Overcoming Fear.

[bpercival]

As a lacrosse goalie what was your biggest fear and how did you overcome it?

[stalls]

understanding you get hit, it hurts, but I thought of if like getting comfortable with roller coasters once you understand your not coming out and your gona be fine, it takes some people no time and it takes some hs guys a few years but once your comfortable its sick

[czechinthepipes]

well if anyone is afraid i have a perfect way to get over it. one time when i played baseball and was a catcher, i took a falltip to my helmet got a concussion. i was afraid to catch again. what i did was start off with tennis balls then move on to lax balls. then do what stalls said understand it hurts which i dont since i dont play goalie.

[martiniman27]

i was afraid of getting hit when i first started and i would turn at a shot and make alot of body saves, then i realized that you get hit alot less if you actually do not flinch and watch the ball into your stick, increased my save % and my confidence

[claxbucky]

My biggest fear when i just started was a kid on my team named Jason Lutz (plays @ OSU now) being 5' 5" 145lbs, i'm a pretty small guy, and he's like 6'4" i think and around 240 now (was like 220-230 in HS). During practice he would stand like 3-5 yards away and rip shots on me, usually aiming for my body, but I got over that pretty fast. But from the start, I was never really afraid of getting hit w/ the ball. I'd always show everyone my bruises and stuff.

[Dadabhoy_Muzzi]

I was afraid of being hurt. I played with full equipment. I was littely a box goalie playing field. I started practicing slowly and the following season I took everything off and played like a real field goalie. I started to think and say to my self "It will only sting. Do not be afraid." Then next year I went out and led my team to the best record they had in 4 years of existence.

[SAGoalie30]

my biggest fear is getting hit in the nuts. well it happened one kid on my team shoots in the 90's. he shot but i lost the ball in the sun then BAM!!! i was on the floor about to die. but i wear a hockey goalie cup now so its all good. it doesnt hurt as much.

[defensemanrule]

Well, one of my fears was my coach's shot and like most, just getting hit by the ball and understanding it'll hurt. I don't know if any of you know him, but he plays for the Riptide. His name is Anthony Kelly. That is my head coach and everytime he warms up a goalie, we all say we see our life flash before our eyes. He has an amazing shot, and understanding that you are gonna get hit really puts some fear in your mind. But, the good thing is that if you do get hit, then the fear goes away quickly because you know what if feels like from a really, really fast shot. But, that goes away after a couple of games.

I guess my worst fear is actually like having a really bad game. I mean, every goalie has their bad games, every person no matter what position has their bad games. And I guess just letting a game slip like that just sucks.

[Nemesis09]

dont think about the pain, its only in your head. Be confident, and if you do take a stinger during a game, get angry and get pumped. When i get hit, i block the pain out and focus on the ball. Dont let a shot to your body get you off focus

[RedBird1]

Breaking more fingers. haha jks. I am, but it doesnt stop me from playin my game.
But mostly, just letting in a first goal on a first shot and not recovering. But sometimes those are your best games.

[SawyerLaxGirl44]

Like CMM said...biggest fear-losing the game yourself. I had at least 3 games this year that when I walked off the field, I just knew that it was me who lost. How do you overcome it??? Block the shot w/ everything that you have!!!

[goalie1215]

my biggest fear is doing badly. natch :nahya:

[SawyerLaxGirl44]

Ooo....I have other big fears. Getting hit in the throat, apparently my 'throat protector' isn't very good, because I've been hit plenty of times, but its still a fear. And getting hit in the chest (I have a lil tiny gap in my chest proector and throat)

[cch3ung]

Arnie once said in the show pumping iron to step out of your comfort zone and that's how I percieve getting hit.

[Scrudatoboys]

well if anyone is afraid i have a perfect way to get over it. one time when i played baseball and was a catcher, i took a falltip to my helmet got a concussion. i was afraid to catch again. what i did was start off with tennis balls then move on to lax balls. then do what stalls said understand it hurts which i dont since i dont play goalie.
my goalie used to be afraid of the ball and he just used tennis balls...

Put your hands behind you back and have somebody throw or shoot them at you while your in the cage and you jump infront of them. Then work your way up to raquetballs. If your still havent overcome your fear use lacrosse balls...just like in D1 the mighty ducks when they shoot on goldberg while hes strapped to the goal.

