Sewell happy with direction of goalkeeping camp
Published:Thursday | July 27, 2023 | 12:07 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
NATIONAL UNDER-20 goalkeeper coach, Andrew Sewell, believes a one-week camp aimed at improving local goalkeepers was a success.
Hosted at St George’s College’s Winchester Park, goalkeepers were put through various drills in order to achieve results like improved ball control and foot movement.
According to Sewell, the information was well received.
“I would have rated it at nine out of 10, because you can always improve on things but it was well received and the objectives were met, and that was for the kids to enjoy goalkeeping. From all indications, everyone was pleased. The information was also well grasped as the first four days they (goalkeepers) would have engaged in technical stuff, then on the last day, the goalkeepers became the coaches for us and had to explain and showed us what was taught, so it was well received,” he stated.
The coach believes that with a change in the way football is now being played and goalkeepers becoming more than mere shot blockers, he hopes the camp would have imparted knowledge and a further understanding of the fact that elite clubs around the world are looking at goalkeepers who are comfortable using both feet. Sewell added that he’s of the belief that, locally, goalkeepers are short on control, passing and distribution.
“The main thing we focused on was the ‘set and ready’ position in terms of goalkeepers getting ready for a shot, and then we tapered off in teaching them to use both feet. In every session we dedicated some time for the keepers to do so, whether it was control, passing or distribution, and that’s one of the areas where I think we’re lacking, and to be a modern-day goalkeeper, you have to be able to use both feet,” Coach Sewell remarked.
EXTRA PLAYER
He believes that this move to have goalkeepers becoming ball players is being followed around the world in order to have offences play higher. Coach Sewell, in retrospect, believes the camp would have provided much-needed work for the local talents who continue to ply their trade without a designated goalkeeper coach within a coaching staff.
“What teams really want now, is for their goalkeeper to be an extra player on the field. Back then, it was like just 20 players and two goalkeepers. Now teams want their goalkeepers to be an extra player in order for the team to play a little higher. It is huge for us to have this conveyor belt of goalkeepers because one of the testimonials that we got is that some of these players don’t have a goalkeeper coach and if the head coach does any work, it’s minimal.”