickness bug, so we only had one sub. Two of the unavailable lads were the captain and one of his stand ins. The manager decided to give the keeper the armband. He’s only ever been captain twice before, both with his previous team.

The game was fairly scrappy from start to finish. The captain dealt well with some high balls in the first half and apart from us going 1-0 up and having a blatant penalty turned down, there wasn’t much to talk about. That is, I didn’t hear the other thing that happened during the first half. I was told about it after the match. If I’d heard it during the game, I think I’d have reacted.

One of my lad’s goal kicks wasn’t the best. It still went about 30 yards and it still went to one of our lads. But one of the opposition parents or supporters jumped on it. Apparently the bloke in question was very vocal on more than one occasion about the fact that he thought the keeper couldn’t kick a ball. As I said, I never heard him criticising my lad but I’m also hard pushed to remember any one time in the past where any parent, from either team, has singled out a player to verbally criticise them.

I know some supporters who watch professionals play, think that because they’ve paid their hard earned money for the privilege, it gives them the right to shout anything they want at whoever they want. Whatever your view on that, it’s a bit different to trying to unnerve an u14’s keeper who’s playing his football for enjoyment.

As it turned out, the goal kick in question was his worst of the game. I actually thought how well he’d done with his kicks on a heavy pitch. The majority of his kicks where he was going for distance were reaching the centre circle. Both the opposition keepers’ (they had a different keeper in each half) kicking was weaker than my lad but at no point did it cross my mind to shout about it. That’s for our forwards to realise and to capitalise on.

The second half was in contrast to the first. Their lads looked more up for it than ours. They kept the ball better than us and we continued to give away too many needless corners. From one of these corners they equalised. My lad shouted, came for the ball and under pressure, instead of claiming it as he quite often does, he opted to punch. Instead of a firm contact to take the ball away from danger, he only managed a glancing blow to take it towards his own goal. Immediately, he stood there (as the home team celebrated around him) looking dejected, as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up.

Again, we’ve all been there.

Captain for the day and up until that point, dependable, vocal and reliable. Now he, and the rest of the team needed to steady the ship. For the next few minutes they needed to be solid, keep possession and take the sting out of the game. The keeper needed time to come round more than any of them. As it turned out, about 90 seconds later they were trailing 2-1. Nobody wanted the ball, all scared to make a mistake. Every pass was sideways or backwards, inviting the opposition on.

Deep down I don’t know whether the comments had any effect on my lad or contributed to his mistake – they won’t have helped. As the game went on, their confidence came back a little and they looked a bit more like their usual selves, the keeper included.

I’m sure the bloke who was criticising him will have gone away pleased with his morning’s work, happy in the knowledge that he might have played a small part in their team’s victory with no thought for the lad he was singling out. As that lad gets older, playing in the most difficult position on the pitch, needing the most mental strength out of all his team mates, it’ll probably only get worse. For him and for us.

The rest of the day neither his Mum or me could settle.

We know how good a goalie he is and the example of the previous day when he told me about the other keeper being in tears, just proved (if proof were needed) what his character is like. During the following week he had training for the County Schools team and if selected, one final game before Christmas, again for the County Schools team. (For the record, he did play). I’d like to bet the bloke in question never got close to the standard that my lad’s playing at.

If the comments happen again, who knows if I’ll be able to ignore it? But one thing’s for sure, in my lad, I’ll keep the faith.

Nearly 18 months ago, when I first decided to write a blog about being the parent of a young goalkeeper, there was specifically one reason why I thought it would be a good idea.

Concern or maybe worry, was the main feeling in my mind. It was similar for my lad.

To summarise, he was in the middle of pre-season in between u12’s and u13’s. That meant moving onto a bigger pitch but also moving into full size goals for most of his games. Our concerns were likely the same as any goalies/parents in the same stage of junior football, in that we knew he could be in for a rough ride, being a 12 year old trying to defend a full sized goal.

As he went through the season, he did well. He’d known as soon as he trained in full sized goals he needed to improve his footwork, to increase his speed around his goal to make up for the gaping holes that were bound to occur for an average height lad in a huge goal.

During the season because the team were doing well in the top division, scouts came and watched them. At different times through the season, he attracted interest from three local teams, went training with them and had trials. All this meant that his confidence generally grew, albeit with the odd knock to it along the way.

I saw the growth in confidence as well as him growing in stature as a goalkeeper. During the season in both training and games, he surprised me with some of the saves he made.

The only thing was that as the scouts started taking an interest in him and he went to new surroundings for training sessions and to play friendlies, I knew he had to prove his worth all over again to a new audience. To the coaches, but also his potential new team mates and their parents. It didn’t seem to phase him too much, or if it did, he hid it well. But every time I took him to training sessions it felt, to me at least, that he was under the microscope.

At the academies, he usually didn’t know any of the other lads and I didn’t know any of the parents, so in the first few weeks, it definitely felt like we were outsiders. Over time, as the training sessions went by, we both felt more at ease but I think the fact he’s a goalkeeper (not an outfielder) always means in parents and players minds it’s much more black and white as to whether he’s up to the task.

In the space of 6 months, the academies had been and gone.

The first in line wanted to sign him without any real trial, just based on a few training sessions. He turned them down because he felt it was too rushed. He didn’t really get his head round the situation and suddenly they wanted his signature. The second club had him training with them before the third nipped in to offer him a trial. The trial ended up being unsuccessful and then he decided he didn’t want to go back to training with the other team because there were a couple of months before they restarted after their Summer break. All the time, during the 6 month period I felt tense. Having watched him for enough times as a goalkeeper, I know what he can do and I know he’ll always put 100% in but there’s always that little doubt in my mind that the next step up might be just too much for him. A step too far. That’s not particularly because of his ability (or a lack of), more the fact that I usually don’t know the standard that he’s trialling for.

The upshot was that it meant he was back to playing grassroots and also with his school team. In both teams he felt comfortable. He was going into his fourth season with the grassroots team and was captaining the school team for the second year in a row, so I knew he was well thought of on both counts. The main thing was that he was more than happy playing for them both and it showed. The knot in my stomach loosened at the thought of him playing for just the two teams, in familiar surroundings, where in the majority of games, he has plenty to do.

Then, in July, for the first time, he was put forward for the City Schools trials. Cue the worry, again.

The step up hasn’t been too much for him. A tournament featuring the City’s usual opponents and a couple of others was his first involvement. He did very well in the semi-final in particular. The league matches he’s played in since then have had mixed results as far as scorelines go but he’s looked assured, confident and performed well. Once again, a few of his saves have pleasantly surprised his coach. And there have been some lovely comments about his performances from some of the parents.

Then, in August came the chance to try out for the County Schools team. He wasn’t sure whether to go or not. I think this was because he was still getting used to playing for the City Schools team. I told him there was no point not trialling.

“What’s the worst that can happen? You don’t get in? You can say you’ve had a trial for your County if nothing else.”

So he went for the trial. And got in. Cue the worry, again.

The squad to travel for the first game was to be announced the weekend before the game was played on the following Monday night. I didn’t hear anything over the weekend, so just assumed he hadn’t made it into the squad. Then at about 4pm on the Sunday, we got a message saying the venue had needed to be changed due to the poor weather but the squad was also on the message. He was in.

It was the first round of the All-England Inter Counties Cup, away v Merseyside, so we had a 2½ hour journey to Liverpool during rush hour to get there for a 7pm meet and 8pm kick off. The manager had said he would name 16 players – 2 keepers and 14 outfielders. Because of that, I guessed he’d get half a game. I asked my lad which half would he prefer to play, given the choice? He said the second. Right there is the difference between him and me. Waiting for the second half would have tied my stomach in knots either watching him, or if I was playing myself.

We were stood at the side of the pitch as the lads warmed up. As the goalkeeper coach put the two keepers through their paces, there was no indication as to who was playing first or second. Not long after, the two teams lined up. He was playing the first half. Although my legs were rapidly turning to jelly, I was a little bit relieved. My thinking was that both teams would want to test the water a little bit, so he might get time to settle into the game. That’s how it panned out, for about five minutes at least.

Most of the early play was down towards his goal. He was doing plenty of talking though, which was great to hear playing in a new team with lads he didn’t know, against what looked like very competent opponents. Then he started having to make saves. He did well. Parents stood near me were shouting, “Good save keeper”, “Well done keeper.”

It all seemed to be going well enough, then two missed chances to clear the ball and it bounced to their striker. The lad hit it first time and the net bulged. He couldn’t do anything about it, it was struck too well and I think he knew that but I worried that it might affect him and possibly open the floodgates. He made a good save within a minute or so of the goal. They got their composure back, went up the other end and equalised. A few more saves from the lad and then it was half time. 1-1. More than happy with that. In fact chuffed to bits with that.

He’d come through it unscathed. Once again, the step up hadn’t been too much for him. My breathing went back to normal and I watched the rest of the lads look like taking the game to extra time. The second half was very similar to the first. Our keeper was the busier and did very well. Then, with extra time looming one of our lads knocked a ball over the top and as their keeper started coming out, our striker lifted it over him and into the empty net.

2-1

Injury time took an age to pass but the final whistle went and the lads (and parents) celebrated like we’d won the cup.

The lesson that I continue to learn as he plays his football – for whichever team – is that I don’t know where his ‘level’ will end up being. And also that the knots in my stomach are here to stay.

I really need to keep the faith.

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.

As the new season turned the corner and crept into view, the fixture list came out.

Except this season, for the first time for my lad, there were three fixture lists. His school team fixtures between September and December, the grassroots fixtures on Sundays, running from September to March, and then the City Schoolboys FA fixtures also running September to March but with games being played on Saturday mornings.

It’s always an exciting time for us, as it means him playing competitive games for the first time in quite a few weeks – apart from any tournaments that he might have taken part in during the Summer. This season the grassroots lads had only taken part in one tournament, a few weeks ago where they finished at the top of their group but lost in the final.

I constantly swing between optimism and pessimism in the run up to the season. I’m always confident in my lads ability, albeit slightly worried that hardly any competitive football might mean he’s a bit rusty. In the same breath, his grassroots training doesn’t really stop through the Summer, so as his coach I can always keep his handling sharp on Friday nights, as well as bringing some new drills in to make sure he stays interested. Restarting school in September also meant the school team would begin their training more or less straight away, with games following soon after.

The problem being (in my mind, at least) that the first competitive fixtures he would be playing in were in a tournament for the City Schoolboys team, before any grassroots or school team fixtures.

This worried me a little, for a couple of reasons.

• Apart from the trials, he had only had one training session with his new Schoolboys team mates
• The standard in the Schoolboys matches was likely to be higher than in either his grassroots or schools matches

Whenever he’s had to step up a level with his football, he’s usually taken it in his stride. Along the way, there are sometimes little bumps in the road but he deals with them. Then, in training we work on any areas highlighted by either of us and he comes out the other side. As he was now going to be playing for his city, as usual, I just hoped the step up wasn’t going to be too much for him.

The night before the tournament, he had a grassroots training session with me. I like him to have a good workout at training but I’m also mindful that generally he has a game at the weekend anyway. Obviously we never want any injuries but particularly this weekend with the Schoolboys tournament on Saturday and grassroots season starting on Sunday.

At training he did his usual warm up with the outfield lads, did some running and a passing drill. Then we went through our usual handling and footwork routine. Everything looked good. He was focussed and alert. Just a bit of shooting practice to face from the lads and hopefully no jarred fingers or knocks would mean he’d be fine for the morning. Everything went without any hiccups and he had a big smile on his face. Result.

The tournament was being held about 40 minutes drive from us, so we were up and about nice and early and laddo had even got (most of) his stuff ready the night before. Anybody that has had experience of being a goalkeeper, or having a keeper in their house, will know there’s a hundred and one things you need compared to the outfielders, so getting his things together the night before is something I pester him about. Usually with limited success. The upturn in him actually being prepared was because of who he was going to be playing for. His City.

As part of the matchday routine, the lads who play for the City Schools team must arrive for the matches dressed in dark trousers (not jeans), shoes, white shirt and match tie. It was the last item that surprised me. I knew the lads had to wear one. That didn’t surprise me. It was how proud he looked when he saw the tie. He wears a clip on tie every day for school, no big deal, but this was completely different. A proper tie. And one that you only have the privilege of wearing if you’re selected to play for the city’s Schools FA team.

The night before, I showed him how to tie it and then he had a go at doing it himself. And another go. And another go. With each attempt, the tie looked slightly neater but he kept trying to improve on his latest attempt. He was desperate to get it looking as smart as he could.

When we arrived at the venue, the lads all went off to the changing rooms and the parents hung around waiting to find out who the opposition was going to be. The tournament followed a fairly tried and tested routine – 2 groups of 4 teams. All the teams in the group play each other once, with the winner of group A playing the runner-up in group B and the winner of group B playing the runner-up in group A, in the semi finals.

Both my lad and the other keeper were at the tournament, so they alternated, playing a game each. The other lad played in the first game, my lad in the second and so on. Each game was one half, 30 minutes straight through.

Although this was his first taste of playing for his city and something he was nervous about, he knew most of the lads from playing either with or against them previously in the grassroots league. So although it was all a bit new for him and he was feeling the pressure of playing for his city, familiar faces definitely helped him with his nerves.

The first game was fairly evenly matched but without many clear cut chances for either side. Then our lads got a penalty. The penalty was put away and the game finished 1-0.

My lad was up next in the second game. Again, a fairly evenly matched contest but with our lads having the better of the chances. Unfortunately, they couldn’t force the ball over the line. The opposition scored with a header from decent move and the game finished 1-0. To have a chance of reaching the semi final, they had to win their final group game. They won comfortably, 4-0, without any real threat to their own goal, so they were through.

As the semi final was their fourth match, laddo was back in goal. At this point I was starting to get nervous. In his group game, he hadn’t been overworked. He couldn’t do anything about the goal he conceded and he had made a couple of saves, the best of which turned out to be offside, so wouldn’t have counted anyway. When he plays for the school and grassroots teams, he’s the only keeper, so tends to be kept fairly busy – alternating games with another keeper in a tournament is different.

I tried to get my optimistic head on as they came onto the pitch. The opposition for the semi final was Manchester Schools. Rumour had it that most of the team were at either Man Utd or Man City’s academy. One thing that was definitely not a rumour was how big they all were. I don’t know what they’ve been feeding them on the other side of the Pennines but they towered over most of our lads.

At this point you start saying things to yourself like ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’ in an attempt to make yourself think some sort of David and Goliath re-enactment might take place, knowing full well that you’re kidding yourself.

At least in our favour, was the pitch. My lad was in the goal over to my left. There was a gradual downhill slope from where he was, to the opposite goal. With the captains in the centre circle, the ref performed the coin toss, we lost it and the teams swapped ends. The optimism was quickly draining out of me.

The game kicked off and it became apparent that apart from being giants, they could also play football a bit. Our lads looked a bit overawed by the situation and struggled to keep hold of the ball. It wasn’t long before the first shots were being fired at laddo’s goal but he stood up to the test, time and time again. He was being overworked but he was making some great saves, coming and taking crosses and importantly, the ball was sticking. Defenders were throwing themselves in front of shots. No doubt about it, it was backs to the wall. It was 0-0 for about the first 15 minutes with our lads being limited to trying to hit them on the counter attack but without much success.

Then a through ball into our box meant a straight race between their striker and one of our defenders. The defender slid and looked like he did just enough to poke the ball out of play for a corner as the pair of them went to ground. The ref blew his whistle but instead of pointing to the corner, he pointed to the penalty spot.

When I’m watching my lad as a spectator, rather than his coach, I always take up a position on the sideline, close to his goal. I always have. From him being a little 7 year old goalie in his first season, I always thought it’s what I should do, to be there to try to reassure him, if things weren’t going well. Or to give him a smile and a thumbs up if he made a good save. Because of being at his end though, more often than not you tend to be in amongst the opposition parents.

As their player put the ball on the penalty spot, the Manchester parents were suddenly a bit more vocal, laughing and joking. Having been kept out so far by the keeper, this was their best chance to slot one past him and get their noses in front. The ref blew his whistle, the lad ran up and leathered it towards the bottom left-hand corner. My lad took a step to his right from his standing start and pushed off. He got down low very quickly and got his hand behind the ball. It was an outstanding save but it was a one-handed parry. The ball deflected off his palm and ran towards the post. The lad who had taken the penalty had followed his kick and was closing in on the rebound. My lad half scrambled, half dived and threw himself at the feet of the striker. He probably never had chance to pay attention to where the striker was but it was the finest of margins. As his hands clasped round the ball, his body instinctively curled up to protect himself.

A cheer went up, as the opposition supporters groaned at the chance going begging.

The game continued and the pressure was still on the same goal. A couple of minutes later, a cross was met by a powerful header but this time it was the net that stopped the ball, not the keeper. From the restart our lads tried to get an equaliser but without really testing their keeper too much.

Soon after, the ball was back in our box and in a 50/50 challenge, the defender had got his foot on the ball but as both defender and attacker fell to the floor, the appeals for another penalty came. It wasn’t a penalty but the ref, maybe slightly unsighted, once again pointed to the spot. As my lad got himself settled on the goal line, he bounced up and down a little. I wondered at this point if he had the upper hand, having already saved a pen a few minutes before. If he did have a psychological advantage over the striker, it didn’t help as it was a different penalty taker this time round.

The noise level near us had risen again but it went quiet again as the ref blew his whistle. The striker ran up and struck the ball. He went for the same place as the previous taker had. The keeper dived low to his right again, got his hand behind the ball again but this time the ball hit the floor in front of his hand and popped up in front of him. He jumped straight up and caught the ball before the striker had chance to beat him to it.

Behind us, watching a game on the next pitch a man was talking to his mate. “He’s just saved another penalty that lad. He’s already saved one this game. Great penalty saves, both of them.”

The game finished a few minutes later. A 1-0 defeat and disappointment that they hadn’t made it to the final but from my lad’s point of view, he’d had a debut to remember and showed his new team mates what he was capable of. And worn his favourite new tie.

A day like that really makes you keep the faith.

During his unsuccessful 8 week academy trial, one of the games he played was against another academy team who he’d previously been training with.

Before he went out to play the game, we were stood in the reception area of the academy, when one of the opposition coaches went up to my lad, put his arm round his shoulder and said something to him. My lad smiled and said something back. Immediately, I was wondering what had been said, so it was almost the first thing I asked him after the game.

As he’d spent four or five weeks training with them, they knew what he was like both from a football point of view and also his personality. So much so that they were planning on offering him official trial papers before the other club stepped in, to do the same.

“If it doesn’t work out here, come and play for me.” was the response I got to my question on the car journey home. He had a big grin on his face when he told me. It had been a huge boost to his confidence, as he’d not been on trial long and when he found out who the opposition was that day, he was a bit unsure what their reaction would be when they realised who was going to be in the opposite goal.

When he’d been training for the four or five weeks with that team, as I was looking on, he never seemed fully settled. I think partly due to the team being in a different town and not knowing the other lads who were already there. I also think that because it was his first experience of training with an academy as opposed to grassroots football, he was more apprehensive than usual.

So, with his confidence now lifted, he continued his trial, which stretched from the initial six weeks, to eight in total. He played a few more games and I thought did pretty well, right up until the meeting when we were told they wouldn’t be signing him. His confidence immediately nose dived, as, without wanting to count any chickens, I was fairly confident that he’d shown enough during the trial and in matches to warrant being given a chance. Throughout his trial, I’d been extremely careful with how I worded things when we were talking about how we thought training and matches had gone – I believe the phrase is ‘I managed his expectations’.

Regardless of me trying to avoid answering his questions about what I thought would happen, telling him to just do his best, “that’s all anybody can ask” and changing the subject at the earliest chance, it became apparent after the decision was made, that he also thought he’d done enough to be asked to sign. There were no tears or anger. He wasn’t even mardy. He was just surprised.

Unfortunately for him, the fortnight extra that the trial was spun out for ultimately meant that he was unable to pick up training with the other club, as all the academies finished at the same time for their Summer breaks. Based on what little (almost non-existent) feedback I managed to get in the two months after he was unsuccessful, the extra two weeks worth of training wouldn’t have made any difference to the outcome anyway.

