NATIONAL team goalkeeping coach Pengiran Haji Hamzah bin Pengiran Haji Abdul Rahman became the first Bruneian to attend an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Goalkeeping Coaching Tutors’ Course.
Held from September 12-15 in Kuala Lumpur, 55 goalkeeper coaches and tutors from across Asia participated in the course.
According to the AFC website, the main objectives of the course were to provide further education opportunities to goalkeeping tutors and coaches, highlighting the trends in goalkeeping that coincides with the outline of the AFC’s coach education programme.
It also served as a convention to discuss football developments and exchange ideas on the training of coaches.
The four-day course covered a variety of topics such as identifying the modern trends of the goalkeeper, latest practices and principles, among others.
Practical sessions were also held every morning to put to test what they had learnt in theory, followed by workshops aimed at equipping the tutors and coaches with goalkeeping core competencies.
“I want to thank the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) for giving me the opportunity to attend this course as I really learnt a lot from it, especially the modern trends in goalkeeping,” said Pengiran Haji Hamzah, who was a national goalkeeper in 1997 and played for DPMM FC from 2003 to 2011.
“What the instructors meant by ‘modern trends’ is simple things like including goalkeeper positions when thinking of formations (ie not 4-4-2 but 1-4-4-2) when we plan our tactics for games.
“The instructors also want goalkeeping coaches to play a more active role during training… If the goalkeeping coaches see mistakes, talk to the head coach about them. Stop the game, correct the players’ mistakes, and then resume training.
“We also learnt about new tactical instructions for goalkeepers and the importance of building up play from the back and the transitions from defence to attack and attack to defence.
“More build-up play from the back (starting from the goalkeeper) is important as teams keep possession better that way.
“During games, goalkeepers have to work closer with their defence. Communicate with them more and tell them which opponents to mark,” added the 44-year-old.
The course was conducted by AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburg, FIFA & UEFA Goalkeeping Instructor Patrick Joseph Bonner, AFC Deputy Technical Director & Head Coach Education Wim Koevermans and FIFA Goalkeeping Instructor Jose Marcelino Z Carpio.
The holder of an AFC C Coaching Licence and AFC Level 1 Goalkeeper Licence, Pengiran Haji Hamzah has served as the country’s goalkeeping coach at several international tournaments – the most recent last month’s 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.
He was the national team’s goalkeeper coach for the 2018 World Cup preliminary round qualifiers in 2015 (played against Chinese Taipei in a home and away format), the 2016 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup qualifiers in Cambodia, the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup in Kuching, Sarawak, and the 2018 AFC Under-23 Championship qualifiers in Yangon, Myanmar in July.
With his wealth of experience in goalkeeping, Pengiran Haji Hamzah is eager to share his knowledge – especially that which he gained at the course – with the next generation.
“Grassroots football is important. Kids should be taught proper techniques at this age – so when they are older, they can then focus on tactics,” he said.
“Ultimately, I hope to teach young goalkeepers the lessons I learnt during this course.”
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