Category: Post

For the first time, training for goalkeeper coaches was held in Szeged. The idea came from the fact that back in November, at the Goalkeeper B course organized by MLSZ, I received positive feedback regarding the Psychology of Goalkeepers module I taught.
Today we dealt with solving goalkeepers' performance anxiety and setting and achieving goals. The three-hour interactive presentation was filled with a good atmosphere, the colleagues were open to the sports psychology techniques and methods I presented. A good example of this is that during guided relaxation, one of the experienced goalkeeper coaches recalled a match that happened 40 years ago, when he played brilliantly against Crvena Zvezda in front of 25,000 people. We listened respectfully to the recollection of his memory, which served as a resource for him.
A special feature of today's occasion was that one of the goalkeeper coaches brought two of his goalkeeper students. The situation led to the fact that the two goalkeepers were able to give feedback to their goalkeeper coach during the goal-setting task, as to what they see as their coach's development potential. Since the area of ​​patience also appeared among the development goals designated by the goalie coach -as acceptance-, he confirmed the necessity of this to the colleague.
At the beginning of the workshop, I asked the participants what motivation they came with. Basically, curiosity dominated, as they had never participated in such a special event held for goalkeeper coaches before. It was a special pleasure and confirmation for me that at the end of the training I asked the final question - "What do you take with you from today's occasion in your imaginary baty?" - several people mentioned the acquisition of new knowledge. Accordingly, in the future, I plan to hold a national event for those interested in the goalkeeper position, sharing even more sports psychology knowledge with the participants.

It was a great honor for me to be able to hold the psychology module for Goalkeeper B license to goalkeeper coaches in Telki this week! I am grateful for the invitation to Dániel Illyés, the federal goalkeeping coach and coach training instructor. At the same time, I thank Dr. Ágota Lénárt for his professional mentoring and Dominik Sárkány for his role as co-leader in the process.

But what was the "psychology of goalkeepers" module about?

In the first block, we talked with the goalkeeper coaches about the symptoms of performance anxiety and how to create and maintain an optimal competitive statement. I was curious about how they experienced the these situations as active goalkeepers, so I presented that kind of exercises in which they could report on their own experiences. In addition, the participants learned sports psychology techniques that they can safely apply to their own goalkeepers, staying within their limits of competence.
In the second block, it was about setting real performance goals. During my practical work, I find that, although youngsters are aware of their goals, the path leading to them is less consciously structured. That's why my colleague Dominik and I presented a model to the goalkeeper coaches, with the help of which the process targets come into focus, to what the athlete has an effect on. Essentially, what do you do day by day, week by week, month by month in order to achieve the big goal.
The condition for successful work was the openness of the goalkeeper coaches. For me - and for the professional of sports psychology- the greatest recognition was that we reached the point at the end of the process, that sports psychology has an indisputable role in the preparation of young athletes.