01-Feb-2012 - Due to unforseen circumstances at the Fife Coaching Academy, the first J4K session due to take place there tonight has been cancelled and will now take place next week. Sorry for any inconvenience that this causes to anyone.
Course Sessions Updated
30-Jan-2012 - The available J4K course sessions have now been updated and can be found on the Course Details page.
JR's Update
28-Jan-2012 - Two very good K4K sessions last Friday night. The weather was perfect, great for training. Two new goalies joined us for the first time and the 5-6 pm session is now nearly full.
J4K starts two new sessions at the Fife Coaching Academy this Wed 1st Feb 8-12 year olds 6-7pm and 13-16 year olds 7-8pm. This session is free so come along and try it.
Just4Keepers Hokey Cokey Session
21-Jan-2012 - Friday's Just4Keepers session eventually beat the weather after being cancelled twice by Fife Council then back on. I thought it was the hokey cokey club!
Scotland U16 Goalie Video on YouTube
11-Jan-2012 - A video showing JR working with the Scotland U16 goalies as they warmed up using Rebound Net has been added to the JR-Coaching YouTube channel and can be found at http://youtu.be/Ri2UH_q29Bw.
JR-Coaching YouTube channel
01-Dec-2011 - JR-Coaching now has a YouTube channel and this will be used to show videos from training sessions etc. The YouTube channel can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/JRCoaching1 and there will be content on it very soon.
JR's Update 30th November 2011
30-Nov-2011 - Monday - I Paid a visit to both Central Park and McDiarmid Park on Monday to work with the young professional players at Cowdenbeath FC and St Johnstone FC as part of the Scottish FA Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence Scheme to which I'm one of the A1 assessors used by the SFA .
Monday's J4K classes were well attended and finished just in time to miss the rain!
Tuesday - Set off to watch the Brechin City v St Johnstone Forfarshire cup game at Brechin only to get as far as Dundee and then get a message saying the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Encountered first snow of the winter lying on the motorway at Kinross.
Thursday sees me in at Dunfermline Athletic FC to conduct a SVQ session with young pros. Also see my wee pal Mo "Shuffly Feet" Hutton the Pars Kit Manager. Then it's on to Forfar to take the goalkeeper training with the Forfar Athletic goalkeepers.
JR's Update
21-Nov-2011 - For the last month I have been doing coach mentoring sessions with two coaches from Stirling as part of the Central Sporting Partnership coach mentoring programme. These sessions were done prior to Willie Lyon and Vito Canale sitting their assessment to gain the SFA Level 4 Youth Award. Good news on Saturday when both coaches texted me to say they had passed. Congratulations to both.
Friday 18th November I was at Recreation Park to do a coach mentoring session with Jason Little one of the Alloa Athletic youth coaches. Jason is preparing for the SFA Level 4 Youth Award assessment in Feb 2012. We had the assistance of the Alloa Athletic U 17 youth squad, a good set of lads and it was a pleasure working with them.
Sunday I introduced the rebound net to my Sunday morning coaching session. Good piece of kit as it adds a new dimension to the session and is fun at the same time. I think a few of the kids will be putting this on their list to Santa!
JR-Coaching on Twitter
21-Nov-2011 - JR-Coaching is now on Twitter and this will be used for regular updates from JR and will also provide information on course updates/cancellations etc. The latest Twitter updates can be seen on the home page of the site and you can also follow us at http://twitter.com/jr_coach.
Easter School Holiday Courses
09-Mar-2009 - Easter School Holiday Course see full details of the Goalkeeper Coaching week to be held at Pitreavie Sports Fields Dunfermline on the Holiday Courses page.
JR Off To Austria
09-Mar-2009 - March 17, JR is off to Austria to with Scotland U17’s to play games against Austria, Italy and Georgia in the Elite Qualifying Round of the UEFA Under 17 European Championships.
JR To Mentor Coaches
09-Mar-2009 - JR has been invited by Alan Morgan Regional Football Development manager at SportCentral to be coach mentor to six coaches who are aspiring to gain their Level 4 Award on the SFA Youth Licence. This will involve working closely with the six coaches, paying them six visits each between now and December to watch them deliver training sessions and giving feedback to prepare them to undertake the Level 4 Award in the early part of next year.
JR Delivers SVQ Training
09-Mar-2009 - In March JR was invited by the SFA to deliver the SVQ Level 3, Excellence in Sport Award to the young professionals at senior clubs. JR paid his first visit to St Johnstone FC to work with the apprentice professionals.
JR On Scotland U15/U17 Duty
09-Mar-2009 - From the 15th to the 18th February JR was with the Scotland U17’s preparing for a friendly international game against Germany played at Almondvale Stadium Livingston. Scotland lost a closely fought encounter by 1-0.
The following week JR spent two days at the National Sports Centre in Inverclyde Largs with the U/15 squad. This was a gathering of over forty of Scotland’s best young players at this age group to select a team to play two games against Belgium in April.
JR's Match Analysis Role For Forfar
09-Mar-2009 - JR is now doing match analysis for Forfar, he now goes and watches Forfar’s opponents the week before they play them and compiles a full report for manager Dick Campbell to use in his preparation for the forthcoming game.
JR Appointed Scotland U15 Goalkeeping Coach
09-Mar-2009 - In February JR was appointed goalkeeping coach to the Scotland U15 team as well as the Scotland U17 team.
JR's Malta Trip
09-Mar-2009 - JR enjoyed a successful trip to Malta as goalkeeping coach to the Scotland U17 team to play two international friendly’s in preparation for the European Championship games to be played in Austria in March. The team enjoyed the experience of training at Liverpool FC’s youth academy prior to travelling to Malta.
JR Trains Forfar Athletic Goalkeepers
09-Mar-2009 - In January JR took the Forfar Athletic Goalkeepers for training sessions at Aberdour where Forfar were training due to bad weather and Aberdour being the only venue that was frost free.
Launch Of JR-Coaching Academy
12-Dec-2008 - As from 1st January 2009 JR-Coaching will begin to function as a coaching academy. Courses and events planned to start in 2009 will be posted on this web site.
Free Goalkeeping Sessions
12-Dec-2008 - Are you the next Craig Gordon? Would you like to be coached by one of Scotland’s Top Goalkeeping Coaches? Check out the Just4Keepers page and sign up for two free sessions.
Free Christmas Coaching for Goalkeepers
12-Dec-2008 - John Ritchie is to deliver a free, two day coaching event on the 22nd and 23rd of December 2008 for Goalkeepers who are currently training with Just4Keepers.
John Ritchie Goes West
12-Dec-2008 - John Ritchie has been invited to deliver a two day coaching event as part of the player development programme to the Youth Goalkeepers at Ayr United FC Youth Academy on the 29th and 30th of January 2009.
JR Coaches Forfar Athletic
12-Dec-2008 - Recently Dick Campbell the manager at Forfar Athletic FC invited John Ritchie to take his first team squad for a training session. JR conducted the session under floodlight at Station Park, Forfar and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of going back to Forfar, where he was once Assistant Manager.
Carols Parreira, Brazilian World Cup Winning Coach
12-Dec-2008 - JR was recently invited by the Scottish Football Association to attend a presentation by Carols Parreira the Brazilian World Cup winning coach. Mr Parreira spoke for over three hours to an audience of Scotland’s top managers and coaches on how to prepare a team to win the World Cup.
JR On International Duty
12-Dec-2008 - JR has been invited to be the Goalkeeping Coach with the Scotland U17 boys national team when they travel to Malta in January 2009 for an International Tournament.
