# At What Age to you become a Fulltime Goalie?



## SOCCERMINION (Oct 2, 2016)

At what age do you need to have your child make the decision to be a Full-Time goalie or not. Currently I see alot of Goalies playing Half time in Goal and Half the Time on the field. My DD currently does this however I'm wondering at what age do most kids fully commit to the Goal or the Field. With how competitive it is in club, I feel eventually my DD needs to specialize and focus on one or the other. Question is when?


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## timbuck (Oct 2, 2016)

I don't know the answer, but it's probably "as late as possible".  But most clubs would rather a kid do it as early as possible. 
I've seen u8 kids get "stuck" in goal because when coach said "who wants to play goalie?", little Suzie raised her hand higher than anybody else.  And then she played almost every minute of every game in goal. 
The kid I know in this situation did not come back for a u9 season.  

And I know a few 04 kids who play in goal because they hate to run and/or aren't very fast.  But they are aggressive and fearless.   They are pretty solid keepers.


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## Eagle33 (Oct 2, 2016)

SOCCERMINION said:


> At what age do you need to have your child make the decision to be a Full-Time goalie or not. Currently I see alot of Goalies playing Half time in Goal and Half the Time on the field. My DD currently does this however I'm wondering at what age do most kids fully commit to the Goal or the Field. With how competitive it is in club, I feel eventually my DD needs to specialize and focus on one or the other. Question is when?


Usually the kid will tell you when he/she is ready. Mostly kids ready at around 13-14. Some will never be ready to start specializing. One thing you need to remember though, its a lot of good players out there but very few good keepers, and those are in high demand. So make sure your dd make informative decision when its time to make one.


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## socalkdg (Oct 3, 2016)

Keep working those field skills even if they eventually become full time keepers.   A good coach will use those skills and have the defense play back to her.  My daughter full times right now at keeper for club, but she plays forward for the AYSO team I'm coaching.  Still the fastest player on either team, but loves playing both positions.  Just turned 11 so trying to keep her options open.


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## Mystery Train (Oct 3, 2016)

SOCCERMINION said:


> At what age do you need to have your child make the decision to be a Full-Time goalie or not. Currently I see alot of Goalies playing Half time in Goal and Half the Time on the field. My DD currently does this however I'm wondering at what age do most kids fully commit to the Goal or the Field. With how competitive it is in club, I feel eventually my DD needs to specialize and focus on one or the other. Question is when?


Everyone's path is different, so it's hard to say.  Hope Solo started playing full time keeper in college.  Definitely keep your daughter working on her foot skills no matter what.  We had a coach in u11-13 that was very dogmatic about assigning kids positions and keeping them there, so my kid started full-time at u11.  But I think it would have been better to wait.  Wasn't good for the development of any of the players to specialize that early.   Problem is, people want to win games, so if your kid is the best one on the team in goal, that's where she/he will be.


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## MyDaughtersAKeeper (Oct 17, 2016)

SOCCERMINION said:


> At what age do you need to have your child make the decision to be a Full-Time goalie or not. Currently I see alot of Goalies playing Half time in Goal and Half the Time on the field. My DD currently does this however I'm wondering at what age do most kids fully commit to the Goal or the Field. With how competitive it is in club, I feel eventually my DD needs to specialize and focus on one or the other. Question is when?


No one knows is the probably the correct answer.  I can only add my $0.02.  My daughter is a FT keeper.  This is her 3rd year essentially as FT keeper, but the 2nd with actual keeper training.  She is 11 and will be 12 in January.  Her first year in competitive NO ONE on the team wanted to go into net, I recommended she play keeper just to be a good teammate as she had played in arena soccer previously.  That lead to a  chance to move up at the end of the season and go to state cup (they made it to semi-finals).  She moved from the 6th team to the 3rd team.  The following year she was on the top team.  We had the discussion at the time that she was committing to being a FT keeper if she went to the top team.   She has embraced it and hasn't looked back.  Being a keeper has allowed her the opportunity to guest play both within and outside the club.  

As socalkdg stated, keep working on the field skills.  The better she is with the ball at her feet the better she will be in net.  My daughter has worked extensively on her keeper skills, her overall soccer skills, and her athleticism this last year;  and the work is paying off.  

I believe that a good keeper needs a couple of things:

1.  Embrace the position, 
2.  Be able to let go of the goals that she will let in (there will be a LOT), and move past  mistakes, 
3.  A certain level of fearlessness/toughness, 
4.  Parents who can move past the goals that get scored, and get past seeing your kid get beat up pretty good at times.  

Good luck.


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## mirage (Oct 17, 2016)

I recall reading a survey while back (don't recall the source - sorry) that most keepers in college were forwards until U14~U16.  Kinda makes sense if you think about the keeper knowing what and how forwards attack the goal....


