Please Note: The transcript is automatically generated by Supertranslate.beta in case you come across any typos or misquotes during your reading.
[Jamie]
Hello and welcome to Coachcast by England Football Learning, the coaching podcast that brings you insight from people across the game. As always, we're Jamie and Louise and today we're joined by Yilmaz Aksoy, who's joining us to talk about coaching goalkeepers. Well, hi Yilmaz, welcome to the show for the first time. How are you?
[Yilmaz]
Yeah, very well, thank you. Thanks for having me on.
[Louise]
Yeah, it's really nice to have you with us for the first time. So with it being your first time on, it'd be really nice to hear and for you to tell the listeners a little bit about what it is that you do.
[Yilmaz]
My job title is goalkeeping coach development manager at the FA. I've been in post for just under three months and the role basically is trying to support goalkeeping coaches and coaches across the country through formal qualifications, through informal sort of CPD opportunities. I've kind of come into the role to try and improve goalkeeping as and where we can with the coaches that we've got in the game. Brilliant.
[Louise]
We look very lucky to have you with us. Thank you very much.
[Jamie]
Absolutely, very lucky. Well, just Before we do dive into the main part of the show, as this is a coaching podcast, we always like to give our listeners some top tips.
[Louise]
Okay. Yep. So a little bit of an arrival activity for you, get you limbered up. So we're going to give you 30 seconds, and we're going to ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can in those 30 seconds. Are you up for that?
[Yilmaz]
I am, yes. Go! First thing, make sure sessions are fun. I think that's the important part. The second part would be to challenge yourselves to include goalkeepers in every practice when you work with your team. Try and be planned and organised, but always be ready to adapt, I think is an important part for the coaches. If in doubt, play games, simplest way around it. Goalkeepers and players will enjoy. Competitions, and be comfortable in the chaos, I think is my last one.
[Louise]
Perfect. Excellent. Very good. Excellent.
[Yilmaz]
I don't know how many I got there, I was trying to count with my fingers but I'm hoping at least more than five.
[Louise]
Yeah it was a good amount. Good.
[Jamie]
It absolutely was. Well before we do get started on today's topic, Yilmaz, as you are a new guest, it would be good to give the listeners a little bit of insight into your journey and into your story so far. So firstly, when did you first get into coaching and what was your first experience like?
[Yilmaz]
Oh yes, I got into coaching about 15-16 years ago. I tried to play, had a very short career and through the injury I was given the opportunity to pick up coaching. So my first coaching experience was a group of year one kids in an after school club at the age of 19, 20, had a class of 25 kids, the age of six or seven, had a bag of balls and some cones. And I look back now to kind of go like, how grounding that first opportunity was to being fortunate now to be in a position to talk about working with elite players, working with players from the ages of seven in grassroots and the whole journey in between. So yeah, that's my first living memory and it will always stick with me to be honest.
[Louise]
What was it like? Did you enjoy it?
[Yilmaz]
I loved it. At the time I was quite nervous because 25, 6 year olds that you're kind of like anything can be thrown at you. You know, you've got five of them coming at you at the first time going, can you help me tie my shoelace? One can't find his socks, but you look back now and those experiences really make you the coach that you are because you realise the game is what inspires them. But more than the coaching, it's that direction, support that you provide in, you know, helping them get changed, getting them out to the football pitch. You know, they come, they trip over, they've got a hurt knee and how do you manage that? And I think those kind of experiences as a coach really kind of stick with me because that's the reason I do what I do because you know, you can make a difference at those ages to being in the position that we are today.
[Louise]
Do you have a favourite coaching memory when you think back over these experiences?
[Yilmaz]
Oh yeah, yes I do. One that probably sticks out for me would be my first coaching opportunity in the academy settings that I did. So I was fortunate enough to work at Leighton Orient. That's where I stopped sort of finished playing into coaching. And I remember taking an under 10s group as an assistant coach. And I got the phone call at 525 when the session started at 530 that the lead coach weren't coming. And I had 18 players at the age of 10 on my own, bearing in mind I had a session plan because he'd sent it to me, but it weren't my session plan. So I look back now to kind of go, what a two hours that was for the first time having to lead a session at the age of 20 with 18, 10 year old players that kind of were looking at you going, come on, how are you going to help us get better? And that always sticks with me because I was uncomfortable, but I look back now that uncomfortableness really kind of was the starting point of my coaching journey to really make sure that I can learn as much as I can I can provide the right sort of planning preparation and develop myself as a coach to help the players get better so that's the first and a living memory that still sticks just because of how uncomfortable I was?