Apart from there being ‘no guarantee of his final height’, they said he needed to improve with his footwork – not something he (or I) was advised at any point during his trial but something we would have done extra training to try and achieve, had we known.

Either way, the two weeks wouldn’t have shown a marked improvement in his distribution. Ironically, his kicking was of a very good standard from a grassroots perspective and having never had any involvement in academy football up until this point, I would have thought they would have understood that he was highly unlikely to be the finished article in every department.

Once I found out that training with the other academy wasn’t going to be an option, at least for the time being, I had a good idea that he was going to stick to grassroots football. In my mind, if it came down to it, the pull of his current team versus the uncertainty of another (possibly unsuccessful) trial, with his confidence at a particularly low ebb, there was only going to be one outcome.

And that was the case. A guaranteed trial with an academy team got the thumbs down.

I’ve always told him he should do what makes him happy and that’s exactly what he’s chosen to do. So fair play to him.

In what seemed like no time at all, he’d made his decision and was back into pre-season training with his grassroots mates. Then came the hamstring injury in the friendly against the u13’s and the race to be able to take part in the schoolboys trial.

At school, on the following Tuesday, his teacher showed him the email he’d received from the Schools FA. It said he’d been successful and was invited to the final trial, that coming Saturday. We were chuffed to bits for him. Regardless of whether he got in, I told him it was a great achievement to get to the final trial. The extra few days enabled him to keep resting his hamstring and continue doing the stretches to strengthen it and get back to full fitness.

By Saturday morning he said it was feeling 99% right. Enough to give a good account of his ability. At the trial, there were enough familiar faces from grassroots football – either ex team mates or opposition players – to ease any nerves he had and he looked relaxed.

Throughout the warm up and drills, he didn’t look out of place, which has always been one of my worries as his Dad – that there’d be a big difference between some of the lads who have played at a higher level and him. It’s just natural that you wouldn’t want your lad to be out of their depth, particularly as a keeper where a difference in ability would be obvious to everyone watching on. The recent academy experience proved that it’s an unfounded worry and most likely (as usual) just me overthinking things and generally being a pessimist.

When it came to the game at the end, the coaches looked to be mixing the teams up to be making them a combination of last year’s players and this year’s trialists. Within the first few minutes, it was apparent that my lad was on the weaker of the teams. By this point, I’d got over my irrational fear of him being embarrassed by the standard of play and saw he had the opportunity to shine as he was by far the busier keeper. His side lost 3-1 but he did well, making a few decent saves and playing out well with his feet. All in all, I thought he came out of the trial looking good.

I was careful not to say too much in the car on the way home. I’d learnt my lesson from the academy a few weeks before on that score.

He was happy with how he’d done and that’s all that mattered. He’d done his best and his hamstring was feeling fine, so what more can you ask? The decision was due to be emailed to school on the Monday.

He didn’t get any news on that Monday due to his teacher not being in. But I did. I got an email on Monday morning to say he was in the squad for the season. A fantastic achievement after the disappointment of the academy’s decision and overcoming the injury in time to take part in the trials.

As one door closed, he got a different opportunity (and took it) because he kept the faith.

When kids get injured playing grassroots football, especially when they’re young, thankfully it tends to be quite a rare event.

They usually just jump back up and carry on playing, or maybe slightly worse, get subbed off for a few minutes then come back on as if nothing happened. Since my lad started playing, it’s always been in the back of my mind that if he got injured, the team would suffer because of it. Not particularly because of his ability but because of his position. The same applies to the majority of grassroots teams.

If a keeper gets injured during a grassroots game and can’t carry on – if the two sides are evenly matched – chances are that the team in question will probably end up losing the game because of how specialised the goalkeeper’s job is. More often than not, there’s usually a volunteer that’ll be happy to borrow the gloves, throw themselves around and possibly have the chance of being the hero of the hour. But, unless they play in goal with some kind of regularity, the opposition will sense the chance to take advantage of their lack of goalkeeping skills. In recent years, there have been the introduction of agreements to level sides up in the event of games being dramatically one-sided but even this is unlikely to redress the balance in the event of a keeper going off.

A keeper is a keeper.

Between the sticks, the difference in ability of the keeper and their (outfield) substitute, generally widens the older they get. The lad who steps up at our grassroots team has only played in goal for the team once in the last three seasons – a preseason friendly three years ago when we were on holiday. The reason being, that my lad has never been injured during that time. Or, for that matter, the three years before that at his previous club.

As they are now, in the process of moving up to u14’s, things have changed a lot as far as our stand in keeper is concerned. For starters, the goals are huge compared to the last time he stood in – and he’s not the tallest. During his training sessions over the last couple of years, my lad has spent a great deal of time working on his positioning and angles to give himself the best chance of keeping the ball out of the full sized goals. The replacement keeper hasn’t done any work on that kind of thing. We could spend time on it during any training session throughout the year but his priority has to be that of learning his trade as a centre half.

As the lads become older, they specialise in their own position. They might be asked to play in a different position now and then but generally an outfielder will be able to do a decent enough job in any other outfield position. A keeper playing out, or an outfielder playing in goal and not looking like a fish out of water is probably the exception rather than the rule.

So, during the second half of a pre-season friendly in early June against our u13 team, when my lad went down and stayed down, the immediate concern was a new experience for him. And me. I ran onto the pitch, where he was sat and could see before I reached him that he was in pain. When I got closer, even though he was trying to stop anybody from seeing, it was apparent that there were tears as well. My heart sank. Without being a big bruiser, my lad is – like many other keepers his age – a brave, tough lad when it comes to putting his body on the line, diving at the feet of strikers, risking injury but thinking about making the save first.

I asked him where the pain was. He pointed to his hamstring. Without attempting to treat him or ask if he could carry on, I did the funny hand signal that physio’s make when a sub’s needed and helped him to his feet. He put his arm round my shoulder and we made our way to the side line. We got him sat down and made him as comfortable as he could be and by the end of the game, he said the pain had eased a little bit. He was half limping, half hobbling but generally seemed a fair bit happier than when I got to him on the pitch.

Without really knowing too much about hamstring injuries, I did a bit of an internet search and the plan was to get some ice on it when we got in. For the next couple of days we kept icing it to keep the swelling down, as well as rubbing anti-inflammatory gel on. In my medical ignorance, I just assumed with the level of pain he was now in, he had just pulled the hamstring. Over the next few days, there seemed to be fairly little improvement in how it was feeling.

By now, I was asking him a few times each day how it was feeling. The frequency increased after he came home from school one day and said his PE teacher had asked him if he’d be interested in trialling for the city’s schoolboy team. In his six seasons of playing grassroots and schools football, his teachers have never once put him forward for trials – but that’s a story for another day. The first trial was due to take place at the start of July. After a few more days of seeing no real improvement in how he was feeling, we decided it was going to take more than ice packs, crossed fingers and positive thoughts to get him right. So I rang a physio.

I couldn’t get out of work to take him to the first appointment, so his Mum took him. After asking what had happened and getting a bit of background information, the physio had a look at him. He massaged his hamstring, asked him exactly where the pain was and how sore it was. Then while he was laid on his back, he asked him to raise his leg (keeping it straight) as high as he could. Obviously this was restricted a certain amount by the injury but the physio left him in no doubt that he should be much more supple than he actually is. He used an ultrasound on his hamstring, confirmed that it was a tear and talked him through some stretches to do. He also gave him a sheet of paper to take home, with the stretches illustrated on.

During the appointment, his Mum had mentioned the schoolboy trials to the physio and asked if it was likely, or even just possible that he’d be in any kind of state to be able to take part. He said we’d have to wait and see how the recovery went but there was a chance. The physio asked him to do the stretches just as he’d explained and for us to make a follow up appointment for a few days later to check on his progress. He also gave him some KT tape to use – the stuff you often see professionals using, to spread the load of the repairing muscle. On the way out they made an appointment at reception for three days later.

When I got home from work they told me what the physio had said, so I did the only thing I knew. I crossed my fingers and thought positive thoughts.

Between the two physio appointments, just as instructed, my lad did the stretches regularly. Almost religiously in fact. The injury had really shaken him up (and he’d realised he wasn’t invincible) and he was determined to do everything he could to get himself fit again. As we were still there for all the matches and training sessions, his grassroots manager asked him if he’d be willing to take the warm up beforehand, what with him knowing some genuine stretches, rather than the half-arsed lolling about that a lot of teams do before a game. He was chuffed to bits.

The lads are all turning into young men and as the physio told us, as their bodies change, muscles, bones, ligaments and cartilage all grow at different rates, which is part of the problem. Without a decent warm up, there’s now a greater risk of pulled or torn muscles, which is what caused my lad’s torn hamstring – basically a lack of proper stretching both before games but also, just in general.

We’ve recently started going to the gym and the physio said that it was fine to get him doing some light exercise to start working the hamstring. Nothing too strenuous but then also at training to do some jogging and then dribbling with a ball and then very gradually increase the intensity.

We’re another week further on into his recovery from the injury and he seems to be nearly there. He’s still not quite 100% but he had another light training session with me last night and based on that we decided he’d be ok to attend the schoolboy trial today.

He got through the 2 hours of trial – with his hamstring taped up and came away without any pain or soreness in it.

They’ll contact his school on Monday to let him know if he’s through to the final trial next week. From how he performed today, there’s something wrong if he doesn’t get asked back.

Either way we’ll just keep the faith.

So, after my lad had been unsuccessful in his trial, I continued trying to get the academy’s feedback on his performance. Regardless of whether he is interested in having another trial at an academy or continues to play grassroots football, the feedback is important for him to be able to improve on whichever areas of his game have been highlighted as requiring remedial work.

It was looking increasingly unlikely that I was going to receive any feedback at all as the days passed. I was either being ignored or received the occasional text message to say somebody would be in touch. I assumed that they were taking as long as they were because of how many different elements of goalkeeping they would be giving feedback on.

After eight weeks at the academy, I guessed they must have looked at all the different qualities and skill sets that are required to be a goalkeeper and compared that to his performance to come to their final decision.

Having been a keeper when I was (much) younger, then recently completing my FA level 1 goalkeeper coaching badge and also coaching my lad for the last couple of seasons, I had a stab at what I thought would be the categories of the feedback. Starting off simple, there were things that could be as basic as; set position (broken down into its individual parts), handling technique, shot stopping, positioning. Although, these are all fairly standard skills that any keeper who has been invited to trial would be expected to have a decent level of ability with. Alternatively when watching a player, the scout would have seen these attributes for themselves but either way you would expect the triallist to display a decent level of competence.

Footwork is a vital part of goalkeeping, even more so as the game of football and (specifically) the position of goalkeeper evolves. The advent of keepers becoming the extra defender when required and therefore being comfortable with the ball at their feet, has meant much more emphasis on ‘ball mastery’. So I was expecting sections on; ball skills (first touch, how comfortable on the ball etc), distribution (short, medium and long distances and accuracy), kicking technique (dead balls, side-winders etc). Part of the distribution section would probably also include throwing (again, short, medium and long distances and accuracy).

I also expected athleticism and speed to figure in any feedback given. In my mind, these two headings count a fair bit for keepers. Athleticism and speed can cover; agility, reactions, bravery, speed of footwork (explosive movement etc), spring/leap, dealing with crosses/high balls.

Decision making is also an area that is key to being a competent goalkeeper. In this area you could include; communication with team mates, when to come out/when to stay, general mindset/mindset under pressure (the making of one mistake doesn’t lead to another etc).

The physical attributes of the player as they develop over time are also likely to have a huge bearing on how far the young goalkeeper may or may not progress. There are plenty of goalkeepers with most, if not all, of the right attributes to be able to play football at a high level but through a lack of height, their chances will be dramatically reduced. This is no doubt one of the more difficult areas for the academy to assess, as height (and weight) would have to be projected estimates, based on factors such as the keeper’s current height, weight and age, possibly taking into account their parent’s heights. Even with these details, growth spurts may (or may not) occur which will obviously have a bearing on the height of the individual.

All the goalkeeping attributes I’ve mentioned fall into sections within the FA’s ‘four corners’ approach to coaching. The headings are: Technical/Tactical, Psychological, Physical and Social. At his initial meeting at the academy, there was a great deal of emphasis placed on the social aspect while he was on his trial period. In other words, they wanted him to be fully involved and interact with the academy lads while he was there. We were left in no doubt that even with all the other elements in place, a failure in this area would most likely mean an unsuccessful outcome, so I obviously thought this would play quite a large part in the feedback he received.

After numerous requests for feedback over about 10 days with no results, I sent a text message to the Lead Coach. At this point, if he didn’t give any feedback, or didn’t respond, I decided that I would draw a line under it and move on. I didn’t want to, as the whole point of it was to understand why my lad had been unsuccessful and to use it as a training tool to help him develop and improve but I felt I was hitting a brick wall.

I received a reply exactly 15 minutes later. With feedback. Sort of. Well, not really.

In all there were 75 words in the text. Actual feedback accounted for a grand total of 29 words. The rest of the text was apologising for the delay in responding, to wish him good luck in finding a club and that his details had been circulated.

The feedback was: “He has a good strong physique, brave and demonstrated good shit stopping ability. He needs to improve with his feet and there is no guarantee on his final height.”

And just to clarify, the feedback came through exactly as shown above. Maybe he should double check the spellings before sending his texts.

So during eight weeks at the academy, which was roughly 45 hours of training, as well as another 7 hours of game time, the entire feedback he’s been given is that he:

1. needs to improve with (the ball at) his feet, and
2. cannot guarantee how tall he’ll be in say, five years time

Needing to improve with the ball at his feet I can understand as it’s probably the weakest part of his game but he’s a lad who’s only played grassroots football and some occasional futsal, rather than having two years of academy football behind him, as the other two keepers had. There’s a lot less playing out from the back in grassroots football than there is at an academy and he was scouted playing grassroots. They also asked enough questions to be fully aware of his previous experience. In the two games that he ‘played up’ at the academy (playing against u15’s, – so lads two years older than him), he looked comfortable enough with the ball at his feet and didn’t make any mistakes.

At 13½ years old, he can’t guarantee how tall he’ll end up being. Doesn’t that apply to everybody? It seems like a comment just to fill out the text message a bit. He’s about 172cm (5 feet 8 inches in old money) at the moment, was joint tallest amongst the u13’s academy lads and about 10cm (4 inches) taller than both the other two keepers. Obviously there are no guarantees about his height and how much he’ll grow in the next few years but out of curiosity I put his measurements into a couple of online height calculators. One projected his height to be 6 feet 2 inches, the other 6 feet 3 inches. Hardly a guarantee, I know, but I didn’t see a time machine or any crystal balls knocking about either while he was on trial there.

Before I saw the depth and detail of the feedback coming our way, I also expected there might be ‘pointers’ on other areas, where he wasn’t necessarily seen as weak but they could suggest how he might improve. As I’ve said previously, this is my lad’s and therefore, my first experience of football academies, so I didn’t know what to expect but I definitely thought it would be much more professional than the encounter we’ve had.

I’ve since had it on good authority that the academy in question used to complete a feedback document for unsuccessful triallists. Other academies I’ve been told, still do. As well as this, the dad of a keeper at a different academy has also told me that in his and other’s experience it’s common practise to get a detailed rundown of strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement.

I never even responded to the feedback text. I didn’t see the point, as it already felt like I’d been fighting a losing battle.

Something that’s been niggling me since though, is the thought that if during the eight weeks they had been assessing him in a formal, documented process, then as the days and weeks passed by, they would have automatically compiled a written feedback document by the end of his trial. The fact that it took all of 10 days and plenty of hassling on my part to get a few badly written lines in a text says to me that either; they didn’t document anything during his trial and so eventually churned out something off the top of their head, or something changed during his trial which meant whatever they had written about him became irrelevant.

In the meeting at the end of his trial, which lasted all of about 2 minutes, the Lead Coach advised us that they were only planning on signing one goalkeeper in each age group, apart from u16’s where they had offered two scholarships. This contradicted what we were told in the initial meeting – they were planning to use either two or three keepers at his age group. One of the two negative feedback points was uncertainty over his height. The keeper they kept on is considerably smaller than him. Then, two days ago on social media, the academy was advertising open trials for goalkeepers at all groups from u8 through to u15.

Whatever’s happened, has happened and he hasn’t got in to the academy. If he isn’t good enough, that’s fine but it should be backed up with some factual evidence based on his trial, to support their decision and also give him the opportunity to improve as a goalkeeper. I think they owe him that much.

I would never trust them again but in my lad, I’ll definitely keep the faith.

 The grassroots season was drawing to a close with only 3 league games remaining for my lad’s team.

The games left to play were all rearrangements because of postponements enforced by the great British weather. If the lad’s games had gone ahead first time round, their season would have been done and dusted by mid-March. In hindsight that would have made the last couple of months a bit less hectic for him.

He was training with an academy and also an Emerging Talent Centre (ETC). The ETC training clashed with his grassroots training, so I had a word with his grassroots manager to see if he’d be OK with him missing grassroots training while he had a few weeks with the ETC. We were told that it would be for 6-8 weeks and after that period of time, he’d be given a decision on how he’d performed and how they saw his likely progression. What coincided with the end of the 8 weeks at the ETC, was the rumour that the other academy wanted to put him on a YD8 form, to give him an official 6 week trial.

I texted the Recruitment Officer at the ETC to advise that he wouldn’t be able to continue training with them because the YD8 form means no involvement with any other professional clubs – I should clarify that as this was my lad’s first involvement with any academies, I was learning all these procedures and processes as I went along – the Recruitment Officer texted me straight back saying that they wanted to offer him the YD8 form as well and asked how soon we could go in, to complete the forms.

A couple of things went in their favour. Firstly, it’s the team he supports and secondly, the other offer was only a rumour, so we thought he’d be foolish to turn down a concrete trial offer. The date was set for the following week to go to the academy, sign the forms and then get straight into his first training session.

When we arrived at the academy, the Head of Recruitment took us to his office. The first thing we were told during the meeting was that they had been very impressed with how he’d performed in training at the ETC but also that there are relatively few young lads that are given the opportunity to progress to the academy. As well as that, a scout had watched his grassroots team and passed his details to the academy, so, he came in his words, “highly recommended”. He should be very pleased with getting to this stage and was encouraged to grasp the opportunity with both hands – from both a football point of view but also from the social side of things. He was encouraged to mix with the academy lads and integrate as much as possible during the trial. Not always easy when you don’t know any of them. The other thing that was mentioned to us was that the two academy keepers in his age group would likely see him as a threat (as it is very rare to have three keepers within an age group) so he should concentrate on his trial and his own game.

I’ve always been fairly confident about his ability as a goalkeeper but it’s fair to say, I wasn’t sure if he’d fall short in an academy environment. Neither of us knew if there would be a gulf in class between him and the other keepers already there. To be honest I wasn’t sure how he’d fair with the ‘social’ side of the deal either. He’s an outgoing, fairly confident lad but it always takes a certain amount of time to settle in and the Head of Recruitment said he’d seen plenty of lads with bags of ability but they had failed because of not fitting in with the other players.

We were given a booklet with all the information he needed about his trial and also found out from the meeting that training would be three evenings a week, with the likelihood of games being arranged against other academies or grassroots teams on Saturdays or Sundays. At this point, specifically because of him being a keeper, I clarified the dates of his grassroots games and he said they would try to avoid those particular Sundays. We came out of the meeting and he was shown down to the changing rooms to meet the lads and the coaches. I went the other way, walked outside and waited for him to come outside so I could watch his session.

Throughout his trial period, the training sessions took the general structure of an hour with the goalkeeper coaches, then the remainder of the session (an hour, or an hour and a half) with the outfield lads and outfield coaches.

The first session seemed to be very successful. For a start, he’d enjoyed it. He also knew the two goalkeeper coaches, so felt at ease straight away and then on the way home, he reeled a few names off – lads that he’d only met a couple of hours ago. He was happy, so I was happy. And importantly, he was already looking forward to training the following day.

At the following evening’s session, I was stood near the parents while he was training and overheard something that made me feel great. They didn’t know who I was and probably didn’t know I could hear the conversation but they were talking about my lad. The conversation was about the ‘new keeper’ and “does anybody know where he’s come from?”, “I watched him last night and he did really well” and “he’s quite tall isn’t he”.

The nervous knot in my stomach was unwinding a lot sooner than I’d expected.

