fun fours and keepers

To Fun Fours co-ordinator ,as the only person at agm that wanted to play soccer sevens at u8s here is another question that I have , most topics on forum looking for players are looking for keepers ,and from talking to coaches that already play fun fours they have this problem as well .How do we encourage kids into goalkeeping from the youngest age ,when they have to wait at least a year to be in goal ,can we make it fun fives ,and introduce keepers as has been talked about elsewhere , cheers Davy Moore.

i have too agree with you Davy, that has been my biggest problem with the fun 4's. one of the criteria for the fun 4's is for all players to have some football ability (even goalkeepers) in some cases you will find that the goalkeeper in a team is the wee overweight boy who wants to play football so he gets put in goal and can only punt the ball up the pitch. in my mind it is each clubs responsability to ensure that the goalkeepers have the correct training which includes ball control and passing.

My son is our goalkeeper, he has played in goals for 2 years and has had proffesional goakkeeping training for the same time, and i know if he was to play fun 4's untill under 9's there is no chance of getting him to play in goals after that.

If you have a goalkeeper, my advice to you would be to play him in your 2000 team, even if he only gets to play in the second half rather than loose him to playing outfield. (my son played in our 98's then 99's) getting wee boys that want to play in goal is hard enough.

I haven't seen the new fun 4's set-up but i know when we were involved in it last year it didn't work, but i believe the new system is alot better.

if you want to keep your keeper keen, I take my son to Rossvale goalkeeping accadamy on a wednesday night thro in bishopbriggs, they give the boys good GK training.

on a side note, if you are looking for goalie gloves, the ex Partick Thistle keeper Kenny Arthur has launched his own range of gloves & equipment at http://www.kagoalkeeping.co.uk/

i am a coach and a parent - my wee boy at 4 years old wanted to be a goalie-he is not your typical u go in goals as worst player-he has been at falkirk goalie for 1 year training and has had professional training by Henry Smith ex Hearts for 1 1/2 years ps he is still only 7.

When someone from the fun four set up can tell me what my wee boy can gain from this i may be converted-i have watched forth valley fun fours up to and including under 9s with the "GOALIE" gaurding a goal 4 feet wide by 3 feet high.

a goalkeeper is in my opinion the most important player on the park . i believe this would lose my sons genuine interest in being between the sticks if that was the way forward.

please convince me otherwise