Mario Muscat launches goalkeepers school

Young goalkeepers aspiring for a successful career in football can now benefit from exclusive training and tuition for the demands of their position. Hibernians and Malta goalkeeper Mario Muscat has come up with the idea, a novelty, to open a school for goalkeepers, officially launched yesterday at the Cottonera Sports Complex.

The Mario Muscat Goalkeepers School will open its doors next month. Training sessions will be held on the artificial turf pitches of the Luxol Ground. The programme focuses on five key aspects - basic skills, goalkeepers' techniques, fitness, flexibility and reaction training.

Students will also receive lectures on nutrition, first aid, FIFA rules and mental relaxation and concentration.

Videos of training sessions, carried out by professional goalkeepers, will also be available to participants.

"This is a lifetime ambition for me," Muscat, capped 49 times by Malta, said yesterday.

"Having taken into consideration the substantial demand of parents and young goalkeepers for a Malta-based keepers' school, I felt the time was right to go ahead with this initiative. My eagerness to open this school was also driven by the apparent shortage of goalkeepers in our game," Muscat said.

Muscat said the aim of his school was to encourage youngsters take up a career as goalkeepers while helping them improve their standard.

Training sessions will be conducted by qualified coaches as well as active goalkeepers like Justin Haber and Saviour Darmanin.

With the help of Tuttosport, one of the school's main sponsors, foreign goalkeepers may also visit the islands during the course of the season to assess students. Muscat's initiative also has the backing of Powerade, Fuji film, Medsea, Peugeot, Stuart Pumps and the Paola Local Council.

The school will cater for seven-year-old kids onwards but Muscat has yet to determine the age limit for enrollment. Participants will have between one or two training sessions every week.

"The main problem here is that clubs are not investing enough in goalkeepers' training," Muscat said.

"There are many promising lads around but it seems that these have yet to muster the basic skills of this particular position, skills which should have been taught to them at the age of 12 or 13."

"Up to five years ago I was still learning many new aspects in my position from the trainers at Ta' Qali," he added.

Muscat may be 28 years old now but he has already won various domestic awards in his 12 years of top flight experience.

Moreover, the Hibs goalkeeper has been Malta's no. 1 goalkeeper for several years as his 49 international appearances testify.

"As Hibs skipper and Malta goalie with several years of international experience, I am willing to impart my knowledge to up-and-coming goalkeepers in a bid to improve their standard," Muscat said.

Asked whether his commitment to the goalkeepers school will interfere with his own football career, Muscat said: "Training will take place between 4.15 and 5.30 p.m. so as not to clash with the training of the national team or the club."

Muscat is also in the process of launching the school's website on www.keeperschool.com.