Thursday 18 October 2018

Rose Thomas using Brabo LHP

An interesting kit sighting to make note of (especially if you're a goalie nerd like myself...) is Holcombe's Welsh international goalkeeper Rose Thomas switching LHP's from Obo to Brabo.

Obviously Chris Borsoi is the only national league goalkeeper (to note) to be using Brabo in the English leagues right now, wearing all the foam, but internationally, there have been a few goalkeepers changing LHP's over to Brabo, especially given the "word on the street" (I don't know the goalie equivalent, sorry...) that the Brabo LHP has the best rebound available.

Thus, highly skilled goalkeepers like those representing their nations competitively, and playing at the highest level in the country, are switching over to Brabo for left hand save making. George Ratcliffe did for a while before switching back, and it seems that other goalkeepers are taking notice, with the trend continuining.

It would seem that favouring the best range of rebound available follows trends in elite technique wherein getting the biggest clearance possible on the initial save means that the goalkeeper buys themselves time to recover and set for the second phase rather than flopping around from a prone position. The bigger the clearance, the more chance the goalkeeper gives themselves for making the next save.

As Obo gloves are designed more primarily for rebound control i.e. playing the ball down to the floor and looking to clear with the feet, the square design gives the largest surface area for getting behind a shot i.e. even making a glancing save to tip the ball away like a 'fingertip' style save, whilst the rebound helps prioritise clearing the ball on the save and then getting back in the game for the second phase.





No comments:

Post a Comment