[Louise]
But I suppose that uncomfortableness helps you grow doesn't it?
[Yilmaz]
Exactly, exactly that. Absolutely.
[Jamie]
What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
[Yilmaz]
Being comfortable being uncomfortable I think is the analogy and the only reason I say that is I think you know we ask players to grow, we challenge players all the time but I think as coaches we have to be comfortable in chaos that can come with sometimes in sessions or in the environment and the situations that we can find ourselves in. And I think that's always been a really good bit of advice because if you're uncomfortable with something, you're showing some form of growth, whether that's personally or kind of in a football development perspective. So I think it's always good to kind of have that comfort, but then use the opportunity of reflection to really recognise why you're uncomfortable. So if you're in that situation, again, you've got the skill sets to be in a better position than you were the first time. So yeah I guess those listening if you are uncomfortable that's a good place to be because you're showing growth. That's really good piece of advice that.
[Louise]
And if you could go back in time and speak to your younger self just as they were starting out what piece of advice would you give them?
[Yilmaz]
To be honest at the time I felt really busy but I'd say throw yourself into more and the only reason I say that is I was fortunate with the environments that I was in. I got the opportunity to learn from some really good coaches, I got the opportunity to see some really good role models and I look back now 15, 16 years into my own coaching journey, they're the people that I really took the biggest learning from. So any bit of advice to people would be go and see as much as you can, network and connect with as many people as you can, be curious, ask as many questions as you can because the only way that you're gonna learn and grow is putting yourself into those spaces and places so yeah be curious never stop learning and the more curiosity you show the more growth you get so that would be my advice.
[Jamie]
Now in this episode we are focusing on goalkeepers and with this going out towards the end of the season we want to give those tuning in plenty of advice to kind of make sessions fun and to help them plan with keepers in mind. So to start what are the three top tips you would give to a grassroots coach to give them more confidence to work with keepers?
[Yilmaz]
I'd probably say the first thing when you're working with goalkeepers is think about how you can integrate them effectively because I think if you can include them that's probably the best start you can have. Not everyone's fortunate to have a goalkeeping or a specialist coach that can work with a goalkeeper so if you're not in that position the first part is include them effectively into what you're doing and when I mean effectively, including them is a good start and that might just be in your passing practices, possessions and then when you put them in the goal because that's where they're gonna get their benefit, just have a think about a lens that is realistic to them. My experience of watching grassroots, sometimes the coaches feel uncomfortable to be able to coach the goalies, so they just put a shooting practice on for the four players and put a goalkeeper in goal. Now that's a positive start because you've got something to work from. The challenge that I'd give the coaches is like, put the goalkeeper's lens on into that practice and what I mean that might just be the distances, the practice that you've got, the goal sizes that you're using, it might be the time in between each kind of practice to give the goalkeeper an opportunity of rather than going from ball after ball after ball, it's having an opportunity to be able to breathe, see, assess what's happening And then when you get an opportunity to ask the goalkeeper a question, ask them a question of how they're finding it. Ask them a question of how did you find X practice or what did you find hard in this? And that curiosity that you might show towards the goalkeeper probably gives you an opportunity of having a conversation because my experience of seeing coaches is they're probably uncomfortable integrating them, but once they've integrated them, they probably find it uncomfortable to coach and support them. The three things I would say to support them, ask them about their positioning in the goal, think about what they do in the goal and then just give them the opportunity of having a voice. And when you bring them back into debriefing with the group, just ask a question, let them speak, let them have a voice and I think that will really allow their integration into the group to be more effective than what it probably is at the moment.
[Louise]
Just wondering, is there a biggest mistake that you see coaches make when they're coaching goalkeepers?
