Dawn of a New Era/Season

On the back of the Worldwide Pandemic , May 19th  2020 was the last time I posted prompting me to retreat back to reflecting on the event of the century that has affected billions of lives. This was a time to consolidate and reevaluate my various plans and ideas I had set out for the next 3 years. A tedious exercise that had to be done in response to the gravely unforeseen circumstances that gripped the world with unmitigated restrictions imposed by world leaders to its citizens to “flatten the curve” the spread of a contagion. In this digital world of information, free speech has suffered a huge backlash at the hands of big tech, where censorship has been weaponized, especially when public’s trust in government is waning at an alarming rate but for the sake of this blog I will not get political or make further comments on these complex issues. Instead, I would like to share my experiences on how I had to take time off and make adjustments to my plans for Ultimate Keeper.

Projects and Product

Since its inception in 2016, Ultimate Keeper as a brand has rarely been proactive in terms of goal settings in line with the long term plans set for the brands image and success. I had set up the brand as a registered  limited company,  acquired goalkeeping coaching status for the brand and also acquired Football/Soccer intermediary status to build accreditation. I must say it has been a drag, coupled with persistent procrastination and commitment relapses but when major dramatic events (like what we are currently experiencing) emerges into existence then the mind is hit with a lightning bolt of reality check. Humans naturally tend to respond with alertness and urgency to traumatic experiences and I would say that is an accurate account of my reaction. Well I guess timing is everything but to get to this point in time to begin to work on my dreams is a blessing in disguise. Never Let A Good Crisis Go To Waste has always been the globalist mantra and it has served them for centuries in pursuit of their agenda. I saw this period of time as an opportunity to get to work on my projects even though there is an imminent threat of a global recession. This is the time for visualisation, innovation and dedication to the future success of the brand, and in response to this awareness I have started work on the first flagship brand product, the Ultimate Keeper Goalkeeper Gloves. My sketched glove concept idea below

is currently being produced for sampling first, then we will run a strategic marketing campaign that will include promotional ads etc on our Twitter feed and on Instagram. One of the main objectives for the existence of Ultimate Keeper is to provide goalkeeping products and services for goalkeepers in deprived locations around the world especially in Africa where they lack the much needed support in infrastructure and youth development in the game. This is where our focused energy will be invested in and in order to make a positive and productive impact, we intend to create a network of National Associations in selected countries to delegate about innovative ideas  bringing about revolutionary improvement in education and infrastructure in the goalkeeping ecosystem. Our ambitious plans (of which I can’t really discuss here) will attract the right investors and influential figures/bodies, will certainly propel Ultimate Keeper as one of the newest most influential goalkeeping brand to pioneer such a challenging feat that will be of benefit to the goalkeepers, the youth academy structure and the professional leagues of the National Associations of the selected countries. 

It is our belief that in less developed countries around the world, harbours a considerable amount of talented goalkeepers who hasn’t got the development infrastructure in place to nurture talent that creates exposure to the mainstream. This is where Ultimate Keeper can help in not only assisting to bring this issue to light, but also to formulate innovative and unconventional ideas that have been thoughtfully planned and most importantly practical to implement. Of course plans like these are never easy but in retrospect, any project that has been unconventionally created and has rode the waves of time has always been met with the bountiful rewards of success. 

Status Quo

I’ve always been of the opinion that the evolution of goalkeeping in the modern game has somewhat stalled compared to the outfield players. The only notable improvement in the past 10 years in the category of  goalkeeping skill set is the standard of ball-to-feet control and distribution with the feet. There has been huge emphasis on training goalkeepers to be comfortable with the ball and also applying the right distribution technique to locate teammates anywhere on the pitch with accuracy. By all means this must be appraised because in the modern game, distribution from the goalkeeper accounts for a significant percentage goal ratio conversion rate and a determining factor on the amount of games won or drawn. The reality is that the actual goalkeeping skill set of the art of saving has either stalled or declined in the last 15 years. For example, with the introduction of the “spread save” in 1-v-1 situations has become an overplayed technique in the modern game, so much so that it has become easily exploitable by outfield players in general. The danger here is that goalkeepers are becoming “programmed” to certain training methods which are exploitable and doesn’t leave any room for a natural instinctive reaction. Goalkeepers now are trained in a certain way to react to various situations and this “one size fits all” training method approach diminishes the development of the art of goalkeeping overall. We’ve forgotten that the number one job for the goalkeeper is to stop the opposition from scoring, instead we are witnessing a transition from the terminology of a “Goalkeeper” to “Goalplayer”, albeit with gloves and the right to use the hands.

A natural talented goalkeeper who is enthusiastic about the art, coupled with the right training methods in all categories of the curriculum to enhance his/her game will become the best in the game and will be highly admired by both teammates and the opposition. The current top professional goalkeepers in the world (from a collection of at least 12) reflects the nuances from one another, because they are trained in a certain way which basically restricts individuality, personality and character. If you’d ask me today whos currently the best goalkeeper i couldn’t pick one, and if you’d ask the same question to a number of different fans, you would get different answers. The whole point of this is that the goalkeeping ecosystem need to seek out natural talented goalkeepers and provide the infrastructure to develop and become the future of the sport, instead of trying to transition individuals to become goalkeepers because of, for example, certain physical attributes that could be of advantage.

Conclusion

I know that the overall level of goalkeeping on the modern game can be elevated to new heights, just as the the level of outfield players skill sets and they definitely have the upper hand in comparison to goalkeepers evolution in skill sets. Goalkeepers will continue to be easily exploited if we do not take a radical stand on reevaluating how far we’ve progressed in the game. There’s nothing more exciting and exhilarating than to see a goalkeeper produce an unimaginable stupendous save that brings an awe of overwhelming demoralising astonishment to the opposition. That is a scenario that has become a very rare commodity in the game and most especially.. to the Fans.

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