David and Michael Barrueta with Tim Howard
It was January 1997 when David Barrueta last spoke with Tim Howard, current U.S. Men's National Team and Everton FC goalkeeper. They were participating in Major League Soccer's Goalkeeper Combine and saw each other as both were checking out of their hotel. "I remember Tim being down on his performance. I laughed and told him he was 17 when washed-up guys like me were 29." Howard would be picked up by MLS' New York MetroStars one year later and ultimately be selected as Manchester United's goalkeeper in 2003.
Last week in St.
Petersburg, Fla., and 18 years later, Barrueta, now 47, had the opportunity to work as a goalkeeping coach at The Complete Soccer Goalkeeper Academy founded by Tim Howard, Tim Mulqueen and Gary McMath. Mulqueen, a collegiate, MLS and US Soccer experienced coach, was Barrueta's goalkeeping coach at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., and also trained North Brunswick, N.J., native Tim Howard on Rutgers' campus when he was a boy. Barrueta's 12-year-old son, Michael, attended the Academy as well.
The Academy is held each summer and times vary according to Tim Howard's competition schedule. It is a unique experience directed by Mulqueen and MacMath (whose son Zach plays for MLS' Colorado Rapids) while Tim Howard, Mulqueen and the other coaching staff work with the goalkeepers.
If anyone would like more information about The Complete Soccer Goalkeeper Academy or goalkeeper training in general, feel free to email Chattanooga resident David Barrueta at
david@davidbassociates.com.