[Yilmaz]
Yeah, I think the biggest mistake is I need to include the goalie. So I'm just going to do, I'm just going to put them in the goal and that's it. My biggest thing for coaches is don't just put them in the goal. Think about why you're putting them wherever you're putting them. So if it's in a possession, if they're on the sides, why are they on the sides? If they're in the goal, why are they in the goal? And then just think about once you've done that, think about how it relates to their game. And even if it's just one coaching point per session in a 52 week year or a 40 week season, you might give them 40 more coaching points if you give one per week towards helping them. That's growth, that's development. And I think that's, that's the challenge I'd like to set the coaches. How are you supporting them and how are you going to do that moving forward?
[Jamie]
So that kind of ties into like creating an environment where it makes them feel involved and included rather than excluded.
[Yilmaz]
Exactly and I think that's our biggest step and direction to be able to do so because you know I think we're all in an era of goalkeeping where it's always been working in silo. Our challenge is now we're part of a team so how do we make them feel part of the team and when you are working within the team how's the game and practice realistic relevant to what they're facing based on their age and stage of their development.
[Jamie]
Now a lot of clubs will likely not have a specialist goalkeeping coach. What information or insight could you give a grassroots coach to, we've touched on like being more confident but actually really being able to cater, You mentioned those like if you was giving them a point a week for instance like to help with growth. What are those sort of points? What are the things that grassroots coaches should be saying to the goalkeepers to help them develop?
[Yilmaz]
Yeah so I think if I was to break it down, I'd break it down in a model. I think in possession, out of possession is a simple start. So if it is in possession, what kind of passes are they playing? And if it's out of possession, what type of actions are they doing? And I think one of the models that we use is around position communication action. So whether they're with the ball or without the ball, where is their position in relation to the moment in the game? So if you've, if you've not got the ball, are they connected with the team in terms of where the ball is, to where the teammates are, to where the goal is, to where they are. Once you've got the position nailed and you feel that that's appropriate based on the age and stage of the players, whether they're playing 5v5 or 11v11, it's then the next process around like, What does communication look like? Do they need to communicate? You know, if they do need to communicate, what are they saying? How are they saying it? Who are they speaking to? And then it's the final process of that is around action. So if they are defending the goal, for example, if they're in the right place, they've communicated to defenders so they get the help from the defenders and whatever they can but the shot's still coming at goal. Are they catching it? Are they parrying it? They're not. What else does it might look like? Is it a foot save? Body save? Whatever it is. And just having that confidence to be able to help them and some of that which might be around, you know, if they're catching it, brilliant, so their intention's correct. If they're not, they're deflecting it away from goal, where are the safe zones? And that might just be out wide or away from goal, away from the threat in the middle of the pitch. And that might be a good starting point to start that communication with the goalkeeper and their understanding. So yeah, summarising it, where are they in relation to the ball, the players and the goal? What communication skills do they have or recognising when and where and what they're saying? And then the type of actions that they might have at that moment in time. And how do you upskill yourself as a coach to have an understanding of that terminology, language, so that you can relate to the goalkeeper and have a conversation so that they're understanding what that means and you're understanding what you can give back to the goalkeeper.
[Louise]
With grassroots coaches, I guess they might experience a couple of different things. They might either have nobody wanting to go in goal or multiple people wanting to go in goal. What would your advice be to deal with both of those situations?
