What I Learnt Coaching With Eric Steele - Former Man Utd, Man City & Current FA Coach
In July, I was lucky enough to be asked to be a Lead Coach at a GK Icon bootcamp with former Manchester City, Manchester United and current FA Goalkeeping coach Eric Steele.
Eric really got involved with my drills I was doing for groups of young goalkeepers on the basics of goalkeeping. Specifically I was teaching players how to use strong motor control of the feet, whilst maintaining an upright head position - a crucial skill when developing young goalkeepers.
This was mixed with a 45° rotation, catch, then low dive. I progressed this by adding a decision-making element using a raised arm and colour shouted by myself (coach), to see if players could combine critical decision-making skills and subsequently adjust their positioning, standing height (through hip and knee flexion), save selection and ‘bounce-back’ ablility/speed'.
Even in short spells, I learned so much from him that I’ll use with my current players whether in goal, outfield or online.
For example, a couple of players were hesitant to use their feet, so Eric came in and used his experience to segment that part of my session to a 5-minute foot saving drill, where we practiced more technical elements.
It was so insightful being able to see how and what an elite level coach with decades of experience does during a training session to adapt and implement new strategies whilst maintaining the session aim.
In-between sessions, Eric gave us some great stories and insights as to what it was like to be a part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s backroom staff and work with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart and many others.
The biggest take away for me was how Eric used to tell his players, “you don’t have any weaknesses, just areas of improvement”. I love the simplicity and wording of this, making his players feel ‘10 feet tall’.
I think this is so important especially when working with grassroots or academy level players, that having “weaknesses” is not a directly negative obstacle.
A part of my coaching philosophy is asking players, can you be 1% better than the previous week, session, shot or whatever it may be and I think this ties in well with Eric’s approach.
Looking forward to doing more camps with GK Icon and other special guest coaches in the future!
Farhan :)
