Wanderers' goalkeepers are set to hit the ground running when they return from their summer break as they get set for a week-long training camp at Fred Barber's soccer school.

Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ali Al-Habsi and Adam Bogdan along with other goalkeepers from the academy will prepare for the start of the 2009/10 campaign with an intense programme devised by the club's goalkeeping coach.

Now in its 15^th year, goalkeepers from far and wide and of all levels attend the training camp in Alsager, Cheshire which has now become renowned globally. Led by Fred Barber, five other coaches train in excess of 25 goalkeepers, readying them for the start of another gruelling football campaign.

Fred explained: "A business partner of mine Malcolm Webster, who was actually at Southampton last year, came up with the idea. The name has spread and we have had representatives from clubs all over the world getting in contact asking if they can send their goalkeepers.

"It's a specialist pre-season schedule for goalkeepers because a lot of clubs throughout the leagues don't have goalkeeping coaches and they spend most of their time with the outfield players, not getting much individual training until a week or two before the season starts.

"It's a really intense programme right from the Monday morning to the Friday afternoon. There are about 13 sessions in total which for some goalkeepers, who only have a part-time goalkeeping coach, equates to about three months work.

"This will be Jussi's 12^th season at the training camp and when you look back, he was actually fifth choice goalkeeper at the club when he first attended. He knows what it is like to be down the pecking order and he knows what it is like to get to the top. Last year he knew that he had to get that week under his belt because he was recovering from injury.



"We always use Jussi and Ali as the benchmark because they are Premier League goalkeepers. But we've had numerous top-flight goalkeepers over the years like Maik Taylor when he was at Fulham and Roy Carroll from Wigan. Plus there has been Thomas Sorensen when he was at Sunderland and Richard Wright both when he was at Ipswich and Everton."

Aside from professionals who play at the highest level, the training camp also acts as a springboard for youngsters looking to make a name in the game and goalkeepers abroad who are aiming to catch the eye of league clubs in England. 

Fred added: "We devise a pre-season for goalkeepers of all standards from Premier League right through to non-league and amateur. There are a lot of goalkeepers this year who are out of contract so they use this training camp as a way of alerting other clubs, with the PFA sometimes even subsidising the cost. It's a way of putting your foot on the ladder before looking for another club.

"We have had some managers come down in the past, including Dennis Wise when he was at Swindon who picked up a foreign goalkeeper. There was also another goalkeeper called Owain Williams who had been released by Crewe Alexandra, and after the week he was signed by Stockport County.

"This was actually how Bolton Wanderers picked up Adam Bogdan. He came over as a young goalkeeper from Hungary and we were asked to take a look him. Obviously he impressed and did really well so we offered him a two-year deal.

"Tomasz Kuszczak came on it when he was in Germany and we were also looking at him here but obviously Gary Megson, who was at West Brom at the time, jumped in.

"There are all different nationalities - last year we had goalkeepers from Nigeria, Slovakia and Denmark. But goalkeeping is a language in itself and everyone gets along and works closely with one another."