![]() As the winter months are approaching, this year, 2020 winter goalkeeper training by Just4keepers New Jersey Director, Niko Alexopoulos, who is also the goalkeeper coach at Widener University will be held at the Sportika Sports venue located at 150 Woodward Rd, Manalapan Township, NJ. The goalkeeper training will be done at a futsal enviroment which allows goalkeepers to better develop their goalkeeper skills in a short period of time. The goalkeeping training includes technical skill developing, positional skill training as well as read of game and small sided goalkeeper war games. Coach Niko trains a lot of the area’s goalkeepers as well as being the goalkeeper coach for Widener University and the director of coaching of Just4Keepers in NJ. Working with keepers at Widener, coach Niko helped mold the last line of defense to one of the best in the conference. In his three years as the goalkeeper coach, Widener keepers have finished in the top-10 in the conference in total saves and have finished top-five in shutouts. Coach Niko has coached and developed goalkeepers to go on and be standouts in high school as well as college. He has coached Jackson's Ariel Donza to Community College All American team. As the goalkeeper coach at the Futsal 365 Academy coach Niko has coached Ryu Guevara to a roster spot in the USYF U18s National Team. Details of the goalkeeper training follow: 8 one hour training sessions - FREE J4K GLOVES with registration Day: Thursdays 1/9,1/16,1/23,1/30,2/6,2/13,2/20,2/27 Time: 5:00-6:00pm Training done on Futsal Environment surface Venue: Sportika Sports 150 Woodward Rd Manalapan NJ Investment: $249.99 You can visit www.just4keepersnj.com to register for the training.
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Every year many high school goalkeepers attend college ID showcase tournaments or clinics in hopes to impress college coaches and receive a college offer to fill a college program roster spot. Many goalkeepers do not realize that diving and athleticism is not enough to secure a college recruiting offer. College coaches are looking for a lot more than just athleticism or diving. Below is a video omy my top 10 things I look for in goalkeeper as a college goalkeeper coach at Widener University. Hope it helps and look forward seeing some great goalkeeping talent on the fields. Being a goalkeeper is not just about catching and throwing the ball. It is about positioning, angle cutting, being able to handle ball well with your feet as well as your hands, being able to communicate with your teammates, being able to scan the field, anticipate and react before things happen. It is being strong minded, fearless, being able to handle adversity, and always being alert and ready to transition from defense to offense. It is all of these things and more and young goalkeepers should be taught that at their weekly training classes just like they are at the just4keepers weekly training classes in Jackson NJ. The following videos show a goalkeeper being alert and transitioning from defense to offense while the other team is not expecting this quick transition. As goalkeepers of all ages come for goalkeeper training in Jackson NJ they are always anxious to start diving and have shots fired at them. However their mechanical fundamental skills are not there yet. They need to understand that at any level fundamental skills is the most crucial thing of goalkeeping. College players and professionals have fundamental skill training as part of their every day training. If a goalkeeper can not catch the ball properly he or she will be giving up constant rebound opportunities. If goalkeepers do not have proper foot skills they will not be able to cover the goal or move from one side of the six or eighteen yard box to the other and control it. Also a goalkeeper's agility fundamentals skills come into play every single moment of the game, as the goalkeeper must be able to use both hands and feet as well as dive and bounce right up at a second's notice. The video below show a fundamental goalkeeper skills training sessions at the college level with just4keepers coach Niko Alexopoulos. On of the very common questions asked by parents and players alike. “Why does “Johnny”need separate Goalkeeper training? Seems like he gets lots of practice with his team taking all those shots.”
On the surface, it appears that is true, but in reality, it’s not correct. What’s the saying….it takes years to undo something that has been learned incorrectly. The skill set and technique of a Goalkeeper is entirely different than that of field players. Although there are some shared components, the core of Goalkeeping is unique. Instructing the keeper to “go play in goal” while the field players rip shots may seem like it’s helping both filed players and keepers, but it’s real function is to help the field player improve shooting, not the Goalkeeper with proper technique in saving those shots. Further more as youth keepers are instructed to get in the goal for shooting practice most parent coaches do not know how or forget to protect the goalkeeper. What do I mean by that? Well first of all although the coach may have, or thinks he may have an idea about proper catching techniques he does not protect the goalkeeper from shots being fired at him from 4 or 5 feet away. This happen quite a bit in the youth age teams as they do not have yet develop proper ball control and the ball gets away from them only to have them fire a shot directly at the goalkeeper from 4 or 5 feet away. Most also do not understand why shooting so close can hurt the keeper. By the way, team coaches should practice finishing not shooting. That means field players practice how to place the ball on the corners of the goal and not fire it right at the keeper as most youth players do. With that being said, then there is no need for a goalkeeper. Just a couple of cones at the corners of the goal to help the players aim towards those spots. Professional clubs have their own Goalkeeper coach/trainer that works with the keepers separately and then draws them into small sided situations and game scenarios to reinforce skills being trained. However, most local clubs don’t have that luxury, so goalkeeper training in New Jersey is available with Just 4 Keepers to help fill that void. Specific Goalkeeper training with Just 4 Keepers is specific, concentrated, and focused on the skills necessary for a Goalkeeper to be successful for whatever team they play. Repetition is a key element as well as realistic situations that boost confidence and determination. Picture a typical team practice in your mind. How many successful, realistic repetitions are afforded the keeper? With players attempting to score with each opportunity, the keeper may only get touches on a quarter of balls or being able to handle when balls are fired from close range that he/she would be getting with Goalkeeper focused training. Just 4 Keepers provides the environment to help the goalkeeper grow – in confidence and skill in a year-round program designed for keepers by keepers. |
Niko AlexopoulosSoccer has always been an endless source of life lessons on and off the pitch for Niko.As an ex player Niko has loved the sport since he was 4 years old. That was the 1st time his dad, an ex professional goalkeeper for FC Olympiakos, took him to the stadium and Niko started to experienced pro soccer in Europe at a very young age. The rest is history. Categories
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