No real talking point here, just a read on the training of a sunderland goalkeeper...(if you havn't already read it). Preparation is everything for Spink In a special feature, goalkeeper coach Nigel Spink lifts the lid on how he helps prepare Sunderland's stoppers for action. Nigel Spink plays a key role behind the scenes as the man responsible for helping to prepare Sunderland's goalkeepers for action. Spink, who won the European Cup with Aston Villa as a player and made more than 450 appearances for the Midlands club between 1977 and 1996, works closely with all the club's professional stoppers - there are currently six on the books. He also liaises with former Hull man Mark Prudhoe, who is responsible for developing goalkeepers at Academy level. A vital member of the backroom staff, Spink is constantly busy helping Sunderland's custodians to sharpen their game and plays a key role in pre-match preparation. Speaking exclusively to safc.com, Spink shared a look inside a typical week for him at the Academy of Light, Sunderland's hi-tech training base. "Monday is what we call a recovery day, in the sense that players that have played ninety minutes are still likely to have fatigue in their legs - and also mentally you wouldn't believe what playing ninety minutes in the Barclays Premier League actually entails," he said. "For the majority of those that have played there will be a cool-down, some sort of an eight v eight game for twenty-five or thirty minutes and then in working with the fitness guys for the rest of the time. "With my goalkeepers that haven't played, they will do an extra bit of work with me and the goalkeeper that's played ninety minutes will do a little bit and then go back in to the pool and the gym. "Tuesday is work day for us when we get all the fitness stuff done so they will work hard for the best part of a couple of hours building the session right up to the top, really physical, working with resistance bands." He continued: "Wednesday will be a recovery day, Thursday is what I call preparation day where the intensity won't be quite as high, the times will be similar but we will concentrate a little bit more on distribution and taking crosses with some shot-stopping as well. "And Friday is again a fairly light day - preparation day - where we will talk about the opposition, what they hold, free-kicks, corners, shots and we will discuss penalties as well. "On Friday all goalkeepers that will be involved get a DVD that will have the opposition penalty takers and videos of their last half a dozen penalties. We'll take that away and then when we come to the game on the Saturday we will decide which way we think the taker will go. "But I always tell them to go with their hunch on the day if they think it's going to change." Spink is often seen leading the keepers' pre-match warm-ups before every game, and those preparations are the final segment of a carefully-designed programme intended to send Steve Bruce's first choice between the sticks in the best possible condition. "On a matchday, once we have discussed the threat of the opposition, we go out and I try to keep it a little bit light-hearted," Spink explained. "We discuss the warm-ups through the week and both Keiren and Simon have different types of warm-ups. Simon is quite happy to do the warm-up that I do with Craig [Gordon], but Keiren has his own warm-up. "Ultimately, I leave it to them because it's their day and they need to be happy with what they are doing; I'm only there as a consultant to them if they need me. As long as they feel that they are up to their max on the day, then I'm happy." Spink, who also worked alongside Steve Bruce at Birmingham and Wigan before moving to Wearside in summer 2009, is committed to pushing the envelope in his profession, which remains a relatively new discipline. Indeed the England international didn't even have a coach himself for much of his career despite being one of the country's most successful stoppers at the time. But he says there's a balancing act to be considered on his part as he says up-and-coming and established keepers alike should also spend time practicing on their own to truly master their game as well as relying on a coach. "I'm quite keen on telling everyone, particularly the younger goalkeepers, that I didn't have a goalkeeping coach until about two-thirds of the way through my career," he said. "Everything I learnt I had to learn myself and if things went wrong I had to work out what went wrong. There wasn't a me around to consult or to have on your shoulder. "I tell the younger ones that things like kicking practice they should be doing on their own just to learn about yourself; you can't have me there all the time telling you what you're doing wrong or right and that it's important to work it out yourself