[Yilmaz]
Firstly, I think if they've got multiple people wanting to go in goal, that's a great place to be. It's usually the first, it's the biggest problem. You've got coaches going, I haven't got a goalkeeper for the weekend. My biggest kind of advice is being in the second place is where you want to be, especially at younger age groups because I think statistics show us that the more that people that can enjoy it and understand several different positions it helps with their understanding of the game, gives them longevity in it. So I would say if you're in the second position, the benefit of it is give everybody a goal, keep the position exciting, interesting. But if you're not and you're in the first and you're in a position where don't have a goalie or you've got one that can't turn up, my recommendation would be is in the week, how do you give everybody opportunity so that if you're having to phone somebody on a Saturday at the age of 10 to go, look, do you mind playing half a game in goal and we're going to rotate you around with somebody else. There should be an element of fun and enjoyment in that. I get to play, I get to throw myself around, I get to block shots, I get to stand in the way of things and embracing that enjoyment suddenly can unearth skill sets that maybe some of the youngsters that are playing grassroots won't recognise that they have because their parents want them to play outfield, the coach thinks they're an outfield player, but in reality their skill set might suit more in goal. And what we do find, I think through research you realise that most of the goalkeepers that play at elite level come into the game quite late and their experiences in primary sort of development ages tend to be that they play outfield, but as the game catches up with them, gets quicker, faster, they move further and further back and have transferable skills that they suddenly in the youth development ages apply to goalkeeping. And then the skill sets combine that when they get to older age groups and professional ages their skill sets align more to being a goalkeeper than forwards, midfield players or defenders so you never know what you've got until you give people the opportunity right.
[Jamie]
How would you approach it if maybe you might have a player that does want to go net but they're a little bit shy, don't have maybe the confidence to put the hand up, how would you maybe approach that?
[Yilmaz]
It'll probably come back to the tips I gave, I guess the first point is like making it fun right, so they might not have the confidence to do it but if you're clever of like simple things arrival games get everybody to play with the ball in their hands It doesn't always have to be from start point one, everyone's position specific. So simple part of if you're playing handball, what you start to do is the shy individual that probably doesn't have the confidence to use their hands, go and go throw themselves around, find a way to block a shot using their kind of upper body part skills. It's giving them that opportunity. So if you're consistent with the environment you create, making it fun and joyful, being creative in the way in which you use certain games that are included week in week out, then all of a sudden when you then say to a goalkeeper, short turning goal, it's no different to the arrival game that they're playing at the end of the practice and someone might go, oh by the way, here's a pair of gloves for 15 minutes, I'll come outfield and I'll give it and it comes back to the same point. I think you develop different skills that are applicable, but you also might surprise yourself by unearthing somebody that suddenly goes, mum I've really enjoyed going in goal. I want to play in goal and I think that's the message we need to send coaches of the eight or ten, twelve players you might have now that you think is a goalkeeper. One of them, your centre forward might be the goalkeeper that you end up having in two years time because that's where they get their extra minutes, that's what they enjoy and can have fun with it.
[Jamie]
Is goalkeeping an important position for player development, like even for those who don't end up going in goal and do end up being an outfielder?
[Yilmaz]
I think so. As a coach I think it's an experience that understanding it from a different lens And I remember a goalkeeping coach once telling me a story and whether it's played an impact on their journey. But our current England captain, when he was at a certain club before he joined Spurs, the academy had made a decision that he wasn't cut for the next stage of his development at that academy set up. So the coaches had given him an opportunity of saying, look, you're really good at throwing yourself around the goal. You've got a lot of transferable skills. Do you want to give goalkeeping a goal before kind of leaving our environment? And if you feel that that's something that you'd want to do. And you know, that person being Harry Kane has a goal at going in goal for a short period of time. And the goalkeeping coach still speaks about it at the time of he sees it, but he always says he had a clear eye of, even though we're not wanting to give it a goal, he was observing and wanting to score past the goalkeepers in goalkeeping training. Now that's helped, I'm not saying that's helped him because he's a goal scorer and he's gone on to play for England and score as many goals as he has in his journey, but I guarantee that experience has probably reignited something in recognising what is it that the goalkeepers do and how do I refine my skills and coming back to the point I guess I'm trying to make of you never know what learning can be applied and in particular forwards to goalkeepers there's so much sharing of learning because we're trying to stop the forwards but the forwards are trying to learn from us to keep scoring goals and scoring more and more. So yeah, give the players the opportunity. You never know what learning is going to be able to be taken away, but experiencing something different can really reinforce the skill sets that they have to make it even stronger.
