Goalkeeper Shortage

Mystery Train said:
I've watched the ebb and flow of youth keeper populations over the past 5-6 years, and noticed a few trends (mostly in the girls side, but may apply to boys as well).

Just looking at the whole youth player population, there's definitely a drop off in full-time participation right about U15. Because keepers are already smaller population, that drop off is even more noticeable. For example, if a club fields 2 teams at an age group with 32 players (16 players each including one GK each) but the next year 6 kids drop out of soccer, you could still field two teams of 13 each, but if one of those 6 players was a keeper, the second team is screwed. That creates the first shortage.

The second factor impacting the older kids is, as you mention, injury. The collisions get bigger as the players get bigger and concussion awareness nowadays means that you don't just bring your kid back to play next week after they got their "bell rung." So the older keeper population gets an additional thinning agent there, too.

One thing I noticed on the girls' side is what I called the Hope Solo effect. She, for better or worse, had a period of about 5-6 years where she was a true celebrity, arguably the most well recognizable US soccer player, men's or women's. This was right after my DD started playing keeper. Around that time, I noticed a big increase in the number of girls trying out as keepers. That was an artificial bubble, however. Not sustainable or repeatable.

The biggest factor I see in creating a GK shortage is an inability of clubs and coaches to manage the development of their young goalkeepers to the point that they want to keep playing as they get older. I've been continually shocked to watch club coaches completely mis-handle the coaching of GK's. And some of these guys are very established, very respected coaches, successful coaches. What I realized is that 99% of them are field player coaches. The extent of their coaching for a GK is "Nice save!" or "You need to make that play!" And that's pretty much it. I would reckon that the majority of GK parents (if you've watched your kid for more than 3 seasons) know more about the ins and outs of the position than the majority of club coaches. My DD has had several coaches who are so hands off about the position, that when she asked them for guidance, they just defer to the club GK coach. The club GK coach on the other hand, can teach all the technique drills in the world, but they will tell you that to integrate your keeper with the defense you need the head coach to do that, so they take a very hands-off approach to teaching tactics. This disconnect means that keepers as a whole are woe-fully under taught, and coaches take the easy way out by recruiting the most athletic kid they can find to play keeper and rely on the kid's natural ability to bail them out. Problem is, these kids generally play other sports, too. Because they are super athletic.

In short, because too many youth coaches/clubs/parents are concerned with winning games, and you can win youngers games with a big early-puberty monster in the net with no training, they invest their time in the areas where it makes a difference in the W/L column. Developing a keeper from scratch is a long, long, slow process and not worth the investment in time for a coach who just needs to finish near the top of the table to keep his team together and not get canned by his DoC.

That's my rant...

But to answer your question, yes. We have too many teams at this point. Unless youngers coaches and clubs will take a step back and re-work how they handle the position, this won't change.
Click to expand...
☝️☝️☝️
 
My son is the primary Goalkeeper and has played 3 years in club. He is very good for his age and is extremely athletic ( plays multiple sports). He made the top tier team. Problem is Coach picked players that are fast for offense but most can’t defend. For the top flight, you expect more. After several games and tournaments, Coach still has not fixed the issue in the back. Any advice? It’s frustrating as a parent and you don’t want your kid to get frustrated. We have offers from other clubs. Please any advice or suggestions?
 
SoccerMama45 said:
My son is the primary Goalkeeper and has played 3 years in club. He is very good for his age and is extremely athletic ( plays multiple sports). He made the top tier team. Problem is Coach picked players that are fast for offense but most can’t defend. For the top flight, you expect more. After several games and tournaments, Coach still has not fixed the issue in the back. Any advice? It’s frustrating as a parent and you don’t want your kid to get frustrated. We have offers from other clubs. Please any advice or suggestions?
Click to expand...
Not sure of your sons age, but the ability to deal with adversity will not hurt in the long run for a keeper. Also, playing on a team that can't defend will allow him to see more shots, work on angles and will help develop his control with the defense as long as he isn't getting blamed for goals and losses. If he is frustrated that is one issue, but if you are frustrated, then I would recommend you let him keep playing and see how the season pans out. Lots of time to develop and eventually it is their choice. Good luck.
 
