65. Inside the Mind of a Goalkeeper

Mark Birighitti is a professional footballer and plays goalkeeper for the Central Coast Mariners. He has had a great career in football, playing for clubs all over the world. He thrives on that pressure of being the only one responsible for his team’s win or loss often in the final moments of a game and exactly how he pushes through to be successful and often even perceived as cocky! He shares some of the thoughts that go through the mind of a goalkeeper on and off the field, how he has learned to cope in difficult moments and to recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments.

Mark shares his insights into, now, leading this team of younger players as the captain and what he expects from these players when he retires one day. He opens up about what it takes to be a father and husband (sweetly gushing about his wife more than once) while being a professional football player in such a competitive environment.

Mark is as down-to-earth as you get and I have really enjoyed chatting with this football legend today. He makes a few predictions about how he thinks the football season will go - listen to the end of the episode to find out if he was right...

Discussion Points

A bit of Mark’s background
Things that Mark has done to strengthen his mindset
Mark’s 2015 serious injury and reflecting on returning to play earlier than he should have
Mark as team captain - leading a young team
Being a Goalkeeper
Mark’s love of being under pressure
Best memory
The toughest time in Mark’s career