In an ongoing series we are highlighting the young players who are part of the JD Academy, the Irish Football Association’s elite development programme. Today Kaysan Braniff is in the spotlight…
Name: Kaysan Braniff
DOB: 26 January 2011
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Linfield
School: Campbell College, Belfast
Hometown: Belfast
Kaysan Braniff, who has just turned 15, has been learning plenty about the art of goalkeeping during the first of his two years at the JD Academy.
As the last line of defence in a team the keeper has a lot of responsibility. One mistake and the opponents will invariably find the back of the net.
However, Braniff has learned from his coaches not to let the mistakes define you.
“The best advice a coach has given me is to forget any setbacks and go into your next match with a clear mind,” he revealed.
As someone who plays between the sticks, the teenager is an admirer of Liverpool and Brazil keeper Alisson Becker, particularly his distribution skills.
Determined to elevate his own passing game, the young keeper practises from various distances, either against a wall or with a teammate.
He says he has had a fantastic experience at the academy so far and has learned a lot.
“The biggest difference between playing for a club and playing internationally, for me, is the work ethic and the intensity,” said Braniff.
“You must perform at 100 per cent every session, especially since the best players from the 2009 to 2011 age range in the country surround you.”
It’s not all about focusing on his work on the pitch, however. He has also put an emphasis on doing well in school. He is determined to use the academy’s study windows to good effect.
The young keeper, whose earliest memory of playing football was going to Olympia Leisure Centre in south Belfast to play futsal indoors, would obviously love to become a professional keeper.
Playing for Northern Ireland at a UEFA Under-15 Development Tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina back in the autumn, he kept clean sheets in both of his appearances at the tournament.
He loved getting the opportunity to represent Northern Ireland – and he would love to do so again many, many times in the future.
