Every Tuesday, I’ll give you a goalkeeper scenario designed to help mentally improve your game. One of the most powerful things a goalkeeper can do is visualisation. If you can picture a difficult situation in your mind before it happens in a match, and think about how you would react, you are already preparing your brain to make that decision under pressure. Visualisation is a technique used by professional goalkeepers and athletes to mentally rehearse situations before they happen. So… picture this 👇 Your defender passes the ball back to you under pressure — but the pass comes onto your weaker foot. At the same time, an opposition striker is closing you down quickly. You only have seconds to decide. What do you do? A) Control it with your weaker foot and try to play out calmly. B) Clear it first time and remove the danger. C) Let the ball travel across your body onto your stronger foot before playing. Drop A, B or C below — but more importantly, tell me WHY. There might not always be one perfect answer. The correct decision can depend on the speed of the pass, the striker, your position and the options around you. Visualise it. Make your decision. What would YOU do? 🧤

I am always thinking how lucky we are with the modern technologies in gloves, boots, football balls, the gear of great quality and good protection and other modern tecks for goalkeepers! Going back to the roots, that helps to appreciate modern technologies even more, thought to post some older equipment that was used well not so long time ago really! Less than 100 years ago, our favourite gk legends played with bare hands or using whatever handy- rubber , cotton or often handmade thin leather gloves, not for protection of hands but for better grip with the ball , especially wet one. As the result - often brused , broken , dislocated fingers! And the ball used to be made of heavy leather with laces ,that in rainy weather would absorb large amounts of water, making the ball significantly heavier , often described as "Cannonball" by the end of the match!! And you would need to catch it with nearly bare hands. Absolute heroes they were to play in these conditions! Was interesting to discover that the first screw in studs boots were invented by ordinary german shoe maker and a passionate football admirer Adolf (Adi) Dassler - the founder later of Adidas brand ! His brother created Puma brand. While so popular now rubber fins boots were created by South African born Australian former pro football midfielder Craig Johnston, after he had to finish his career at 27 due to serious family reasons . His idea was initially rejected by most brands like Adidas, Nike and Reebok until he recorded and showed the footage of few German legends playing in his boots in the snow and Adidas agreed to promote them. I put some pictures of vintage gloves, ball and boots creators. Hope it was interesting, learning myself a lot of new things since entering this group😊

How life feels sometimes at least My training kit is washed 🤣

Who are you playing this weekend, where are you playing, and what's your score prediction? 👇 But before you step onto that pitch, I want you to remember ONE thing… GO OUT THERE WITH ONE MISSION… 🔥 ENJOY EVERY SECOND AND HAVE AS MUCH FUN AS POSSIBLE! And please remember something VERY important… NEVER, EVER allow another player, coach, parent or anyone shouting from the sidelines to make you feel worthless or doubt your ability as a goalkeeper! NOBODY – AND I MEAN NOBODY – IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO TAKE AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE, YOUR HAPPINESS OR YOUR LOVE FOR GOALKEEPING! ❤️ You will make mistakes. EVERY goalkeeper does, even the world's best! But mistakes don't define you. What defines you is your courage to stand between those posts, give everything you've got and NEVER stop believing in yourself. Play with confidence. Play with pride. But above everything else, PLAY WITH A SMILE! 🧤💪 Good luck, everyone. I'm rooting for you all! Ray ❤️⚽

Despite the freezing evening and nearly zero temperatures , the lights are on and bright, lots of coaches around and actively helping out, the parents wrapped warm and the place is absolutely buzzing with happy kids of different ages for the evening team trainings at our regional sport centre in the middle of Ireland. Delighted to see here so many kids out and playing, very positive atmosphere ⚽️🥅🧤👍(few photos of the place)