A strong mind is a talent too

Lots of people will disagree with this title, but my belief is that a the power of one's mind is a part of your talent. But I will elaborate on that later. The purpose of this post is to clear out what a goal keeper has to be made of. And I can speak out of my own experience, as I am a goal keeper, and have been one for over 20 years.

Talent

A goalkeeper has to be talented with some qualities. I will name some, strength, quick feet, good vision, reflexes, agility, flexibility, football vista AND most of a powerful mind. That is whole bunch, I know, and it is actually not all a keeper has to made of... But these skills will bring you far.

Now, why the emphasis on the powerful mind? Well without that all the other skills can become obsolete. I give you the example of Loris Karius, the current number 1 of Besiktas, and former Liverpool goalkeeper. I am sure this person has all the skills to be a decent goalie, except the mind of steel. That is why he has made so many dreadful mistakes. Is that a talent? Of course it is. A keeper needs to be 110 % focused all game long, even if not one ball comes inside his area. He has to be ready every second of the game, and he has to point out positional errors to his defense. If he makes a mistake, he has to clear it out of his mind immediately, so it doesn't affect the rest of his game. So, for sure, this is a talent.

Karius with a ball through his hands in the Champions League final of 2018

Trainable?

To an extent, this mental game is trainable, but most top keepers have this ability from their youth on. Look at Lloris, Courtois, Becker, De Gea, ... They are born with it. They can maybe enhanced their coping skills with training, but there must already be a solid base.

So, the next time a goalkeeper makes a blunder, remember how tough it is, to be one!

Sincerely,

Pele23