The sessions went by and he continued to enjoy them, he mixed more and more with the other lads as well as the older keepers during training. I got talking to the u14’s keeper’s dads and they both said their lads had commented on how well he’d been doing. Everything seemed to be going great.

At the initial meeting, we’d been given the end date for his trial (exactly 6 weeks later) and were told there’d be a meeting after his third week just to check everything was going ok. We were also told that it was very unlikely that anything would happen after that meeting half way through the trial – in other words, he wouldn’t be signed at that point and he wouldn’t be released either, unless something had cropped up that gave them cause for concern. The meeting never happened, although when I did ask about it I was told that there was no need for the meeting and that everything would be covered when his six weeks was up.

In the mean time, fixtures were being arranged for him to play in.

The first couple were against other academies. It was Sod’s Law that the first one was against the academy he’d been training with previously. He was nervous but I think more worried about what the other academy coaches might say to him, if and when they saw him. He needn’t have been on edge. One of them came over to him, shook his hand, asked if he was OK and was he enjoying his trial? The other coach did pretty much the same a few minutes later. It put his mind at rest and also showed what they thought of him. I thought it was a touch of class to make a point of coming over and asking how he was. In the game, he played well, made a couple of good saves and came out and made a brave block. They won 2-1 and he was happy to have got the first game under his belt, as well as realising he hadn’t made any enemies.

He played another couple of games before being asked to play ‘a year up’, for the u14’s. It was against a grassroots team but I only found out while I was walking up to the pitch to watch, that the opposition were u15’s. So the lads he was playing against were two years older than him. He played the first half of the game and did really well with a deflection just before half time. It was half blocked by a defender’s leg and looped up and over him. He moved his feet quickly, jumped up and back, managed to get fingertips to the ball and it skimmed past the far post. I counted eight of his outfield team mates either fist bump him or slap him on the back before they defended the corner.

In academy games, there’s much more emphasis on playing out from the back and he had plenty of back passes to deal with, all of which he did. On one of them, he looked to have taken a bit too much time and the centre forward was on top of him. He just knocked it onto his other foot, moved away from the oncoming player and passed the ball to his full back. A few minutes into the second half, one of the defenders had to come off and without any other substitutes, he was back on but playing on the left wing. He nearly scored as well. He was buzzing on the journey home.

The following week he was asked to play for the u14’s again. The opposition was again an u15’s team. But this time it was Leicestershire Schoolboys. He played the second half but as I looked at the shape of the team as they restarted, I could only count nine outfield players. There were no injuries. One of the other parents said it’s quite common for them to take a player off, to stretch the team more. Once again, he did well and made a few saves and dealt with all the back passes with little enough fuss. He was feeling very happy with himself afterwards.

I wondered if he was being asked to play in these couple of games specifically just to give him game time, or if he fitted the bill better as cover for the u14’s than the other two u13’s keepers. When he was stood at the side of them, he was considerably taller than both of them. I know that height is not the ‘be all and end all’ as far as keepers are concerned but the difference between them was noticeable. Especially if they were stood in front of a full sized goal. The more I thought about different aspects, the more I thought he was ticking boxes from the academy football point of view.

He was now at the stage where he was mixing with all the u13’s lads and plenty of the u14’s as well. Tick. Every time he was training, he was doing it with a smile on his face and looked comfortable in the surroundings. Tick.

The six week end date came and went. The general opinion amongst the academy parents was that this was a good sign and that if they weren’t interested in signing him, they would have asked for us to have a meeting well before this point and given us the bad news. While he’d been at the academy, a good number of the lads (into double figures) had said they thought he’d be asked to sign. An outfield lad had been at the academy for eight weeks before he’d signed, so without getting his hopes up, it appeared that all was going well for my lad. I didn’t want to come over as too pushy and be badgering for a finish date and his grassroots season had now finished, so I figured we’d just let it run it’s course.

On the eighth week of his trial, there was no training for two of the three days because the academy lads were having their retain/release meetings – where the academy make a decision to either keep or release the players. A couple of hours before the final training session of the week when the lads were actually due in for training, I messaged the Lead Coach to ask if they knew when they were planning on having a meeting regarding a decision on my lad. “I was planning to sit down after the session if that’s ok?”

I didn’t mention the conversation to my lad as I knew he’d not be able to concentrate on training if the decision was hanging over his head. On the way to the academy, I asked him what he would say regarding his strengths/weaknesses and how he thought he’d done while he’d been there if a meeting was to take place. He asked if there was a meeting arranged. I just said there must be something soon because of him having been there for eight weeks. His honest opinion was that overall he’d done well, particularly enjoyed ‘playing up’ for the u14’s (against u15’s) and he commented on having got on well with the other lads as per the advice he’d been given in that first meeting.

He went down to train with the lads and I went in to the viewing area to watch. The u14’s keeper’s dad was in there and he told me one of the u13’s keepers had been released but all the outfielders had been retained and asked me if we’d heard anything. I told him about the meeting and he was convinced that they’d want to sign him, having just released a keeper, along with him having been at the academy for eight weeks. He was sure that they would have made a decision on him a few weeks before, they wouldn’t have drawn the trial out if he wasn’t part of their plans and it would be harsh to let him train before telling him he’d been unsuccessful.

While I was watching, a friend of mine (a fellow goalkeeper’s dad) came in to see how my lad was doing. He knew a decision was due that evening and had dropped in to watch some of the session and offer us some moral support. On watching the session, his first comment was on the size of the keepers and the height advantage my lad had over the other two. His second was on how good my lad’s footwork was. Tick.

I knew the decision wasn’t cut and dried but I was as confident as I had been at any point during the last eight weeks that my lad would be getting the news he wanted. He came into reception with the other lads after the session had finished and told me we needed to have a meeting with the Lead Coach. He had a couple of other lads to see before us, so we had to wait 15 minutes or so before we went in for his decision. After what seemed like an age, we went into a side room and sat down.

Even before he started talking, I could tell that it wasn’t good news. He had nothing in his hands, no paperwork, no notes.

And then there it was, “First of all, really well done on how you’ve performed while you’ve been here but…” The words “You’re as good a goalkeeper as I can remember having on trial here…” and “You’re far, far too good for Sunday League…” were sounding very hollow. I can’t begin to imagine what my lad was feeling. All the way through, I’ve managed his expectations to the best of my ability but even up to just a few minutes before the bad news, the academy lads were still telling him he’d be asked to sign.

To be honest the decision surprised me. To the extent that I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have any questions lined up or anything. Nothing at all. We were both a bit shell shocked as we wandered back out of the room and towards the car park. The academy lads have a group chat set up and my lad was part of it while he was on trial. On the way home he put a message on saying he’d not got in. His phone pinged more or less straight away with a reply from the captain, “On your Mum’s life?”

It was only a few minutes into the journey home when it dawned on me that there was no feedback given to us on his performance. Not a single word. I felt stupid that it hadn’t occurred to me to ask. For them to have made a decision on him either way, they must have made notes on his strengths/weaknesses and what areas he needs to improve on. Regardless of if that’s the end of the road for him with that particular academy – which it is – surely they owe us their professional opinion after keeping him there for a fortnight longer than previously agreed.

I don’t want it to come across as sour grapes because if he’s not up to the standard they’re looking for, that’s fair enough, that’s life, but for him to improve he needs to have constructive feedback to be able to address whichever areas need improvement. Apart from anything else, it’s common courtesy for a lad who hasn’t missed a training session or game, who’s arrived early for every session and done exactly what’s been asked of him from day one (to week eight).

The extra couple of weeks they kept him at the academy could also prove to be more  important/costly for him than we realised if he wants to continue down the academy route. The other academy asked to be kept informed of his progress at his trial. So when we found out, I let them know the outcome. It appears that all the academies wind down within a day or two of each other in May, until some time in July. If he’d known after the agreed six weeks that he wasn’t successful, he could have at least trained with the other academy for a couple of weeks before the break.

I’ve asked for specific feedback on his time at the academy and as of now, a week later, I’m still waiting. The Lead Coach hasn’t responded to my messages and I’ve been in contact with two other people at the academy to try to get any information. Surely to make a considered decision on whether a player is of the right standard during a trial, the coaches (both goalkeeper and outfield) would need to complete paperwork, have a proper evaluation, assessment and feedback. I really hope I’m wrong but the fact that it’s taking as long as it is to even respond to me would suggest they haven’t done any of this. The last message I received was a text saying “***** should be sending you a message”. Hardly convincing and sounding highly unlikely that I can expect the courtesy of an actual conversation any time soon.

Whatever the outcome is – and I’m not holding my breath about getting any useful information – he’s put 100% in and done his level best. Sometimes it’s just not enough. He’s over the initial disappointment but I know he’s got some fire in his belly and a point to prove.

Whatever happens, we’ll both keep the faith.

It was apparent from an early age that like many other young lads, my lad quite fancied being a professional footballer when he was older.

As a parent you do what you think is best and let them have their dream, at least for a little while or until they grow out of it. As the years and football seasons have passed by, it’s clear that the desire is still well and truly there with him. Whether he’ll be good enough to play professionally is obviously a very different question but whatever level of football he plays at, I’ll be there, watching on proudly.

Since he started playing at under 8’s there’s no doubt in my mind he’s progressed year on year. At the end of the u10’s season he left his first club due to the decision by his manager to retain both goalkeepers from the previous ‘double team’ season. Knowing him as I do and having seen him develop over the previous three seasons, that wasn’t an option for me. I was fully aware that playing half a game a week, or a full game every other week wouldn’t benefit him in the slightest and any chance of further progression would evaporate.

The dad of one of his former team mates suggested he go for a trial with his lad’s team. His lad had been there for one season but enjoyed the challenge. His team was the equivalent to about four divisions higher than my lad’s, so it would be quite a step up. He went for trials on two consecutive Friday evenings during pre-season. I saw him the first week and thought he did alright. I had pre-warned him that there would probably be quite a few keepers there, also trialling but as it turned out there was only one other keeper there. Their current keeper.

I thought it would be very difficult for him to do enough in two one hour sessions for the managers to take a gamble on a new goalie, rather than play safe and stick with the one they already knew. I couldn’t take him to the trial the following week, so his Grandad took him. Based on what he’d seen, he wasn’t sure either if they’d be willing to take a chance on him. All the parents were advised we’d be told either way regarding the outcome of our lad’s trials before the weekend was over.

His current team had arranged to play a friendly on the Sunday morning of that weekend. He played well but I could tell he was distracted by wanting to know the outcome of the trial. I told him not to think too far ahead but he told me if the new team wanted him, he wanted to play for them. We got home from the friendly but so far there had been no word on the outcome of the trial. He kept asking me to check my phone. Then, after what seemed like hours, it rang.

The voice on the end of the phone was that of the manager. He got straight to the point. Did he want to sign for them? They were impressed with what they’d seen and he had an advantage over the other keeper. His height. He’s always been ever so slightly above average height compared with other lads his age. As it turned out, this may have been the deciding factor between the two lads. At this point I was wandering about on the landing. I glanced down the stairs and the nervous keeper was staring back at me. I put a thumb up to him. He set off like a firework into the room to tell his Mum.

After the telephone conversation had finished, I thought to myself, what would he have done if they didn’t want to sign him? I think the only thing we could have done was to look for other trials with other teams. It seemed as though it had gone beyond the point where staying at the current team was an option to him. About half the lads who he’d played with in the u8’s team had left by this point, so the pull of it being the same team wasn’t there anymore. He also said he felt a bit let down by the decision of the manager to keep both keepers. He wanted to play as much football as he could and be as good as he could be. I thought it was a pretty grown up outlook for a 10 year old. Not like the 10 year old I was, all those years ago.

Since he’s been at his current team, he’s continued to improve, albeit with the odd wobble along the way. His wanting to improve and be as good as he can is just the way he is in general. He’s always been ultra competitive and doesn’t like being beaten at anything, whether it was a board game against his sister when he was little, or being up against a different keeper in a trial. His competitive nature combined with me thinking that he had a certain level of natural goalkeeping ability were the catalysts for us to take him to goalkeeper specific training at CYG Goalkeeping and subsequently for me to complete the FA level 1 goalkeeping badge, so that I was able to coach him for his club on a weekly basis.

As his development has continued, so has that of the team. This has meant them playing against the best junior league teams in the city and district as a whole and therefore him being tested by top quality opponents, which has in turn improved him. Another factor that has so far aided him in his development is that (touch wood) he has continued to keep growing. Obviously he has no control over this but it is something that could ultimately end any real prospect he has of achieving his dream. At any goalkeeper training session around the country there will be very talented young lads that will struggle to carry out the role of keeper due to a lack of height.

He’s now been at his current team for two and a half seasons and just recently, scouts from some of the local professional clubs have started watching them. After watching his team a few times, one of the scouts asked about his availability and if he would like to go and train with their academy. Having never had this kind of opportunity before, he was very flattered and also keen to have a look. The training sessions were on a weekday evening and were only about 10 minutes from our house, which meant it was no problem to get him there. We were advised that it would involve him going training for about six weeks, after which they would make a decision on if they wanted him to sign for the academy, or not.

Two training sessions later, they said they wanted to sign him. It all felt a bit rushed to both of us. I’ve always told him I’ll be completely honest with him, give him my views and opinion but not make him do anything he doesn’t want to. It has to be his decision, not mine. He decided against signing for the academy because it would mean leaving his grassroots team and he said he didn’t feel ready to move on. I said that was fine and that was the end of that.

At his game the following Sunday, a scout from a different club came to watch the team. I got a phone call the day after and basically had the same conversation asking if he wanted to go training with them. They’re about 40 minutes from where we live and their first team play two divisions higher than the previous one. He said yes. It sounded like a similar sort of scenario. They said for him to go for a couple of weeks to see if he likes it and following that it would be a six week trial. So far he’s been training twice. Although he didn’t know anybody there, he enjoyed training with the other keepers and seemed to get on well with the coaches. From the first minute though, he was made to feel very welcome.

Running parallel to this was another approach from a different club to see if he’d be interested in training with them. This time from the team he supports. Although this was to go training with their Emerging Talent Centre goalkeepers, rather than their academy. He’s been there a few weeks and again, really enjoys the training. Watching on, I feel it’s an excellent level of coaching that he’s receiving. The theory behind the ETC is that they take keepers that they feel could be about the right sort of standard for the academy and invite them to train for six to eight weeks. After that period of time, there are three possible outcomes.

1. They are given a trial with the academy
2. They are invited to train with the ETC for another six to eight weeks
3. They are monitored at grassroots level

The only down side with the ETC sessions is that they take place on the same night as his grassroots training. Unfortunately this is likely to mean it will be a short term option for him as he should be training with his team mates each week.

All these approaches are a huge pat on the back for him. It’s just been a bit much to take in for him with everything happening so quickly. There’s a long way to go and I have no idea whether he’ll be deemed good enough or not but within a two week period two academies and an ETC asking to see more of him must mean that he’s there or thereabouts. I know they won’t expect him to be the finished article but must think that he’s at the stage where they’ve got enough to work with.

If any of the set ups want to take it further with him, he won’t be able to make a balanced decision until he’s got some more training sessions under his belt but if I’m honest I have no idea what the best thing to do is, as it’s all new to us.

On one hand, I’ve heard that academies don’t tend to take many keepers on, much after his sort of age because they would usually have been picked up already, if their technique and ability is at the standard they’re looking for. That would suggest, if true, that as far as academy football is concerned, at the ripe old age of 13 time is running out for him.

But is academy football what he needs, or wants? Would turning down the opportunity to play for an academy (again) put an end to his dream? Or does deciding against it just take him down a different path?

Ultimately, the balance in his head will be weighing up the lure of playing for an academy with the prospect of pushing him further as a goalkeeper, against the grassroots football with his mates that he enjoys so much. As I’ve said before, I’ll back him 100% whatever he decides and over the next few weeks, things will become much clearer.

Keep the faith.

On the back of a few good performances, laddo’s team’s next fixture was away against second in the league.

Their last meeting was towards the back end of last season and was a hard fought 0-0. Against a team that had beaten our lads on the previous three meetings, a goalless draw felt like a win to us. Without creating a great deal of chances for themselves, the team had to withstand a few periods where their own goal was under threat. My lad and his defenders did their jobs well and came away with a well deserved clean sheet. It cost me a few quid, as clean sheets always do, and as always it was worth the money.

The lads went into this game on the back of a 4-0 win, which completed (so far) their first double over a team this season. Confidence was fairly high in the run up to the game and we thought it might be our best opportunity yet to get a first win over that weekend’s opposition.

When we got to their ground, a few of his team mates were already there. As we approached, one of our parents commented that they looked ‘like rabbits in the headlights’. Not a statement to fill you with confidence.

My lad was usually a little bit on edge against this particular team because of one of their forwards. They had played together at their previous club, when the other lad was one of his defenders. I always thought he looked the part. Solid in the tackle, not many players seemed to get past him and towards the end of his time in that team, when he got possession he started carrying the ball further and further into the opposition half. Since moving clubs, he had been converted into a striker.

In the team’s four previous meetings, the keeper had come out on top in their individual battle, if not the overall results. The lad in question hadn’t scored in any of the games, although our team had managed only the 0-0 draw along with three defeats.

There’s also another player on their team that has a bit of history with our lads, as he used to play for us and seems to think he’s something special. He also goes to school with a few of his ex-team mates, so Monday morning bragging rights were at stake. I was pleased that my lad wasn’t getting too worked up or showing any nerves as he generally does when playing against lads he knows.

The rabbits hopped out of the way of the oncoming traffic and did their warm up and I took the keeper through his usual routine to prepare him for kick off. His warm up was no better than average. If he wasn’t showing any nerves earlier, he certainly was now. After a bit of passing and handling at close range – which both went well – I went to the edge of the area to knock some shots in. He hardly stopped any and the ones he did, he didn’t look at all comfortable with and he started to get frustrated. I jogged over.

It’s at this point where I would give him a bit of a pep talk, put an arm round his shoulder and try to instil a bit of confidence in him. It was also at this point where we discovered that neither his towel or cap were in his bag. He looked panicked. I calmed him down. To be fair the cap didn’t look like it would be needed anyway on the typically grey January morning. But the towel, that was different. Even when it’s warm and sunny, he hangs the towel on the side netting. The side netting next to his right hand post to be specific. It’s a constant in his match day routine and always has been, ever since his first game. In that time, the towel has changed but it’s meaning hasn’t. He looked genuinely worried that the towel was absent. Through the years, goalies have been known for being superstitious. It turns out without realising it, he’s no different.

This required some quick thinking, it was only a few minutes before kick off. Sometimes he wears a base layer, sometimes not. Today he had one on, so I told him to take the base layer off and use that. Instantly he agreed it was a good idea and there was a look of relief, maybe even a hint of a smile. It wasn’t the towel but it would do. We’d forgotten about the less than convincing warm up, so I said my usual piece about the ground condition, wind direction, back passes etc and we went our separate ways. But not before I suggested he try to get his team mates wound up and ready for the opposition. I said I thought it would be a good idea for him to get the team in a huddle straight after the captain had done the coin toss. Apart from a couple of lads in the team, there aren’t many ‘leaders’ while the game is going on. Most of them are very quiet, especially if things aren’t going well. They did the huddle and filtered away to their positions.

Only a few minutes after the game started, it looked as though there were two different styles of football being played. On the wide, flat pitch our team were playing some decent passing football and making a few half chances. The opposition, who are a team with a few tall lads, were much more direct in their approach but they were also making chances. There was a spell of about five or ten minutes in the first half where we struggled to keep hold of the ball and the opposition kept pressing. It felt as though a goal might be coming.

The ball was bouncing around on the edge of our area and we couldn’t quite clear the danger. A half volley from just inside the box looked to be dipping under the bar. My lad managed to take a couple of quick, half steps backwards and jumped up and arched his back. His fingertips made the faintest of touches on the ball. It hit the bar and rebounded back into play. Instantly another shot hit the bar with the keeper still flat out and again bounced in the six yard box. It hit one of the defenders and went goalwards. My lad dived to his right and stopped it on the line. In the absence of VAR and goal line technology, the referee squinted towards the goal and said play on.