[marflax33]

If you are scared of getting hit anywhere, try practicing with tennis balls. Most goalies who have a problem of stepping out of the way of a ball arnt scared of it, its just their instincts. Im not scared to get hit, it happens often, but i step away to catch it on the right side of my body, just out of instinct. Your best bet is play with tennis balls, so it wont hurt, or wear a lot of padding until you get more comfortable, than take it off little by little until you are down to only the basics. I generally am not scared of the ball, Unless they crank it at me as hard as they can. Those arnt enjoyable, but they arnt to bad.

[brickwall]

My biggest fear in net had nothing to do with being hit. (As a hockey goalie, former soccer goalie and baseball catcher, I was well adjusted to getting hit with shots), but rather it was doing bad, bad enough to single handedly blow a game that if you had even played mediocre would have won...
Same For Me

[EricL]

My fear is saving the ball, then when im cradling it, it falls out and I score on my self -_-

[PinnacleGoalie]

My fear at first was definetely getting hit and it hurting real bad. But I mean you just have to deal with it. Anyways the way i look at it is if u get hit and you have a big bruise it only gives you a tight story to tell and make you look cool lol try it it makes you feel better. Plus after a couple times of getting hit you dont care anymore

[laborde92]

i was always afraid to hit someone onthe side of the crease but i got over fast after some came from "X" and scored top right. So right after that the same kid tried it and i liad him out, i had to learn the consquence of not hitting him before i could.Also gettin hit with the ball is scary at first but i look at it this way I would rather get hurt phiscally then mentally and by this i mean the pain will go away but the "what if" might not.....now i know easier said then done but thats where the insanity of goalies come in. One last note the tennis ball not might work because once u do get hit with a real ball ull still feel the pain, the bravness comes with experence. Just whn in practice have a shooter that can shoot hard and acurate so then can throw it somewhere u get hit but not to bad so ur no scared..plus in a game i know im so pumped that i dont feel the pain till after

[POCK3Ts]

i had two great fears when i was goalie

first: when i started playin goalie as a freshmen i was only supposed to split time on jv(i played dpole prior to goalie). after the first week of practice and a practice game our varsity goalie decided he didnt want to play and he wanted to play dpole. it was all left up to me to step up as a freshmen and step in the cage and not only play my first game as a goalie but at the same time i was playing my first game on varsity. i was so nervous i would suck and i would lose the game for us buy my team was behind and me and one player especially (captian and a good friend), he knew i was scared so he was always behind me and that first game everytime i was scored on he ran down to the crease and said it was cool not you fualt keep you head in it.( and noless my first game we played the team that won the state championship that year and lost 19-3) But after this game and knowing i had the support of my team i overcame my fear.

second: of course like the rest of you was getting hit with the ball. I had been hit a few times while playin defense and knew it hurt and couldnt imagine being hit everyday. as a freshmen i was a ***** and im the first to admit it i wore soccer shin guards. this helped me get over my fear of getting hit in teh shins( i stopped using them by 3/4 throught the season). i have totally changed and my teamates r kinda scared by it. i actually enjoy being hit now i love the feelling of making a save and knowing it oculd help us win the game. i have now gone to the extent of during warm ups at the end i have the person warming me up just shoot a couple of balls directly in my chest.(and when i say shoot i mean 60/70 mph)

yeah yeah i know us goalies are crazy

[hulllaxplayer]

I was afraid to get hit at first...but then after i actually did get hit a few times i realized it didnt hurt that bad. And that its worth is if you make the save.

[pcgoalie17]

my worst fear is loosing the game because of me, i dont want to be the guy who causes the game to go down hill

[denier]

spiders, im really afraid of spiders, but other than that id have to say taking a shot to the throat, i have a nasty scar from where they had to cut my esophogus after my neck swelled around it, so i just use a hockey goalie lexan throat protector now, i havent figured out how to deal with spiders though

[MACDADDY]

what my friend does is let us take practice shots at his body not full strength but enough to get him started up. its fun(for us donno about him)

[amlax21]

firs time in net was a little freeky, but my coach saw that i was a bit scared so he told me to drop the stik and he just told to black the balls with my body, and ever since i loved it