Last edited:
MyDaughtersAKeeper said:
Not sure of your sons age, but the ability to deal with diversity will not hurt in the long run for a keeper. Also, playing on a team that can't defend will allow him to see more shots, work on angles and will help develop his control with the defense as long as he isn't getting blamed for goals and losses. If he is frustrated that is one issue, but if you are frustrated, then I would recommend you let him keep playing and see how the season pans out. Lots of time to develop and eventually it is their choice. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Diversity? Adversity?
 
MyDaughtersAKeeper said:
Not sure of your sons age, but the ability to deal with diversity will not hurt in the long run for a keeper. Also, playing on a team that can't defend will allow him to see more shots, work on angles and will help develop his control with the defense as long as he isn't getting blamed for goals and losses. If he is frustrated that is one issue, but if you are frustrated, then I would recommend you let him keep playing and see how the season pans out. Lots of time to develop and eventually it is their choice. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much. He is under 10. So just worried he will get frustrated at his age. But I do see the benefit of that. That is what another Coach advised. But frustrating when we are playing tougher teams. Also frustrating because some players are missing games and practices due to other commitments. So their commitment is not there. Not fair to other players that show up.
 
SoccerMama45 said:
Thanks so much. He is under 10. So just worried he will get frustrated at his age. But I do see the benefit of that. That is what another Coach advised. But frustrating when we are playing tougher teams. Also frustrating because some players are missing games and practices due to other commitments. So their commitment is not there. Not fair to other players that show up.
Click to expand...
The thing I'm realizing about the keeper slot is that the most important factor (there are others...speed, strength, technical ability, height...but the most important) is picking yourself up and dealing with adversity. It's always something and there's always some issue. If anything, it's better at age 10 for the defense to be bad so that he gets practice instead of the team being good so he's picking grass and not developing. The wins are meaningless, and if losing a lot is going to break him, then maybe that's a concern because the most important thing he needs to develop as a keeper is mental toughness. My son's puny little bronze team was put up against a rising gold team in spring league....almost 30 shots on goal...let 9 in...his best game ever and probably the game he learned the most from...got a round of applause from the opposite team's parents at the end of it.

He's 10 and he played 3 years in club?..so he started club when he was 7?:confused: For most of the players isn't this their introductory year? It doesn't help, of course, if the coach picked athletes instead of soccer players, but some do on the understanding it may take a while to build them into soccer players but they start from a really great place athletically....it will take time.
 
Grace T. said:
The thing I'm realizing about the keeper slot is that the most important factor (there are others...speed, strength, technical ability, height...but the most important) is picking yourself up and dealing with adversity. It's always something and there's always some issue. If anything, it's better at age 10 for the defense to be bad so that he gets practice instead of the team being good so he's picking grass and not developing. The wins are meaningless, and if losing a lot is going to break him, then maybe that's a concern because the most important thing he needs to develop as a keeper is mental toughness. My son's puny little bronze team was put up against a rising gold team in spring league....almost 30 shots on goal...let 9 in...his best game ever and probably the game he learned the most from...got a round of applause from the opposite team's parents at the end of it.

He's 10 and he played 3 years in club?..so he started club when he was 7?:confused: For most of the players isn't this their introductory year? It doesn't help, of course, if the coach picked athletes instead of soccer players, but some do on the understanding it may take a while to build them into soccer players but they start from a really great place athletically....it will take time.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your advice. It’s nice to hear from other goalie parents. I don’t think other parents get it. My son is mentally tough but he is also competitive.
 
If you hear of other parents giving a hard time about your gk- just say “I know. We want him on a team with a weak defense so he could get lots of action.”
 
timbuck said:
If you hear of other parents giving a hard time about your gk- just say “I know. We want him on a team with a weak defense so he could get lots of action.”
Click to expand...

And add "plus a team that has trouble scoring so it'll make him work harder to keep a clean sheet to keep things level..if we can't score..we won't let them score either!" Then you can tell the defender parents and the attacking parents they can all go pound sand!!
 