A few minutes later, one of their midfielders escaped a couple of challenges and from about 20 yards out, hit a shot towards the far post. At this point, there was a new shout. You sometimes hear “Get in!” from coaches or parents. This time the cry was “What a goal!” from their assistant manager, to which our manager replied, “I thought it had to go in to be a goal?”, a split second after my lad flung himself to his right and tipped the ball round the post. There were a few more run of the mill saves for him to make before the break but thanks to him, the score was still 0-0 at half time.

The team talk at half time was very positive. We’d made a couple of chances of our own and were still playing some really good stuff. The lads were just told to keep doing the same and they would get their reward. The opposition’s two centre halves looked uncomfortable when they were being closed down, especially when they were facing their own goal, so the midfielders were encouraged to play it into the channels to try to worry their defenders.

The second half kicked off and within a matter of minutes we were 1-0 down. A defender attempted to clear a cross but under pressure, only succeeded in putting it into the back of his own goal. It was a really unlucky start to the half but the lads didn’t go into their shells, as can so often be the case. Our lads kept attacking, trying to play it round their centre halves and a late tackle just inside the area gave us the chance to equalise from the penalty spot. The taker sent the keeper the wrong way. 1-1. In the next 10 minutes or so, only one team looked like getting a second goal. We were on top and they were being limited to hopeful long balls over the top.

Our ex-player came off the bench with about 15 minutes left. He didn’t really look like he could offer anything extra to what their team already had. Then he hit a long, hopeful shot. It looked like it was more in desperation than expectation. It was dropping under the bar but not going to cause my lad too much trouble. There was nobody nearby to challenge him, he moved into position in plenty of time and took the ball cleanly. Or so I thought.

I had half turned away as it slipped through his grasp and into the back of the net. The disappointment was written all over his face and in his body language. At that point, as the opposition parents cheered (and laughed at his expense) I reckon he would happily have been swallowed up by a hole in the ground. But there’s nowhere to hide is there? Mistakes happen all over the park throughout every game but when it’s the keeper, it’s remembered and often ends in a goal against.

You could almost see every one of our lads shoulders slump as if they felt the chance had gone. They battled on, all the way to the final whistle but the momentum was now with their opponents. They knew they’d been second best up until then but now, at 2-1 up, they had their best spell as our lads chased the game. With only a couple of minutes left, a corner was headed into his own goal by one of our wingers to make it 3-1.

Two own goals and an awful goalkeeping error had cost us the game. But it was the keeper’s error that people will remember and in truth it was the pivotal moment of the game. He’s made enough mistakes in his few years of playing to know that you have to forget about them while the game carries on, otherwise the mistakes, errors and fumbles begin to snowball. He’s changing into a young man as each week and game goes by and he dealt with the latest bump in the road with some maturity. In the final stages of the game he was still shouting instructions to his defenders, making himself available for backpasses and pulling off the occasional save.

During that game he went from hero to zero in the blink of an eye. As a keeper, the highs of making fantastic saves can make you feel on top of the world but the lows of a glaring mistake can make you feel sick to the pit of your stomach. That’s the price of being a goalie.

But he’ll be back soon, performing heroics in front of the supporters – and in front of his biggest fan.

One thing I know about him is that he’ll definitely keep the faith.

For my lad’s team, league tables were published for the very first time last season. And it made pretty good reading for them.

Under guidance from the FA, under 12’s is the earliest age when football results and tables may be published. This applies to parents putting their son or daughter’s football result on social media. And as you would expect, if you visit the FA’s Full Time website, you won’t find any results for younger age groups either.

This is because after consultation, the FA decided to gradually implement more competitive games as players progress through from u7 to u11. For example, roughly a quarter of u7/u8’s games will be ‘focussed competition’, almost half of u9/u10’s games will be ‘focussed competition’ and about two thirds of u11’s games will be ‘focussed competition’. Then, from u12’s league tables, cup competitions as well as results are published on the Full Time site and parents are able to let all and sundry know how well their kids have done.

This means that instead of having a rough idea which team is top of the league, you can see who actually is. It also means you know how well your opposition have been doing in their previous matches. My lad is always interested to know who’s won, who’s lost and more importantly what that means to their own position in the league table. It also gives the lads a feeling of reality in their own football world because it brings in the possibility of a glorious promotion and also the doom and gloom threat of relegation.

The first season of knowing where you’ve finished in the league saw them finish fifth out of ten teams in the ‘A’ division. That’s fifth in the top division out of 11 – 5th out of 105 teams – a fantastic achievement.

And the final table could not have been more accurate for them – as they say, “the table didn’t lie“.

They took a couple of draws from the teams above them but lost most of those matches against them and they won most of the matches against the teams that ended up finishing below them. They finished the season 17 points behind the team at the top and 17 points in front of the team at the bottom. The very definition of ‘the middle’.

Throughout the season when they were playing any of the top three teams, I thought they had a chance of beating any of them. As it turned out, they fell short on each occasion. But not by much. Apart from a 5-1 drubbing, the most they lost by in any match was 2 goals.

It was the team who finished third last season that handed them that heaviest defeat. With home advantage, ably assisted by their referee and his eccentric decisions throughout the game, they won comfortably. To be honest the final score of 5-1 flattered our lads and the ref’s bizarre decisions, in truth, didn’t make that much difference to the score line. The opposition could easily have run into double figures. Every time they went on the attack, our usually well organised defence looked more than a little vulnerable. What did happen though, was my lad kept the score down. Half a dozen games into the season, he won his first Man of the Match trophy. And as it has turned out, that game started a strange pattern which has continued up until their last home match.

Against the same opposition, when they met in the next three league matches, my lad has won the Man of the Match trophy each time. Not so strange I suppose, if it wasn’t for the fact that they are the only times he’s won the award in the last two seasons.

The return game that season was seen as an opportunity for our lads to get one over on them. As I said, nobody had given us a hiding during the season, apart from them. Unfortunately, the game started in the same way the previous meeting had. 1-0 down relatively early on in the first half. My lad was playing well again and was kept busy throughout the first half. The difference this time was that we were making more chances to score. The confidence in our lads was much higher, you could sense an equaliser coming. Unfortunately by the end of the first half it was still 1-0 but the tide had turned again. The opposition looked more and more likely to extend their lead. Not long into the second half, they did.

Going two goals behind gave our lads their second wind. Soon enough they got a goal back and were looking for an equaliser. The manager changed the formation to give us a bit more of an attacking threat, all the time knowing that it would leave us more open to their counter attacks. Up stepped the goalie again and again to prevent them adding to the score line. The game finished 2-1, which again probably flattered us a little but at the end of the day, the goalie’s job is to keep the ball out isn’t it?

The first match of the season always hangs heavy around my neck. I fret that we might not have done enough 1:1 stuff together, that we’ve left some glaringly obvious stuff out of our training sessions or worse still, that all the other teams have moved on in terms of quality and that my lad will fall short when kick off time comes around. If you’ve read any of my previous blogs you’ll have realised that I’m a worrier, so this really won’t come as a surprise to you.

I needn’t have worried about this one.

The first game of the new campaign was away at their place. I suppose you might as well get the hardest game out of the way first?

No matter how much pre-season you get under the belt, the team usually look a little bit rusty. But to be honest, our lads gave it a really good go from the first whistle – the same ref and his ever trusty whistle – and even though they were 1-0 down, they equalised before half time. 2-1 down became 2-2 and at that point we were on top, pressing for a goal to take the lead. Totally against the run of play, they got a debatable penalty which they converted and that’s how it stayed, 3-2.

My lad had a blinder. Although it wasn’t one way traffic, they had made the best chances and he had stepped up and done his job, making some really top class saves. Opposition players with their heads in their hands and opposition parents shouting “Get in!” just as he made another save are a great indicator for how he was playing that day. At full time, the opposition manager shook his hand, patted him on the back and said “Hey, fantastic game again keeps.”

The last game in the freakish Man of the Match run for him was the first game of this year. The build up was similar to my first day of the season worries, in that his team hadn’t played a game in over a month. The opposition were in good form. Top of the league – 1st out of 100 teams this season – not dropped a point and still in both cup competitions. More worries came not long before kick off. The centre forward was injured in training a couple of days before and would be out of action for a few weeks at least. The most creative attacking midfielder had woken up with flu, so he wouldn’t be playing either.

The two of us did our usual warm up and I tried my best not to pass my fraying nerves on to my pupil. One other thing that didn’t sit quite right with me was that he changed gloves at the start of the warm up. Same brand – S1 Goalkeeping – but a different cut. He’d had the gloves about a month but due to the lack of games through December, he hadn’t had chance to wear them. He felt now was the time. I was less than convinced with his thought process before such a tough match but went along with it. Anything to make him feel relaxed before the match.

The game kicked off but without our centre forward as an outlet when we played the ball into their half, it was one way traffic. It was obvious to me that today was going to be very much, sink or swim for the keeper. He dealt with most things fairly comfortably and looked at ease in the new gloves. It was still 0-0 when a clearance from one of his defenders dropped to one of their midfielders. He went round a couple of our players and found space to smash a shot at goal from about 25 yards out. As the keeper’s biggest fan as well as his coach I always think he’s quite difficult to score past but as soon as the ball left the midfielder’s foot, I knew my lad was beaten. He moved his feet quickly and pushed off from his left foot. At full stretch, his left hand reached out and his finger tips touched the ball. All this seemed to be happening in slow motion. He still looked beaten. But he wasn’t.

He got just enough on the ball for it to hit the post. It still looked in. The ball was in mid-air and it was impossible to see whether it was over the line or not. Cheers from the opposition parents changed to gasps. Really loud gasps. The ball bounced what looked like a couple of inches in front of the goal line and thankfully, one of his defenders had reacted quickest and booted the ball clear. By our standards, there was quite a big crowd on the side lines and it sounded like every one of the supporters – home and away – was applauding. I’ve seen him make a few but I reckon it’s the best save I’ve ever seen him make.

At the end of the game (before he knew he’d got the Man of the Match) the opposition manager came up to him. He shook my lad’s hand and said “As always, you were awesome pal.” It put a huge grin on the goalie’s face. As far as the results go, you wouldn’t wish for it but as for his performances, you feel like asking…

…Can we play you every week?

Keep the faith

Within grassroots football, as a parent or coach you hear different views about the pro’s and cons of academy and development centre football.

None of this was ever on my radar as a kid when I played. Maybe there weren’t as many clubs that had academies back then? Maybe there weren’t as many scouts looking for players back then? Maybe it was just that I wasn’t good enough. Most likely a bit of all three – but mainly the latter.

One of my mates joined an academy when we were about 14. He enjoyed it for the couple of years that he was there. He’d been asked to train with the academy while playing at our grassroots team. The ‘scout’ that asked him, played in the first team of the academy in question, in what was the old 3rd Division but also helped out with our training from time to time. As much as my mate enjoyed it, I’m not as sure about his Dad, with the ground being about 40 miles away, they must have clocked some serious miles up while he was on their books.

As my lad’s team have developed and become individually better players and also improved greatly as a team, they’ve found themselves in the top division of a strong league and the scouts are certainly out in bigger numbers, looking for their latest potential players.

Over the last season and a bit, I’ve played a little game whenever it’s become apparent that there’s a scout watching a game. To be honest, if you look around, they’re easy enough to spot on a Sunday morning – usually wearing a manager’s coat with a club badge on and often taking notes is a bit of a giveaway. When I’ve known there’s one watching, I’ve tried to guess which players, if any, from my lad’s team they might want to get in touch with, or come and watch again.

Now that I’m on the coaching side of the pitch, I tend to know before kick off if there’ll be a scout at one of our games. The protocol they should follow is that firstly they advise the manager in advance that they’re planning on coming to the game. Then, before kick off, they come over and introduce themselves to the manager and show their i.d. card. Generally you don’t tend to get random people wanting to shake hands with the manager during the warm up, so there’s a good chance it’ll be a scout. All this doesn’t tend to go down too well because you immediately begin to start stressing that it’s the first stage of potentially losing one (or more) of your players. If the coach thinks any of the players are worth another look, they may come back and watch the player again. Alternatively, they’ll contact the manager after the game and ask for said player’s parent’s phone number.

At this point, I think it’s worth saying that most coaches wouldn’t want to stand in the way of any player who is given the opportunity of going down this route, if that’s what the player wants.

What may happen next is that the player will then train with the academy or development/shadow squad for about six weeks. If it is development/shadow squad football (rather than academy) the player will be able to continue playing for the grassroots team on Sundays. The first possible problem from the grassroots team’s perspective is that they may train on the same night as each other, which will cause disruption to preparations for games as the player in question is not involved with the rest of the team until half an hour before kick off on the day of the game. The next thing to get under the skin of the grassroots team is that if, after the trial period the academy wants to sign the player and the player decides to leave, there are no ‘transfer windows’ as such. The player signs for the academy and the grassroots team is suddenly a player short.

This happens frequently to grassroots teams and they’re left with little they can do about it. Grassroots teams can only start advertising their trials each year from June 1st and the season usually starts the first weekend in September which gives them 3 months to get the players for their squad. As they aren’t playing competitive games yet and it’s getting into holiday season, the scouts aren’t out in force.

The problem is that the scouts start watching games as soon as the season starts. If a scout sees a player they like and they go through the process, in theory the grassroots team could lose a player as little as 6 weeks into the season. At this point, players have generally found their clubs and trials are now a distant memory. The only option the grassroots team have is to carry on with a player less, unless they hear of any players being released from academies, or there are any others who have slipped through the net but to be honest there don’t tend to be many players of any standard still looking for a team.

The way the system works is that if the scout thinks they may be good enough for an academy and the player wants to go, the grassroots team can do nothing about it.

So here’s the thing. At the last home match, a scout from one of the local teams came to watch.

To be honest a scout had been to watch our lads a few weeks previously and asked about our right-back. As the lad had been training with them since then, we thought he might just be checking up on him, in a match rather than just at their training sessions.

The game went more or less to plan. The opposition were a few places (and points) below our lads but a warning of complacency had been firmly placed in our lad’s ears at training and also before kick off. No goals in the opening 10 minutes or so wasn’t ideal but then we scored. Once it got to 3-0, the opposition heads went down, the team lost their shape and it became a question not of whether or not we’d win but how many we’d win by. My lad hadn’t had many shots to deal with but the ones he had to save, he did comfortably and he’d been very vocal, asking for back passes and dealing with them calmly. We won 8-0.

So it was a big surprise that afternoon when his manager gave me a ring to ask if I wanted to speak to the scout about my lad’s availability to train with the academy.

I said I’d ask the main man first but would take the number in case. First of all, it’s very flattering. It shows that his hard work has paid off to some extent. When it’s your own lad, as any parent can tell you, you’re their biggest fan but also their biggest critic. Sometimes because of that, the edges become a bit blurred and you don’t see what other people see. Whether that’s good or bad. However, it’s even more flattering when the scout says your lad’s been on their radar for a while, that they’ve been to watch him a couple of times but the games have been comfortable enough for the team (and him) and he’s not had much to do.

Anyway, my lad wanted to go training with them – I think partly because his mate was already training with them – and that’s the main thing, it needed to be his decision. As it turned out, the goalkeepers trained two nights, one of which was the same as his grassroots team, so I explained he’d only be able to train with the academy one night a week. He said it was no problem, so I took the details of where and when he’d be training with them. Another keeper’s Dad – a friend of mine, after spending countless hours stood watching our lads train together, often in the pouring rain – is more in the know than me and said the standard timeline would be a couple of training sessions, followed by his trial period, usually six weeks.

As it got closer to the day, he was getting more and more nervous but for once, I wasn’t. I honestly couldn’t care less if he plays for an academy or not. He’s happy with his grassroots club, he’s made a lot of good friends and he looks to me to be continually developing as a goalie. Alternatively, if he is good enough for an academy and he decides that where his future is, then of course, he’ll have my full support. The usual Sunday morning phrases were churned out by yours truly to put his mind at rest. I also told him to enjoy the experience as it might not come around again.

The keeper’s Dad knew the coach who would be taking him at the training sessions (and the following trials) and said my lad would be fine with him. He said the coach in question would get the best out of him and my lad would enjoy it once he got going. He was right. My lad went over and introduced himself, helped the coach move various goals into position and seemed to be at ease straight away. As it turned out he was the youngest keeper, as all the established academy keepers were either the year above him or older. But you wouldn’t necessarily have thought so. He performed very well and that’s coming from his biggest critic! The second part of the session was a game with the outfield lads. As he came off the pitch, he said he needed to be there for the same time the following week and that he’d enjoyed it. Good enough for me.

The following week was a similar session, goalkeeper training, followed by a game. As he walked off the pitch, the coach was talking with him. My lad said the coach and someone else needed to talk to us both. Not sure what about though. Me neither. I had no idea what they could want to talk to us about, I just assumed the trial period would start the following week but maybe the details were different?

The four of us sat down together. They got straight to the point. There would be no trial for him.

They wanted him to sign for the academy, just like that. It sort of took my breath away. Obviously I didn’t want him to make a decision there and then, so we said we’d let them know later in the week. I wanted him to give it full consideration because it’s a lot to take in and the knock on effect could obviously have a big impact on his grassroots team, depending what he decided. His initial decision was that he was going to stay with the grassroots team because he didn’t want to leave them without a keeper mid way through the season – good choice son – but also just because he loves it there. I told him to keep thinking about it through the week and I’d ring them on Saturday, so he’d got a deadline in his head. I asked him every day up until the Saturday and he never wavered.

When I rang up and explained the situation, there was a definite sound of disappointment in the voice at the other end of the phone. Would it make any difference if he trained with the academy until the end of the season and signed for them then, so as not to leave his team in the lurch? I said I’d have that discussion with him. The answer was the same, so I let them know. It seems he’s not ready for academy football yet.

I also rang his team manager to let him know the outcome. There seemed to be as much relief from his manager as there had been disappointment from the academy. To be honest there was a great deal of relief on my part. If I’m honest the speed at which the academy wanted to sign him surprised me, more than just a little bit. At least we could get back to concentrating on his Sunday football again, without any distractions and that started the next day with a tough game at home. 3rd v 4th in the table. As I was getting ready to warm him up, his manager told me that a scout from a different club was coming to watch our game.

After about 10 minutes and with us leading 1-0, the opposition won a free kick just outside my lad’s area. He set his four man wall up. I don’t watch the striker in these situations, just the goalie. The ball flew over the wall with pace, heading to his right but also staying low enough to sneak under the bar. He moved his feet quickly, pushed off his right foot and his left arm came up as he moved through the air. His fingertips flicked the ball onto the bar and over for a corner. Unfortunately they lost 2-1 but it was as good a save as I’ve seen him make in five and a half years of playing.

“If it was David de Gea that had made that save, we’d still be talking about it now”, said the scout when he rang me the following day…

…suppose I’d better keep the faith.

At the start of the school term, my lad found out that he had got into the school team again.

Last term he wasn’t picked for the first team but was asked to be the reserve keeper. He was a little bit surprised, not because he thought it was a given but he actually said to me how well he’d done in the trials – and trials are not something he’s generally that confident about. Also, it was his first term at secondary school where he only knew one other lad. After the trials quite a few of the lads were saying how good he was. We both thought this could only be a very positive sign, as technically these lads were as good as neutrals because they didn’t know him a few weeks before. They didn’t have any reason to tell him anything other than what they thought.

After he found out about being reserve keeper, he was naturally disappointed because even though he tried not to, he’d got his hopes up. Some of the lads who had been complimenting him before had said they couldn’t believe he hadn’t been chosen for the first team. So although disappointed, he was made to feel a bit better hearing their opinion of him hadn’t changed.

I reasoned with him that if his teacher was interested in the school team doing well, at some point he would probably get a chance. Either through the other lad getting injured, being unavailable or making mistakes, or simply because the teacher wanted the other lad to be kept on his toes by knowing there was another keeper wanting to steal his shirt.

In the meantime I said he should keep training as he normally did, put 100% in and be patient. After a few games, he got his chance. I managed to finish work early to go and watch. He played well, was very vocal and the team won, so a pretty good outcome overall. Afterwards I told him not to expect anything to necessarily come from it because the other keeper might be straight back in for the next game.

What do I know?

He seemed to go from strength to strength and played every game since then. At the start of this term – his 2nd year – he was selected for the first team again but with the added honour of being chosen as first team captain. This was a huge thing for him and he was very proud to be asked to do it. In the first game of this term, he carried on where he left off and kept a clean sheet in a 4-0 win. Things were going really well.

