The Glove Doctor

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday August 15, 2008

Jason Mountney

A Former Socceroo brushes up Jason Mountney's goalkeeping skills.

FOOTBALL goalkeepers are an odd lot. Think Colombia's Rene Higuita, whose "scorpion kick" required standing on his hands and kicking the ball over his head with the back of his heels - even during international matches.

Or Paraguay's Jose Luis Chilavert, who took all his team's penalties, regularly scored from his own half and now wants to be president of his country. Then there's Coventry City's David Icke, who now travels the world, telling people the Queen is actually a lizard. I kid you not.

A bunch of spoilsports, goalkeepers scour the weekend's results, nodding in satisfaction at nil-all draws, which they consider the best matches.

Jim Fraser wants to help this misunderstood band of brothers. He's been there, stopping goals with the Socceroos squad that qualified for the 1974 World Cup. Now, in addition to his job as Sydney FC's goalkeeping coach, he runs the International Goalkeepers Academy at Blacktown Olympic Park, Rooty Hill.

Part-owned by Hollywood United FC goalkeeper, actor Anthony LaPaglia, the academy trains students ranging from weekend park-league glovemen, through promising juniors to former Socceroo John Filan, who recently returned to Sydney after 13 years in the English Premier League.

But can Fraser help me, goalkeeper for the Alexandria Park Rangers, at last count running fourth in the Monday-night mixed five-a-side league at the Ultimo Community Centre?

He reckons he can. Being a good goalkeeper, he says, involves a mix of "the technical, tactical, psychological, physical and body maintenance".

Twenty-three-year-old goalie Ken Greenwood starts me on the technical. I have to throw a ball into a trampoline-like contraption called a rebounder, then catch it as it fires back at me. As in pretty much any ball sport, the key is to keep your eye on the ball. Once my eye is in, I start to throw and catch with one hand. Greenwood says not only does this sharpen my catching skills, "it is also a good workout for your entire upper body".

The regular to and fro of the ball is relaxing and quite hypnotic - much more of this and I'll be transported to Barcelona's Nou Camp for a European Cup final.

Instead Fraser brings my mind back to Rooty Hill and we work on my stance - feet shoulder-width apart and slightly forward, hands at the ready. We then scurry forward, backwards, left and right, like crabs, practising keeping our bodies "square to the ball", Fraser's key to an efficient goalkeeper.

No amount of standing around with your legs apart will work if the ball is fired to your left or right, though. So the next part of the lesson is to leap sideways onto the ground, hopefully catching the ball on the way. The key is to spring from both feet and use your thigh and upper arm to cushion your fall. I feel good about my first attempts, until Fraser, 23 years my senior, demonstrates the move with ease, leaping to his side and hitting the ground like a teenager.

My pride now on the line, I practise a few more times. When I get it right, it feels great sailing through the air and landing softly in the grass with the ball in my hands. But when things go wrong, I have all the grace of a drunken ibis, with the ball rolling past adding to the indignity. (The huge bruise I sport on my backside afterwards is proof I got it wrong plenty of times.)

By the time we move to picking up the ball and bringing it safely to our chest I'm dripping with sweat, so that's Fraser's "physical" ticked off the list. The key here is to get as much of your body behind the ball as you can, keeping your legs together to avoid perhaps the most embarrassing thing for a goalie - the ball running between them and through to the net. Despite what is rather a soft exercise, I manage to slightly sprain my right ring finger.

After a session kicking the ball back into play, from both the ground and my hands, I join four other students and start putting what I've learned into practice.

Each of us takes a turn in goal while the other four fire kicks into the area. The training sessions involve plenty of camaraderie and support among students - but the universal male temptation to belt the ball as hard as possible to the goal comes to the fore and we are put to a rigorous test.

Until now, under Fraser's coaching and with plenty of time, I have managed to do better than expected on every exercise. But with a ball racing towards me and only a second or so to make a decision, I forget most of Fraser's advice and simply lunge at the ball. Sometimes this works and I catch or deflect a shot but plenty of times the ball thuds into the net behind me.

After the session our football-mad photographer, Fraser and I talk briefly with Sydney FC goalie Clint Bolton, who regularly shows up at the facility. For aspiring goalkeepers, especially younger players, the chance to meet and train alongside A-League and international stars such as Bolton and Filan is perhaps the academy's biggest asset. That and the sight of a 60-year-old former Socceroo leaping across the goal mouth as if he is 16.

You try it

Lessons at the International Goalkeepers Academy cost $30, with courses aimed at different playing levels. Men and women train here. In addition to skills between the sticks, courses involve video analysis and gym work. There are also training camps for junior players. See www.internationalgoalkeepers.com or phone 0407 728 862.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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