Controling your Goalie

[ZeelandLongPole]

I dunno if this should be here or in the D topic, but we've been having problems with our piece of crap goalie, and he's complaining left and right, and says its our fault for EVERY DANG GOAL. He's been sayin that if we don't stop tellin him what to do, he'll quit. Anyway to do something about this?

[SheepShank]

Rather than telling him what to do try to make suggestions. But its true not every goal scored is exactly his fault because the D is suppost to make it hard for the offense to shoot. Maybe your doing that and he just needs more practice, but I wouldn't try to go around blaming other people (I.e. the goalie) instead maybe try to step up your D alittle more and get more aggressive.

[saiber]

the goalies probably pretty mad at himself for lettin in so many goals and hes venting his anger on u
he should just forget the goals but.......not every one can do that eaisly
so yah
just me 2 cents

[nmlax22]

what goals is he letting in? 10 yards out, restraining line, 1v1? 1v1 are usually on the d if not always, 5-10 is a split and anything beyond 10-15 should be saved unless he is screened, then it is just a good play.

[Jjaylax09]

yeah, you can never put all the blame on one person. what shots is he missing? like nmlax said

[nmlax22]

Also, since yoou are only in seventh grade(was reading some of your posts in the d forumn), there arent going to be many good goalies yet. On top of that the defenses arent generally as good, so it usually ends up with a middie/attack 1v1 with the goalie or a couple yards out.

If he is really that bad maybe you should step in the net for a practice (thats how i went to goalie, just screwin around in the net when me and the coach realized im pretty good at it, so same sorta idea) to see whats it like. Its a lot harder for the goalie to stop a good shot then it is for a pole to stop the shot from happening. Give the kid some credit, atleast he is staying in there.

And like saiber said, he is probably already pretty pissed off at himself, and you guys should be trying to settle him down, not argue about whose fault what is. What happened happened.

[NeMeSiS]

i agree with nmlax, at the level of lacrosse ur playing at, the goalies skill usually isnt top notch, i played goal in 7th and 8th, and i wasnt to great with my skills either, it takes time, patients, and a hell of alot of practice. he'll get it, but no matter what u do u must be able to communicate with ur goalie, he sees things better than anyone out there, its a must for any D player

[ZeelandLongPole]

Well, everytime a shot gets there, 90% of the time he'll move out and lunge at it. He's a total wimp. And he's tellin us all this :bs and junk, and its gettin frickin annoying.

[zizuhyte]

he'll learn or he'll quit. either way it'll be better than him complaining.

[WestSideLa X eR]

a goalie is the person that stands out most in a team, if he messes up its one person, whereas if the d messes up its 3
maybe he's embarrased or something and he wants to put the blame on you guys

[DuLAX]

Our goalie(highschool) takes everything out on our offence and defense but she shouldnt take everything out on the team because she does make goals on herself all the time-- and thats a BAD thing!! Plus our coach rips shots from the restraining line, 12 and 8 and she can save those and they are hard to save--but when it comes to dinky little shots that a chair could save, she cant-- Weve learned to ignore her and defense listens only when shes calling where the ball is--Its frustrating but hey what can ya do about it!

[LaxGoalieLZ]

It seems like she either doesnt get warmed up enough, or doesnt get into the game, or doesnt watch the ball enough.

Some goalies do have an attitude problem and cant handel the pressure which im guesing is the situation for zeelandlongpoles goalie unless the goalie is right and is getting absolutly no help from the D. I have seen goalies who are extremely afraid of the ball which i have no idea why there playing goalie but they still try. Usually they are terrible and cant stop a thing because they flinch and let it in. Then they get all hell from there team who after putting up with it for a while gets sick of loosing all the time. So the goalie whos scared gets defensive and starts to make fun of them blaming it on the D and the O developing a bad team relationship which is neccissary to winning. Then he doesnt want to come to the games or practices because hes afraid of getting made fun of and getting laughed at because hes screwing up. So either he gets even worse or eventually quit which i have seen before.

When you say he lungs's at it do you mean he steps to the ball or steps away from the ball, does he try to make only a body save and not even move his stick because thats what i think your saying.

[Jjaylax09]

just an afterthought, you should keep in mind that goalie is the most strenuous position on the field mentally and sometimes even physically. goalies have to keep ten times as much stuff in their heads as other players, so take it easy on your goalie because he may not have learned how to cope with it yet

[nmlax22]

i still think you should try goalie for a practice during a scrimmage jus to get a feel for what its like

[ZeelandLongPole]

lunging:
-Moving body away while poking at the ball

[nmlax22]

Then maybe someone else should try goalie, have a rotation for people to try goalie at a practice. Did this kid want to play goalie or was he forced into it? I was on a team (before i thought id give goalie a try) and a kid had been forced into goalie for a couple years and he was pretty bad. Then a kid on our team was made to try it during a practice because he was giving the goalie a hard time and the kid ended up being pretty good at goalie. Are there other people on the team that are willing to try, if he is as bad as you say he is, then you need to find a new goalie.

[LaxGoalieLZ]

^ agreed, i think you should have people try to play goalie including youreself and have the best person at goalie play if they want to that is. It isnt about the individual it is about the team.

[CTLaxer]

Do some drills to help his skill level and confidence level. Having players that can admit mistakes is also a plus(like having a D that gets beat causing a goal just say "sorry guys, my fault that time"). That doesn't mean turn into a scapegoat for bad goaltending though. Anyways, here are some drills to help out some of the problems you described.

Have him play without a stick and try to either catch shots(don't fire off missiles at him) or knock them away with the outside of his golves

Next, Have him play with a middie/attack stick that's upside down so that he has to make stops with the butt-end of the shaft(once again, don't fire off bullets at him or it'll defeat the purpose of the drill)

After he gets decent at that, let him turn the stick around and use the shorty like a normal goalie stick.

Then let him switch back to his regular goalie stick. Doing stuff like that for a week straight for about 45mins each practice should do a few things. One is stop his moving his body away from the ball while trying to stop it with the stick as well as build his confidence up.

I agree with everyone else that's posted in that you should probably try to find someone else willing/wanting to play goalie. If for no other reason then to have a back up. But like they've all said, some people aren't cut out for goalie and he might be one of them or you might find someone with a natural talent for it. Good luck!