But then a few days later he came home from school, after training, a bit down in the dumps. He said he’d had his fingers knocked back and not played particularly well. I told him it was ok and everybody has an off day once in a while but it didn’t have the desired effect. He was very low. I managed to drag out of him what was on his mind, apart from the training session.  The latest team sheet was due up on the board the following day and he was convinced he’d be dropped. On and off, I was thinking about it most of that evening.

Initially, I didn’t think he’d get left out of the team – when I was trying to lift his spirits I argued that it was unlikely that the team selection would be based on just one training session, more likely it would be over the last few training sessions and the last few matches. But as tends to happen in these situations, you overthink it. In the couple of hours I was mulling it over that evening, I changed my mind about a dozen times as to what I thought the outcome would be. He was really upset about it all and it showed. No matter what I said or did, it wasn’t enough to convince him. He was sure he would be out of the team and he couldn’t settle because of it.

I told him to let me know the following day when he found out about the team selection. No text came so I texted him. Eventually, after he came out of school I got a response. The team sheet had not gone up until the afternoon and he hadn’t been able to go and have a look. He’d texted his mate but he hadn’t seen it either. Another uncomfortable evening in store.

The next day, I got a text. “Yeah, I’m in” was all it said. When I spoke to him, he said he was pleased but more relieved than anything else. So was I. I’ve never really had to try to convince him about anything like that before. He’s always been fairly positive about his own ability when it comes to sport. It was quite a test of my communication when I was trying to convince him and I was really conscious that it would be easy to say the wrong thing and make him feel worse.

It wasn’t long before I had a repeat experience.

That Friday at training, I expected him to do really well after putting the whole selection experience behind him. It started off well enough. I was doing the usual stuff with him and the u11 keeper and his footwork and handling were good. When the younger lad went back to his team, the outfielders lined up for shooting practice at my lad. Initially, the ball was played into them and they were allowed a first touch before getting their shot away. This, with the full size goals turned out to be a recipe for disaster for him. A few of the lads got their eye in early on. He was struggling to reach a lot of them as they dipped just under the crossbar.

Then he let a few in that he’d normally save with ease. I could tell he was getting frustrated, so I had a word to try to reassure him. If anything it made things worse. The shots continued to fly past him. Realising what was happening, the coach changed the practice to make it more difficult for the strikers but the damage had been done. He was struggling with most of the shots because his head had gone. I had another word but to no avail.

Then to make matters worse, a couple of his team mates started taking the mickey when their shots beat him. Nothing too bad but it was like a red rag to a bull. He started saying stuff back and completely lost his concentration. He was upset.

It’s only about 5 minutes to get home from training but it felt longer. Neither of us said anything. Not a word. I thought he was sulking, so just left him alone. I got straight in the shower. When I got out, my wife told me to talk to him. He was laid on his bed, really upset. Crying.

I sat down and asked him what was wrong. It was nothing more than what had happened at the training session but it had affected him more than I’d ever seen before. I reassured him again that these things happen and it’s how you react to them that shows your character. He was ok after a few minutes but again it was a test for me. I was aware as I was talking to him how important this talk could be. The day after next they were playing the best team in the county in a cup game and with a threadbare team, no subs. If his confidence was low going into the game it could end up being very bad.

I put my arms round him – for the first time in I don’t know how long. Not cool to cuddle your dad when you’re a 13 year old lad. Probably more a test of my parenting skills than goalkeeper coaching abilities. Whatever I said and did worked ok because his mood lifted and by the following day he seemed more like his usual self.

They lost the cup game but they played well. The keeper made a few quality saves as well. Next time he needs a chat (or even a cuddle) I’ll be there for him and when I’m trying to get the right words out, I’ll keep the faith.

I’ve never really heard anything too bad said about my lad while I’ve been stood on the side lines.

That might sound like an obvious statement coming from any parent whose son or daughter plays junior football.  But it must start happening for parents at some point.  The lad and me have season tickets at United and occasionally when they’re away, we’ll go and watch a local non-league game.  At both these levels of football, the players seem like ‘fair game’ to a lot of supporters, in so much as they don’t hold back when criticising them.  The attitude of being able to shout what you want at who you want, once you’ve paid your money and gone through the turnstiles is apparently alive and kicking.

Watching Championship football every week from the same seats, you get used to the people around you and their personality traits.  The individual voices heard from specific seats, even if you don’t see their faces.  It becomes obvious after a while, who their favourites are and who they don’t rate as footballers.  Some fans get behind the team regardless, others seem to quite enjoy it if the team lose or don’t play well as it gives them something to be negative about.  And they let everybody know it.

Once or twice on a Sunday morning there have been people who think it’s funny to enjoy a young kid’s mistakes.  Sometimes the adults are caught up in the moment.  Even so, they should know better.  Their kid’s team might score a freak goal, a wind assisted effort that flies past the keeper.  Or the keeper makes a hash of what would ordinarily be an easy enough piece of goalkeeping.  A cheer often goes up from supporters, which may just be a celebration of a goal for their team.  The only thing is, the cheer comes straight after that unfortunate incident or mistake.  I’m obviously very protective of my own lad as a keeper but also opposition keepers if they have a rough game or make an error.  It’s the loneliest place to be on the football pitch if things aren’t going your way and I’ll always shake hands with the opposition keeper after the game as a rule.

In their county cup game at the weekend, our lad’s were there for the taking.  A couple of lads unavailable, plus one more injured before kick off meant a bare 11 players for us.  The opposition from 3 divisions below had nothing to lose and it showed.  It was a real cup tie, with the play quickly moving from end to end.  Our lads went a goal up, only for the centre forward to get injured and with no subs, they had to carry on with 10 men.  The away team equalised, then it was 2-1 to our lads, only for them to draw level once again.  With only minutes remaining, our left back smashed in a great free kick to make it 3-2.  That’s how it finished but at 0-0, their keeper had made a great point blank save.  As I shook his hand at full time, I made sure he knew that I thought it was a fantastic save.  Even though he’d finished on the losing team and was disappointed, it was clear that he appreciated being congratulated on his individual piece of great keeping.  It can be a really big boost for a kid’s confidence.

With my own lad, I see him at his best when he’s in training.  He constantly wants to improve and be as good as he possibly can.  That’s both when I’m training him or when he’s at CYG Goalkeeping.  He puts 100% into every session.  When it’s me training him, if he deserves praise, he gets it.  If not, it may be constructive criticism that comes his way.  If he makes a glaring mistake, I’ll wait to see what his face looks like, then I usually burst out laughing.  He always ends up seeing the funny side – although it’s not always straight away!  But the good thing is that he sees the funny side at all.  He can be a very serious young lad and if he’s not getting it right, he can take it too personally.  I enjoy giving him praise because I can see him grow in stature, puff his chest out slightly and possibly even blush a little bit.

All that said, as with the majority of parents, I’m also his biggest critic.  But watching him train and play and dissecting his mistakes, takes us ‘full circle’ since I’ve been coaching him.  After his games, we’ll have a talk about his performance and I’ll strike a balance between criticism and praise.  Starting and finishing with praise but sandwiching some things to address in between, keeps him positive but also gives us things to work on in training.  He listens to these comments and takes them on board which was always my biggest concern when I started training him.  Being his Dad, I thought he’d probably dismiss what I had to say in a ‘what would you know?’ sort of way.

Although I can be critical of him, I do think he’s quite good but it’s difficult to be impartial on the subject.  If he plays well, I get a real buzz.  A sort of pins and needles, tingling.  If he makes a mistake, it hurts in the pit of my stomach.

Over the last few weeks though, I’ve either heard, or been told of comments about him that have given me even more enthusiasm for the training we do together and the aim of working towards him being as good as he can be.

As I was setting up the balls and cones for his warm up a few weeks ago, I spoke to one of the coaches whose session with a younger age group had just finished.  He told me that he’d been watching us train a few weeks before and was impressed with my lad’s footwork and handling in particular.  He told me his own son had recently finished a 6 year stint with an academy, as a goalkeeper, so I guess he’s seen enough of young goalkeepers to know his stuff.  His comments were very well received.  I haven’t mentioned it to my lad and doubt I will either, but it felt like confirmation that we’re going in the right direction with his training and preparation.  This is something about which I tend to doubt myself.

A few week earlier I was talking to a couple of the coaches that train him on Monday nights and they told me that they’d been discussing how happy they were with his progress over the last couple of months.  His positive attitude was mentioned and how they can tell that he wants to keep improving because of how he reacts to the feedback they give him.  The coaches in question have a combined wealth of goalkeeping knowledge of approximately 75 years and to have access to that on a weekly basis, we are extremely fortunate.  Unbelievably so in fact.  And if they’re happy with how he’s doing, what more can you ask?

The most recent comments about him were after his last appearance for his school team.  I wasn’t able to get there to watch, but my Dad was.  During the match he heard various positive remarks about the way his Grandson was performing on the day, as well as when they’d seen him play previously.  According to them, his shot stopping, communication and distribution were all very good.  The supporters didn’t know that the man stood next to them was any relation to the keeper, so once again really good feedback on how he’s been playing recently.  At full time, as the supporters made their way to the players, one of them asked my Dad who he was supporting.  He told him, the keeper.  He was then asked who he plays for, so he told him.  The man said he was surprised that there was no development squad or academy involvement for him.  My lad’s never really shown any concrete interest in that side of things, he’s happy with his grassroots team and his mates.  Once again, my lad doesn’t know of this conversation but it seems more proof that he’s heading in the right direction.

So we’ll keep training as we have been and I’ll keep the faith.

No game this weekend due to a gap in the fixtures, so automatically by midweek thoughts turn to what we should do with a free Sunday?

Cut the grass? – it’s still dry (and long) enough.  Wash the car? – it could do with it, after all. Help the kids with their homework? – although how much help we are, I’m not sure.  Get stuff done round the house that we don’t have time for in the week? – there’s plenty to go at.  Maybe even watch one of the games on tv?  The options are endless, or so it seems.  At the very least we’ll get a lie in on a Sunday morning for a change.

Then the text comes through asking about all the lad’s availability for a potential friendly.  What can you say?  “Course he can play.” What else would we be doing?

Because of how the fixtures are compiled, every week a couple of the teams in each division will have a free week.  The fixtures are done as if there are 12 teams in the division but there are only 10.  This allows teams to rearrange games, postponed due to the weather for example.  The manager of a team a couple of divisions below us got in contact because they had a free week too and he wanted his lads to carry on playing, rather than miss a week.  By the sounds of it, he’d tried the other team in their own division but they declined.

A couple of our lads had been out, one injured, the other through illness but the injured lad was told by his doctor he could start his comeback.  A friendly would be ideal for him to try 10 or 20 minutes to see how he felt.  The other lad was still a few weeks away from being able to play and one more was unavailable for the game.  All this meant a bare 11 players, plus the lad who was going to play a bit part.

Our manager was keen to play as it would give us the chance to try lads in different and less familiar positions, as well as giving the not fully fit lad a run out for as little or as long as he could attempt.  Better to try him in a game with nothing riding on it, so he’d be less likely to hurt himself or try to do too much.

Personally, I’d much rather they play a friendly than not, and it be a fortnight between games.  That would apply whether they’d won or lost the previous game.  If they’d lost it, it gives them chance to get it out of their system and get back to winning ways.  Alternatively, if they’d won their last game, it’s an opportunity to keep the momentum going.

From this goalkeeper coach’s point of view, I’d much prefer my lad playing a game than not.  He trains twice a week and in my opinion, a game is far more beneficial to him than not playing, or having another training session.  It gives him chance to put into practice the elements he’s learned and worked on during the week.

The only problem with the friendly, again from my point of view, was the possibility that it could end up being a bit one-sided and therefore not much of a test for him, other than for his concentration.  There’s no guarantee that’s how it would turn out, but if it did, they are the kind of matches that can be really frustrating for both of us.  It’s good to test his concentration levels now and again, especially as it’s grown up football, full size nets (sometimes) and 35 minutes each way.  That’s a long time when you’re not getting much involvement in the game.

It also helps put more emphasis on him talking to his defenders, organising them and being more of a sweeper keeper and dealing competently with back passes but my concern is that if it does end up being one-sided, I don’t want him to concede.  I’ve seen him play enough matches with his current team where they dominate games but still end up conceding the odd goal.  Quite often very well taken goals nonetheless but the clean sheet is the holy grail, the thing we both strive for him to achieve.  It’s a team game but when they’ve dominated a game but still concede, it hurts him – personally.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as dejected after a game as he was 2 years ago.  They were away from home and dominated the majority of the match.  They won 11-4 but the opposition only had 4 shots on target.  He was beaten by 4 really good strikes.  Each one dipped just under the bar or just inside the post.  Two were speculative strikes from distance because they struggled to get past the defenders, the other two were well taken direct free kicks from needlessly given away fouls.  His face was total disappointment as he walked off the pitch.  There was nothing he could have done differently and not much I could say to him, other than just that.

So the game came round.  The lads were all really up for it, which was a good sign, rather than thinking they’d won before a ball was kicked because the opposition was 2 divisions below them.  Both teams played some good football, getting the ball down and passing it when they could.  Our lads took the lead and never really looked back.  By the time the score was 3-0, the opposition were looking a bit deflated.  But then, a sloppy pass from one of his defenders was intercepted and a through ball meant he was forced into a 1v1 with their centre forward.

The striker took his shot early but quick feet, sharp reactions and strong hands meant the keeper came away with his clean sheet still in tact.  It was a really smart save when they looked odds on to get a goal back.  Our lads got a couple more goals to make it 5-0 at half time.  It didn’t really flatter them either.  Their passing game was in full flow and the score could have been higher.  At half time I emphasised the importance of him keeping his concentration and still talking to his defenders as much as possible and being there for back passes to relieve pressure on them.

Into the second half and the goals continued to flow.  The opposition looked ready to throw the towel in, looking more and more frustrated as our lads controlled things.  Then it happened.  One of their players received the ball and went on a bit of a run.  Past one challenge, then another.  He turned onto his stronger side and shot.  As soon as he hit it, it had the look of a goal.  And it was.  Fairly central but dipping under the bar.  He tried to back pedal the 5 or 6 yards to his goal line but it was in vain.  The clean sheet had vanished, just like that.  The good thing was that he was angry about the poor quality of the challenges that his defenders had put in.  As he booted the ball back to the halfway line for the restart, he let his defenders know that he wasn’t happy with them.

The goals continued at the other end and it finished as an easy victory for the lads, with just the one black mark on his previously clean sheet.  As he came off you could see he was less dejected than has been the case before but still not happy that the clean sheet had escaped his grasp.  I like that he gets annoyed and angry about conceding goals and maybe that’s the difference now.  He’s a couple of years older and he’s not scared to tell his team mates if they’ve let him (and themselves) down.

Next fixture, this Sunday, has all the ingredients of being a similar situation.  Their first ever County Cup game, at home against a team 3 divisions below them.  They should win it but that’s the magic of the cup isn’t it?  Their opponents have nothing to lose and could be quite unpredictable because of it.  Long range thunderbolts and all. From a keepers point of view, it can be a bit of a hiding to nothing.

As always, I’ll do my best to prepare him properly for it, physically and mentally, but if he shows the same attitude as the previous week, he’ll not go far wrong.  I’ll just keep the faith.

Junior football can bring out the best in people and as most people who have ever been to watch it will tell you, the worst too.

It can turn grown men and women and even the young players themselves from passive, calm individuals, into shouting, snarling, swearing so and so’s.  I don’t really tend to go and watch junior games, other than the ones my lad plays in.  Occasionally we’ll go and see how his old team mates are going on if he hasn’t got a game on a Sunday but generally my only spectating is when I’m coaching him.  When we watch his old team play, we want them to win but if they don’t, it’s not the end of the world and it’s a good chance to catch up with some old friends and be able to actually relax while watching a game.

When I’m on the sidelines for one of his games, I’m 100% involved but I’m thinking about the game from his individual point of view, not necessarily the more rounded view of the game that other parents or the other coaches will have, looking at the outfield players.  Because he’s the keeper, I get nervous.  Very nervous at times but if anything, that makes me more quiet and introverted during matches, looking at his positioning, watching his body language, making sure he keeps his concentration and ultimately, hoping he plays to the best of his ability.  I can get engrossed in it and often lose track of what’s happening elsewhere on the pitch.  But because of this I tend to be more subdued than normal.

Over the last few seasons, there have been parents who are a bit more animated once the first whistle has blown.

I remember a fair bit from his first couple of seasons but none of it was because of nasty supporters.  It was all very good natured and the overwhelming feeling was of supporters from both sides genuinely wanting all the players to do well, develop and learn from their game.  They didn’t mind the referee taking time to encourage them if a throw in wasn’t the best, they didn’t get uptight when one of them made a mistake, they just encouraged.

I noticed a change in behaviour creep in during the u10’s season.  Some weeks, the occasional critical voice could be heard from the sidelines.  As you might guess, this tended to be aimed at the referee.  But it wasn’t always reserved for the man in black.  On some Sundays a parent could be heard criticising the manager of the opposition, or even their own son or daughter’s manager.  The first time I heard this I was really surprised.  Stunned even by the lack of respect.  I think most of the other parents were too, as there was almost complete silence following the remark.  I should point out (and I’m not just saying this) it was the opposition parents during this season who were doing the shouting.  But generally nothing too ‘in your face’ happened.

Until we got to a cup final that is.

My lad’s team played in a round robin cup competition during that season.  The format involved nine teams.  Over three consecutive weeks, each team would play two other teams, after which they would be graded based on the results.  The final was played on the fourth week.

(I should point out that this was the two-team system.  If you aren’t familiar with it, due to the vast number of kids wanting to play junior football, most teams had one large squad, split into two teams who played against other clubs who were in the same situation.  So home ‘team a’ play against away ‘team a’, then home ‘team b’ play against away ‘team b’ and the two match scores are totalled up to give a total final score.)

In the round robin, my lad’s team finished second out of the nine and so would meet the first and third ranked teams in the final.  The previous week, the first ranked team beat our lads quite convincingly.  By chance, the same team had also been asked to host the final.  As you can imagine, there was quite a turnout for the final.  For a start, there were three teams all with the chance to win the cup.  The hosts, having beat our lads seven days before, seemed to fancy their chances.

What may not have been by chance was the order that the games were played in.  The hosts played us first, then we played the 3rd ranked team, then the hosts played the 3rd ranked team.  Same again, round robin but it had more than a little whiff of the hosts thinking: we play the team we beat last week (and beat them again), have a rest while the other teams tire each other out, then play the other team and get a win, or maybe even a draw and the trophy is ours.

If that’s how they planned it, it didn’t go to plan.

Their ‘a’ team beat our ‘a’ team 1-0.  My lad played in the ‘b’ team and played as well as I’d ever seen him play before.  That day he was unbeatable.  With more or less the last kick of the game, our ‘b’ team scored and won 1-0, so 1-1 overall.  As the hosts, our opponents had to provide a copy of the rule book on the day to prevent any disagreements.  We knew exactly what it said about extra time.  They didn’t.  Exactly the same thing had happened to us a year before.

The rules said that the teams that have just completed the second game stay on the pitch and play extra time of 10 minutes each way.  In the event of it remaining a draw, penalties will be taken.  (Because it was a round robin, there needed to be a winner in each game.)

The host’s manager, our manager and the referee looked at the rules.  The referee then asked the ‘b’ team players to prepare for extra time.

It was at this point that a man came hurrying, almost jogging, down the touch line.  I noticed two things about him.  He had the host club’s badge on his jacket.  And he was furious.  His opening statement was that he was the club secretary and he wanted to know what was happening.  So I told him, following the rules.

“But how is that fair?  The boys from the first game should play again.  You can’t just play the boys from the last game, it’s not fair!”

“It’s in the rules.  Your manager’s got them there.”

As he looked at the rules, “So, you’re saying you’re not going to let the boys from the first game play again?”

“The rules state…”

“You can’t do that!”

It was obvious from the two games played that they’d played a stronger team in the first game, hoping to get a big lead going into the second game.  We also found out later, his son played in the first game.

