It was great to see the academy goalkeepers invited to train with the first-team goalkeepers on Tuesday afternoon at Brunton Park.
First-team goalkeeping coach Glen Johnson and academy goalkeeping coach Roman Caig organised the afternoon to allow all goalkeepers to come together for training.
It was excellent to see our youngest under 9 goalkeepers through to under 18 goalkeepers receiving coaching and advice from our three senior goalkeepers Harry Lewis, Gabe Breeze and Jude Smith.
First-team goalkeeping coach Glen Johnson said: “It has been brilliant to see the interaction between our academy goalkeepers and the senior goalkeepers today.
“As a football club and as a goalkeeping department we are all fighting for the same badge on our shirts, so it’s important that the young goalkeepers feel part of it and that they can approach and interact with Harry, Gabe & Jude, as all three have been through their own journey from academy to professional goalkeepers.
“From a personal standpoint I’ve organised and ran academy goalkeeping events at my previous club Queen’s Park, and I saw first-hand the benefits for all involved, even for the first team lads, there are so many positives for them to take away. I find it really interesting to see how they interact with the young goalkeepers.
“The goalkeepers and parents were presented an insight into our goalkeeping methodology, explaining the pathway we are building for our goalkeepers and how we work as a department.
“I was extremely impressed with the standards shown from our young goalkeepers, their enthusiasm and application throughout the session was extremely impressive.
“We discussed a number of different topics within the themes that we work in, so it was great that myself & Roman were able to start bedding in this information to our young goalkeepers through Harry, Gabe & Jude who are all very much well up to speed with our ways of working.
"The afternoon was finished off with a Q&A session where the senior lads sat and answered a number of superb questions from the academy lads and their parents.
"The experience and knowledge that can be passed on in these types of events is fantastic, as ultimately, all of us are learning all the time on our journey."