[Louise]
You've probably covered some of the bits here, but are there any things that coaches can do to encourage players who go in goal without putting
[Yilmaz]
too much pressure on them? Yeah, so I think make it fun, make it competitive, give them enough success. The reason I say success is confidence comes from having success in what you're doing. What I find is when goalkeepers go and goal for the first time, you put shooting practices on from three, four yards out in small under sevens and eights and that could be quite daunting. I'd always say like, if you are doing practices like that, make it realistic for the goalkeepers and if anything give some opportunity to make it even harder for the forward players to give the confidence for the goalkeeper. And then if you still need to go beyond just thinking of practice design and distances, think about your equipment. So if you are playing with size 3 footballs but you've only got a bag of size fours, for a younger kid that could make a real big difference. So if I'm in goal and I'm now catching a firmer ball, a bigger ball, and I'm unconfident anyway, then all of a sudden there's a bigger challenge. So my biggest question would be, can you be creative with your practice design that gives success? Can you use equipment that might help building their confidence. So, you know, for those coaches that might be specialists, but working with younger players, the biggest thing that we find in younger kids is like the bravery, being able to throw themselves at the ball is a real hard trait. So simple as like use the old softer balls, the sponge balls, the plastic air balls that are probably softer to hit. So when you are practicing things that might be like 1v1s or situations from closer range, if you want to develop bravery and confidence, that might be an avenue to explore just to help that process of, oh, I can do this. So when the ball's changing its lever and it hurts again.
[Jamie]
But yeah. I think that's a really good idea and then also thinking, is it important like to praise the intention as well? Like people might not, they might not get it right, like, but it's just like just being really positive and encouraging.
[Yilmaz]
And you've hit the nail on the head. I think, you know, we're all human, right? We all want reinforcement that what we're doing is right, even though the outcome might not have been exactly what we wanted. But we're talking about kids in development stages. So if they are trying the right thing, our jobs as coaches is to keep encouraging that and keep reinforcing the good intent so that as they keep trying and they have more repetitions and they get more confident with things then the growth happens there and that's our job as as coaches and as people to really give those young individuals that opportunity so yeah completely agree.
[Jamie]
You've mentioned handball already but in your experience what's another really simple sort of practice that you can put on and you mentioned like needing to put on fun practices so what's a really simple practice that's fun and gets everybody involved in developing goalkeeper skills?
[Yilmaz]
One of the easiest routes is probably like a game of goalie wars. I think is just my mind goes straight away. Like it's a competitive shooting practice. You can be creative with the distances that you do. You can put the forward players in different side positions and angle positions. The bigger you make it, you can adjust your practice for a number of reasons, through balls, crosses, shots from distance, you can be creative with however you want it. But again like I said at the start, it's whatever practice you do, the easiest way around it is just don't do it for the forwards, i.e. A shooting practice. Change the lens and go right I'm going to do a shooting practice but how can I put the shooting practice in for the goalkeepers and I think that curiosity suddenly will create the creativity in your own practice design but also help the goalkeepers? So yeah that would be my kind of idea of start with a base, adjust it, play with it, be creative, but always have the lens of how can I keep this relevant for the goalkeepers and then include the relevance for the players and I don't think you'd be too far wrong from having fun, competitive exercises that helps everyone?
[Jamie]
Just going to ask what goalie was it, I've got a feeling that it might be coming up a little bit later so we'll hear a little bit more about that.
[Yilmaz]
Yeah, we'll keep that one aside because, yeah, I don't want to give too much away too soon.
[Louise]
If we were to ask you to give one thing that you would like coaches to do for the rest of the season to improve training for the goalkeepers? What would that be?
[Yilmaz]
Probably linking back to our previous conversation around position communication action, I think without complicating it, just go after the goalkeepers positions. And the only reason I say that is if they're in the right place at the right time, there likely are chances their success is going to be much greater. In particular in younger goalkeepers that are in foundation phases or goalkeepers that have taken up the position new with limited experience, the biggest challenge they'll face is recognising when and where to be at the right time based on the game. So I think as coaches always keep asking yourself the question is my goalkeeper in the right place? And I think if you can do that between now and the end of the season, however many more games and weeks of training you've got, you'll have a big impact on the goalkeeper because then you'll suddenly start to realise that they're having a greater impact just by being at the right place right time and a bit of creativity and make it up as you go along the way could give them a lot more greater success and as you gain in confidence moving forward beyond the season you can then look at the communication in the action detail that you might be able to add to that.
