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Fußball und wie ich ihn zum Teil erlebe... Eindrücke aus dem Fußballleben und von einen Torwarttrainer

The "Sundowner"

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Well, in Germany a Sundowner is a drink, one has, to finish the day. This means the daily task are finished, and now the evening comes, sitting together with friends and reflect the day. Also a Sundowner can mean, that this is the beginning of the evening, the beginning of the "come together" , the start for a long evening.
So a sundowner here is a signal, that training and drills are over. We then crowd together, sit down an reflect the day. We talk, kidding around… but, it's still part of the training. But it's not anymore practical, it's not body work, it's not exercise for the muscles… it's now mental and mind.
And just that's why I chooses "The Sundowner" as title for the blog entries for the next day.

All, who follow my blog regular know, that I usually start my blog with a different theme, which obviously has nothing to do with the main part, but leads to the topic, or the heart of it.
But here there all be a difference, and the language I choose, is because my friends in Great Britain or in United States of America will read it.
I do martial arts, and as long as I remember, my teacher - a strong japanese judo with the true heart of a samurai named Ted Tanaka - told me, never stop learning, never stop being a student.
He told us, that when we once will teach, the students are a reflection of ourself. The copy what the teacher does and thus any failure and any fault the teacher does, will be revealed by the students doing, what the teacher showed. So he hammered in our head, that a teacher has not only to correct the students, but also use their fails as a mirror, to correct self failures and faults in ourself.
Many call friends in martial arts "buju" - martial people, martial friends. We pay attention to the technical details on the edge of the movement, we analyze the opponent and try to be one step ahead. We play with distance and angle, to ensure best possibilities to solve the situation, we improvise, if common things fail. Martial arts use their body and their brain.
Goalkeepers use distance and angle, to ensure best possibilities to save the shot and make a perfect shot for the striker impossible. Goalkeepers read the game, and try to foresee the opponent actions, just to get the ball - before the attacker will get it and solve the situation right before it gets dangerous. To outbeat a striker, who shots the ball to the goal, the keeper trains given movements, their techniques, to ensure them to save an incoming shot - and they never get exhausted to bring those movements to the edge of performance, allways polishing and finalizing those movements and forms. Goalkeepers use timing, use power and strength to save goal shots…

And I am? I am not a goalkeeper anymore. I am a goalkeepers trainer. I give my best to make them able, to solve any situation and save any shot on the goal.
So I am a teacher. Martial arts also have teachers. Many of them are patchy. Many of them only watch, that all they do looks good, just to give a nice show to the audience of students… They want only to look good, to be the unfailable teacher. They don't pay attention to the lower students and only is surrounded by self selected 'master students'.. They show no responsibilities for others, they only watch to look glorious and give a good show. There is no interest to make others better or help them to get on higher levels. Their students suffer and their dojos usually have not much students -and there are not many students gained higher levels by help of those teachers.
If you now watch to goalkeepers, it's closely the same. There are trainers, who are unable to teach the right forms, thus their goalkeepers won't reach the ability for good performance and high save ability. Those trainers only use high performance materials, to ensure best looking training, they blind or fool spectators and audience with superior training equipment and training drills. They make huge claims, but fail to get the goalkeepers to those levels, and they often own their own school of goalkeeping. They fail to explain and who the right forms and technics, they show no responsibility if their goalkeepers fail - they allways look awesome in their trainer outfits, they compensate with rough shoots and overpowered speed and force. But usually they fail on improve their goalkeepers.
They fail to see, that the technical failures and faults their goalkeepers do, is a reflection of their training and their aidvice on how to safe a ball.
My first teacher Ted Tanaka once advised, that we should go to any other teacher, to learn and get new ideas, how to do and how to solve a situation, and he advised us, that even as teacher, we should go and do idea and information exchange with other teachers, to keep our mind open and our eyes still on the spot for something new and better. Those goalkeeper trainers fail, because they go to other teachers, to get images with them, instead of informations - the use them as picture on their private gallery to fake value and quality.

Soccer is a battle. And two armies are commanded by their trainers, to overwhelm another army… The goalkeeper is the watchtower, the last resort, but one of the most powerful positions… it has no huge offensive impact, but delivers support to deathly strikes and provides best improvement for the defense.
In martial arts, most of these came down from warring times, were one lord battled another and armies measured each other on the battlefield… commanded by their generals. There are so many similarities, but none want's to see them. I see them, because I am a martial artist. I train my goalkeepers for battlefield, I train them, with the eyes and the heart of martial arts. My goalkeepers are not nice sportsmen, my goalkeepers should be awesome warriors, feared by the strikers and praised by the trainers. This means rough training, and still sharpening the edges…
But i do… and: I try, that my goalkeepers are proud of me, that they archived their performance, because of my training, I try that trainers praise my work, because it help them to overcome their opponents… I go to others trainers, for informations and for ideas, and I try those in my training. I don't train each keepers on a standard schedule, I train each of them as individual, because all have their abilities and their disabilities… I have to take care about both and make disabilities to abilities and abilities to sharp cutting edges in performance. Failures are results of my training and not of the system, material and others. Not the keepers have to overcome this, I have to do this first…
If you read this - think about, that most martial arts teachers should do the same, only for another purpose… The way but, is the same.

So, I don't feel home in my martial arts anymore. Most teachers share only for money, most teachers do it, because it's their business and their income. For goalkeepers trainers, they do it for the club and if, it's usually not the goalkeeper who pays his trainer… in martial arts, the student pays… If you go to a martial arts event, meeting, seminar, usually you find the patchy trainers crowd together, and if you don't have the same rank or bear the right patch, you're out… It's to performance or understanding what counts, it's rank and patch. It's like as entertainers meet, and not teachers… I am trainer, not entertainer.
So this weekend, I am going home. I go there, were I once was going for the martial arts. I am going to the Torwart.de goalkeepers camp. A weekend, crowded with goalkeepers of different ages, sex and leagues… and we train together. And I try to improve all of them a bit. I share my knowledge and my experience, to make them a step better, to improve them, making them better as I ever had been. I teach more, as I train… I don't judge on their sex, size or league, I only judge on their movement and performance.
I don't graduate someone because I like this goalkeeper, I do it, because on performance and abilities. I don't do training for audience and spectators, I don't do training look special or look impressive, I do training, to improve tiny bits on the performance on my goalkeepers - and not to entertain anybody.
I am going to the camp, because I am welcome there. I am going there, because the people like me and welcome me - as friend, as part of team and the whole camp community.
I don't need a rank, I don't need to book a special part, or know the right people. I go there, because they appreciate it, that I join, that I am being there.
So I feel home there, and after those days, I miss the people there… I feel right there, and so it's easy for me, to share my passion and my training drills with the people.
It's years, since I felt the same for martial arts…

So I impatiently await this weekend - and still, there is nothing what a martial arts seminar would cause the same on me.
Because, I had become, what Ted Tanaka all wanted us to become - good teachers he can be proud of.

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