28/03/2024
On Monday, March 18, a unique seminar was held at the Primavera hotel in Pilsen, which was focused on the role of the goalkeeper coach in the implementation team. However, it was not just an event for goalkeeper coaches, but also for head coaches and assistants.
A lot of industries are developing in football. New positions are emerging and so is the role of goalkeeper coaches. In modern football, this role includes responsibility for set pieces, game principles for setting up an attack and more.
“The whole concept of goalkeeper coach education is built so that we produce full-fledged assistants specializing in goalkeepers,” explained goalkeeper license coordinator Vojtěch Mareček.
The first speaker of the seminar was the president of UČFT, Verner Lička. In his contribution, he pointed out how important it is for the goalkeeping coach to have a perfect knowledge of the tactics and requirements for the individual phases of the game that the head coach requires.
The second speaker was a foreign guest. Spanish goalkeeper coach Marcos Abad. He currently works for West Bromwich Albion in England and at the same time works as a goalkeeper license lecturer for the Spanish Football Association. In the past, Abad worked, for example, at Leeds United in the implementation team of Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa.
The Spaniard presented his role in the implementation team. He presented his work with goalkeepers, which he illustrated with videos of his training sessions. In addition to preparing goalkeepers, he is also responsible for preparing set pieces and scouting goalkeepers. Another topic was the integration of a young goalkeeper into the senior team. It is the Spanish coach who has extensive experience with this. Under his leadership, only 19-year-old French goalkeeper Ian Meslier made his Leeds United debut. He is the number one of the traditional English team until now.
Finally, the third, very rare guest, Petr Čech, spoke. He explained his journey to everyone involved, when he started playing in the league for FK Chmel Blšany as a young goalkeeper. He described how the trust of head coach Beránek and older players helped him. He also described his cooperation with goalkeeper coaches either at Chelsea or Arsenal. He just confirmed the words of Marcos Abad, how important the connection between the goalkeeper coach and the implementation team is. Even the goalkeeper coach can bring interesting tactical solutions that will bring success to the team.
At the end of the seminar, an interesting discussion took place with Petr Čech and another excellent Czech goalkeeper, Jaroslav Drobný.
Both former national team goalkeepers talked about his experiences from foreign engagements and about his beginnings in goal. They mentioned their cooperation both with the coaches who led them and the cooperation with the goalkeeper coaches. During the discussion, they were engaging and answered questions from the audience.
“This seminar was originally supposed to be the program of the ongoing UEFA coaching license goalkeeper coach A. During a joint discussion with the license coordinator Vojta Mareček and the guarantor of professional football Verner Lička, we came to the conclusion that this topic is so important and current that we decided to open to the public as part of the continuing education program. It was important to connect the world of head coaches, their assistants and goalie coaches to discuss their collaboration within the roles and responsibilities of the execution team. The openness and sharing of everyone involved, from lecturers and guests to trainers, was at a great level, and I believe that everyone took away a lot of valuable ideas for their practice. In the future, we would like to continue seminars focused on specializations that are gaining importance in the world of football.” said Martin Vlk, head of the coaches and education department.
Tags: Pilsen hosted seminar focused role goalkeeper coach implementation team