[Jamie]
So we've talked about position, communication and action. If a coach tuning into this wants to give even more sort of like technical advice to their keepers, what information could they provide like thinking is it around the techniques around save or maybe it's around defend the goal space, the area.
[Yilmaz]
Yeah, so I think like you said, if they're in the right position, what I would say is probably following up on this is kind of delving a bit deeper into what the actions look like in defending the goal space and area moments. Obviously we cover a lot of that on the National Goalkeeping course, So if they haven't done that course but have done their UA4C, I definitely recommend the course that we provide on a day learning to really understand the actions and the detail behind the actions, when, how, why and what the actions are. I think will give them a real good depth of detail. But yeah, like I say, I think I think from an individual perspective of recognise the moment in the game, have a look at what that might look like for the age and then detail behind it, as we've got so much information available on the FA learning website, show some curiosity around the actions. And then, as always, you know, we're always available if people have questions to be able to delve deeper and the resources ain't enough and they've got more curiosity. So that would be my recommendation. Fantastic.
[Louise]
I guess the age groups are going to make a difference to kind of the way that you coach goalkeeping. So what should coaches be focusing on with goalkeepers at the different age groups?
[Yilmaz]
Yeah, so I would probably say the younger they are, just movement. And the only reason I say movement is movement and literacy after a certain age becomes really hard to adjust. And we look at goalkeepers in older age groups and you look and go like if their fundamental years and their primary years ain't kind of giving them the freedom and flexibility through those different variations of movement then what you do find is that becomes limited as they get older. Technical detail can always be taught as they go through the journey So if you're in the primary age group, look after those transferable skills. Don't be too honed in on the technique and the quality of those techniques. When they're going through growth, just have consideration around, it will look probably different and uncomfortable to the eye, but be comfortable in that and recognize how you can continue to create an environment that encourages them to keep practising and repetitively having a go at certain things. And then while you come into sort of that youth development phase into post-puberty development, then it's about improving the technical tactical understanding of the game. So coming back to the position, communication, action detail, it's suddenly an 11v11 football. There's so much more tactics involved in the way the formations you play, the way you set up, the way you press, which every decision you make higher up the pitch has a domino effect in terms of the way the goalkeeper has to play. So I would say just including that in the goalkeepers understanding and then integrate them effectively because I think if you do that and there's a consistency in there, you've got the movement literacy to allow them to physically impose and execute all of the details that you're after, you're suddenly helping goalkeepers be more impactful and effective.
[Louise]
Do you have any tips for kind of trying to make sure that you're still bringing in fun for the younger age groups as well?
[Yilmaz]
Yeah, I think the biggest, easiest way is competition and goalkeepers don't want to concede so straight away that's an easy way. How many goals have you conceded? Have a competition around it. Compete not only just between goalkeepers, you might have two goalies, that's healthy, but what you then want is compete goalkeepers with forwards. So if you're having a shooting practice, for example, the goalies might be 3-2 up against the strikers, but then, you know, the reward system might be that every catch the goalkeepers have for every shot the centre forwards take, that's a point to the goalies. But every goal they've scored, you know, that might be a point for the strikers. And however you create that real healthy competitive nature between forwards and goalkeepers, you suddenly drive intensity, you suddenly add fun to the element. And then the second part would be, just give them a voice. What are the rules you're going to put on? Because what you'll be surprised is kids are probably a lot more creative than us as adults. So they come up with probably better creative practices and rules and constraints that we wouldn't have even thought of. So I think it's empowering them in that way to really help you practice design.
[Jamie]
Thinking ahead to next season, some teams will be changing formats. So do you have any advice for coaches who are moving up a format, for instance, they're now going to be playing 11 v 11, to help them still support the development of the keepers if they haven't gone through growth and maturation yet?