I reffed a U10 boys game this weekend and our team camped by the U10 field Saturday to tailgate so watched quite a bit of games. All the U10 boys had one of two types of goalkeepers (except 1 team): the real strong athletic kids rotating through the slot, or the big boys that couldn't run in the slot. The vast majority of those boys won't be keeping 3 years down the line....the strong athletic kids have other options and will sour on the position because unless the ball is loose or kicked right to them they can't really do anything to stop it....the big kids lack the speed to be effective in the goalkeeper slot and won't have the speed to play the field...the 1 exception was a boy who clearly loved it and was learning the technique.

My son's first club team was impatient with his development and blamed him for the mediocre season, so they "upgraded" during tryouts and reduced him to the backup keeper but when he showed up the starter at a tournie forced him out. We faced them at a tournie this weekend now 2 years later. That starter had walked away for other opportunities (the grapevine said the kid was unhappy at the way he was treated too) and they didn't have a backup. They threw some poor kid in there for the tournie against my son's mediocre bronze team. Should have been two zip in their favor (they are a silver team) but the keeper dropped a couple balls and we walked away with a tie. My son was so happy because the loss of a keeper really cost them (and in the semifinal game as well where 2 other kids were rotated in the slot). Even better was the former assistant coach for his second year club team was now the assistant coach for this weaker team and my son got to hold his own against them and show what he could do. I can testify sometimes keeper karma happens!!!
 
timbuck said:
I've seen a lot of postings lately for teams looking for a goalkeeper. Here and on social media.
Sort of common to see this at the younger ages, since it's hard to find enough kids under the age of 10 to play GK full time.
But I've noticed a trend of older teams desperately looking for a GK. Injury and relocation seem to be the culprit.
Or have we reached a point where there are too many teams and not enough GKs out there now?
If you are a parent of a GK - will your player be playing 2 games at your club every Saturday? (and Sunday when scheduled).
Based on this apparent shortage, I'd also guess that some teams will be using the GK from a younger age group as well.
Click to expand...
What ever happened to that GK from Surf? She was originally committed to Washington State, then landed at USC as a walk-on, now she's no longer there. Rough go of things...
 
SoccerMama45 said:
My son is the primary Goalkeeper and has played 3 years in club. He is very good for his age and is extremely athletic ( plays multiple sports). He made the top tier team. Problem is Coach picked players that are fast for offense but most can’t defend. For the top flight, you expect more. After several games and tournaments, Coach still has not fixed the issue in the back. Any advice? It’s frustrating as a parent and you don’t want your kid to get frustrated. We have offers from other clubs. Please any advice or suggestions?
Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with having a lot of action for a goalkeeper, specially at the younger age. All you need is to get a good goalkeeper trainer who is not only will work with him on shot stopping but also on his footwork as well.
 
Eagle33 said:
There is nothing wrong with having a lot of action for a goalkeeper, specially at the younger age. All you need is to get a good goalkeeper trainer who is not only will work with him on shot stopping but also on his footwork as well.
Click to expand...
I agree. He does have a great trainer. Just frustrating at times.
 
multisportson said:
Last season, my kid's team lost every single game. Many by HUGE margins. Yes, he saw a lot of action, but it was also really, really frustrating for him.
Click to expand...
Getting your teeth kicked in every game is not fun and will take it's toll, that is not good for anyone. Having a goalie on a team that is close to the appropriate level and is working on improving and not leaving the goalie exposed and beaten up is not a bad thing.
 
Keepersdad said:
Maybe kids that play goalie, and their parents, get tired of being blamed for losses and goals by ignorant parents.
Click to expand...
Nothing worse than parents that blame the keeper for every loss. For my DD's journey, the higher the level the team she played for, the more understanding of soccer (and goalies) and supportive the parents have been.
 
MyDaughtersAKeeper said:
Getting your teeth kicked in every game is not fun and will take it's toll, that is not good for anyone. Having a goalie on a team that is close to the appropriate level and is working on improving and not leaving the goalie exposed and beaten up is not a bad thing.
Click to expand...
I am hopeful that this season will be better. I know that they say that losing is valuable experience, but I think my son has now had PLENTY of experience in being peppered with shots and having his team spend nearly the entire game in our zone. Thankfully, the rest of the team was very supportive of my keeper. With a less supportive coach, team, and parents, I can see where many keepers would quit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top