Inside the mind of Brad Friedel

"Thinking Outside the Box" by Brad Friedel is an excellent read for any aspiring goalkeeper. It gives great insights from Brad's personal experience, looking at events that shaped his goalkeeping career, as well as giving great nuggets of Gking tips, all from a man who's succeeded at the highest level.

Below is a quote from the book on Brad's look at training -

One day he [Brad's gker coach Tim Harris] gave me something written on a scrap of paper. I still have that scrap of paper today. It introduced me to the concept of goal setting. He said, 'if you want to be a great goalkeeper, you need QUALITY.' I looked down onto the piece of paper and in large black letters Time had written the work 'quality'.

It turned out to be an acronym for all the characteristics that a great goalkeeper should aspire to have. It helped me to break down the art and science for being a goalkeeper, and to set myself demanding targets against each attribute. It went like this
Quickness
Upstanding [timing, not diving too early]
Agility
Loudness
Instinct
Technique
Yell to organise

So we began to work with tremendous focus on all of these things, arranging drills and training regimes to improve on a periodic basis...

Brad goes on to explain the importance of goals. If you don't have a way of measuring your performance, how can you truly know how good you are? Sure people can pay you lip service and say you are a fantastic goalkeeper, but, except for the ego boost, it doesn't fully assist in making you better.

One more thing I'd like to add regarding the attitude of Friedel which I think any young goalkeeper can take away with them right now is his approach to mistakes. During a game, if Brad makes a mistake, he does not dwell on it and gets on with the rest of the match...
HOWEVER
Post match, Brad is analysing what went wrong, and states in his book he will repeat the same incident during training up to 50 times, ensuring he makes the correct decision so it is permanently marked in his psyche. He no longer has to consciously think about it.

50 times sounds a heck of a lot doesn't it? That is why he plays (and get paid!) a heck of a lot. There is no half-hearted approach from Mr Friedel. He makes an excellent role for any player young and old.

To finish, here is a clip of a great double save by the man himself.