Online Training for Goalkeeper Coaches
Not least due to the Corona pandemic, a lot has happened around the overall topic of training. Football training takes place solely on the pitch – that was once the case. For example, our U23 goalkeeper and youth goalkeeping coach, Marcus Westphal, recently took part in the 1st International Online Goalkeeping Congress of Discover–Develop–Unfold.
The "PROKEEPER ACADEMY," founded in 2017 by brothers Hubert and Thomas Deutsch, has set itself the task of sustainably promoting young goalkeepers and their coaches, primarily in rural areas, not only in terms of sports but also, in particular, in the area of personal development. "Our motivation is to continuously promote football goalkeeping talents and goalkeeping coaches holistically with the highest quality!" - Hubert & Thomas Deutsch.
Marcus Westphal, along with 400 other participants, attended one of the events from February 26th to 28th. Each event lasted approximately six hours per day and comprised a total of 29 lectures. These lectures covered topics such as goalkeeper methodology, off-field behavior, social media management, and the integration of young goalkeepers across different age groups within clubs. Among the speakers were numerous goalkeeping coaches from various professional teams, including Jan Zimmermann (Eintracht Frankfurt), Sven Höh (1. FC Kaiserslautern), Frederik Gößling (RB Leipzig), and Christoph Semmler (Fortuna Düsseldorf).
Even though football should generally continue to take place on the field, this form of further education is a new and very positive experience for the 35-year-old Westphal. On a scale of 1-10, he would clearly rate the learning factor a 10.
Photo:
Swapped the spot on the artificial turf for a spot at the monitor: Marcus Westphal.