im in desperate need of some help

[wwlaxgoalie]

heres the deal, as u can probably infer im a goalie but when people shoot i close my eyes its not from fear though it just happens is there anything i can do to prevent this or is it just one of those things that wont go away? Thanks all of your help will be greatly appreciated and helpful.

[Snake~eyes]

I'm not a goalie but I imagine you could just have someone shoot on you and practice keeping your eyes open.

[Stopper22]

tape your eyes open, no im guessing its just one of those things that is a instenct that wont go away :concerned

[Snake~eyes]

im pretty sure it would go away, just takes some time/experience

[johnnyicesae]

put on your helmet and get someone to just smack your cage with their hand not hard but hard enough where you close your eyes. you will eventually learn to control that involuntary response. It's just a matter of conditioning the response.

[lizlax22]

heres what my friend did... turn the goal around and let u'r friend with the hardest shot shoot at the back of the goal and u pretend to stop the balls... its should go away with time

[bruamable]

maybe your eyes are dry...but in reality do what johnny said it should take less time getting used to keeping your eyes open...or if you are trying to become a better goalie as well as keep your eyes open just have freinds shoot on you...or confront your fears like in moutain biking when i hit a steep incline with roots and rocks on a little trail you HAVE to keep your eyes open or else your tasting blood

[laxattack]

just have someone shoot on you, at first you get the poo poo scared outta you but after a while, the pain goes away and you get used to it, another trick is to follow the ball wherever it goes, that way you get used to focusing on it...hope this helps

[mwn8989]

im a fan of the "taping-the-eyes-open" method, but still the most reasonable and least pain inducing would be to have some one shoot on you continuously until you get over the whole blinking thing

[Farley6]

Lax Goalie, don't listen to any of these guys, what do attackmen know about stopping balls anyways??? This is what you do. When someone is about to shoot on you, look at the ball coming out of the stick, focus all of your attention on it, try to see if there is any dirt on the ball and if so, which way is it rotating? If it is rotating, how will it bounce if it hits the ground, see if it is dropping, floating, spinning, pay attention to every single detail of that ball and nothing else, you will get to the point where you feel like the ball is going so slow that you have all of the time in the world to make the save, and when you start to do that, you will stop blinking. If you need to practice this, see if any of the baseball pitchers would be willing to pitch on you, have them throw every pitch they can, curves, sinkers, split fingers, anything that will make you watch the seems on the ball, then go out on a lax field, put X's on the balls, one on the logo, and one on the opposite side, and have them pitch at you, but watch the rotation of the ball, watch the x's, then move on to balls that are unmarked and try to look for seems, dirt spots, helmet paint, anything that will make you focus 100% on the ball itself and how it is traveling toward you. That will take a lot of guessing out of it for you, because you are prolly one of those goalies that goes on feel, and where you think the ball is going to go, and you are not watching to see where the ball does really go, i'm not making fun of you, most goalies do that. Working on this, your focus will greatly improve your game, but it takes time and it takes practice, you have to be willing to sacrifice both. Oh, and you would have to be seen in public with a baseball player, and we all know how embarassing that can be!!!!

[mwn8989]

yea, farleys right, dont listen to me, why , i remember the last time i tried my hand at goalie... acctually, its an experience that id much rather forget:cry

[laxattack]

"When someone is about to shoot on you, look at the ball coming out of the stick, focus all of your attention on it"

yes, i do believe that was the implication i made... and ive played goalie for 3 years, just now switching to attack. man i hate explaining that, those stats on the side mean nothing to me!

[Farley6]

Quitter!!!!!!


what about your username?
Anyways, i was just breakin your balls, you should know as well as anyone that goalies HAVE to bust attckmen's chops, just to keep their ego nice and low, where it should be, because we all know that attackmen sometimes need to get a bigger helmet half way through the season!!! (Once again, I am just kidding)

[LancerLaxGoalie]

i used to do the same thing its hard not to but once ur more experienced it wont happen anymore cuz any fear u had subsides. even if ur not afraid its just like when someone acts as if there going to stick their finger in ur eye to make u flinch and u blink. its just your bodys reaction to protect itself.completely normal.

[Lax4Ever]

What johnnyicesae said does work and quite well. That's what I did for hockey. I will suggest that you use a ball rather than having someone smack your cage. It will make a difference.

[Paul_Gait_RULZ]

yeah just have a shooter wind up with a softer ball and hit you in the buct or fake or whatever and then you concentrate on the stick and ball, it may not get rid of closing your eyes entirely, but it will help, since it did when I was a kid in box