Druids appoint Clive Davies as Head of Goalkeepers
Firstly I want to start by thanking the club for giving me this opportunity to step up and become Head Goalkeeper club for Cefn Druids.
I will be working with a team of goalkeeper coaches including Druids own Hudson Parry (Asst Head Goalkeeper Coach), Chris Mis and Jack Wynne. These coaches will bring their own experience and will be a massive asset to the Academy Goalkeepers and Druids Football Club. All three coaches will be going through the FAW pathway and acquiring higher level Certificates imminently.
I am fully aware that my role comes with huge responsibility, towards the goalkeepers, the coaches and in turn the clubs goals. I need to have robust sessions in place to ensure the youngest goalkeepers, right up to the first team goalkeepers, have information communicated to them in a way which they fully understand in order to allow them to succeed.
We will coach the Academy Goalkeepers utilising the ‘Club Technical Programme’ for goalkeepers, this programme will help strengthen goalkeepers but also helps to highlight any weaker elements of the goalkeepers game, in which we can then identify and support.
In conjunction with the ‘Club Technical Programme for goalkeepers’ my role is to get the keepers to better understand their role. As we all know, long gone are the days that a keeper was solely a shot stopper. Therefore in order for the keepers to be really effective, I aim to provide them with the understanding ‘how, when and why’ to the following
- To positively affect the outfield players
- To work on the shape of play
- To understand importance of transitions and how to support
- The different options in distribution and how they can affect the play
- Communication is pivotal to the game and others
- Pitch topography is important
These are just a few things I will be planning to communicate through drills, talks and sessions and I am looking forward and excited to share these with the keepers only when it’s safe to get back to training, My aim is to get these keepers to be the best versions of themselves, whilst doing it with a smile on their faces.
