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.
Goalkeeper Shortage
- Thread starter timbuck
- Start date
multisportson
SILVER
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.
Keepermom2
GOLD
Just recently I found myself frustrated because my daughter is now on a really good team so she doesn't get as much action. My daughter is 12 so I have always looked for teams in the mid range so she could get lots of experience both technically and emotionally...the ability to recover emotionally after a missed ball is invaluable later on.
That was my son's experience last year, but the issue was when they advanced in League and State Cup, they weren't ready as a result because the last defensive line and he hadn't been thrown against that experience. It's why finding the right slot is so hard: you want a team that really believes in possession (and does so even when under pressure), a coach that knows the role (or at least won't actively undermine their training), a coach that can empathize with the role and understand it and isn't a screamer, either only one GK or two keepers that can work together, great GK training (preferably with someone on staff instead of just contracting), parents that are supportive of the keeper (or at a minimum not total jerks) and a team that isn't too good or too bad for the bracket (knowing that might change the following year). You need the unicorn.
The other thing that's misunderstood is the expectation for the goalkeeper coverage of the goal. The NSCAA training materials have some charts showing what a goalkeeper should be expected to cover (with just their body for the very ULittle to the entire goal for high school keepers). But it's also a function of the size of the goal, the level of play and the level of training a particular goalkeeper has. Watching the U10s over the weekend, it's clear that the expectation for beginners really should be just catching the bouncing hail marys, covering shots directly placed at them, and jumping on the loose balls. Even beyond that, it's unfair to compare a U12 keeper that's just coming out of AYSO to a keeper that's been dive training for over a year....unless the AYSO keeper has received special training he's unlikely to execute a dive properly (which many coaches believe just involves falling on your side...given the speed of the ball, until the keeper has mastered the technique and gotten it into muscle memory, almost any fast shot or near shot is going to sneak under the keeper).
Keepermom2
GOLD
I have spent the last 3 years my daughter has been in club (yes club hopping which if I didn't do, she wouldn't have come as far as she has) trying to figure out what was reasonable expectations considering the reality of it, and what was important to keep my daughter loving it as much as she does. We worked on what was a priority to us and started looking for a team for 19/20 season. We had only hoped for 50% of what you mentioned above and were surprised to get it all and more. Because of our experience, we appreciate it soooooooo much and know how wonderful it is. We have a coach that recognizes that this newly formed team is a great team and keeps looking to increase our competition one step at a time. If you are winning every game, you are not being challenged and you are diminishing the learning aspect. Our coach recognizes that. We have great Keeper training with a passionate trainer too that the Club actually pays him so he won't leave half way through the season like happened at our last club. My point.....the unicorns are out there.
My son is not a keeper, although has played when he needs to. It seems that this is a position we should be putting our most athletic kids. My Sons 08 team is looking for a keeper, they play top level, and we seem to be looking for an athletic kid we can train. I think the best keepers will come from other sports where they prove to be good with their hands.
My DD growing up was not the most athletic kid and did not play other sports (although she likes to say she plays 3 sports: soccer, arena soccer and futsal) but has worked her tail off to get better. At her end of year team party this weekend they were throwing around the football and I was surprised that she could fling the ball around and catch as well as some of the multi-sport athletes on the team. Point being, with hard work even the kids that didn't start off great can still come along. And I encourage you not to downplay the mental part of the position; it is my firm belief that the mental aspect is the true difference between good and great keepers.
The most athletic kid on your team will most likely NOT be the best choice for GK. Athleticism will not make up for intelligence. If a GK isn't smart enough to know where they should be position-wise, distributing, catching, etc. etc. then they will get burned repeatedly. Their athletic talent will only carry them so far. And as stated above, mental toughness AND physical toughness are a pre-requisite. Mentally tough to handle the highs and lows. Physically tough to handle getting trampled on..hands stepped on..kicked in the face..slammed into by multiple players.
My G03 knows she's not the most athletic one out there. But her mental toughness and physical toughness is beyond reproach. One team she played on years ago..the coach told the girls to go out and run until they were spent. They all went out sprinting for about 1.5 miles and then dropped. While they were resting and he was talking to them he realized she wasn't there. She was still out running a decent pace working past her 10th lap when he told her to stop. She asked him why he wanted her to stop..she said she wasn't done yet. She's a diesel not a Ferrari.