Our lads scored another four goals without reply in extra time.  He came over again at full time, shouting and bawling in front of our lads that we’d played to win at all costs and he’d be contacting the league regarding our conduct.  We asked him to leave while we prepared for our second game.  Eventually he did.

Our second game finished 1-1 overall, so extra time was needed again.  Back came our friend, no calmer than before.  He kept referring to playing times, saying that we were exceeding playing times and were in breach of league rules.  Once again, we advised him that we were playing by a set of written league rules, printed off, and provided by his own team.  While this was going on, my wife was watching on from the other side of the pitch and having realised what was happening, tweeted the league, asking what their stance was.  The league’s response?  “Refer to the rule book.”

After no further goals in extra time, it went to penalties.  As time was running over, the referee suggested to both managers that each team take 6 penalties instead of 12.  Both agreed.  My lad faced the second three of the opposition’s penalties and needed to save two out of the three he faced.  He saved the first.  And the second.  His team mates ran on and mobbed him.  They all ran off the pitch, cheering, jumping around and celebrating.  Yet again, back he came.

“You haven’t taken enough penalties!  You need to take more!  Get your players back on the pitch to take the rest of the penalties, the game isn’t over yet!”

The opposition manager just said to me, “You’ve won it mate.  Your lads deserve it.”

As the hosts it was their responsibility, before the weekend, to collect the trophy and winners medals.  Our friend more or less threw them at our manager.  So we did our own presentation, while they were playing out the ‘dead rubber’ third game.

In comparison to how our mate’s Cup Final went, my lad had been made captain for the day, over the two games plus two periods of extra time and penalties my lad kept a clean sheet and got Man of the Match to top it off.

From my experience, there are a few reasons for the change in attitude on the sidelines as the young footballers get older.  Until he moved to his current club, my lad was playing a few divisions lower and they won a few and lost a few but enjoyed it and the majority of parents are happy, if their kids are happy.  We noticed a difference as soon as his current team got promoted to the top division.  Some of the lads he played against seemed to be much more full of themselves, as did some of the parents.

The lads are older now, turning into young men, hormone levels have gone up a notch and generally they are much more competitive – in my book competition is a good thing – which means tempers are bound to fray at some point.

I think the biggest problem though, is the competitive nature of supporters, managers and coaches.  The competitive element is good for the players.  I personally don’t like the way some schools are going, whereby on a sports day there are no winners and losers, everybody just has a go and everybody’s equal.  I don’t think that it’s good, particularly in sports, if the competitive nature is taken out.  What’s the point in trying to better yourself and become a better athlete if there’s no ultimate goal, or no reason to improve?

Adults on the sidelines however can be a totally different matter.  Whether it’s reliving their own (possibly/probably failed) football career through the life of their child, or like the club secretary showing off because the game wasn’t going their way, more weeks than not there’ll be an adult shouting at the referee or swearing at another parent or generally arguing that black is white.

I don’t know that secretary other than from the two times I’ve spoken to him.  The second time was a couple of months after, when we played them in the league, again at their ground.  We got to there early.  My lad was walking into the car park as the automatic gates began to close as I was driving in and he tried to hold them open.  The secretary came down the car park shouting and screaming at him.  As I moved the car away from the gates, my wife confronted him.  He didn’t see what he was doing wrong.  Shouting in the face of a ten year old boy, to the point that he was nearly in tears but thought it was acceptable behaviour.  My wife wouldn’t let it go, in fact I think the grown man was nearly in tears by the time she’d finished with him.

So out of our two meetings with this man, I can only conclude that a) he’s a sore loser, b) has a short temper and c) doesn’t have any idea that screaming at kids is not on.  Sounds perfect for junior football doesn’t he?

(I’m sure he was happier a bit later on when their ‘a’ team beat our lads 5-1.  Only for our ‘b’ team to snatch a draw with a 4-0 win.)

The other thing that seems to have a big bearing on parent’s attitudes is when their child moves from one club to another.  At my lad’s current club this has happened with a few lads over the last two years.  It appears that a move very rarely happens amicably.  The new club is always better in the parent’s opinion and the previous club (with hindsight) was never actually that good anyway, so they’re better off out of it.  But there always seems to be a grudge held and when they turn up again for the opposition on a Sunday morning it shows.

I had one other ‘run in’ with another parent before I went on to the coaching side.  It was with one of his former team mate’s dad.  They were leading 1-0 and him and a couple of their other dads were basically having a laugh at the expense of my lad.  No other reason than they were winning and full of themselves.  The game had been fairly even, which they weren’t used to and maybe it was relief on their part that they’d gone into the lead but they didn’t see me stood there.  I said my piece, stood my ground and they shut up.

The problem is, with all these types of behaviour, the players hear and see what their parents say and do and, because it’s their parents, think it must be the right way to act.  No doubt throughout their life and probably with their own kids, they’ll mimic it.

But I’ll just keep training my lad, looking out for him on a Sunday, making sure he’s alright and keep my mouth shut.  And of course keep the faith.

The world of junior football is a small one.

Last season for my lad was u12’s.  At that age group there were 11 divisions, made up of a total of 105 teams.  His team finished 5th in the ‘A’ division.  In their division there were 10 teams and of the other 9 teams, my lad knew lads in 4 of them, either through friendship, through school or having previously played in the same team.  This season with three teams having been relegated and being replaced with the three promoted teams and with some lads moving to other clubs, he now knows players at 7 of the other 9 teams.

That means (counting league matches alone) 14 weeks out of the 18, he’ll be playing against somebody he knows.  Hopefully that will give him a bit more adrenaline pumping through his system.  He generally plays quite well when his team are up against mates or school mates.  So do the rest of the team – there’s a lot to be said for bragging rights when you’re back at school on a Monday morning.  I remember that much from when I played.  Back then, even if you hadn’t played against anyone you knew, the first thing you asked your mates after the weekend was how they’d gone on in their games.

Having got the first match of the season under their belts with what ended up being a comfortable enough win and a clean sheet, but with no mates on the opposition team, the next few fixtures all had ex-team mates or current school mates lining up against him.  As usual, the nerves start coming in to play a little but for once, no more than usual for me.  More for him.  I always come out with the same line when I’m trying to calm him down, “Don’t worry, nerves are good, they’ll keep you on your toes” or words to that effect.  Whether there’s any truth in this, I have absolutely no idea and certainly haven’t conducted any scientific research to back my theory up.

But what I do know is that generally, him and his team mates tend to play ok when they’re up against lads they know.  The result doesn’t always go their way but they never have the floor wiped with them (touch wood).

The next game on the fixture list had a few familiar faces, particularly for my lad.  The newly promoted team had one ex-team mate and two lads that go to the same school as him.  His nerves were apparent on the morning of the game but I reminded him of the two previous meetings over the Summer when they got a draw and a win, so a few positives to balance the tension out.  The game was going fairly smoothly and at half time it was still goalless, without any real scares for the keeper, just a few back passes that he’d shouted for and dealt with well enough.  Into the second half and two quick goals saw things look much more comfortable, with my lad looking at the possibility of two clean sheets in the opening two games of the season.

But it does you good not to look too far forward.

Two goals conceded in the final few minutes meant a draw was snatched from the jaws of victory.  It ended up being a hugely disappointing result for all the lads, none more so than my lad.  As a keeper there are certain games where you have no chance of influencing the performance, or the result.  This was such a game.  The only touches he’d had throughout the game were the back passes and a couple of through balls that he smothered.  And picking the ball out of the back of the net twice.  The two shots that went in were both well placed shots that he stood no chance with.  They could possibly have been cut out before the striker got possession of the ball.  But that’s football.

Next game up, the following week, potentially one of the toughest games on the fixture list, away versus the team that finished 3rd last season.  I found training a little bit tricky to prepare in the week between the games because he’d not really done anything wrong the previous Sunday but his confidence, along with the rest of the lads, had taken a bit of a knock.  I decided to keep it simple, stick to the fundamentals and really emphasize all the positives in his session and prepare him as best we could for the weekend.

To add a bit of spice to the upcoming game, one of their ex-team mates plays for them – he swapped clubs at the end of last season.  My lad and him first met when they played together in my lad’s first season, u8’s and have been friends ever since.  And he’s a striker which always means there’s a bit more riding on it.  Last season when the two teams met, my lad’s team took a bit of a battering away and lost 5-1.  In the reverse fixture, there was a much improved performance but still lost 2-1.  These games stick in my mind in particular because my lad won Man of the Match twice last season and it was in these two games.

I also remember the referee in the away match.  It’s easy for it to look like sour grapes when you lose a game if you criticise the ref but in my opinion and plenty of other parents, he had a very poor game.  To be honest his decisions had no real bearing on the scoreline, as we were so bad on the day, but we hardly got a decision from him.

Back to the present day. When we got to their ground there was a game still taking place.  The man in black was the very same.  We assumed that he would be in charge of our game as well.  We assumed correctly.

The opposition had played 3, won 3 before our game and after a few minutes of the game it looked as though they were going all out to make it 4 out of 4.  As our lads settled, they came back into the game and it turned out to be a fairly even match, albeit with the home side having the better chances in front of goal.  My lad looked like he was going to have a good day.  So far, what he was doing, he was doing well.  I’d told him to help his defenders out by being vocal and offering himself for back passes but not to take any chances.  He did just that.  He shouted for several back passes, received them and with strikers closing him down, cleared the ball down the pitch.

In the first half he made a few saves, two in particular were very good.  The first, a shot dipping under the bar that he tipped over, the second a deflected shot that he managed to save, having had to adjust his body as he dived.  At half time it was 1-1, with our striker dispossessing the keeper and finishing into the empty goal to equalise their opener.  During the first half, the referee picked up where he left off last season.

In the second half, they went back in the lead with a cross-shot that drifted in at the far post only for us to equalise again with the best move of the game.  It looked as though we might hang on for a draw, although my lad was being worked more and more as the clocked ticked down.  At one point he made a triple save that I think he’ll be reminding me of for years to come.  First, two close range blocks, then as he got back to his feet, he managed to push a rocket of a shot over the bar.

At 2-2, the iffy decisions from the man in black increased at an alarming rate.  My lad caught a high ball a yard or so off his line, under an ‘enthusiastic’ challenge from the forward but he kept hold of the ball even when they both ended up in a pile on the ground.  He got up and ran to the edge of the area to try to find one of his forwards.  The ref stopped him, made him go back and take a free kick in his 6 yard box, at which point I erupted on the sideline.  I felt genuinely cheated by the decision not to allow the advantage to the fouled keeper – who says we’re an over protected species?

There are plenty more odd decisions that I could list but the telling one was the penalty that he gave with a few minutes left.  You may not be surprised to hear that it was awarded to the home team.  It may be coincidence but the penalty came from the passage of play directly after his decision not to allow my lad the advantage and subsequent chance of a clearance down the pitch.  In truth, there were several opportunities to clear the ball before the decision was given but it was never a penalty.  As the attempted clearances took place, the whistle was already in his mouth.  The penalty taker sent my lad the wrong way and the game finished 3-2.  Another game ending in disappointment but strangely the feeling felt worse after the 2-2 draw than the 3-2 defeat.

And the lad got Man of the Match, so what can you do, except keep the faith?

Of the few bits and pieces I’ve written about junior football and specifically goalkeeping on this blog, most have in some part been in relation to change.

The changes have been either how my lad’s developing or how the game he and his team mates play evolves as they move up to the next age group.  Any changes to the game or changes in the way my lad plays affect me, the same as they will any other parents watching on as their own child tries to get to grips with new obstacles to navigate.

In my opinion the move up from u12’s to u13’s is the biggest change between any two age groups in junior football.

It’s the first time they play 11-a-side.  That means proper, real football formations; 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 (even 3-5-2 if you’ve got enough centre halves) which also means a greater need for the outfield players to be positionally aware and to know where they should be in relation to their team mates and the opposition and also how they need to adapt as play develops on the pitch.

For the keeper, the bigger goal to defend is the most noticeable change.  But there are plenty of other differences for the keeper to contend with, although they might not be as obvious.  The size of the penalty area – the keeper’s domain – is not only a much larger area to defend but also a much bigger space in which you could get caught out of position.  The size of the pitch in general, brings in another factor that could give young keepers the odd sleepless night.

The distance they need to get on their goal kicks.  As they place the ball on the edge of the six yard box and retreat to start their run up, the outfielders take up their position in proportion to the size of the pitch, so the midfielders, who last season were reachable, now look tiny, 50 yards away on the halfway line.  Even centre halves and full backs appear a long way off.  A poor kick from the keeper means it can be difficult enough just to get out of your own half, never mind mounting an attack.  Add to that a slow reaction from defenders to the kick and the keeper might be under the cosh straight away.  We’ve done a lot of work on goal kicks and generally it shows in his play, but not always.

One of the major changes for all goalies in recent years is the emergence of the ‘sweeper keeper’.  These days there’s an emphasis on keepers, old and young, to advance outside the safety of their area when their team are on the attack and if needed, become an extra defender – another thing to put more pressure on the young keeper.  Although there’s been an emphasis on the keeper to be more comfortable using their feet ever since the introduction of the backpass rule, you’ll still find that the majority of young keepers are less confident than their outfield team mates when it comes to using their feet.  Especially being the last man.  Any misjudgement or mistake with the feet could be costly.

These are all elements that are just part of the young goalie’s learning curve.

Up until earlier this year, the biggest change for me, since my lad started playing has been completing my first coaching badge, meaning I’m officially his coach.  It was partly a selfish decision because it meant I could coach him, help him develop and spend time with him but it was obviously in his interests as well.  Plenty of goalies in junior football don’t have a goalkeeper coach at their grassroots club which is a real shame and to be honest, I didn’t want my lad to fall into that category.

A lot of the time, no specific goalie coach means the goalie training with the rest of the team and then probably a bit of time at the end of the session where the outfield players have shots at the them.  If this is done in the right way, it can be better than no training at all for the keeper.  But for this to have any kind of positive effect for the keeper, there needs to be a pause every so often, so that a coach can at least give the goalie some pointers with regards to their technique and how they’re doing.  Unfortunately from experience, this very rarely happens and the keeper has to try to stop what seems like endless shots going in all directions.  Coupled with this, they’ll never get back to their set position to prepare, before the next shot is fired at them.

The latter is no help at all – in fact, it will only have a negative effect on the keeper.

Since the start of the new season though, there has been an even bigger change for me.  Bigger even than doing the coaching badge.  Now, I’m on the ‘other side’.

It feels now, on a match day at least, as though the balance has shifted and I’m more his coach than his Dad.  Of course I’ll always be his Dad but when the lads are playing, all the other parents are watching from the other side of the pitch, behind the respect line.  I don’t dislike the experience but definitely feel like I can relax even less than when I watched from the parent’s side.  I’ve always been nervous when he’s played, afraid that any little mistake will be punished, result in him conceding a goal and deliver a blow to his confidence.  Those nerves are in full flow now that I’m his coach.  And it might be my imagination but it feels like there’s less of a hiding place for both of us.

My wife, my Dad and me watch every match laddo plays.  When we all watched together from the parent’s side, I very rarely talked to other Mums and Dads during the game, not because I didn’t want to but because of the position we’d take up.  Whichever goal he was in, we’d walk down to his penalty area to offer him our support.  His Mum and Grandad still do and I can’t imagine they ever won’t be stood there, as it’s just part of the routine.  In the few games he’s played while I’ve been in the technical area, I’ve felt a little bit jealous of them but I know my time is better spent opposite, being his coach and offering words of advice at half time, or a thumbs up after a good bit of play.  Even though they’re on the parent’s side, I know they get just as nervous for him as I do.

No doubt after a while I’ll get used to it and will eventually forget what it’s like to be stood on the other side.

Until then, I’ll keep the faith.

Not long after my lad started playing football, one of my old team mates asked me, “Is he as good as you were at his age?”

I don’t know if it was specifically to get a comparison of the two of us, or whether it was a lead into another question of whether my lad’s team were as good as our team back in the day.  (To be fair we had some good players all those years ago) If it was, I never got as far as answering the second part. After watching my lad for a year or so though, I thought he’d got something about him.

He started playing organised football at u8’s.  One of his mates asked him at school if he wanted to trial for his team, Charnock Ridgeway JFC.  Specifically as a goalie.  I’m not sure that it was because he’d shown outstanding goalkeeping qualities on the school yard at seven years old but maybe the team were in need of somebody who didn’t mind getting a ball booted in his face.  Either way, he was trialling as a goalie.

I can’t describe how it made me feel when he asked me if I’d take him to their next training session that Friday to see if he’d be good enough.  I was chuffed to bits with the fact that he wanted to be a goalie.  I’d never seen him play though and true to form, I started to get worked up as his trial came closer.  Would he be good enough for the team?  Would he even be good enough to not be embarrassed by the possible gulf in standard?  The majority of the lads had played the previous league season and so knew all the other lads, the setup of the team and how things worked.  The two of us had had kickabouts on the back garden but that was it.  I honestly didn’t know if he’d be good enough, or even if he knew the basics, such as the rules.

I did some preparation so he wouldn’t stand out too much and got him a load of kit.  Boots, goalie shirt, padded shorts, socks, shinnies and of course the compulsory item for a little goalie, oversized gloves.  I didn’t want to get giant gloves for him but at short notice the only option was Sports Direct and gloves that were at least 2 sizes too big.

Friday came round and up on the field I stood there with arms folded, squinting into the distance, hoping he’d do ok.  A few of the other parents said hello and asked if he’d played before.  I muttered a few answers and tried not to appear disinterested but I was trying to keep an eye on how he was doing.  The manager came over and asked how I was.  The manager was the Dad of the friend who’d asked him to trial.  He also played in the same junior team as me 20 odd years before.  I felt a bit more comfortable and as I looked down the field, so did the little goalie jumping around trying to keep the ball out of the goal.  As the manager went back to his duties, his wife came over to say hello and asked why I looked so worried.  I told her I was just nervous about the trial and was hoping he’d do enough.  She was a bit surprised because as she understood it, if he wanted to join the team, the place was his.  Relief all round.

Fast forward to present day.  Somebody at work had seen a post I’d put on Facebook congratulating my lad on moving up from the 2nd team to the 1st team at school but also because he’d been chosen as 1st team captain.  I told the work mate how proud I was of his achievement and without giving it any thought, commented that getting the captaincy was “just another thing he’s done that I never did.”

And that got me thinking.

I started playing for a team at u12’s in a similar way to my lad.  At the time this was the youngest age group in the Junior Sunday League and as such, the age when most lads started playing organised football.  My mates started training with the local team, Charnock Ridgeway JFC (yes, the same) and asked if I was going to trial to be the goalie.  I just went along with my Dad.  It was the first time he’d seen me play as well.  So as it turned out, both our first teams were the same club and it was the first time our Dad’s had really seen us play.  There are some more similarities after that point.

Unfortunately for me and my mates, we didn’t have a manager, so some of the parents trained us in the meantime but nobody stepped forward to do the job, so when the season started, our team folded.  I went to play for another local team (Ashleigh Spires) and stopped there for the next four years.  The season after that I played for one of the better teams in the city who had been relegated from the top division the previous year.  We did the league and cup double, beating a few teams out of the top division along the way.

I won quite a few trophies and medals while playing football but at the last count, laddo was rapidly catching me.  <Enter quote about medals being thrown about like confetti these days>

During his last season – u12’s – because of the junior league regrading teams in an attempt to create competitive divisions for the current season, my lad’s team had the equivalent of 3 promotions within one season.  And they won the cup.  To add to the cup he won two years before.  So he’s already a cup winner once more than me and had one more promotion than me.

Individually I was also quite successful in my four years at Ashleigh and was Player’s Player of the Year two years in a row and Manager’s Player of the Year once (3 awards).  Apart from his first year of playing when there were no player of the year awards, he’s won a player of the year award every year (4 awards) except for last season.  So yet again, he’s in front of me by one.

Except that he isn’t really one in front.  His current team, Greenhill JFC played in a tournament in Filey, over half-term weekend.  Over the course of the matches played over the weekend, the referees voted for a player of the tournament in each age group.  Can you guess what’s coming?  So he’s actually two in front of me.  (I still say it was the pink goalie shirt that made him stand out.)

And he’s playing in the top division again this season (out of 11 divisions) with Greenhill.  The highest I played was the second division (out of 5 divisions) when we got promoted.  Technically I would have then played in the top division the following year but as this was u16’s, it was the final junior league season.  Another coincidence, the last team I played for was u18’s for Greenhill.

