The four-day course was held at the beginning of this month at the home of Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) in Pago Pago and was conducted by former All White James Bannatyne, who is working with OFC to help improve the standard of goalkeeping across the Pacific.
Bannatyne was assisted by FFAS goalkeeping instructor Uinifareti Aliva in teaching the 22 participants – several of whom have appeared for American Samoa youth teams at recent international tournaments – the correct techniques of goalkeeping.
“Goalkeepers are often ignored and, when I was growing up as a goalkeeper, during practice we were usually left to our own devices,” Bannatyne says. “For me, the position is not looked after as we’d like and our job is to put that right.”
The ex-Football Kingz professional, who won several caps for New Zealand and was part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, believes the key to good goalkeeping is doing the basics well and emphasised the importance of that to the participants throughout the sessions.
“As is the case with most countries in the Pacific, American Samoa have some outstanding athletes with all the required physical attributes,” he says.
“They just have to understand and work on the basics in order to become a quality goalkeeper.”
FFAS President Iuli Alex Godinet is delighted to have hosted such a course for the first time and believes it will prove to be of great benefit in the long run.
“Courses like these are going to help us in a lot of ways,” he says. “It will not only improve the standards of our clubs’ goalkeepers, it will also give us a better pool to choose from for our national teams.”
For more on American Samoa football go to www.ffas.as

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