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## Mystery Train (Oct 17, 2016)

MyDaughtersAKeeper said:


> I believe that a good keeper needs a couple of things:
> 
> 1.  Embrace the position,
> 2.  Be able to let go of the goals that she will let in (there will be a LOT), and move past  mistakes,
> ...


So true.  Mentality is the biggest thing to being a successful full-time keeper in the long run.  Keepers (and their parents!) have to enjoy the unique pressure of the position.  And be ok with the fact that they will rarely "win" a game for the team, but they will always be under pressure to not "lose" the game.  I have a special appreciation for all keeper parents.  It's a whole different spectator experience compared to watching your kid in the field.


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## socalkdg (Oct 17, 2016)

Keepers are the one player that I applaud on the other team when they make a good save.   Feel like it is a special club.   

Only one time has she been bothered by a goal.   It was a ball played back to her, the forward was bearing down on her, the ball was bouncing, and she let it get past her foot as she was clearing.  The forward ran past her and was able to score.   Funny we watch players on both teams whiff on a ball all the time, every game, but that one really bothered her.


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## midreams (Oct 17, 2016)

My son started playing keeper in AYSO at age 8. Loved it, made the all star team. In their final game of tournament, he was scored on about 10 times, and he left the field in tears. Vowed he would never play that position again, he felt responsible for the teams loss. The next year, he was a forward and did very well. When he tried out for club, he said he wanted to try keeper again, and he has been there ever since. He is now almost 13. His coach has him run all of the same drills as the rest of the team, so he keeps up with his footwork and fitness. Then we do private goalie training on the side. 

Last year, we attended a Galaxy clinic with about 200 other kids. He was the ONLY keeper. I was shocked. The demand for quality keepers is high, many kids just don't want to play the position. It is very high stress and very physical. Teaching him to not blame himself for every goal that hits the back of the net was the toughest part.  He misses playing on the field sometimes, just for the constant action, but he has embraced the position and wants to continue his soccer career in net. 

But, as a parent, its the toughest position to see your kid in. He has been slammed into more times than I can count. Once got a boot to the neck (throat), spikes first. He knees and elbows are filled with scars. Keepers (and their parents) have to be tough as nails or they will never make it.


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## Mystery Train (Oct 17, 2016)

midreams said:


> The demand for quality keepers is high, many kids just don't want to play the position.


And the demand increases exponentially every year he ages up.  My kid is playing two years up partly because quality full-time keepers are so rare at the older levels.  



midreams said:


> Keepers (and their parents) have to be tough as nails or they will never make it.





socalkdg said:


> Keepers are the one player that I applaud on the other team when they make a good save. Feel like it is a special club.


We should start a keeper parents support group. LOL.


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## midreams (Oct 17, 2016)

Mystery Train said:


> And the demand increases exponentially every year he ages up.  My kid is playing two years up partly because quality full-time keepers are so rare at the older levels.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





My son also plays up! He is a 2003 (7th grade) playing on a 2001 team.


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## Technician72 (Oct 17, 2016)

midreams said:


> But, as a parent, its the toughest position to see your kid in. He has been slammed into more times than I can count. Once got a boot to the neck (throat), spikes first. He knees and elbows are filled with scars. Keepers (and their parents) have to be tough as nails or they will never make it.


Scary as heck, I hold my breath every time my daughter is involved in a collision.

She's definitely cut from a different cloth like so many other goalkeepers. Goofball mixed with the right amount of crazy. She likes showing people her "keeper scars".


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## pewpew (Oct 17, 2016)

My DD has been playing full-time GK since AYSO U8 or so. Then she started playing Jusa Signature for a few years. This is her second year of Club. I didn't realize at the time what a dis-service I was doing by having her play FT at such an early age. She was always willing to play back there when nobody else would so she kinda got used to it. I didn't even think about having her continue with foot skills,etc. It definitely showed when she started playing club. She has since made up for it and continues to train accordingly. 

She is a BEAST when it comes to toughness and fearlessness back there. She's made her share of mistakes and takes every GA personally regardless of who's fault. Time and again I've seen her collide with forwards and one of two things happens. If she gets up first..the striker usually ends up walking off the field. If she gets up second..the striker usually ends up walking off the field. No kidding. I hope that never changes. She loves showing her scars. She used to wear a mouth piece but she said as her communication improved it was harder to talk. Mom has sent me pics from training sessions where she had a nice little trickle of blood running down her cheek when a teammate tried to pull up on her but still collided and she took a cleat across the face. She was pretty proud of that one.