But all those statistics can’t be wrong can they?  He’s better than I was.  Much better.

Keep the faith.

So the first game of the new season loomed into view.

The nerves were gently bubbling away under the surface.  That’s mine, not the lad’s.  We were away on holiday, due back home the day before his first match.  On holiday while I was fully occupied I was ok but then laying on the sun bed, or wandering around, my mind was drawn to the away match the following Sunday.

It seems like quite a while since the end of last season and me putting a plan together, to work towards preparing him for full sized goals in the 11-a-side Friday night league.  I was confident with how he’d performed in the four games that he’d made good progress towards that aim.

But now, steadily melting in the hot sun, doubts were creeping into my head.  Had I put too much emphasis on the bigger goals and taken my eye off the more fundamental elements?  And once this worry had found its way into my head, I couldn’t shake it.  Every time I thought about Sunday’s game, the worry seemed to be magnified.

As his coach – and his dad – had I let him down?

Had I failed him in not preparing him properly?  Was I sending him into his first 11-a-side game without the proper tools to do the job and defend his goal?  And if the answers to any of the questions were ‘yes’, the problem with that was we were due home the evening before his first game so there wouldn’t be time to address any of them.

Then I tried to convince myself otherwise.  In the training sessions and 1:1’s we’d done over the Summer we’d still been doing the fundamental handling, footwork and distribution practices that we always do, so he’d be ok wouldn’t he?  He’s developed enough over the last few months to be suitably prepared for what’s to come.  Hasn’t he? To be honest, at this point I’d got myself in such a tangle that I didn’t know what to think.

Doubting my own ability was something I did when I played.  A general lack of confidence, plus the responsibilities that go with playing in the hardest position on the pitch meant I was always nervous when I played.  I always thought I’d make a mistake and then to make matters worse, I stopped growing when I reached about 5 foot 11 which just increased the negative feelings and made me doubt myself even more.

In the five years my lad’s been playing, I’ve always tried to give him confidence in his ability, aware that a lack of it spelled the beginning of the end for me as a player.  I doubt that I would have played at a much higher level than I did, even with more confidence but I would definitely have played a few more seasons if I’d not been bothered about my height and lack of self belief.

Now I just want to help my lad avoid the confidence pitfall by ‘bigging him up’ and making him believe in himself much more than his dad did about himself, 20 odd years ago, so he fulfils whatever potential he may have.  Ideally, he’ll find the right balance between confidence in himself and arrogance.

I’m a big believer in learning from your mistakes.  But if you can learn from somebody else’s mistakes, even better.  And if I can help him avoid the things I didn’t manage to, I’ll be more than happy.

On the opening day of the season, we arrived at the away ground and made our way to the pitch.  You approach it from one of the corners, on a raised banking.  The pitch looked huge.  I was hoping it was just where we were stood that was creating an optical illusion but it turns out that the pitch is what the opposition’s over 35’s team uses, so full size pitch.  And full size goals.

Mental note was, think positive thoughts and pass them on.

While he warmed up with the rest of the team I had my standard wander round the penalty area, checking for anything that might cause him a problem – more often than not a big crater 2 to 3 yards off the goal line in the centre of the 6 yard box.  Then we did our usual warm up together, a few shots; low, mid and high, a few high balls to take and then a few kicks and throws.  His handling was all pretty good.  His kicking off the ground was a bit less convincing.  I made sure we finished on a good kick and I gave him a final pep talk, hoping he’d get his consistency back during the game.  He didn’t.

A few were pretty good but the majority kept fairly low.  Thankfully they pretty much all evaded the opposition’s forwards though.  His handling during the game mirrored his warm up.  He had a few saves to make, including a couple of free kicks which he sorted his wall out for and dealt with without too much fuss and we went into the break 1-0 up.  He was less busy in the second half and most of the play was down the other end with the forwards giving the other keeper an uncomfortable afternoon.  Final score, 6-0.

At training two days after the game I made the fairly obvious decision to look at his goal kicks and in a matter of minutes we were seeing an improvement in the height he was generating.  From this point on though, I’m making a list of things to work on, for his development.  And for my own piece of mind.

Keep the faith.

(NB – In the days after the game, it came to light that the ‘recommended’ goals size for u13/u14’s, of 21ft x 7ft may not be ‘recommended’ after all but may be the actual goal size these two age groups should be using.  We had been led to believe that the goals used at some places would be 21ft x 7ft but other facilities – including the new FA hubs – would not have this size and the 12 and 13 year old keepers would find themselves defending full size goals – 24ft x 8ft.  If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, you’ll know this particular subject was the cause of my main worries for my lad.  Via a junior league Facebook post and a parent making reference to the ‘recommended’ wording, it became clear that the junior league weren’t aware that the hubs did not have the right size goals and the u13 registrar actually said to the parent that his club should have checked goal/pitch sizes before booking such a facility for their home games and by playing in them are breaking the rules and may have to forfeit games.  The parent asked the hub manager what would happen regarding getting 21ft x 7ft goals, the reply being there were “no plans to buy any”.  To clarify, these hubs are three new facilities in Sheffield which were built with the help of the FA.  Apparently at the time of building, the FA said there was no need for 21ft x 7ft goals.  So to sum up, everybody seems to be contradicting each other.  Watch this space for updates, if any are forthcoming.)

Junior football, as with many other sports can be an expensive way to spend your time, or more accurately, an expensive way for your kids to spend your time.

Most grassroots clubs are self funding in some part.  It may be that parents donate (apart from their time) financially in a variety of ways.  Speaking from experience, it can be as little as paying subs, weekly, monthly or annually, helping with start up costs for the stock for a tuck shop at the start of the season or donations for raffle prizes for home games.

There’s also the possibility of paying towards playing kit or training gear, although the teams my lad has played for have never really asked for this as they have been fortunate enough to have very generous kit sponsors.

The only time this actually happened was one season when money was particularly tight and the manager asked parents if they would be willing to pay towards the cost for their own lad’s tracksuit top, as this would likely be the only way they could be afforded.  We said we’d happily pay the full amount for our lad’s top.  As did many of the other parents.  The cost was £27 – before any embroidery costs which the club would have picked up.  One parent refused to pay anything, point blank, so that was the end of that idea.

Another cost to bear in mind is for boots.  This can be an expensive piece of kit due to new ranges coming out every five minutes, usually endorsed by Messi, Ronaldo or the like.  Generally your own little Lionel or Cristiano will get about a season’s worth of wear out of a pair before you’re forking out again – either because they no longer fit, or aren’t the right colour.  The last 12 months has seen our lad move into adult sizes, which also means adult prices.  For footwear costs, it helps if you work in a bank.  Or better still, if you can rob one.  There’s the possibility that they might also need a pair with studs or astroturf trainers as well as the moulded type.

But we’re not done there.  Not if your little Messi or Ronaldo actually turns out to be a little Buffon or de Gea.  The thing that sets the goalie apart from the rest of the team can end up costing you a fortune.  The gloves.

As with boots, there are many different ‘colourways’ and styles, professional endorsees and countless different companies who manufacture them, who will happily help you part with your hard earned cash.  The usual suspects are into goalie gloves.  Adidas, Nike and Puma all make them.  Along with Uhlsport, Sells, Reusch, Selsport to name a few more.  Over the last few years there are plenty more small or independent firms who have come onto the scene and from our experience, offer very good quality products.

All this means that although there is plenty of choice out there, it can also be a bit of a minefield if you aren’t sure what your young goalie wants or needs.

For a start, between one manufacturer and another, the sizes can vary.  For example my lad is nearly 13 years old and is currently using a size 6 in most brands he’s tried.  Recently I won a pair of gloves for him in a competition.  He hadn’t previously used this particular brand, so when they asked what size I wanted, I went with a cautious size 7, assuming if anything, they’d be too big and he’d grow into them.  As it turns out he can hardly get them on.  The brand definitely plays a part in the irregularity of the sizes but as in this case, so does the ‘cut’ of the gloves.

The cut of the gloves is basically how the palm and the back of the gloves are stitched together, which in turn determines the type of palm and in a lot of cases, how tight or loose the gloves feel.  I don’t remember any real kind of choice of cut when I was playing.  Gloves tended to have either a flat palm – which is pretty much as it sounds, or they were a ‘roll finger’ style, which are similar to a flat palm but the fingers on the palm of the gloves wrap round the goalie’s fingers more.  I would guess the most popular cut at the moment is the ‘negative’ which also has quite a flat palm but the stitching is on the inside of the glove, creating a tighter feel for the goalie’s hands. This was the style of glove I won in the competition – by coincidence my lad’s least favourite cut.

The list of cuts goes on and on.  There are hybrid cuts, which as the name suggests is a combination of two different types, such as a flat palm and a negative cut. To confuse matters even more when it comes to hybrids, companies tend to combine whichever types they want, so there are plenty of different hybrids out there.

The type of latex used in gloves will also determine how much you end up paying out. Generally, the softer the latex, the better the grip but also the palms don’t tend to last as long as a firmer latex with a less convincing grip.

Also worth a mention are ‘finger savers’. These are plastic spines that can be inserted into the back of some gloves, behind the fingers. The idea of these is to protect the goalie’s fingers by preventing them being bent back. I’m not a fan of these in any way. I don’t think they’re needed as your young goalie should only be playing against other kids the same age, meaning they aren’t going to be facing many shots that their hand can’t deal with. They’re also very restrictive by their nature, meaning a young hand can’t move freely enough inside the gloves – in my opinion. I think they’re a gimmick.

Through social media there are many companies who offer discounts or special offers which can certainly help with the cost of buying gloves. I’ve taken advantage of several but now that my lad is taking his football more seriously, there are certain cuts and brands that he favours, so it narrows down my options a fair bit.

Recently I entered his details for a partial sponsorship for gloves. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything back but to my surprise I received an email offering us a 12 month deal. To take advantage of the offer my lad must only use gloves bought through the company and we need to send photo’s of him wearing their gloves for them to show on social media. There are four brands to choose from, one of which is his favourite (The One Glove) and another is a brand he was wanting to try next (S1). Buying gloves from either range will give us, or more specifically me, a 15% discount on every pair bought.

This type of offer is great when he’s playing at least once and training at least twice a week and with the new season starting this Sunday, he can’t wait to get spending my money on new gloves. At least it’ll work out a bit cheaper this year.

Keep the faith

It’s a good time to be a young goalie.

Without wanting to harp on about them “not knowing they’re born”, it wasn’t anything like this in my day!

A lot of the young goalies you see attending specialised goalkeeper training sessions, or even weekly camps for that matter, will take it for granted because they’ve never known anything else.  In my lad’s case, it was only in his first year of playing, at under 8’s, that he didn’t have some sort of goalkeeper training but just trained with the outfield players.  When the under 9’s pre-season training was underway, his new manager had told him one of his contacts was going to come in each week to do specific goalkeeper training with him.  The team’s training sessions went by, week by week and nothing happened.

Although the role of the goalkeeper has changed a fair bit since I used to play back in the 90’s and it is now vital that keepers use their feet with about as much skill as outfield players, I started to worry that the goalie specific training hadn’t materialised and he was just doing exactly the same drills as his team mates – with all the other players lining up at the end to have shooting practice at him.

Although I had never done any coaching before, whenever I had played, it was always as a goalkeeper and so I put myself forward to help.  I thought, something’s better than nothing.  It wasn’t a totally selfish gesture either.  Although I would be training my own lad, I would also be training the team’s other goalie, as their team played in the double team league.

When I played, I was lucky that the Dad of one of my mates had been a good keeper in his day and said he’d help out by training me.  Maybe he’d seen me play and realised I needed all the help I could get.  This was well before the days of the internet, so the training he gave me was very much based on the training he’d had and the drills and warm ups he’d done.  I don’t know for certain but I’d guess in the early 90’s that being in this situation, I was in a very small minority of junior league keepers that had their own coach.  I was an OK standard when I played but something like that must have given me an edge, a slight advantage over other keepers in the teams we were playing against.

Things have moved on since then, as have the training methods (and the ease of access via the internet to download training plans or drills) but I’ve always been thankful for the time and effort Pete gave, to try to improve me as a goalie.  He was my one and only coach really.

These days in junior football, I would think you might be in the minority if as a keeper, you don’t have your own coach, whether that’s for your grassroots team or at specialised training sessions such as CYG Goalkeeping.  Since moving clubs a couple of years back, my lad was in a similar situation to the one he was in before, so again I offered to help but was well aware of how times change and how I should too.  So I decided to complete my first coaching qualification, the FA level 1 goalkeeping course.  I wanted to be a proper coach for my lad and help him as much as I could.

Since completing the course, I’ve become even more obsessive about goalkeeping and more structured in how I approach our sessions.  The most important thing is and will always be, that he enjoys playing and training.  But in recent weeks, there’s been a change in his attitude, possibly linked to the imminent move up to 11-a-side and he seems to really have got the bit between his teeth, to push on to be as good as he can be.  Another likelihood is that over recent weeks and months, he’s seen quite a few of the other lads he knows or trains with, spend time with either development, or shadow squads, whereas he hasn’t.

It’s a possibility that he thinks that somebody’s saying he’s not as good as them but he’s never been bothered about going to open trials, he’s always been more than happy with his grassroots team.  If I’m honest I don’t know enough about the system to make an informed choice and I’ve always been a bit concerned about him doing too much and it leading to him losing interest.  Also, you hear good things about academies and the like but also plenty of horror stories, where lads are left feeling demoralised because they’re deemed as not good enough.

I always think if he’s good enough, somebody will see it on a Sunday.  And if it doesn’t happen and he’s happy as he is, then so be it.  He’s getting top quality goalkeeper coaching at CYG, from coaches with a wealth of experience that would be hard to match anywhere else.  And I take something away from every session that we can use at his grassroots training.

Whatever happens, I’ll just keep the faith.

I don’t think it’s possible to say any specific aspect of goalkeeping is more important than another.  All the elements have to be put together to ‘create’ a good keeper.

A while ago I was asked, “what’s the best piece of advice you can offer a young goalkeeper?”  Ask 10 different coaches and you might end up with 10 different answers and in reality all the answers might be equally vital.  My answer was – “not even the best keepers in the world can stop everything, so don’t expect to.  But work hard, practice, listen to your coach and the number you concede will get lower.”

So the final Summer League game came round.

Due to teams dropping out, it meant that this was only their fourth game, having previously won 4-3, 4-1 and drawn 2-2.  Only a win by a cricket score would see them finish top of the table but to be honest, the results weren’t the be all and end all for the team – it was always to get used to playing 11-a-side on a bigger pitch.  From a selfish point of view, it was for my lad to get used to protecting his new environment.  A full-sized goal.

Since the first game a few weeks before, his progress had been quite good and although there are still enough places in a full-sized goal that he can’t stop the ball going in to, his footwork and starting position have improved dramatically, meaning that he’s giving himself chance to keep a decent percentage of shots out.  This increased mobility is partly down to playing in the four games but for the most part because of the hard work he’s put in at training (with his grassroots team and at CYG) and in the 1:1’s we’ve done together.  He’s put the effort in and so far, he’s getting the rewards.

As it turned out, they won their final game 3-1 and finished joint top of the group.

In the first half (25 minutes), he only had 3 touches.  The first was a corner that he came and took cleanly after about 15 minutes, a great example of having to maintain concentration levels when you’re not being called on to make saves.  The opposition team don’t play in a league but are more of a football training school, with a detailed approach to the technical and tactical side of the game – in other words, he wasn’t expecting 40 yard piledrivers fired at him at every opportunity but a more measured approach using possession football, meaning the likelihood of a bit quieter game for him.

In the second half, the ball was mostly up at the other end of the pitch again, up until the final five minutes or so.  The opposition got a free kick just outside the box, so he had some organising to do.  He got his wall set up for what turned out to be a direct shot.  It dipped just in front of him but also a couple of feet to the right of his starting position.  He sidestepped, dropped down, and with a forward following up for a rebound, executed a great scoop.

Unfortunately they conceded in the final minute to ensure he didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet in any of the four games but all in all, the Summer League was a very valuable experience for him to get used to 11-a-side and have the feel for full-sized goals – as he’ll have to play in them at least a few times this season.

Over the past few weeks, his grassroots training on 3G and the 1:1’s we’ve done have all been using full-sized goals but any training he’s done on grass has been using poles, as the goalposts have been taken down for the Summer.  On Friday we trained on the grass at their home ground for the first time in a fortnight and it was a nice surprise to see the goalposts had returned.  The goals are the recommended size for his age group, u13’s (and u14’s) – 7ft x 21ft, compared to 8ft x 24ft from the Summer League/3G sessions.

During the shooting practice at the end of the session, he looked quite comfortable and for most of the time, had a bit of a smile on his face.  The work he’s done in the full-sized goals has been worthwhile, after a frustrating start for him where he felt like every shot was flying past him.  We had our usual conversation at the end and I asked why he’d had the daft grin.  His reply was “if you can save it in the big goals, you can save it in these.”

Over the last few months and in the final Summer League game, he’s shown 2 more of the endless skills that keepers need.  Concentration (in the match) and the willingness to keep working to improve your own game.

Keep the faith.

As my lad’s coach, at this time of the year, it can be difficult to work out just how much training is good for him from the point of view of him not training too much, keeping his enjoyment going but also still wanting him to keep improving his game.

During the season, on average, he’ll play a game a week and train anywhere between 2 and 4 hours but after a long season and finishing school for a few weeks, is this the time to be letting him relax a little?  Or, is this the time to push on ready for next season?  Or, do I try to keep his training on a similar level to what he’s used to during the season – once a week with his grassroots team, once a week with CYG and the odd 1:1 session with me thrown in.

As the fixtures don’t come out until some time in August, we booked time off work for our family holiday to make sure we’re back for when the season usually starts, at the beginning of September.  This has been the case for the last few years to be honest.  None of his football managers have ever said anything about it, but with him being a keeper, so that he doesn’t miss games we’ve always thought that our holidays need to be worked around his football.

Excuse the saying but the goalposts tend to move at this time of year as far as training’s concerned, which doesn’t help with my question of how much training he should be doing.  Due to the grassroots player’s holidays, their training is hit and miss for a lot of the 6 weeks holidays.  For the same reason, CYG are taking a complete break throughout August.

As the holidays start, the grassroots training can vary from nothing, to one or two sessions a week.  There’s only one game left in the Friday night Summer League and there are no more friendlies arranged, so 1:1 training, just him and me, looks like it could be very important to prepare for the new season.  As I’ve said before, he wants to keep improving as a keeper and specifically he wants to do as much as he can to be prepared for playing in bigger goals next season

When we’ve talked about taking a break before, he’s said that we don’t know how much other teams and in particular, their goalies, are training over the Summer.  Apart from wanting to improve he also wants his team to win games and he wants to be better than the other keepers he comes up against throughout the season.  As you can tell, he’s very competitive and as such doesn’t want to lose any opportunity when it comes to making progress.

So as it currently stands, his goalkeeper training at CYG has now finished until the start of September, the final game of the Summer League is at the end of this week and after playing a couple of tournaments (and the Summer League), there aren’t any more friendlies booked in, which just leaves his grassroots training and 1:1’s with me until our holiday comes round at the end of August and as soon as we’re back, the new season will be starting.

My gut feeling is to try to do an hour of 1:1 with him each week, as well as his grassroots.  I suppose I’ll have to try to gauge it weekly and take it from there because if I ask his opinion, he’ll want to be doing 1:1’s most nights.

Another side of his development I can work on with him, which he tends to need a bit more encouragement is watching professional goalkeepers.  He very rarely watches football on tv but with the EFL restarting this weekend, it gives us chance to watch a couple of keepers up close most weeks.  Some of the time when we’re at the Lane, I try to get him to avoid watching where the ball is and instead concentrate on a keeper communicating with his defenders in case of a counter attack, shouting at them to push out of defence, or even just organising them when setting up to defend a corner.

As far as his physical training goes, I guess I’ll just have to trust my judgement and keep the faith.

I started writing a post but then changed the subject because of a goalkeeper being sold today.

Not Alisson to Liverpool.  Not Courtois to Real Madrid.  Not a big money move either.

