A very subjective look into AWFC

Today I am getting all my packing done and sorting a few things out before I fly out to Cologne, Germany to speak at an incredible conference at SAE Intitute’s headquarters. There, I have the pleasure of talking about my experience playing with pop superstars, how I’ve gotten there and what I believe are tools that will get a lot of people doing what they love in music, at a high level.

Among the things I touch on in my talk, is that musicians need to have to have two athletes inside them: one of them is goalkeeper and the other one is top secret, just kidding… it’s a skateboarder which doesn’t make sense on its own but I’ll explain this to you some other day. But back to the GKs… there’s a very specific reason why I mention this.

I say this with love because I LOVE goalkeepers and have been one at my local league for 9 years on and off. I love the position and because I love it, I can see certain things that not everyone can but, simply put: goalkeepers are very “interesting” people who have lots of attributes that other athletes don’t have, but one of them is basically having the memory of a goldfish. GKs need to be very, very good at forgetting a mistake they make, they cannot let it hold them down or make them doubt themselves for the rest of the match or the next shot they get. I know this should and can apply to every athlete in a way but goalkeeper mistakes are so amplified and scrutinized that it just feels much more different.

Goalkeepers are weird enough and when a club like ours seems to have a very strange and weird GK policy, club wide, it’s just very confusing and I don’t really know what must be going through the minds of the keepers or anyone near those decisions really. And if you don’t know what’s happening, here’s a very short and dumbed down version, a simplified one at that: Arsenal have decided that have 2 #1’s is a thing. Ok, this isn’t exactly the best explanation but it all started when the men’s side bought David Ray and the world of football assumed Ramsdale was going to just be our #2. Blah blah blah, I don’t wanna talk much about the men’s team BUT Jonas came out and said something very similar to what Arteta has been saying about how there are no number ones, and all that stuff. *Sigh…

Manu is our #1 and the reality is that as much as she isn’t world class to the eyes of many, she’s by far our best goalkeeper option. She should’ve played against united and if there’s someone that has earned numerous chances, is her. She saved us, pun intended, so many damn times last season I’ve lost count. Why is she not getting that start? why is Ramsdale not getting a start for the CL or vs man City? Why? What is happening and why is all this GK stuff happening in tandem with both squads?

Doesn’t make sense, but that is the beauty of being a fan… it affects me deep to my core, but it’s also not my problem haha.

d ❤

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