A FORMER football player, who fell out of love with the beautiful game after a knee injury has turned his efforts to training the next generation.
Goalkeeper John Gibson had stints at Dundee United, Dundee FC, Alloa and Clyde.
But after quitting as a professional, he has begun training kids with his goalkeeping skills full time in Glasgow.
The John Gibson Goalkeeping Academy opened its doors five years ago, on a much smaller scale, and has trained more than 100 athletes.
Accepting students of all ages and abilities, the academy employs two coaches full-time and five part-time.
Mr Gibson said: "I was playing professional football for about 13 to 14 years and I have obviously taken a wee interest in coaching.
"At first, I was helping out another goalkeeping academy, John Hillcoat, just one day a week. Then, it turned into two days and more.
"It wasn’t until last year, when I was put on furlough and I decided to stop playing professionally and teach full-time because I had a really bad knee injury and to be honest, I fell out of love with playing football.
"My love is helping young kids and that is where I get the buzz from, helping them, teaching young kids and older boys and girls."
The academy initially started part-time but now budding players attend from Monday to Saturday every week.
Based in Harmony Row and Glasgow Green, the academy focuses on teaching goalkeeping skills but also aims to improve the trainees' mental health, especially after the pandemic.
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Also an ex-professional, Tony Curren teaches the young talents alongside Mr Gibson.
The 33-year old head coach added: "First and foremost, we teach the basics of goalkeeping. Then, we work to build on it. I have been professional, so I know how the game works.
"So does Tony and all the coaches as well. So, we know, we can relate to the kids.
"If they are in a situation on a Saturday, or are stuck during a game, or feel uncomfortable, nine times out of ten, myself or the other guys, we have been in that same situation, so we can relate to that and help.
"I think that is a big factor because you can get anybody to just fire balls into young guys but they need specialist training.
"Being a goalkeeper is a very lonely position. So, our job is to get the guys and girls in and build their confidence, they need to believe in themselves.
"Through lockdown, they were in their rooms, playing computers, so trying to get them back to a routine was tough but I love to help them.
"We are not just a goalkeeping academy, we, for example, worked with a charity called Kick the Silence, we had people in to help those who were suffering from anxiety and loads of things away from the football park.
"Anything that we can do, we will do for them because it is a very tough time for them."
Future plans for the academy include opening their own Goalkeeping Headquarters, where trainees will practice like professionals.
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