DURBAN Girls’ High School hosted a goalkeeping clinic on Tuesday, September 6 to empower girls with soccer skills to see them succeed on the field.
DGHS sports coordinator Wendy Ngema, who organised the clinic, invited learners from several other schools to attend.
“This is the first of its kind for women in football, and as a high school, it is important that we push women’s football to greater heights. Especially in the goalkeeping section, which is often neglected.
“We are now trying to help our goalkeepers and other goalkeepers from high schools all over Durban to gain the skills to be even better goalkeepers,” said Ngema.
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She hopes the clinic will open doors for learners to attract university scholarships in the goalkeeping department of universities.
Goalkeeping coach Graham Johnson led the class alongside coach Mnqobi Mngadi.
“The techniques we are teaching focus on ball handling – getting the ball above the waist, which we call the W-position. The idea is to get away from the M-position, when the ball is on the ground. The W-position is the safe area,” said Johnson.
The W-position refers to the W-shape the goalkeeper’s hands make when they are holding the ball upright, above the waist. When a goalkeeper is reaching for the ball on the ground, their hands form an M-shape.
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“All the exercises we are practising here are about technique, ball handling and keeping the body behind the ball. We started by passing the ball, getting the right weight behind the ball, controlling the ball and passing. As a goalkeeper, you don’t want to pass the ball two metres away because someone might pounce on the ball and score,” said Johnson.
“Girls’ and women’s soccer coaching has been neglected. We have to have a starting point like we have here,” he added.
Johnson has worked as a goalkeeper coach for the community football club, Manning Rangers, as well as the South African national soccer team, known as Bafana Bafana, and professional soccer club AmaZulu Football Club.
