Socceroos goalkeeper coach Tony Franken was back on home soil to assist in the presentation of Football Federation Australia’s first Goalkeeper Certificate Course in Perth at the weekend.
Franken, a Western Australian who started his career with East Fremantle Tricolore and these days spends much of his time working with the Socceroos, and FFA’s National Goalkeeper Development Manager Dean May conducted the new course, which has simplified the previous structure.
FFA’s National Community Coach Development Manager Les Bee said the launch of the ground-breaking program had been a great success over the weekend at Gibbney Reserve.
“The reason we’ve had the first program here is simply because WA was the first state to put their hand up,” Bee said. “And the response was fabulous.”
The new program is the result of the collapsing into one of three previous modules. Separate courses on discovery phase, skill acquisition, game training and performance have been brought together into a single program.
“It’s for community-level goalkeeper coaches and it demonstrates how to engage goalkeepers in relevant and meaningful practices that are game based,” Bee said.
Local goalkeeper instructors Neil Young and Dave Whalley attended the two-day program and will be presenters at future WA courses.
“The legacy is that there will be two people in the state who can run these programs,” Bee said.