You don't know Ibby Qureshi. You may not know that he is an aspiring young goalkeeper of Turkish origin, or that he suffered a near debilitating shoulder injury a few short months ago which almost crashed his hopes of playing football in the big leagues. I do know Ibby, and he is a great young lad with awesome determination, who has been given the opportunity to trial with one of the largest clubs in Europe, Galatasaray. Following is  an email that I received  from Ibby:

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It's alright to be mad in a crazy world, perfectly sane I'd say. Italians have found a way to curb the effects of mental illness through soccer, and it seems to be working just fine for a group of mentally ill patients.

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Like being under a magnifying glass? Andy Gray wrote up a great little piece about in form, and sometimes out of form England goalkeeper Paul Robinson.  I was watching a re-run of the England World Cup 2006 qualifying game against Croatia the other day on You Tube, and cringed at Robinson's mistake. It happens, but it does not mean the world is over. What this means for the goalkeeper is that you have been given a role, your actions (mistakes included) are amplified, but one mistake does not mean that you should be alienated, or given up on, nor should you give up on yourself. I believe that the high levels of injury and mistakes seen in the English Premiership are a result of high training loads and even higher expectations placed on goalkeepers to be the "best"...can you imagine the pressure?

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I have been clanging about with the dumbbells the past few weeks and it has been a cool experience after a long hiatus. For some morbid reason I like the pain? Weird, I know, but it means that I'm getting back to shape, and I feel great throughout the day. What is the best rep range for strength training? I've been scouring through many scientific journals over the past few days and I decided that there is no "best" rep range. It depends on what you are trying to achieve, your training age and your goals. Following is a very quick thoughts as to what rep ranges and training goals go together for the best strength and power training results:

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I stumbled across this video tonight, and I could not help but laugh, and feel sorry at the same time! The funny thing is we tend to beat ourselves up when we make mistakes as a competitive goalkeeper, but believe me even the best in the world should sometimes wonder why they woke up in the morning and donned their gloves. No glory, all humiliation and great fun, the following goalkeeper blunder compilation is hilarious! Enjoy.

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What's faster than a moving train, more powerful than a locomotive...a genetically enhanced mouse? Scientists have uncovered a new liver gene that may enhance muscle ability. It's significant on two levels.

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Well, I'm literally talking about the best goalkeeping video..."today", not of all times. This guy had some very cool prowess, and thought that it may be something you would like to discuss amonst each other. I think there were literally 4 or 5 shots in a row. The video, as amazing as it seems, really gives a good insight into the power of good positioning, razor sharp reflexes and tonnes of luck. Hope you enjoy it!

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You like it? Change...it's a good thing you know. I've been working on it for a long while now, I decided to come up with a brand spanking new logo and site design. I felt that I needed it to be fresh, while maintaining a look and feel that resembled innovative goalkeeping. I thought that the green resembled fresh scientific ideas, while the little guy in the logo and the shining ball lets you know that our bog is all about goalkeeping. The little guy will need to have a name, so I'm up for suggestions! Not too bad for a couple of weeks work at zero dollars. We've also updated the platinum blog updates, so if you have not subscibed to get updates via email...why not do it today. Hope that you like the new look and feel, if you'd like to leave feedback, it would be great to hear what you all think about your new site.

Well it didn't really, but after I read a great piece of recent research it made me think about caffeine as a good supplement to use to reduce DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) for the competitive goalkeeper. The other day I decided to ramp up my workout by training my arms, which I had not done in quite some time as I am getting back into the training after my injury, and have been focusing on building my core fitness. The next day they almost fell off! Could caffeine supplementation have been a good way to increase my performance, and reduce the pain of intense exercise? Let's take a little look at this current piece of research and how you can (with caution) use caffeine to enhance your training regime.

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You don't usually dedicate videos to someone so young, at only 20 years of age it is great to see young Kasper Schmeichel, son of Peter Schmeichel, progressing so well. The slideshow you see here are from games played for Bury FC (the same club I trained with only a short few years back), funny to see some familiar faces too! Enjoy:

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It's funny how the fitness industry chops up and carves out 1001 niche fitness craze's, take interval training for example. Interval training is now a "cool" class to take at your local gym? We look for short term solutions to lose weight or increase performance, I'm not saying that interval training is not effective, it should not be a fitness fad, but it should be part of an overall plan. What most people who sign up for a gym class do not understand is that one training prescription alone is not "the" solution. What happens next can be grizzly, as the person involved in the class reaches a plateau, becomes disillusioned and inevitably gives up.

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Much speculation running around the net regarding goalkeeper moves during the January transfer window. Let's take a stratospheric view of goalkeeping around the net:

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It's easy for coaches to say, "eat a balanced and healthy diet". Most coaches in fact, that I have played alongside, never even mentioned food as a pre-requisite for success. I was extremely impressed with what I discovered in both Eastern Europe and England when I travelled, played and trained as a younger lad. Great training methodologies, and great advice when it came to what food you ate. Recently, a scientific study showed why footballers and athletes in general need to take note of the kinds of diet they consume. Poor athletic performance is directly related to what you consume, and competitive goalkeepers need a whole lkot more of the "right" vitamins and minerals to excel in their performance.

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Commitment. Everyone has to commit to something in their lives. Whether it be a better half,  your faith or your job.  Goalkeeping is no different. I was walking past a beautiful little church yesterday that I regularly walk by and thought about having the time to step inside and say a little prayer, because I hadn't done so for a couple of weeks. The reason, I needed to get home and spend time with my little girl (which is awesome), my other half (great) blog about goalkeeping, (seriously that is how driven I am about our little blog). I was always taught that faith was first, but I have not been committed to it, and I feel that I have lost touch with something that is deeply relevant to me.

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1. "I Don't Owe You Nothing!": Sounds harsh, but ultimately it is true. No coach, goalkeeper trainer, team-mate or even God for that matter owes you anything. You owe it unto yourself to work hard to be the best goalkeeper you can be.

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If you're a Keeper Skool Platinum Blog update subscriber, you get the chance to upload pictures or videos to our blog. I just recieved a totally awesome pic by a young guy called Brendan Shumberger. I'll let Brendan introduce himself:

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