Stars line up to keep children’s boredom at bay
ENGLAND’S top keepers have united to help kids cope with boredom by providing online training sessions for free.
Three Lions internationals Tom Heaton, Ben Foster, Jack Butland, Nick Pope, Joe Hart and Carly Telford are among the stars to have signed up to a project by former top-flight shot-stopper Richard Lee.
The ex-Watford and Brentford man, 37, runs soccer schools for children but was stuck when
Covid-19 restrictions intervened. However, elite goalkeepers have come to his aid by taking part in daily Instagram live sessions to keep youngsters active.
West Ham’s David Martin, Brighton’s David Button, Sheffield Wednesday’s Cameron Dawson, Charlton’s Dillon Phillips, Derby’s Ben Hamer, Dan Bentley of Bristol City and former United States international Brad Friedel are other keepers to have given their services.
All have donated their modest fees to the NHS.
Lee said: “They’ve been amazing, really helpful. We conjured this up within
48 hours – we panicked as we would have had to shut otherwise. Goalkeeping is my passion and we have schools all over the world.
“We came up with an idea to give kids a goalkeeping offering alongside workouts I do with them in the lounge.
“I have offered the pros a token gesture of £50 per session but in fairness they’ve told me to give the money to charity so I’ve given a few hundred quid to the NHS. “They’ve been incredible. We have got about 700 children in the group with 300 being goalkeepers. “We will keep running the programme indefinitely. “People can get involved by following me on Instagram at richardleegk and I would like other goalkeeping coaches struggling at the moment to get in touch.” Watford’s Foster previously arranged for a young leukaemia sufferer to become Hornets mascot only last month. Lee added: “Ben was incredible and spent about 50 minutes on the session answering over 150 questions. “This has opened my eyes to a different way of operating and as the world changes this could now be an excellent way in which goalkeepers can learn every single day.”