Much outside the radius of either Bramall Lane or the KC Stadium this particular goalkeeper moving from one club to the other probably won’t make any major headlines.  At Kingsmeadow or possibly Fir Park there may actually be more interest than at his new or previous club.

A few years ago George Long was being touted as a huge goalkeeping prospect having come through the academy at Shirecliffe.  Fast forward to present day and he is in the process of rebuilding his career having played well for several clubs, but not necessarily his home town club.

It may just be that it wasn’t meant to happen for him at Bramall Lane but now, if his career continues on the upturn, it will definitely be elsewhere.

There have been a few ups and downs along the way.  Successful loan moves, spells at Bramall Lane with varying success, playing under several different managers, being offered contracts, having contracts renegotiated…

…the list goes on.

The fact that he has just signed for one of his former managers, also a former keeper should not be overlooked.  His loan spells at Motherwell and Wimbledon were successful, helping keep Motherwell in the Scottish Premier League and spending a full season with Wimbledon in League 1, impressing whilst there.

It has to be said that while at Bramall Lane he was playing in a poor side, with a less than solid back four, under various managers, none of which would help the confidence of a young keeper.

He’s still only 24.

The disappointing thing, apart from him not fulfilling his potential with United, is the treatment he received from his own fans when he was most in need of their support.  The keeper is the most likely out of the squad to be a ‘confidence player’, especially when the team aren’t getting results in front of big crowds.

Although his new manager doesn’t have too many supporters at United after his 12 months in charge, the fact that he is signing Long shows that if not many others do, then Adkins has confidence in his ability and is offering him a way out.

As a member of the goalkeeper’s union, I will always look to defend any keeper criticised by the likes of Gary Neville or Lee Dixon, or the bloke in front of me on John Street.

Confidence is vital to any player but more so, a keeper.

One mistake can often lead to a goal or another mistake but nobody is going to perform better if they’re getting stick, especially from their own fans.

While George Long was at United, my lad was desperate for him to do well and it’s a bit of a lesson for him that things don’t always work out how you might have hoped.

Mentally, keepers have to be tougher than the rest but at the moment, for my lad, an arm round the shoulder or few carefully chosen words can give him a boost of confidence to go and give it his best.

If all else fails, keep the faith.

I suppose as a parent you’ll always do whatever you can to help your kids, especially if you’ve got half an idea about what it is you’re meant to be helping with.  Ever since I could remember, I wanted to be a goalkeeper.  My first real memories of watching football and being interested in it, apart from going to watch United with my Dad, was watching as many World Cup matches on tv – Mexico ’86 – as I could.  (And the Panini sticker book).  I was mesmerised by goalkeepers.  The different shirt to the rest of the team (same colour shorts and socks as the outfield players back in the day though), the number 1 on the shirt and I always thought he had a proper job to do.

He had to keep the ball out of the goal, ‘his’ goal.

At that age, I just thought everybody else on the team was out to score goals.  But he was the stopper, the one they were all trying to beat.  One keeper at that World Cup stood out for me though.  Pat Jennings of Northern Ireland.  As soon as I saw him, that was it, he was my hero.  I always watched goalies rather than strikers.  I cheered a save louder than I cheered a goal.

So when my lad came home from school one day and said his mate had asked him to try out for his football team, as a goalie, I was delighted but more than a bit surprised.  He never said he was a goalie.  I’d never told him I’d always been a goalie.  Maybe it’s just in the genes?

I was lucky when I played junior football in that for 2 or 3 years, I had a goalkeeper coach who trained me most weeks.  He was one of my team mate’s dad.  Apparently he was a pretty good keeper in his day but had been unlucky with injuries.  With the way he trained me, I thought that he must have spent time in the SAS as well.  I seemed to have to do more work than the other players.  I did a lot of the same stuff as them for a lot of the training session; warm up, jogging, sprinting, passing.  Then I did my goalie stuff which usually ended up with the rest of the team firing endless shots at me.

Some things don’t change so much.

Training sessions that I plan can be quite similar these days for my lad but as a goalie you have to be extremely determined, single-minded and understand that the training can be very, very repetitive.  And hard work.  I’ve seen plenty of younger goalies change their mind and decide it’s not for them after getting bored in matches and/or being fed up with their training.  Worse still, they often want to be a striker instead.

My lad’s grassroots training sessions these days tend to be a warm up, running, passing drills (all with his team mates), then goalie warm up, a variety of goalie drills, usually some kicking and throwing, shooting/saving practice with the rest of the team, ‘doggies’, then a warm down.  Our goalie training has also just started involving the club’s u11’s goalie which is good because there’s a fair bit of stuff the 3 of us can do, that 2 of us can’t.  He looks to me as though he has the potential to be a really good keeper too and I’m looking forward to doing more coaching with them both.  He’s also interested, wants to improve, doesn’t mess around and doesn’t moan at having to work hard.

As I said, I always thought as a goalie, I had to work harder than the rest of the team.

I still believe that’s true these days for keepers but if you disagree, think about this example.  If you take a 5 minute shooting practice with a squad of say, 15, the 14 outfielders take it in turn to shoot at the keeper, so they are each taking maybe 5 shots a piece in the drill.  The goalie will therefore face 70 shots in that 5 minutes.  That’s hard work for a keeper and a lot more intense than it is for the outfielders with their one shot every 60 seconds or so.

At my lad’s previous club, I had enquired about doing my FA goalkeeper level 1 coaching badge.  For various reasons, but not for the want of trying, it never quite happened.  At his current club the chance arose, so I did it.  I would recommend it to anybody who has ever thought about doing it.  It was an eye opener for me and I have started to look at goalkeeping in a slightly different way.  I would happily do my level 2 goalkeeping badge.  But as times have changed and the role of a goalkeeper has changed so that he is required to be more adept at using his feet, you cannot just move onto the next badge.  For me to go to the next stage of goalkeeper coaching, I would first have to pass level 1 and 2 outfield coaching badges.

To be honest, that’s maybe too big a commitment from both a time and money perspective.

Never say never but for the time being I’ll carry on with my level 1 badge and coaching the u11’s goalie.  There’s also been talk of helping out with the younger age group goalies at the club and if that happens, then great.  It’s all experience which will no doubt help me.  And if it helps me, that can only be good for my lad too.  I’ll do whatever I can to help my lad, especially if it involves goalkeeping.

Keep the faith.

I’ve talked about nerves and how they affect me.  As far as me watching him playing junior football, there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to how bad they’ll be.  When he was in the u11’s, in his first season for his new team, the nerves were fairly bad every week.  I think this will be no different to anybody else whose son or daughter moves to a new club – especially if they’re a goalkeeper.

The hardest position on the pitch can be unforgiving at the best of times.

Although there aren’t league tables you can see, he moved from the equivalent of probably the 7th division up to the 4th, into an established team with some very good players.  I knew what he was capable of, having watched him for the previous 3 seasons and helping out with his training but he had to prove how good he was to his new team mates, the manager/assistant and the other parents.

He got over the first hurdle – the trial – then it was into pre-season training with a few friendlies thrown in to get ready for the upcoming season.  He did OK in the friendlies but I didn’t think he’d really shown how good he was and a couple of the goals he conceded, he may have dealt with a little better.  Over the course of the season, the teams were regraded several times and they found themselves in the top division out of 11.

The strange thing about the nerves affecting me was that in this particular season, they were at their worst when he was in the ‘no lose position’ for a keeper.  Penalties.  A cup final that they were leading for the majority of the game, saw his team concede an equaliser with about 2 minutes of normal time left.  He was unfortunate with the goal, as were the team.  They deserved to win but penalties were going to have to decide it.  As soon as the final whistle was blown, I felt sick.  I’ve got no idea why because obviously the keeper has the chance to be the hero of the moment – maybe I was worried that the opposition keeper would end up with the glory?  To add further nausea, the penalties ended up going to sudden death but he, along with the scorers, ended up being the hero.

As it turned out, I was just relieved it was over.

On Friday night, the Summer League came around again but with a bit of added edge.  An ex-team mate playing for the other team, along with a couple of his current school mates. One of the school mates is only playing for them in the Summer League as he’s at an academy, so won’t be allowed to play in the grassroots league.  This also applied to one of their other players.  On the following day, the team were entered into a tournament.  Also in the same tournament were Friday night’s opposition.

We were both a bit nervy but no more than usual.  He seemed to be pumped up for the Friday night game because of the added incentive of having to see his school mates again on the Monday.  I hoped he’d have a decent game, so that his confidence would be high for the tournament the next day.

He did.

The team played really well, especially in the first half and kept the academy lads quiet.  They were leading 2-0 but in the second half the opposition had a good go at them.  At one point it was one way traffic and he found himself having to make quite a few saves to keep his team in it.  It ended 2-2 but he’d done well and I thought with his performance he was in with a shout for Man of the Match.

Because of England’s quarter final game with Sweden, the tournament organisers had brought the kick off times forward to try to ensure it would be completed in time for everybody to get home to watch the World Cup match.  So we had an early start on the Saturday morning to get to the ground and get set up.  This left less time for nerves to set in and probably helped us enjoy the day more.

Over the last couple of seasons the team has had quite a good record at tournament football.  In the same competition 12 months earlier, they were beaten in the final by an academy team.  Again, in keeping with preparing for the new season, the tournament was 11-a-side to get more practice in.  A couple of teams had dropped out meaning 2 groups of 4 teams, top 2 from each group qualifying for the semi-finals.

After a slow start and a 1-1 draw with the hosts, they woke up and picked their game up.

The Friday night opposition were in the other group but after our lads won their other games 4-0 and 2-0 without any real drama, they won their group and met in the semi-final about 16 hours after they’d drawn 2-2.  Unfortunately for the other team, the academy lads weren’t there and so they only had 10 men.  We took a 1-0 lead and that’s how it stayed.  A free kick, heading for the top corner was the only scare but he got across his goal and palmed it away to safety.

So they were into the final again, and once again, playing last year’s winners.

They lost 2-1 but for most of the game were the better team, just couldn’t quite take their few chances and were punished at the other end.  Another great tournament for the lads, another runner’s up trophy with a few great saves thrown in on Friday night and during Saturday.

It always helps if you can keep the faith.

The Summer league continued as normal but unfortunately for the goalie, the fixtures are played every fortnight, which meant a full 2 weeks between competitive matches before he had the chance to get the previous game out of his system.

He said to me he would have preferred to play sooner but what can you do? As it was, he had a few training sessions, either grassroots or with CYG, in which he didn’t show any signs of repeating his mistakes from the game.  This is usually the case though.  He’s very committed to all the training he takes part in, plus you don’t get nervous in training do you?  We got a 1:1 session in, on the Sunday morning after the 4-3 win because I thought it would help him relax and move on from his errors, especially as we did the 1:1 on the same pitch where the game had taken place.

You might think it’s a bit of an over reaction for a couple of mistakes by a 12 year old but from my own experience of playing at his age, I know I would have wanted to get back to playing as soon as possible, just to convince myself I was better than my performance.

I suffered with nerves when I played, on the odd occasion to the point of feeling physically sick.

He never used to get nerves but the last year or 2, they’ve crept in a little bit.  It’s probably a combination of playing for a good team in the top division of a well-respected league, along with the amount of spectators that watch Junior League (and Summer League) matches these days and of course, the most likely reason, the position he plays.  Rewind back nearly 30 years to when I was his age and the number of players easily outweighed the amount of people who went to watch.  I asked him not long after he started playing if he ever got nervous – “why would I get nervous?” was his reply, so I left it at that.

The 1:1 session went really well.

The usual combination of fundamentals, distribution and footwork drills with a bit of crossbar challenge chucked in at the end did wonders for him and he seemed very relaxed.  We’re really lucky to have new facilities nearby and as much as possible, I want to use them regularly but in a structured way to help him improve.  He’s at an age now where although he wants a bit of a laugh at the end of training – especially if that’s at my expense – he wants to be worked hard and he wants to improve.

The next fixture came round and he seemed quite relaxed.  It’s fair to say I felt like my 12 year old self again.  Stomach in knots and unable to think about anything other than hoping he had a decent game, as it got closer to kick off.  His warm up went well apart from the one that went straight through his hands and into the goal.  He turned round and smashed the ball into the back of the net.  I went over and had a word with him.  In this situation, with him, the words have to be well chosen, otherwise he thinks I’m having a dig and the mardy face comes on.  We carried on warming up for a few more minutes and all the same sort of shots that he faced, he kept out without any problems.

A mistake is a mistake, as long as it doesn’t keep happening.

I should say at this point that I’m very aware how important it is to remember the age he’s at, that he’s growing up and going through changes so sometimes his fuse is shorter than others.  It can be a difficult enough time without thinking somebody’s having a dig at you when you’re doing your best.

The game went well.  He looked the complete opposite of the goalie from a fortnight ago.  He was nearly reaching half way with his goal kicks – mixed up with short balls to his full backs when it was on.  Communicating more with the back four, asking for pass backs and dealing with them comfortably.  He lined up a 2-man wall to defend a free kick (maybe something to work on, now there are more players and a bigger goal to defend) which the striker placed inside the far post but he’d read it and scampered across to deal with it.  The lads eased to a 4-1 win and he couldn’t have done anything with the goal he conceded, so it was relief all round.

A fortnight can be a long time in junior football but in the end, the result and his performance was all we could have hoped for.  And I didn’t throw up.

Keep the faith.

So the first match of the Summer league season was here.

Although the game had changed – up to 11-a-side, bigger pitch and all the worries from the last blog – the opposition were familiar.  The teams had played each other several times over the last couple of seasons; league, cup and friendly.  They had been of a very similar standard to each other whenever they’d played, usually with only the odd goal to separate them.  When they met in the cup final, it had gone all the way to penalties with our team coming out on top and my lad saving a penalty in sudden death to decide it.

We didn’t know what to expect here though.  Both teams having to add players since they last met and both using triallists in this game, meant it could be more one sided, or tightly contested as usual.

As it turned out though, pretty much all the worries I’d had about the size of the goals didn’t materialise.

On the flip side though, in a 4-3 win, he was at fault for two of their goals.  Their first two goals were shots that in training or in matches, he himself would expect to save without breaking sweat.  Not even think about.  The first something similar to Dave Beasant at Chelsea – as if a hole had appeared in his body – he looked as if he had everything right, only for the ball to go straight though him and into the goal.  The second, a low shot to his right that lacked any real pace but somehow managed to find it’s way past his outstretched palm.

Apart from these two shots he looked nervy for most of the game – but even with the nerves, in between the goals conceded, he held 2 or 3 shots that were much more difficult than they looked.  His kicking was almost faultless, although again he looked nervy as he approached the goal kicks and indecisive with his choice of distribution.

They won the game but it was in spite of him, rather than thanks to him.

As we always do, we had a talk after the game and although feeling very low and disappointed with his performance, he told me what he’d done wrong with the goals and we were both happy enough that they were simple lapses of concentration – probably thinking about the throw out or pass, before the ball was actually safely in his hands.  Ever since he’s played, I’ve always chosen my words very carefully after a less than convincing display.  Generally we agree that mistakes are mistakes and they can happen to the best of us but the key is to use them as a positive and work on them, to try to minimise the chance of the same mistake happening again.

It turned out the nervy goal kicks were a different matter.  It came out in a conversation with another parent a few days after the game that when he was preparing to take his goal kicks, he was getting various instructions from the parents side of the pitch on what he should do – something I hadn’t thought of with the size of the pitch is that you can’t hear what’s said or shouted over on the other touchline – I guess outfield players suffer the same multiple points of view being shouted their way during a game but the difference is, most of the time they won’t have time to think about it because the ball is live – they’ll just instinctively do what their brain tells them to.  A goal kick though, a dead ball, with everybody staring at you, when 2 or 3 people are shouting for it to; “go long, play it to the left back, knock it out wide” is bound to make you hesitate and question your own instincts.

After all, he is only 12.

Once I found out this bit of information, we had a talk and I kept my advice simple.  Just listen to the manager – and your coach, obviously – before the game and ignore the various shouts from the opposite side during the game.  The game changes all the time, mix it up, change your kicks but most importantly, make your own decisions.

It comes back to that thing about his mentality again.  It could be a long season.  Keep the faith.

The lad’s first 11-a-side game, in the form of a Summer league on state of the art, 3G pitches, to get the team used to playing next season’s football – under 13’s, 11-a-side on a much bigger pitch.

As a grassroots parent, sounds like a good plan doesn’t it?

The worry for me as the goalkeeper coach, since the end of the under 12’s, naturally, has been the changes for the keeper, mainly the size of the goals in comparison to the height of the goalie.

To be fair, it was the same worry 2 years ago, going from u10’s to u11’s, only this time, the difference between the last man and the target is big.  And I mean huge. This is not helped by the fact that the u13’s goal dimensions are only recommended, not compulsory.  As it’s only a recommendation, many grassroots clubs don’t have this particular size, as these goals will only be used during u13’s and u14’s.  At u15’s the goals are full size anyway.  It means that this season, the young keeper in question can ‘look forward’ to moving from u12 size goals to full size goals, if not every game, then plenty of times over the next season.

The keeper in question is not only the lad I coach but also my son.  He is about the average height for a lad of his age.  To give you an example, he can just touch the crossbar, if he’s standing on the goal line and jumps with one arm fully extended above his head.  When he’s a yard or two off his line, any shot dropping a foot to 18 inches under the bar will most likely beat him, especially if its either side of him.

I know this is likely to be the case for a high percentage of keepers at the same age as him and some parents/coaches and their keepers will worry more than others but it raised a lot of concerns from the point of view of the goalkeeper, as well as the coach and the parent.

As he walked over for his first proper warm up in the goal, you could read his mind.

He had trained in full size goals for a good deal of the previous season (again because of a lack of the right size ones) but had always had the safety net of them being much bigger than the match day goals he’d be facing shots in.  The common theory is that if you can keep shots out of a full size goal, you can keep them out of smaller goals, can’t you.  Anyway, shots just below the bar or just inside the post that beat the keeper in training don’t matter too much because they’ll go over or wide on a Sunday, or he’ll at least have a fighting chance of saving them.

Just for the record, he hates being beaten by any shot, whether it’s in training or during a game.  Absolutely hates it.  As much as I’ve reasoned with him – either as his dad or his coach – over the last few years about no keeper being able to keep everything out, it annoys him, angers him even.  Not a bad attitude to have I suppose.  The only danger is him dwelling on it, while the game carries on around him, leading to a lapse in concentration.

But it had dawned on him that these size goals were for real now.

It had dawned on me weeks, even months ago.  The odds were going to be stacked against him I thought but I was thinking this possibly only a matter of minutes after the full time whistle on the final day of last season.  I tried to come up with a plan, as his coach, to work on things which could help as we moved towards the new season.  I was also panicking, as his dad, at the thought of the new season later in the year and the ball whistling past him quite a lot.  It’s the hardest position on the pitch and it’s about to get more difficult.

To be honest, I think he’s a decent goalie, with a certain amount of natural ability but unless he can grow about 18 inches in the next 3 or 4 months, I know he’s going to be picking the ball out of the back of the net with a fair bit more regularity than previous seasons, regardless of how much training we do.  We’d had a few chats about working on the usual fundamental goalie stuff – that’s a given – but agreed that his footwork was going to need some major work to help him as much as possible with his movement across goal.

Apart from me coaching him once a week, he also does an hour of specific goalkeeping training at CYG Goalkeeping.  He’s been going for nearly a year and there’s no doubt in my mind that the experience and dedication of the coaches there has helped him greatly.  I also take away quite a lot from these sessions as I can see what we can use in his grassroots training, as well as trying to train him specifically in areas where he needs to develop.  He enjoys going and is keen to learn, which helps a lot.

Because of all my worries about the goal size, his height, the need for specific training and because he wants to, we’ve done a couple of 1:1 sessions, just him and me.  A lot of the things we do are the key fundamentals taken from CYG and previous training sessions, drills and practices from clips I’ve watched on YouTube and things I was taught at his age.  I always add something to try to make it enjoyable for him as well.

I guess that last bit sums up my worries – I don’t want him to stop enjoying being a goalkeeper  – and I see this season being as big a test of his mentality as it is his physicality.

I plan to keep adding more to this blog as the weeks go by, to show how he (and me) copes throughout the Summer league and into the new season.  Keep the faith.