Tim Howard Interview

Tim Howard is believed to be the best Goalkeeper in American History. To this day he still stands in between the pipes for the red, white, and blue. He has an amazing story of battling tourettes, getting dropped by Manchester United, and finding his form at both Everton and the USMNT. Here's a small interview where Tim answers some questions related to the development of youth goalkeepers.

Q: What advice do you have for parents of young goalkeepers?
Tim: "Lots of encouragement.  They would score a goal and I would start crying. I was 6 or 7. And my mom would come around from the sideline to the back of the goal and tell me everything will be OK. 
Encouragement is important. Goalkeeping is very unforgiving, at 6 years old or 33 years old."

Q: Looking back on the goalkeeper coaching you got as a young player, what was especially important to help you reach the highest levels? 

Tim: "One of the things I learned at a young age is the importance of training at a high tempo. Make training sessions high tempo. Make them game-like. Keeping the tempo really high in training so the training is difficult and when you get into a game it’s the same feeling. As trainers and coaches you have to nurture children, of course. But we believe you hold goalkeepers to a higher standard. If you pamper and baby a young goalkeeper, you’re not really helping him and doing him justice. Because the game becomes more demanding and the pressure increases as the keeper moves on to higher levels. You have to be able to deal with pressure as a goalkeeper.That’s one thing we believe as goalkeepers. We have to hold ourselves to a higher accountability on the field.

Q:What advice do you have for young goalkeepers? 

Tim: Play whenever you have the opportunity. Goalkeepers have to play as many games as they can, whether that’s in the park, with a travel team, as a guest player for another team. Play as many games as you can. At a young age you’ll make a lot of mistakes – but that’s good because you learn from mistakes in a game. Mistakes in training don’t really count, because there are no consequences. It’s important for young goalkeepers to get in as many game-like situations as possible. Training is good, but games situations are more important.