[Yilmaz]
Oh, great question. And I think that's one of probably the biggest, biggest challenges as you go through development, you know, from the ages probably of under 11s, 12s into sort of 14s, 15s, that sort of window, seven a side, nine a side, 11 a side, that transition's really hard for goalkeepers and the only reason that is, is just the size of the goals. Because what you tend to get is the goals move a lot quicker than the players do, the pitches suddenly get bigger than the players do. So as a coach I think it's being patient, being supportive, treating the players no differently and understanding that if the player concedes, if the goalkeeper concedes a goal from 15, 16, 20 yards out because the striker is quite mature to what your goalkeeper is and is able to lift it shoot and go over in a big 11 v 11 goal, like exclude that because at some point when that goalkeeper gets to the physical capabilities that's something that they may be able to get to. But my recommendation comes back to the same point of if you are fortunate enough that you've got equipment in your training week give the goalkeepers the experience of that success. What I mean is you might train free twice a week and play on a weekend. One of your sessions or your small-sided games might be or your medium-sized games might be in goals that are smaller to give the goalkeepers more opportunity But smaller goals mean more opportunity for saves from the goalies. But flipside it means harder finishing for the centre forwards. So think creatively, be consistent in the way in which you support the players, use your equipment to creative use if you've got the luxury of being able to do that, because even though you might strategically choose different equipment to help your goalkeepers, making it harder for your outfield players, which in return for you makes your team better. But the biggest thing is being consistent in your behaviour on a match day because the reality of it is if you do concede two or three goals because the goalkeeper can't reach a ball that the goal is bigger than them or they try and play a pass or you're asking them to play a pass that a halfway lap and they just don't have the physical capability to kick it. Find alternative solutions and I think in the long run your team will benefit, the players will benefit, you will benefit as a coach to have that creative environment and supportive environment to be able to help them.
[Louise]
If we look at the game as a whole, have you seen any evolving trends in goalkeeping that coaches should be aware of?
[Yilmaz]
I think the evolving trend is probably having a better understanding of the game at the moment and the only reason I say that is 10 years ago the biggest trend was well suddenly the game's become all in possession right we need goalkeepers that can build, play, play on the pressure, understand the game. What we are probably seeing at the moment is that real shift back to the importance of right okay goalkeepers need to build, goalkeepers need to have in possession skills because the game shows that 70 to 80% of their game is with the ball at their feet rather than kind of their out of possession actions. But when you look at the elite end of the game and you know we'll use Man City as an example, for the last decade they've played a certain way, had a goalkeeper that plays with a ball at their feet. When you look at the last 18 months, the amount of chances they've conceded and the goals that they probably look back and go, well that could have been prevented. You look at the recruitment that they do in the summer to go and get a goalkeeper that's probably now better at keeping the ball out the net than they do with the ball at their feet. And you look at in particular probably the last few games for example, the big moment saves to win games, stay in games and take collect points. When you get to the end of the season that might be the difference between winning the Premier League or not or at least staying in contention. So I think the biggest trend is like remembering the goalkeepers impacts, trying to not only include them with the ball at their feet, but also not forgetting the detail around what goalkeeping really is. And that's big moments, big saves, big impacts, being connected to the team, defending the space in behind and all of the out of possession beauties that we all get excited about when, you know, goalkeeper clears the ball off the line or makes a big reach out point save and we still need to have that healthy balance with how we see the game I think would be the biggest trend that games kind of come back on itself to recognize that.
[Jamie]
We've got some quick-fire questions for you now so the first one is what's one thing every grassroots coach could do differently next season to better support goalkeepers?
[Yilmaz]
Just have a better understanding of that position communication action model. And I think if they can integrate the use of that in a session, I think suddenly, like I said to you at the start, 40 weeks later at the end of a season, the goalkeepers have a 40 point better contact, 40 point better detail about their understanding of the position, which then ultimately helps them improve their game. So that would be the one thing that I hope they take away.
[Louise]
And what's the best way to build a player's confidence to give goalkeeping a try?
[Yilmaz]
Let them have a go. Create practices, be fun, rotate goalkeepers, adjust practices and go for it. So yeah, I'd say give them a go and help them.
[Jamie]
And what's one thing that coaches need to stop doing when it comes to coaching goalkeepers?
