Dealing with a bad day at the office

In reflection of Canterbury and their starter, Kindler's, form, it's worth noting that even if you had a bad game you shouldn't let it shell shock you (even though that's a terrible metaphor). Everyone makes mistakes, that's life! Personally I wouldn't call it a mistake, it's a lesson, you learn from it and move on. You don't reach the heights without a few trip ups. You shouldn't focus too much on it or dwell on it or keep thinking it over and over. If you haven't known what loss is and how to fight to win, you don't know how to win. And it's the learning process that makes you into the mountain climber and world beater, in goalkeeping, or anything. I think perfection isn't the right word for it. In writing you perfect the art but there's always going to be some miniscule error or grammar change required etc.

You can't be over critical. There's a right time to be mindful and self critical. But beating yourself up isn't going to change things, in fact, it'll just make them worse. Focus on the positives and get back in the saddle so to speak.

A bad game is like a bad day at the office, hence the title. You might end up in one (I'm working in one at the moment - ssh!) and you can have your fair share of bad days at the office. Stuff happens, nuff said. But you can't dwell on the past. The table topping champion teams and most consistent goalkeepers, they take each game as it comes. They break down the game into the minutes and the seconds and they focus on doing their best minute by minute each half, rather than focusing on too much all at once and drifting off. To the detriment of their own performance and consequently their team's.

The difference between a champion and a standard goalie, like a sub-par in golf, is hard work. Just because you play behind a good team doesn't mean you're the best thing since sliced bread, especially if you're not being tested. But . And all the same, tomorrow is another day. Refocus, retune, put it to bed (stop having those nightmares especially!), forgive, forget, move on... it's in the past, tomorrow's another day . Being a goalkeeper and a good one at that is at being consistent, not about producing the most spectacular saves, it's playing strongly every single game!

And your team want you to play well. For your own good and theirs! And worrying about losing, or the fear of further mistakes, that is just going to hold you back. They don't want their goalie to get the sulks or hang their head (like Johnny Cash's lyrics) for no reason! Show that you want it, want to move on and work hard on the training ground and at the pitch and put in the effort and they'll soon get behind you . Remember: it's a team game after all! If they feel you put in a good performance, and they weren't getting enough chances at the other end, then they'll know it was a shared blame, not all yours! You can't shoulder the blame if the team can't score!!

As they say in football (soccer), it's about winning your personal battles. Worry about your game (but not in a bad way i.e. getting worked up!) and let them worry about theirs. If they're criticising you wrongly, then they're wrong, but keep on plugging away and winning your battle against the opposition forwards.

So yeah, just remember: you do your bit, do it well, and they can worry about their own! Even if you played well the week before, the weekend offers a new game and you still have to go out there and show you've got it. Use it as a motivator, not the other way round! As they say in football, you're only as good as you're last game, but maybe it should be you're only as good as your present form. The past doesn't always reflet everything, the future is now! And so on... show put it into action in your goalie life too!!!!

Canterbury starting to wobble?

With Canterbury doing a lot worse than they have been so far so so in the new season, Kindler might be in a spot of goalie hell (in terms of those nightmare goals that won't get of your head), if things don't improve over the course of the next few weeks. Unfortunately it's part and parcel of representative hockey at this level, and without having seen the game in person, I can't really discuss the technical analysis of where things caused goals to be conceded. But the goals against doesn't look great from any angle right now sadly.

East Grinstead play a very hit and run, always attacking style of hockey where they will always over run teams that cannot keep the pace defensively or held their shape in a disciplined fashion as they lose focus or self confidence and belief in tying things up again. When faced with this kind of threat, a time needs to either look to slow down the pace of the game, or go on the counter attack. If a team holds the shape properly, then it can be counteracted, just look what Wigan did against a now free flowing Tottenham last season, Everton also. If these can of defensive breakdowns are becoming more regular within a game, then the goalkeeper needs to adapt as a sweeper to come out and challenge more to help out in these situations, in order to eliminate goal scoring chances rather than letting themselves be faced with such precise shots. Just look at what Lloris is able to do right now in terms of shutting down attacks, against Cardiff especially. Sorry about the future reference, but it's a useful analogy!

In these kinds of games, the goalkeeper is essentially holding back the tide. This is the kind of game that the goalkeeper has to forget about losing and focus on reducing the deficit. I.e. making sure the game doesn't get out of hand. Just look at how well Guzan played for Villa, enough to get called into the USA squad as a result. And if the team don't put it behind them quickly and recently mentally and just focus on the game in hand, things honestly don't look good. This is the same team that pretty much just missed out . Where others have reinforced , Canterbury perhaps have not got that option. But their strength is that they play as a team rather than a band of mercenaries or individuals (read Man City of last season!) and should stick to their strengths to get back points in a league that is now stronger than it was last season. They need to get back that strong start if they want to sort things out.

I'd back Kindler to sort things out and reright the ship given his internal balance (sports psych wise) and the maturity that he can bring to his game. It's what Stubbings struggled with so greatly, who has gone off the . As soon as a goalie has a confidence collapse in the span of the game, the more they feel useful or too overly self critical, the more these beliefs play out as they lose the grip on their confidence and thus playing abilities within the game and it just becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. There is also a huge amount of psychology relating to sport and this is a case in point of where it affects anyone's performance. Hopefully Canterbury will refind that spark and self belief, as I'm sure they can (no such thing as can't, no point dwelling on negativity, it's just deconstructive not good for anyone!), otherwise they're going to need , before the management, coach and team lose confidence in whoever it is between the pipes. Goalkeeping is about confidence: the confidence to get to free balls under pressure or fear of injury, the confidence to play well in tough games or against the league leaders and so on. But if a team wants to do well, they need to trust that their goalkeeper has their back. If they don't, the team mojo goes adrift.

Ironically Cowling whose main elite skill is his mental strength has left for work reasons, playing at Havant where he is instigating a turnaround, so he's not there to be put in to stop the rot for now. So Kindler and Canterbury really need to just refocus and act as if nothing has happened. Refind that confidence and get on with the task at hand, without fearing relegation, otherwise they're going to struggle, and the club might end up being a goalie graveyard like Surbiton was before Kettle came in and shored things up at the back.