International commitments seeing goalkeepers getting the shake around

With the World League competition and the Euro indoor competition underway at the same time the weekend gone and previous, a few nation's elite goalkeepers were required to fill in the gaps. Germany's Reuss for instance, who is impressing for club and country, got the call up to present Germany in the highest tiers of indoor hockey (well, aside from the indoor world cup that is!), with Tim Jessulat getting some playing time for Germany in the World League. 

England also saw goalkeepers split across the divide to ensure the team had experience between the posts, although this didn't stop England from getting relegated in the indoor arena (which could be a useful learning curve instead of calling up England A players to fill in, and perhaps learn from the Dutch method of indoor specific talent central players playing in indoor competition!!). Personally I think if Hendy was still involved in competitive hockey he would have been a better option given his playing style suited the indoor game. 

Bailey was sent to Austria to play for the indoor squad, whilst Patrick Smith went to warm the bench for George Pinner in the World League, although did get some game time, when England were thrashing New Zealand.

Sophomore slump catching up with Reuss?

Has the so-called "sophomore slump" finally caught up with Germany's one and only young and shining star Felix Reuss? That's something I wonder when taking into account how well he has played over the past two seasons in domestic competition and then Euro Hockey and then onto international success. Considering his great form last season, it's surprising to see faltering at the moment in the european competition format. Having not seen footage of his current play in the Bundesliga, I'm unaware of how well he has been performing domestically.

The "sophomore slump" as they call it is the curse of the young goalie in US lexicon, the dreaded struggle of being unable to push their own performances to outdo their breakout season. With higher demands and greater expectations and pressures, the young goalkeeper, who may not have emerged or matured as greatyl as an older goalkeeper in the psychological sphere of dealing with these external factors that can affect play, the goalkeeper may hit a slide and consequently have a poor season. There are various examples in other sports and hockey, say John Ebsworth at Surbiton in the English leagues who went onto play for England but then saw his form evaporate.

In these times, it's key for a goalkeeper to readdress the situation, calmly re-evaluating their game without over doing it in turns of self criticism, to ensure they get their confidence back to regain the sparkling form that saw them gain respect so early on.

You can see Reuss struggling with save making in the following clips, as he battles with the fundamentals and decisions going against him:

Reuss stars in Germany's finals win

Reuss got the nod over Jacobi for the last game of the round-robin set-up in this stage of the World Hockey League final semi-final. The youngster didn't have much to do, but made an important double save, scrambling across to his left post after the initial spot and getting a piece of it with his right leg. Germany than took the lead and cruised to the win after Vivaldi deflected a save into his own net (oops! Not one for the memories), which begs the question over deeply critical analysis over the uses of certain types of glove and their rebound properties and how to control that rebound, especially during a reflex save where the impetus is on stopping the shot rather than focusing on pushing through and away.

You can see the highlights below:

Reuss gets a game in for Germany

German protégé Felix Reuss got another start for Germany since the chances given to him at the Champions Trophy last year, as he beat Malaysia 6-0. He didn't have much to do to keep his clean sheet, but made an important and well excecuted stop nonetheless, diving across to his right with his lhp to get the ball away from danger. You can see him in action in the clip below (which should also link to a lot of the other WHL highlights!):