[Yilmaz]
The process of I don't understand goalkeeping so I won't help them. Show curiosity, even if it's wrong or you're not confident, just help, ask the question and just have that open communication because you'll be surprised what they might be able to tell you, but what you might be able to interpret from what they're telling you to be able to help and support them is a step in the right direction rather than I don't have the confidence I'm not going to coach the goalie I'm going to coach the rest of the players and neglecting them I think is what ends up happening. Fantastic.
[Jamie]
Looking back at everything that we have discussed, can you summarise the key top tips that you'd like coaches to take away from this episode?
[Yilmaz]
Yes, I'm going to link back to the position communication action. So have a better understanding of the goalkeeper's position in relation to the moment of the game. Have an understanding of maybe what some of the actions might be and then give them a voice. The only reason I say that is you'll be surprised by what they know and how much they might be able to help you because they're experiencing it. You might not have the experience or the confidence to be able to understand what they're seeing, but giving them a voice gives you an opportunity of having an open dialogue that can not only help you but also help the team. That would be the big part around the model. And then the second part is just having integration in your mind. So whenever you're planning your session, just even if it's for one practice or one coaching point, have it in your mind to go, what am I going to give the goalkeepers today and if you do that twice a week for the next 40 weeks your goalkeepers are 80 point better in a better position than they were if you hadn't had that thought.
[Louise]
And if you were to suggest one thing that coaches should try after listening to this episode what would that
[Yilmaz]
be? Just have an arrival activity, but with your hands. And the only reason I say that we spoke a lot around like, how do we get people to try goalkeeping position? It doesn't have to be goalkeeping, just needs to be something that they can transfer back in. Simple practice that we can say is you might, as they arrive, 1v1 to 2v2 to 3v3 to 4v4, play a game of handball, play a game of basketball, play a game of a competitive invasion game that just involves hand-eye coordination rather than feet coordination in some sort of game. And I think what you will realise is through the consistency of that, you start to develop skills that are quite easily transferable to goalkeeping for you and your team. Yeah, brilliant.
[Jamie]
Right, well we are coming up to the end of the show now Yilmaz, but it does mean it is time for our swift session feature.
[Louise]
So yes, another 30 second challenge, but this time we're going to ask you to explain a session idea to us or a practice idea to us in those 30 seconds. Are you up for that?
[Yilmaz]
I am, yes. I've got a good idea and Jamie's smiling at me because I think he knows what's coming.
[Louise]
Okay, once again, I'll show you the timer.
[Yilmaz]
Brilliant. So goalie wars. Goalie Wars is two goals, usually 20 yards apart, but age relevant, bring it in, bring it further. It's a game of basically duels, a goalkeeper in each goal, a ball, and the idea is to shoot and score. Every time you score it's a point. If you miss the target, the goalkeeper's going to have a forfeit of touching a post, which creates different variety in the type of saves they might make being out of position. You can have spare players on the side, which might be rebounders. You can start the ball in any different position and be creative with it. So have a go. 30 seconds. Yes.
[Jamie]
Smashed it. Brilliant.
[Yilmaz]
And if you don't understand what goalie was, have another look on the FA Learning.
[Louise]
Is there anything else you want to add to it now that the time is off?
[Yilmaz]
No, to be honest, I'm hoping that's enough. But yeah, like I say, it's a creative draw game. You can make a number of big saves. The kids love it because all of a sudden it's you versus I. It's an opportunity to make big saves, an opportunity to score goals, it's an opportunity to throw yourself round and I think coaches can be as creative as they want with the simple practice, but two goals opposite each other, relevant distances for their age and their stage, and yeah, have fun with it. Fantastic, and a great way
[Jamie]
to end the show on. Thank you very much for your time, Yilmaz. It's been so full of top tips, ideas, loved your passion and energy as well. Thank you for joining us. Hopefully you've enjoyed it.
[Yilmaz]
No, I loved it. Thank you for having us.
[Jamie]
Right. Well, that is all we do have time for today, but don't forget to check out the description for the transcription of this episode and for all the links to our platforms. As always, you can head to the England Football Community to post your coaching questions for us to discuss on the podcast or you can drop them in the comments section below.
[Louise]
Yep, we'd love to help you out so please do send your questions in. We'll be back soon with another episode so if you haven't already, hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss it. From all of us at England Football Learning, Thanks for listening.