Earlier this year she trained for over a week on a broken ankle. Didn't know it was broken. She just thought it was from a nagging ankle sprain from last year and just chalked it up to growing pains and the healing process dragging on. The day she came home from school saying "it hurts a bit" it was swollen HUGE!! I asked how long it's been like this and she said about a week. She just kept icing/Motrin and pushing thru.
And that my friends is what sets GKs apart. Some parents can say their kid is tough..GK parents have real proof. My .02
My G03 knows she's not the most athletic one out there. But her mental toughness and physical toughness is beyond reproach. One team she played on years ago..the coach told the girls to go out and run until they were spent. They all went out sprinting for about 1.5 miles and then dropped. While they were resting and he was talking to them he realized she wasn't there. She was still out running a decent pace working past her 10th lap when he told her to stop. She asked him why he wanted her to stop..she said she wasn't done yet. She's a diesel not a Ferrari.
Earlier this year she trained for over a week on a broken ankle. Didn't know it was broken. She just thought it was from a nagging ankle sprain from last year and just chalked it up to growing pains and the healing process dragging on. The day she came home from school saying "it hurts a bit" it was swollen HUGE!! I asked how long it's been like this and she said about a week. She just kept icing/Motrin and pushing thru.
And that my friends is what sets GKs apart. Some parents can say their kid is tough..GK parents have real proof. My .02
The most athletic kid on your team will most likely NOT be the best choice for GK. Athleticism will not make up for intelligence. If a GK isn't smart enough to know where they should be position-wise, distributing, catching, etc. etc. then they will get burned repeatedly. Their athletic talent will only carry them so far. And as stated above, mental toughness AND physical toughness are a pre-requisite. Mentally tough to handle the highs and lows. Physically tough to handle getting trampled on..hands stepped on..kicked in the face..slammed into by multiple players.
My G03 knows she's not the most athletic one out there. But her mental toughness and physical toughness is beyond reproach. One team she played on years ago..the coach told the girls to go out and run until they were spent. They all went out sprinting for about 1.5 miles and then dropped. While they were resting and he was talking to them he realized she wasn't there. She was still out running a decent pace working past her 10th lap when he told her to stop. She asked him why he wanted her to stop..she said she wasn't done yet. She's a diesel not a Ferrari.
Earlier this year she trained for over a week on a broken ankle. Didn't know it was broken. She just thought it was from a nagging ankle sprain from last year and just chalked it up to growing pains and the healing process dragging on. The day she came home from school saying "it hurts a bit" it was swollen HUGE!! I asked how long it's been like this and she said about a week. She just kept icing/Motrin and pushing thru.
And that my friends is what sets GKs apart. Some parents can say their kid is tough..GK parents have real proof. My .02
Pewpew absolutely hits the nail on the head. The reality is the super athletic kids can make an impact at other parts of the field, and without the aggravation. The superathletic kid might also want the glory of another position. Goalkeepers are the drummers of the team....tireless keeping the beat but at times unrecognized and behind away from the lights. Rationally, most kids, unless they have the weird GK vibe, will gravitate to other positions if forced into the GK role. Even for those on a dominant team, the moment of reckoning eventually arrives somewhere in League or State cup, if not before against a more dominant opponent during league play.
Catching is a good foundation for a goalkeeper (particularly from baseball) and can serve a goalkeeper well especially early on (years 12 and under) when many balls are hail marys lofted high. It's one of the reasons why for the longest time the US produced world class keepers capable of playing in Europe. But the game has changed...those lofty balls change to corner shots and low driven shots at most levels around age 12. And the ball has become so light that catching those placed shots is really hard. Don't get me wrong...a goalkeeper that has an excellent catch is starting from a position of strength and if you train with Ian Feuer, for example, for the first few months pretty much the only thing you will be doing is catching. BUT, it's not enough anymore...the training the keepers have to do to get for example the low dive correct and into muscle memory is repetitive and incessant. To be successful, a goalkeeper must train these skills over and over again, and many of the skills don't have a corresponding skill in another sport.
Goalkeeping around the world is changing very rapidly. The days of player going from another sport and just being able to do it and catch up with the training are rapidly ending, if anything because the foot skills have become so important too. In the other forum, we were talking about the U20 US-France game....all 5 goals there were conceded in part by really basic GK errors on both sides and in a few years time that won't be tolerated. To see why, you only need to look at the hapless Thai keeper in the WWC against the US, and compare her to the properly trained American-born keeper that kept Jamaica competitive.