Her old GK trainer's motto was "A goalkeeper can't win the game for you..but they can sure save the game for you"
Saw a t-shirt once that said "The only position harder than playing keeper is being the keeper's parent"
Two quotes that are spot-on.
To all the keepers out there and their parents..keep up the good work. I always tell her if it was easy..everybody would do it.
(Hope nobody flames me for that last one..haha)


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## Dargle (Oct 17, 2016)

I posted this on another board in response to the same question:

On keeper specialization, which is a perennially controversial subject, here are a few thoughts I have based on 14 years coaching rec and rec plus (tournament and all star) soccer teams and 8 years being involved with and managing mid and high-level club teams (with professional coaches), plus having one son who started playing GK early, one who played a little early only because he was willing and he was the coach's son and then played again for part of a season of HS when he was a little dinged up and they were desperate, and two others who wanted nothing to do with the position. I've coached or managed teams from U5 to U19. Consider the following three scenarios at ages 9-13 (since few play GK exclusively at 6-8 and many play GK exclusively at 14-18):

1. A kid who wants nothing to do with playing GK: If your kid doesn't want to play GK at all, then they shouldn't play it except if the team is rotating everyone through goal. Even if they are good at it, by all means don't let them get pigeon-holed in the position. That's true even if they are better at GK than on the field and they will be sitting on the bench otherwise. Find a team more appropriate to their level if possible rather than force them to play GK when they don't want to do it. Make sure they know not to ever volunteer that they can play GK when they are trying out for a new team. Playing GK on a regular or semi-regular basis when the kid doesn't want to do it will spoil the sport for them. I take it no one disagrees with this, although there are some who don't think you should even put a kid in the rotation in an "everyone takes a turn" system if it's going to be traumatic for them and I have definitely made concessions in some situations.

2. A kid who likes playing GK, but also wants to play on the field: This is the tough case. Frankly, the kids who do this often end up being weaker at both positions and I have seen several leave the sport early even though they showed great promise early on (in part because the reason they were good at both is because they were a bit more athletic than the other kids on the team). Both positions require great technical skills and they usually underdevelop both of them. It doesn't have to be this way though. There is absolutely no reason that playing a half in GK should stunt a kid's growth on the field as long as they play the other half of the game on the field, they attend two practices a week and play on the field 75% of the time at practice, they do skills training on their own or at the club's optional Friday skills clinics, they attend a summer soccer camp as a field player, and they go at least every other week to the club's separate GK training practice with a GK coach or they do private training in lieu of the club skills training and/or the club GK training. The reality is that most of the kids who do the split GK/Field play aren't committed to either (they often just want to be in the team with their friends or to be on a top team), which means their parents aren't committed to either and the result is that they don't do much more than go to their team practices and maybe occasionally a GK session. That's not the end of the world (soccer isn't everything), but it's not surprising they fall behind their peers.

3. A kid who wants to play GK full-time. This is what people often mean when they ask about specializing, but those who flatly reject it are usually thinking about the first or second scenarios. I'm talking about a kid who wants you to shoot on him all the time, who begs to play GK in the game before there are full-time GK's or who always wants to get to practice early and asks other kids to shoot on him. These are kids who tryout as GK's and, although they might say they are willing to play on the field if needed, their first choice is GK. Do you let them be a full-time GK at 9 or 10? Arguments that this will harm the development of foot skills and field awareness, while worth consideration, are not inevitable. If they play 75% of the time in practices on the field (e.g., warmups, drills, 5 v 2's etc), go to their club's skills training, work on juggling etc on their own, and watch a lot of soccer without being prompted, they do just fine. If they play on the yard at school and/or for their school team, even better. Add on to that the club's GK training sessions once a week and a private GK trainer and/or agility trainer once a week and both a field player soccer camp and a GK specialized soccer camp over the summer, and they will be great. Of course, that means that your kid and their parents are REALLY into being a GK and into soccer generally and they want to play all the time. Overuse is not really an issue (or anymore an issue than for field players) because the muscles and skills used for GK are so different than that used for a field player most of the time that it's like playing two different sports. Sure there is a possibility that they will physically underdevelop and not be able to continue as a GK after puberty, but if they've been doing the other stuff with the ball work etc, they can be fine. Is there a possibility they can't stay on the team because they aren't as skilled five years later and they haven't grown into being a keeper with a full-size goal? Yes, but most (and I mean more than 50%) of kids in every position quit before high school and if a kid wants to play GK now, why deny him pleasure now because he might want to keep playing five years from now and might want to stay on this team? 

So, the real question I ask parents and kids (and I asked myself when one of my kids really wanted to play GK at an early age) is how passionate is he about doing it and how committed are the parents to supporting that passion. In other words, if the kid isn't going to do skill work on his own or with the club, doesn't really watch the game on TV, and just wants to play GK because he likes to get dirty and he doesn't like to run very much, then try to delay starting for awhile until he is a little bit more mature to understand what the position really entails. If the kid, however, understands that he needs to work on both parts of the game and, as a GK, he will have to essentially do twice the training of other players, and he looks excited at that prospect, then he's ready.


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## younothat (Oct 18, 2016)

Everyone should learn to play every position including goalkeeper.   Before HS all players should be learning and playing at least two positions IMO.  

My DD doesn't like keeping as much as my boy but her coach put her between the sticks (does this for all players) last week for a quarter during a practice game, she gave up a goal on a rebound but had two good stops. She was kind of mad at the GA so next quarter equalized. 

My boy enjoys the shot blocking parts of keeping, he will  normally ask to go in for the PK shootouts.  He trains occasionally on his own or with the keepers after practice on specialized shot blocking but with his speed & ball movement coaches rarely use him in goal for anything but as the backup to the backup.


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## Dargle (Oct 18, 2016)

younothat said:


> My boy enjoys the shot blocking parts of keeping, he will  normally ask to go in for the PK shootouts.  He trains occasionally on his own or with the keepers after practice on specialized shot blocking but with his speed & ball movement coaches rarely use him in goal for anything but as the backup to the backup.


The first part of this is actually part of the maturity issues that I use to gauge whether a kid is really ready for full-time GK.  Lots of pretty athletic kids (shortstop-types in baseball terms) like the shot stopping drills in practice.  It's non-stop action and those kids like to dive in the dirt.  In fact, many of those kids prefer to dive and jump rather than shuffle their feet and make the save look easy.  The real test is whether they can remain engaged in a game where the action is at the other end the vast majority of time.  In most cases, a GK's life is 90% spectator and 10% complete terror.  The passionate goalkeepers are the ones talking throughout the game, tracking the ball with their eyes and constantly shifting, etc.  Lots of kids can't focus that long.  It's too early for those kids in the way that preschools will sometimes tell parents that their son isn't ready for kindergarten yet.  It's not that they aren't smart enough in most cases; it's that they can't sit still and pay attention for long stretches.


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## mirage (Oct 18, 2016)

Dargle said:


> 2. A kid who likes playing GK, but also wants to play on the field: This is the tough case................Both positions require great technical skills and they usually underdevelop both of them.........
> 
> So, the real question I ask parents and kids.....is how passionate is he about doing it and how committed are the parents to supporting that passion..........


Agree with these statements.  The specialization applies to picking between different sports as well as any particular position in soccer, not just to keeper position (or specific position in any sports)

What many don't realize is that each field position has very different tactical responsibilities, especially without the ball at feet.  My older kid specialized to be a forward at 12 or so and while he can play other positions, the intricacy of other positions are lost to him at U19.  In other words, if a player is a good technical soccer player, he can play most positions but he will excel at his natural position.  I say natural because I believe each player has a position that suits him best - both physically and mentally.

What often happens is that by playing multiple positions too long, a player does not develop an intimate knowledge and an instinctual reaction to any specific position required at the high levels.  So if the kid has a passion for a particular position, why make him play other positions? In case he changes his mind or it doesn't work out at that particular position?  A chance one has to take, I believe in that case....


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## midreams (Oct 18, 2016)

"In most cases, a GK's life is 90% spectator and 10% complete terror." - I love this line.


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## Mystery Train (Oct 18, 2016)

Dargle said:


> In most cases, a GK's life is 90% spectator and 10% complete terror.


LOL!  So true.


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## Eagle33 (Oct 19, 2016)

Gk's are a special breed.
Like any other position on the field it's really about passion, understanding and how good you are at it. Goalkeeper position changed a lot during past decade. It's no longer about just shot stopping but rather starting the attacking play. Keepers need to be very good at seeing the field, understanding the game and great with their feet. All of this doesn't come from just being in goal and saving shots. One of the goalkeepers I know, who currently plays college, went to few pro tryouts in England and they told him that he is great shot stopper but NOT a goalkeeper and to keep on working on his distribution skills. Many professional keepers who is playing or played at the highest level used to be field players. Great examples of this is Tim Howard and Hope Solo. 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with players playing in both goal and the field as long as possible, and it doesn't mean that they will be bad at either if they don't specialize in one. Normally, and of course they are exceptions, goalkeepers is the best athletes on the team and can play any position. It does require specific set of skills and specialized training, but it would help tremendously if every keeper can play all positions to understand the game better.
Specializing at early age at any position is wrong and good coaches will move players so they can get not only the experience, but also appreciation for every position.


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